Forced to pause an interview while waiting for my Mac to stop grinding its hard drive and catch up with the notes I’ve typed, the former stand-up comic went into an improvised riff.
“I’m a Windows guy. I love when Mac people have trouble,” cracked Wayne Turmel, who made a living as a comedian for 15 years. “There’s nothing sadder than a Mac user with a computer problem. Windows users are like Cubs fans. We expect the misery, so when it happens it doesn’t surprise us.”
That’s the type of humor Turmel channels into his popular podcast, “The Cranky Middle Manager.”
Podcasts are downloadable audio files you can listen to on your PC or portable MP3 player. Nearly all podcasts are free.
During the day, Turmel is the director of faculty for Communispond, a New York-based training firm. He oversees 45 instructors.
“If you look at all the management sites and books, they’re all incredibly noble and pure of heart,” Turmel began. “Nobody wants to acknowledge that sometimes you want to grab somebody by the lapels and shake them. Nobody wants to say managers have those urges. My show does.”
Of course, his show also acknowledges that managers shouldn’t resort to physical confrontation with their subordinates.
“I talk about what it means to be a manager,” he explained. “A lot of these people were IT people, or good engineers, and all of a sudden, they’ve found themselves to be managers.”
Turmel puts out four podcasts each month. Since he launched the program last year, there have been 55 episodes. You can hear the shows and download them at his Web site (http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com).
The technology Turmel uses to put his podcasts together is as commonly available as it is affordable.
“It’s cheap like borscht” to do a podcast, he said.
The most expensive tool he uses is a $50 microphone built into headphones. It’s called the Logitech Premium USB headset 350 and is intended for online gamers.
When Turmel does interviews, he uses Skype (www.skype.com), a popular application that lets you have conversations over the Internet for free. He uses Skype so that his conversations are in a digital format.
Turmel uses HotRecorder (www.hotrecorder.com; $15) to record his interviews on his computer’s hard drive. It’s as simple as clicking “record” before starting his interview. HotRecorder is currently only available for Windows-based PCs.
Then, to record his own solo segments and edit the podcast, he uses a free program called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net). It includes an “audio timeline,” where bits of sound can be dragged-and-dropped. Opening and closing music can be added as well.
“Given the cheap mike I’m using, the quality of the finished product is really good,” he said. “It’s easy for a technophobe like me to figure out how to use all this.”
Turmel is surprised at the high-level people a podcast opens doors to. He has interviewed David “Getting Things Done” Allen and Judith “The DNA of Leadership” Glaser.
“I could never have gotten within a million miles of these people,” Turmel said. “Now I regularly talk to professors at Harvard. These people would have no reason to talk to me, but now, they talk to me.”
Last month, “The Cranky Middle Manager” had 6,000 downloads and 5,100 unique visitors. This month, he has already surpassed 6,000 unique visitors.
Why does Turmel do it?
“It’s a neurotic cry for attention,” he said. “I did stand-up comedy for 15 years. This is a creative outlet for me, and it feeds into my passion for the subject.”
The best part about it, he adds, is how easy it is to create and listen to a podcast.
“I listen to most of my podcasts at my desk while eating a sandwich. All you need is a computer with speakers.”
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Alex L. Goldfayn is host of “The Technology Tailor Show” on WGN-AM 720 on Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
alex@technologytailor.com
