Don’t Panic

Hi TPN listeners and fans,

Between the 29th of September and the 3rd of October, The Podcast Network web site will be undergoing some major server work that will increase (fingers crossed) both the speed and the reliability of the service you have come to love and cherish 😉

Access to the web site and the functionality of the RSS feed will at best experience a small blip of down time… and at worst…well..it could vanish into the bermuda triangle that is tech land for upto four days. I have also had to switch of the ability to post comments on all the sites till we are fully operational as well.

Stick with us through this little hick-up and I promise we will return to normal transmission as quick as possible.

Thanks guys and gals…

Mick Stanic
Co-Founder of The Podcast Network

G’Day World “On The Pod” #50 – John Buckman

Wow, the 50th G’DAY WORLD interview. How time flies.

And I couldn’t be happier with the subject of our 50th show – John Buckman, Founder and CEO of Magnatune, the hippest record label on the planet.

Magnatune is the record label with the motto “We Are Not Evil”.

The backstory is something like this: John was the CEO of a software company when his wife was signed as an artist to a indy record label and, from that dismal experience, they decided that they could do a better job and Magnatune was born in April 2003. Magnatune currently has 202 artists selling 418 albums. Listen to the show to check out their very cool business model.

Oh, by the way, John wants to write a book titled “How to Overthrow the Music Industry”.

You just know I’m going to like this bloke, right?

The track at the end of the show is called “Wreck of the Zephyr” and is by one of Magnatune’s artists, Houston-based DROP TRIO. Very funky sheeeit.

Oh, and by the way, this show was recorded using Skylook, the awesome cool plug-in for Microsoft Outlook, based in Melbourne Australia.

G’Day World “On The Pod” #49 – Prof Kevin Hindle

On #49 I’m joined by Professor Kevin Hindle. Kevin and I met about five years ago when he asked me to present to his Masters class about innovation happening in the e-business space and on my predictions for where the big opportunities lay in the early part of the 21st century. For the record, I didn’t mention podcasting.

START BIO:
Kevin Hindle is Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne , Australia . He is a researcher, educator, management consultant and private equity investor. His variety of expertise and interests embrace many aspects of managing in conditions of uncertainty. His research, teaching, managerial and consulting work focuses on entrepreneurial business planning but includes: investment evaluation (especially in the field of venture capital), market and financial modelling, change management, organisational design, corporate strategy and management training. Applying leading-edge research to practical problems, he has initiated and developed new ventures and worked for organisations large and small, public and private, Australian and international. He is Australian Project Director of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the world’s largest entrepreneurship research initiative.
END BIO.

We talk about entrepreneuship in Australia and what it means to be an entrepreneur, subjects Kevin knows a great deal about.

G’Day World “On The Pod” #48 – Sir Harry Kroto

Something a bit different today. No Mick (but you’re used to that by now) and no Cam. Well very little Cam, anyway. I hear you sigh in relief.

My mate Sir Mike Seyfang aka The Fang in Adelaide recently had the chance to record a talk given by Sir Harry Kroto to a bunch of schoolkids in Adders and he has made it available to us with Sir Harry’s permission.

So… I hear you asking, who is Sir Harry Kroto when he’s at home?

Well… why write something when I can link to his full auto-biography on the NOBEL PRIZE website?

That’s right – Sir Harry was one of three guys who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of the BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE aka Carbon60. C60 is important in the field of nanotechnology, heat resistance and superconductivity, among other applications.

Here’s his personal website for more info.

Let me apologize in advance for Mike’s poor audio quality in the small intro we recorded but he was in the dunny at the time. 🙂

Sir Harry kicks in about 8 minutes in.

Thank you Sir Mike and Sir Harry!

G’Day World “On The Pod” #47 – Father Bob Maguire

If you’ve never encountered Father Bob Maguire, you’re in for a genuine treat with this show.

His official bio really doesn’t do him justice:

Fr Maguire began parish work in the 1960’s. He Joined the Army Reserve In 1965 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During the Vietnam War, he led the Character Training Unit for young officers. He came to Sts Peter and Paul’s as Parish Priest in 1973.

Fr Maguire co-founded Open Family in 1978 in what was a natural progression of his career in helping others. In what started off as a solo effort outside his role of South Melbourne parish priest, Fr Bob found himself working with the street-people of St Kilda. As Open Family’s Chairman, he has been an outspoken advocate of the poor and disadvantaged.

Throughout his Life, Fr Maguire’s goal has been to provide a semblance of basic human relationships to young people who have been rejected by their family, the education system and the welfare system.

For his work with street children, Fr Bob Maguire was awarded with the Order of Australia in 1989.

This recent article does it better:

Even at 71 years of age, South Melbourne priest Father Bob Maguire can still be counted on to stir up some controversy. But it’s all for a good cause, writes Andrew Fenton.

The first time we meet, Bob Maguire is jovial and charming, making jokes and hamming it up for the camera. “Oh, so you must have heard about the woman running away from the church?” he says, chuckling. “Or about the time I spent in prison?”

Maguire also says “Jesus Christ!” a number of times, yet never in a religious context. First impression: top bloke. But Maguire is as volatile as he is excitable, and the second time we meet he has transformed into a grumpy old fellow who yells a lot.

Despite agreeing to give a tour of his church and presbytery in South Melbourne, he’s changed his mind, and excitedly yammers at a couple of volunteers to do itfor him. They agree rather wearily, but it’s clear they’d rather be elsewhere.

Maguire is at best cantankerous; at worst, the world’s biggest pain in the rectory. He barks replies, refuses to answer questions, and generally behaves badly because he’s old and can get away with it. Despite this, he manages to be extremely likeable. His bluster is like a summer storm – quickly forgotten.

Maguire is a 71-year-old Catholic priest who believes Australia would be better off if drugs were decriminalised, and who is receptive to the argument that private schools should be abolished.

He contradicts the Pope by saying the church should butt out of the contraception debate. He created controversy after taking confessions live on radio; he once blessed Crown Casino and angered Reverend Tim Costello; and he’s the oldest personality ever to appear weekly on Triple J.

I first became aware of him about six months ago, when I was urged by my mate Ben Barren to listen to the podcast of SUNDAY NIGHT SAFRAN, a show on Australia’s JJJ youth network about “religion, politics and hoochies”.

Since then I’ve been fortunate to chat with Bob in person a number of times and he’s my kind of bloke. No bullshit about him and he is on a mission to change things. The neighbourhood, the country, the church. And I want to help him get it done.

I’m proud to announce that this interview is actually Episode #1 of The Father Bob Show on TPN which will launch sometime in the next week.

If you want some more background on Father Bob, you can read his blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present, for your listening pleasure – the one, the only – Father Bob Maguire.