Cycling Podcast Reviews Part V

Friday, 11 February 2011Thursday, 11 March 2010

The Fredcast

The podcasts open with about five minutes of advertising. Obviously you can skip this in a click but the naked commercialism isn’t a good start for me. People have to earn money but it sounds like some commercial radio station. FRD FM! Even during the show a lot of content seems to be driven by press release.

Second, the last time I heard the podcast Fred was broadcasting product recalls. Now that’s a public service announcement but frankly it’s boring, it’s like tuning in for news on Formula 1 only to find the latest Honda or Ford recall. Life’s short, my free time even shorter and I want a bit of distraction, some entertainment.

Next, a bit like cyclingnews.com, the podcast covers races that are done and in a dry manner too. Discussing the “Cancer Classic” prelude to the Tour Down Under “the Fred” lists the entire top-10. When a result is so old it’s going stale surely there’s no need to read out the top 10? By the time I hear Baden Cooke finished ninth on Stage 2 of the TDU, I’ve forgotten who won that day.

It’s an earnest effort so I won’t be as critical as I was to cyclingnews.com: those guys operate under the Future plc banner and have pro standards, the Fred is a keen amateur. Give it a try but personally it’s a bit slow for me. There’s so much content out there that this just isn’t essential to me but if you rate it, all the better.

It’s all at http://www.thefredcast.com/

4 thoughts on “Cycling Podcast Reviews Part V”

owenp

Friday, 12 March 2010 at 12:48 pm

Hi, we do think alike on this one: "an earnest effort" indeed, but I too tire of the commercial side and some other aspects (e.g. the product recalls).

However it has it's good moments and David is good enough to come on twitter and blogs and argue his case, so fair play to him.
David Bernstein (The FredCast)

Friday, 12 March 2010 at 6:41 pm

Thanks for the review of The FredCast.

Sorry to hear that you guys tire of the commercials, but I have bills to pay and a family to feed. The FredCast takes a LOT of time, effort, sleepless nights and yes, does cost money to produce. It takes me away from friends, family, work, sleep, cycling, etc. Further, consider the costs associated with my travels to Interbike, Tour of California, and other events, not to mention hardware, software, hosting, etc.

I appreciate the comments that the advertising portion at the beginning is too long and I will take this to heart. I do the ads in an unscripted manner and I agree that lately my mouth has gotten ahead of the clock. I will work on this starting with the next show. Thanks for the reminder.

As for the product recalls, I've been doing this since Day 1 of The FredCast nearly five years ago. I consider this to be an important service to the community since these recalls don't always reach consumers in a timely fashion and many consumers never hear of them at all. I know it is dry, but it's important. As a former product/marketing guy in the cycling industry, I've seen the photos of kids who have been hurt and I want to try to help prevent these things from recurring.

I appreciate your comments very much and will keep them in mind as I produce more shows, so please keep listening!

Thanks again.

David
TheInnerRing

Friday, 12 March 2010 at 7:12 pm

Hi David, thanks for the contribution. I always appreciate the time to comment. I understand all you are saying.

I am just more into the pro/race side of the sport, so I tend to seek out coverage of this.

You've got a massive following so you are doing things right. If everyone agreed on everything the world would be a boring place. My favourite wines would be more expensive as millions would want to buy them and my favourite climbs would swarm with riders also trying to climb them.

Keep riding and broadcasting.
Pingback: Cycling Podcast Reviews Part III

Comments are closed.