Bello Collective contributing editor Galen Beebe

I spoke to Galen Beebe who is a contributing editor at Bello Collective. Bello Collective is a website that is dedicated to writing about podcasting that focuses on criticism. Made up of a diverse team of writers, curators, podcasters and fans who are all passionate about the power of audio, they publishes analysis of specific podcasts, innovations in technology and journalism, and highlight shows that are worth listening to. It’s really a great hub for discourse about podcasts that goes beyond the well-worn hobby horses of monetisation and audience expansion.

Galen comes from a literature background which is why we get on a trip about writing in relation to podcasting, along with talking about the website and the newsletter which anyone who listens to this show should subscribe to. We also cover topics such as production values of podcasting during the pandemic, journalistic ethics in podcasting, podcasting's relationship to legacy media (what’s new and old about it), helping academics turn research into podcasts, podcasting as ekphrastic writing and difficulties of writing about podcasting in general, what should podcast criticism do in terms of the focus on form and content, and engaging the labour of difficult art.

In my opening remarks I think about the interrelationship between writing and speaking, between audio and text, and how the nomeclature we use to talk about podcasting can reflect the complex layers of technologies and practices that make defining a definitive criteria of the medium, so difficult.

Shownotes

Bello Collective Website and newsletter sign-up

Galen Beebe on Twitter

Ministry of Ideas Podcast

Recent episode of Twenty Thousand Hertz: The Detterent Tone - written and produced by Galen Beebe

Galen is the second person to recommend In Strange Woods

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