Occult Sentinel: New occult podcast
By Psyche | May 27, 2008
Occult Sentinel is a new podcasts about things the host, Joe, finds “interesting in the occult-o-sphere”. The projected topics will include magick, metaphysics, Thelema, Paganism, and astrology, among others.
The first episode was released in February, and at present a total of five have been released, featuring interviews with Greg of the Occult of Personality podcast, Charles Papapetrou, IAO 131 of the new Journal of Thelemic Studies, Pagan author Christopher Penczak, and Lance Bauscher of the Maybe Logic Academy.
I confess I’ve not listened to all of them yet and so cannot comment on the overall quality of the podcast, but I did find it fairly amusing that within the first five minutes of the first episode he’s already boasting about the quality of sound in comparison to other podcasts.
The podcast doesn’t seem to have a regular posting schedule yet, but Joe appears earnest and it will be interesting to see where this goes.
Popularity: 16%
I’ll give ‘em a whirl. Cheers for the reference!
No problem. Once you’ve listened to them, let me know what you think, or perhaps you’d be interested in writing a review?
I’ve made it through the first four eps, and if I can squeeze it in, I’ll type up a blurb.
93,
Thanks for the reference; I actually did the interview during a bad cold but I think I got the points across :P
That being said, I might send you (Psyche) a copy of a text of mine if you wish to review it. Hope all is well over here at Plutonica.net
IAO131
Sure, though please note I stick to print for my review material. I don’t mean to be discouraging, but reading on screen for great lengths strains my eyes. (Kind of ironic for someone who runs a blog, I know, but my optometrist was quite insistent.)
Things are well, hope they’re well with you, too. :)
93,
I meant sending print books to your address that you posted in an earlier comment. Would you like to review my new book ‘Fresh Fever From the Skies’? How about issues of the Journal of Thelemic Studies? I’ll put those in the mail…
IAO131
I found the podcast a few weeks ago, listened and emailed the producer. It turns out my feedback was the most substantial he received.
There are a number of problems with the podcast. First, and most important, his RSS feed is flawed. Right now it just links to the blog posts and not the actual MP3 files. Technically, this means it is not a podcast because the original definition was audio distributed by RSS feed. Look how iTunes handles podcasts. Currently his show and its distribution does not work with iTunes. I have emailed him twice about this and he has failed to correct this. This issue alone may spell the death of the show as over half of the 150,000 downloads I received for Thelema Coast to Coast was from iTunes and other podcatchers that use RSS exclusively.
The second issue is the uneven production. I understand that it is still new but by #5 he should have most of the bugs worked out. The audio levels are low and sound quality inconsistent.
Next is the enthusiasm. It varies per show and per guest. I brought this issue up with the host too. If the host is not excited about the material and guest, then no one else will be either. On some shows the host is very enthusiastic on other, not. This is a problem.
Lastly, the releasing of the podcast is very intermittent. Regularity is very important. When I failed to release the podcast regularly, the show suffered.
I am hopeful that the podcast will be successful, but right now the host is doing so many things to hinder success I am doubtful. Perhaps he will be able to turn this around and really catch the enthusiasm and technical abilities to make the show a success. I know for a fact that if one can make a quality show then others will listen. I still get dozens of podcast downloads every day! Since I no longer produce TCTC, I am hopeful other will arise to take its place. Will the Occult Sentinel do so? Only time will tell.
I don’t know that TCTC can, will or should ever be replaced, but there’s still a lot of room for new occult podcasts to carve out a place if the dedication to see it through is present.
Though this doesn’t seem to be the case, as the majority of the quality occult podcasts I used to listen to (TCTC, Tarot Connection, Deo’s Shadow, for example) have either quit or dramatically reduced the number of episodes they put out. Various reasons are cited, many valid, but the fact remains: they’re not around.
Podcasting seems to be a lot like blogging – people love it for the first month or two, but providing quality content on a consistent basis proves to be more work than one’s willing to commit to. Consequently, some absurd number (between 80-90%) of blogs fail within the first 3 months to a year, I would assume a similar percentage for podcasts given the nature of the medium (or perhaps even higher).
I do think it’s worthwhile to give a shout out new ones as they arise, though. A little press is encouraging, and the nature of blogs is such that posts are buried in a week or two, and if the podcast has folded by then, no follow up need be done. If they’re making progress, progress can be announced.
All I can do is wish them luck.
Hi,
Great to see people have listened to my show.
I just found this forum thread tonight, and appreciate that I was worthy of a blog post and 8 comments, lol.
More episodes are coming soon.
Another from Lon Milo DuQuette was posted tonight.
Best,
Joe Moore
[...] their reclusive shells, and feedback hasn’t been forthcoming. Apparently John Crow has submitted the most inclusive feedback yet: There are a number of problems with the podcast. First, and most important, his RSS feed is [...]