Help Popspotting

Popspotting Listener Edition

(updates at the end of the post)

Fellow listeners to Popspotting and friends of Ryan & Jen Ozawa, thank-you so much for taking the time to come here and read this! When I first read of Jen’s diagnosis of breast cancer (Jen’s Cancer Blog), I prayed for the family. My Mother is a survivor and I know how hard the diagnosis can be to the family. I also know that my Mom came through the treatments with much prayer support, help from church family, help and support from friends and family.

I know the Popspotting/Transmission community is reaching out to support Ryan & Jen and they have support from local friends and family. But I wanted another practical way to support them. So here is my idea. (This has not been discussed with Ryan & Jen yet, but I hope they do not mind.)

Let’s take the idea of the Thursday listener show and the feedback Friday and expand it. Let’s make Popspotting Listener Edition episodes. Take 20 minuets and share about the books, TV shows, movies, etc that you enjoy. Try not to be date specific. The goal is to have the LE episodes that Ryan and Jen can take and put into the feed when they need a break or cannot record. This gives them time to rest and recover and it helps the community get to know each other. I know a lot of listeners have their own podcasts so it will not be a challenge to them. But don’t let that stop you from recording if you don’t have a podcast or great equipments. I intend to sit down with my USB headset mic and GarageBand and record an episode soon.

Here is an Idea for the opening and closing to use.

Welcome to an episode of Popspotting Listener Edition. I’m (we’re) here to support Ryan & Jen and the Popspotting community. My name is __________ and today’s episode will be on:

Thanks for listening to Popspotting Listener Edition. We want to hear from you. You can call in your feedback at 815-310-0808. Send an email to

feedback(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)popspotting.net or leave a comment on the Facebook page at facebook.com/popspotting .

Once you have your episode recorded email it to the feedback email address. Be sure to include any show notes and links to what you talked about.

I hope this will serve to help and encourage Ryan & Jen during this challenging time. Thanks for your support. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Update from Ryan (see comments) But here is a suggestion from Him:

I’ll tell you what, full episodes would be fantastic, but even 10 to 20 minutes essays can be daunting. We’d be totally stoked with a few calls on the voicemail line. We would edit a few together and share that with everyone.

UPDATE 3/26/2012:

Since my ep has come out (click here), people have asked how I did it. Let me say I have a HIGH respect for podcasters. That 10 min. ep took me hours to do, but I am persnickety 😀 . I typed out a script and recorded the voiceover on GarageBand for my iPad (I tried recording it using a USB headset on my Mac but it has a buzz). I took the songs and edited them down in GarageBand to the length I wanted. I then pulled in the voiceover and 6 audio clips into GarageBand and used it to put in the clips and fade in and out. I then sent it to Ryan and he added the “Popspotting” theme music.

But PLEASE don’t let the time stress you out or turn you away. Just call it in (as Ryan suggested), send a voice memo, or produce it. Do what you feel comfortable doing. The point it to support Ryan & Jen and the community. Anything helps!

UPDATE 3/31/2012:

Per Jen’s blog post, she will have to have radiation and chemotherapy treatments. That means that we as the Popspotting community have more opportunities to bless them with Listener Editions and feed back. So if you have not done so yet, record your feedback and or take the time to record a short listener edition. If you have any questions feel free to ask!