Saturday, December 13, 2008

Masonic Podcasts

After a little prodding by my friend Dean Kennedy from the show, Masonic Central, (and my fear that he might come to Minnesota on a moose)
File:Moose crossing a road.jpg
I have decided to discuss the newest corner of Freemasonry and the Web, podcasting. For those out there that are not in the know, podcasts are radio shows available to download and can be listened to on one's computer, mp3 player or iPod. Podcast topics can range anywhere from NPR to the Onion to just crazy stuff. There are three great shows about Freemasonry that I think are great.

The first show is Masonic Central. As I mentioned before, Masonic Central is a weekly podcast by my friends Dean Kennedy and Greg Stewart. This podcast interviews some of the movers and shakers of the Masonic world. Also, the show is taped live allowing questions to be asked in real time for the guests. I really enjoy this show and look forward to it every week. By the way, on December 20th, Brother Dean and Brother Greg will attempt a live Table Lodge. It should be a fun event.


The second show I would like to discuss is X-Oriente. X-Oriente is a show hosted and produced by Eric Diamond. This show was my first foray into "E-Masonry" and really got me interested in blogging. Brother Diamond produces a fantastic show about many topics within Freemasonry, religion, West Virginia, etc. I really enjoy this show and now that Brother Diamond has spent his time in the East, he has stated that he will produce more shows.


The final podcast I would like to discuss is the podcast produced by the Grand Lodge of Ohio. A Grand Lodge producing a podcast is essential to keeping Freemasonry going. As men entering Freemasonry are younger than before, they will be expecting their Lodges and their Grand Lodge to be web-savvy. The fact that Ohio has taken it upon itself to enter this world is auspicious for the continuation of the Craft.


Subscribing to a podcast is incredibly easy. I personally use iTunes, but you can use a lot of different podcatchers (programs that get podcasts) that are available. First, install iTunes (if you haven't already done so). Next go to the Advanced tab in iTunes and click on Subscribe to Podcast:
and enter the URL for the podcast. The URL's for three shows I mentioned are:
Masonic Central: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss19162.xml
X-Oriente: http://feeds.feedburner.com/xoriente
Grand Lodge of Ohio: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GrandLodgeOfOhio

Check out all of these shows especially if you are interested in recent news about Freemasonry.

UPDATE____________________________________

JustaMason, who writes the great Just a Mason blog, reminded me of the fourth podcast that I was going to write about, the Digital Freemason. If you want a detailed description, read Justa's comments.

3 comments:

Still Justa Mason said...

Scott Blaskin of King George No. 59 in Calgary also has a podcast.

http://www.thedigitalfreemason.com/

Scott has an archive as well.

There are others as well, but this is the only one I can think of off-hand.

Your post saves me one I was intending to put together after the holidays about the changes in on-line Masonry and the wealth of resources available today that were not around when I joined 25 years ago. Today, instead of myths spouted by PMs, you can now read myths spouted by websites ;) .

Greg and Dean's podcast is a bit different as it's, more or less, an interview show, while the others seem devoted to papers only.
Something I'd like the two of them to try some evening is a Masonic round-table, where they line up three of the regular callers in advance (as opposed to special guests), propose a subject, and then go around the "table" to each caller to get their thought on the subject. Yeah, it's stale and hackneyed, and CNN does it all the time, but what kind of ideas do you get for free? Radio consultants charge for their ideas (which can be just as lame).

Justa

Dean said...

Hey,

The moose looks really nice. I will not tell Greg you think he looks like a moose. I'm not sure how he would take that. Best if we just keep that as a secret between you and I Nick... ;)
As per Justa's comment about the Table talk. I think you will see more shows like that in the new year. We did some early on but then the ummm "Moose" went and booked so many awesome guests that we didn't have time for more open table talks. Good problem to have if you ask me. We have learned a lot about running a podcast in the last few months. Greg is great to work with and our guests/live listening audience have been fabulous. Look for us to take some of Justamason's advice in 2009. Look forward to having you join us on our last show for 2008 on Dec, 21 @ 9:00PM EST and then into 2009...http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/19162

Greg Stewart said...

For the record, I do not look like a moose.