Ming and Ed Davey do a podcast

Using my two new bits of kit (a Sony ECM-MS907 Microphone and a Olympus WS-300M digital voice recorder), one old piece of software (Audacity) and one new piece of software (Switch Sound File Conversion Software), I managed to record a couple of podcast recordings for Ming, edit out various train announcements, ticket collectors and refreshment trolleys, convert them to MP3 (via the LAME MP3 encoder) and upload them to Ming’s site.

The original version of the podcast recorded on the train with all the interruptions is very funny: the automatic train announcements demonstrated remarkable comic timing!

Unfortunately it will have to remain unpublished.

However, if anyone has any ideas how to remove the mobile phone pulsing noise that interferes with the second podcast, I would be very grateful!

Lib Dem radio?

I’ve uploaded a podcast of Ming’s speech on nuclear energy this morning.

I’ve actually got the entire press conference recorded from beginning to end including journalist questions. Might it be worth starting up a Lib Dem radio podcast that included that kind of content and/or aggregated any Lib Dem podcasts or other audio files around the web?

Comments welcome.

World’s first Liberal podcaster

So who is the world’s first Liberal podcaster?

It’s possible to make a case for Gladstone with his 1888 recording on a wax cylinder for Thomas Edison (and you can understand from this extract of the Gladstone recording on the Liberal Democrat History Group website just how resonant and impressive his voice must have been). However this wasn’t particularly political in intent.

I think there’s a better case for Asquith and Lloyd-George who produced records for HMV in 1909 backing the controversial ‘People’s Budget’ – and are amongst the first politicians in the world to use mechanical reproduction of their voice in order to spread their message more widely – a closer analogy to the practice of podcasting.

It appears that Asquith was recorded on July 20, 1909 (listen to an extract of Asquith’s speech here) and Lloyd-George on July 23, 1909 (listen to an extract of Lloyd George’s speech here) – so Asquith has it by three days.

Reassuring to know that the current review of how we can use the latest technology to strengthen our campaigning versus the other parties is following in a proud Liberal tradition. 🙂