Episodes
Saturday Aug 06, 2011
The Sunderland, by Leslie Burns
Saturday Aug 06, 2011
Saturday Aug 06, 2011
A couple of years ago, in March 2009, I recorded a Podcast interview with my own Father, Leslie Burns. I'm glad I did so because, just ten months later, he passed away. After his death I found a neatly typed manuscript which he had hoped to get published, about a big event in his life that had occurred only weeks before the end of the war. The story was never taken up by any editors. I'm sure that would have disappointed him. So, instead, I'm providing the opportunity for it to be heard.
Wednesday Dec 15, 2010
The Just Plain Sense Christmas Special
Wednesday Dec 15, 2010
Wednesday Dec 15, 2010
It feels incredible to reflect that we are coming up to the third Christmas for the Just Plain Sense Podcast. The show has covered so much in the last 80 episodes and I hope to continue for a long time to come. Usually, as the producer and presenter of these shows, it is my job to ask the questions. With the occasional exception, I try not to be self-indulgent. The festive season provides an excuse for us all to let our hair down and forget the conventions though. That's why I thought it would be nice to turn the tables and present this recent on-air show where, instead, the questions were coming my way. Andrew Edwards presents the Saturday Forum on Gaydio -- the Manchester based LGBT FM station that I featured in a recent show. The last half hour of every show features 'the Mix Tape' where a guest selects and talks about four music tracks that mean something special. This was my turn in the hot seat...
Tuesday Mar 17, 2009
About the next Episode
Tuesday Mar 17, 2009
Tuesday Mar 17, 2009
Today (17th March) I have completed production on the next Podcast (episode 57). However, this won't be released for a week because it is my contribution to the Ada Lovelace campaign (see the recent episode on this for details). I'm very excited about the forthcoming episode as it features one of the true pioneers of the computer and technology revolution, Professor Lynn Conway. Lynn's most famous work, which came to fruition 30 years ago this autumn, created the basis for engineers to be able to design and prototype electronic chip designs fast enough and cheap enough to make the technology feasible for inclusion in practically every electronic device we use today. I am going to sit on that exciting interview until the allotted day, March 24th, but in the meantime here is a short video about how remote interviews like Lynn Conway's are made. There are also some more details about the production process in general on the Just Plain Sense Blog.
Saturday Jan 17, 2009
Fascinating Adele - Part One
Saturday Jan 17, 2009
Saturday Jan 17, 2009
They are described as Britain’s sassiest, funniest, craziest musical comediennes. Imagine “Sex and the City” with harmonies. The Mail on Sunday said, “See them before you die or your life will have been meaningless”... Fascinating Aida have been collecting ecstatic hyperbole from reviewers for a quarter of a century and have an immensely loyal fan base. Yet, in Britain at least, musical comedy and satire is still not an area that all that many women have conquered. So what’s the secret of showbiz success and longevity for three women with a wicked sense of humour? Adele Anderson, who joined the Act a year after it was created in 1984, was very generous with her time for this interview in her hotel room, a couple of hours before going on stage at the Lowry in Salford. In fact we spent so much time that there's enough for two episodes. This first episode departs from the normal "Just Plain Sense" format to focus on the group itself, their music and Adele's career. In next week's episode Adele talks about press interest in her personal background and some of the TV and film projects she has appeared in. The songs you hear in this episode come from the albums "A Load of Old Sequins" and "It, Wit, Don't Give a S**t Girls", which can be purchased from FA's website or online from iTunes. Fans of FA may also be interested in this interview with Adele's colleagues, Dillie Keane and Liza Pullman
Sunday Dec 14, 2008
Fishing for Birds
Sunday Dec 14, 2008
Sunday Dec 14, 2008
I'm hoping to get one more interview online for Just Plain Sense before the holiday season is upon us. In the meantime regular listeners with a Podcast 'habit' to feed may like to know about a separate new channel which I've now opened for my poetry ... Fishing for Birds features personal readings of the many poems I penned during the 1970's and 1990's. Almost thirty of these have been recorded already and, to kick things off, I've already released the first six of those. The rest will be released at the rate of one or two each day over the holidays. The title poem in the collection is based on the experience of meeting a disabled man one day when I was walking across Boston Common, in Massachusetts. The experience of learning how Richard Troise overcame his physical limitations to fly kites had a lasting effect on my own thinking about dealing with apparent barriers. That's why I think it has a valid place here, as a taster. Happy listening!
Monday Sep 29, 2008
Your survey feedback and the new season two
Monday Sep 29, 2008
Monday Sep 29, 2008
A couple of weeks ago I invited listeners to complete a short audience feedback survey whilst I decided whether to do any more "Just Plain Sense" Podcasts after the exhausting first run. Well, you didn't disappoint! The good news is that your helpful feedback and encouraging words have persuaded me to prepare a second series. The recordings for the first proper episode are already "in the can" in fact. Whilst I settle down to edit those, however, this curtain raiser looks at what you liked -- and weren't so keen about. There are tantalising previews of the next episode's controversial contributors. And now there's a theme tune too -- composed and performed originally by LIPA student Kate Threlfall for North West England's annual celebration of diversity, Celebr8, Don't Discrimin8.
Tuesday Mar 04, 2008
The Chief Executive’s Guide to Podcasting
Tuesday Mar 04, 2008
Tuesday Mar 04, 2008
Birds do it, Bees do it but should educated company executives be doing it? Podcast producer and consultant Christine Burns offers a jargon-free insight into whether this is a communications medium that can work for your own company.