Richard Vobes

Richard Vobes (also known as Vobes), is a professional podcaster who has been producing daily shows since January 2005. His programme, called the Richard Vobes Radio Show typically is about 30 to 40 minutes and is broadcast from his house in Worthing, England. His shows range from commentary on recent news events (usually from popular British newspapers), to friday night beer reviews, as well as a wide variety of soundseeing tours all over the UK. An entertainer by trade, his shows are frequently family oriented and therefore are suitable for all audiences. Typically he does his show with his preteen daughter Georgie. He also occasionally features his 10 year old son Billy, his 15 year old son Stanley and close friend Jimmy Hastell.

Vobes is regarded as being something of a pioneer in the field, as he created the Podcasters Voluntary Music Licence (PVML), in order to address issues of playing copyrighted songs within podcasts. This concept means that podcasters have to pay the meter , whereby a small fee is paid into a receptical by the podcaster whenever copywrited music is played. It is hoped that more podcasters will take on the PVML, thus enabling the use of podsafe tracks to be played, without the threat of prosecution from the authorities or the RIAA.

In addition, as of 1 June 2005, the Richard Vobes Radio show is a podshare production. This concept was originally created by Adrian Pegg, which gives the opportunity for podcasters who put time and effort into production, to recover some of their costs. Audiences are invited to make a small contribution to the upkeep of the show and therefore is said to work in a similar way to popular shareware software. Shareware software operates on trust, as the software is distributed freely to anyone who wants to try it; but people are asked to pay for it if they find it has value to them and they want to continue using it. This may be by a fixed fee or a variable contribution. Often the software comes with a nag screen as a reminder to pay. Podshare works in the same way, but there is no pressure to pay a podshare fee if listeners cannot afford it. Regardless, the first 7 days worth of podcasts are free to download, but beyond that it is suggested that the listener pay a mere $20 per year to carry on listening. Listeners can also make donations if they particularly value the show. The process relies upon loyal listeners paying this small fee to support the show - Vobes is trialing this method as a feesable alternative to a subscription based service.

Gregory Giordano, in March 2005 from [http://flameape.com/ flameape.com], said of the show: It s a real treat. It s like the old radio shows I ve heard about from the golden age of radio- a bit of chat, anecdotal humour, family (Vobes smart, irreverent kids are an ever-present part of the show) and shtick- wrapped in a devil-may-care/seat of the pants style that is disarmingly charming. He also includes whatever pop 80 s and mod-era 60 s music strikes his fancy to include. By the way, his reviews of the current state of movie remakes, and book/tv to movie adaptations (War of the Worlds, Thunderbirds, etc...) are spot-on & brilliant.

In their July 2005 online profiles of digital creatives , the BBC interviewed Richard Vobes as the requisite podcaster. The interview was not only online, but Vobes and daughter Georgie were interviewed on Radio Five Live and episode 180 of Vobes show was made avaliable on the BBC website.

In August 2005 the Richard Vobes Radio Show was voted the 2005 People s Choice [http://podcastawards.com/ Podcast Awards] Winner for its Sound Seeing Tours.

In September 2005 Richard Vobes began an experiment in [http://vobes.camstreams.com/ Vobecasting], using a new streaming service provided by Camstreams. This involved him webcasting the production of his daily show to a chat room of viewers who could then interact with him as he produced the show. Using this technique he has been able to develop a phone in debate ( the Thursday debate ), combining the live webcasting with live calls from his viewers, pushing back the boundaries of podcasting even further and enabling him to podcast in real time.

= Biography =

This short biography is taken from [http://www.vobes.com/aboutus.htm Vobes.com].

I have been producing the 30-40 minute radio show since January 2005 with my beautiful daughter, Georgie and over the last few weeks it has become a way of life.

I am an entertainer by profession. I perform a number of circus skills, including juggling, unicycling, mime, robotics, globe walking, stilt walking, fire eating and plate spinning, to name but a few.

I work all over the UK and sometime venture into Europe. I perform anything from kids shows to corporate cabaret and can be found strutting my stuff at exhibitions and trade shows or even at 40th birthday parties and other family celebrations.

I am also a writer, presenter and film maker. I run a television production company well try to, pitching programme ideas to the British TV industry. These are produced in the format of video proposals. I have had some success with this and in the mid nineties had a childrens television programme commissioned for ITV and two series were made with me as the star and author. I co-produced the series too.

I am 41 year old and live in the seaside town of Worthing in West Sussex on the south coast of Britain. I visit the gym regularly to keep fit and in shape for my performances. I am now in the process of getting divorced from my wife, who is still my friend. I have three fabulous children, Stanley, Georgie and Billy. All have and will continue to appear on the radio show.

I love Podcasting and have made some amazing friends from doing it from all over the world. I just wish I could make a living doing this and I would be the happiest man alive.

Well thats about it now you know as much as there is to know about the bald headed English guy in the pod-o-sphere.

=External links=

*[http://www.vobes.com Vobes.com] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4626445.stm BBC Profile of Podcaster Richard Vobes] *[http://feeds.feedburner.com/RichardVobesRadioShow RSS Feed for Shows]