Introducing the Reading Roars! podcast
What makes a town unique? It is said that the people make the town. It is true of Reading, in my opinion, derided by some outsiders who describe it as “soulless” or a “commuter town” (quite a derogatory tag).
There really is more to Reading than a busy railway station, commercial high street and shopping centres. There are buzzing personalities who give the town a distinctive identity, through their community deeds for example, or their running of independent cafes and historical pubs.
It is a theme that I am exploring with a new podcast series, Roarcasts. In this series, I aim to find out through informal conversations what makes busy people (local business owners, artists and community leaders, for example) in Reading tick, why they do what they do in Reading (as opposed to anywhere else) and what they have planned for the future.
The series begins with a chat with Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, the Ethiopian restaurant and catering service based at Reading’s Global Cafe. In Roarcast #1, Tutu revealed to me why she started Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, what her most popular dish is, the importance of Ethiopian coffee and more.
Before going any further, I should add that I was inspired by podcasts giants Nick Saalfeld and Mike Southon with their Beermat Radio podcasts and Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame. As for the apparently curious name “Roarcast” (sounding somewhat like “broadcast”), this was wittily suggested by Joff Hopkins of Reading 107 FM.
Without further ado, the running order for Roarcast #1 (11 minutes 10 seconds) is below. Please let me know what you think. It’s a first for me, so plenty of room for improvement! At times you will hear the sound fade out and in. It’s a fairly crude editing technique for when I want to snip certain sections, but I’m a newbie and expect to come up with something better.
- 00:00:00 Introduction
- 00:00:48 Tutu’s Ethiopian Table: how it started
- 00:02:46 About the food
- 00:03:29 Authenticity, Fair Trade and keeping it local
- 00:05:52 (Ethiopian) coffee and popcorn
- 00:07:30 The most popular dish
- 00:07:57 Global specials: food from other countries
- 00:09:00 Ethiopian music and dance
- 00:10:10 Tutu’s Ethiopian Table opening times
Roarcast #1: Tutu Melaku and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table [MP3]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Matt Brady on June 9th 2008 in Business, Culture, Reading Roars, Roarcasts
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::Wendy:: responded on 10 Jun 2008 at 12:18 am #
Fabulous idea
VEry atmospherica, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and will come back to hear more from the wonderful local people.
It would be good to have some pictures aswell, even digital stills in the blog post so we can look at Tutu and the Global cafe as she talks.
Matt Brady responded on 10 Jun 2008 at 4:26 am #
Many thanks Wendy
Your idea about inserting pictures is a good one. I will try to get one done (similar to a television “noddie”, I imagine, after the interview takes place).