eric rochow

I first met John Federico trying to climb past him and his chair at Cooper Union, as I noticed Gary Vaynerchuk of winelibrarytv.com, and I wanted to meet him. (Gary that is)

But then I sat down between Gary and John and got to know John. When you are with Gary Vaynerchuk, this can be difficult, as he talks almost constantly. But John and I did manage to get to know each other.

The first thing that impressed me about John were the postcards for his podcast, On Digital Media, they were better than my Gardenfork postcards.

At that time I didn’t listen to many podcasts, but I became a subscriber to On Digital Media, and now listen to it every week. I have since gotten to know John better, and he invited me to be a guest on On Digital Media.

On Digital Media is a podcast about the technology, creation, distribution, consumption and monetization of digital media and its effects on traditional media and marketing. If it’s part of the digital media ecosystem, you’ll likely hear about it here. Your hosts are John Federico, Chia-Lin Simmons, Ken Gellman and Steve Hatch.

One of the things I like about ODM is that it is an ensemble of people, not just one or two people. I think that is rare in the podcast world.

What’s its like to be a guest on ODM? Well, its fun. First you take the train to Maplewood, NJ, an urban version of Mayberry if there ever was one. Get off the train, walk past the softball fields and cross the street.

As I walked, I was thinking of how I usually think all media worth listening/watching comes out of NY, but here I was walking thru bucolic Mayberry to be on a podcast that is heard by thousands around the world. I start to ponder: behind which of these doors of all these nice homes could be a couple of people putting out a podcast or web video show that is as good or better than the Silicon Alley stuff we see? This is what the flattening of the world allows one to do; live in a great town and reach the world weekly.

When you see the Mini Cooper in the driveway [ John is always talking about this car on the podcast ] you’ve found the house, and there’s John, a glass of big fruit red in his hand, with one for you waiting inside.

Chia-Lin arrives, and we talk while waiting for Steve Hatch to arrive. For regular ODM listeners, yes, I can confirm Chia-Lin does like shoes, she had on these amazing red ones. Steve arrives, and we head up to the studio/thirdfloor of the house.

John sits at the controls of a Mac and a nice audio mixer, and we all have studio microphones and headphones. I’m impressed, and try to act like I know what I am doing. [ which is how I normally go thru life anyway ]

The group has noted news items from the week and tagged them on Deli.co.us. They do a quick rundown of what items they want to discuss, and kindly throw in a few that I might be able to comment on. On go the microphones, the intro is done, and they just start talking. I’m given a nice introduction, and the discussion begins.

Already I am in way over my head. [ how unusual ] And I then it hits me:

Ever sit in a room with 3 other people and quickly realize they are a whole lot smarter than you? That’s what its like to sit in with the On Digital Media crew.

No, we’re not going to talk about chainsaws or tomato hornworms, or how I used my truck to yank out the forsythia bushes, we’re talking about the stuff that really matters.

Chia-Lin can talk about anything and knows everything. She has an MBA and law degree. John will bring up a topic, and Chia-Lin just goes. I sit dumbfounded.

Steve sits across from John and has his laptop at the ready. Whatever they are talking about, Steve is referencing something. I learn he has built his own Linux based TIVO-like device. OK, the Bre Pettis of New Jersey.

I kept my mouth shut a lot. I tried to inject a few observations and jokes. Chia, Steve, and John were gracious hosts.

What took away from this is just how big the bigger picture is and the ODM crew really hits the nail on the head when talking about the big picture. ODM should have a slot on CNN, or maybe a web video show produced by choplogic?…