As most of you know, I've been hosting the podcast Comic News Insider for over 5 years with my good friend Joe Gonzalez (that's him in the pic on the left). As you may or may not know, he recently left the show to pursue hischaritable goals. Since that time, I've recruited friends to sit in the "rotating guest host" chair. A few were in studio and others via Skype. All fantastic, of course!
However, as fantastic as they were on the show, it's not the same as when I recorded with Joe every Tuesday night for the past 5+ years. Plus, Joe has been a good friend of 16+ years. We had a natural, easy flowing banter. I'm good friends with others who have co-hosted over the past month, but I'll admit that it didn't flow like it normally does. And that's MY fault. To be honest, it's tough falling into a comfortable vibe with a different person. No matter how well I know them. I've always talked over Joe a bit (okay, A LOT!) but found myself talking over the guest hosts even more so. Most likely out of trying to keep the show going since they aren't as familiar with the format and just not knowing the subtle nuances of conversation between us. For instance, Joe and I had great timing and that's hard to recapture. Especially over Skype as there's always a bit of a delay. Again, nothing against any guest host. This is all me.
I was an actor/singer/dancer for years. Wrote and performed sketch comedy as well. I'm comfortable in front of a mic, on a stage, etc. But I suppose I can equate it to a theater experience. Years ago, I was playing "Woof" in the 30th anniversary of the musical Hair here in NYC. One night, our lead girl was really ill. We had to change a couple of the roles around. Alyssa was out. Jill was in her part. And Katie was in Jill's part. And so on. The show wasn't bad, but it was really different and just didn't flow as well. We had been rehearsing/performing for months with the original line up and this was a drastic change. It wasn't a bad show (Jill & Katie were awesome) but I know some audience members weren't happy.
Same can be said for the podcast. Without Joe, it's just different. I'm finding my feet again and I'm going to stumble a bit. As evident in recent shows. I got some hate on Twitter from people who tuned in last week for the first time to hear my guest host, the awesomely talented Ming Doyle. Rightfully so, they loved her because she rocked it. (I keep telling her she's a natural. If we lived in the same city, I'd definitely want to use her more. But I'm betting she'll have her own podcast soon enough.) But they took umbrage with me and found me "boring" at first. New listeners are unaware of the format and how we've done it for years. (i.e. What/how we review comics, TV & film, personal banter, etc.). And with the constant change of guest hosts, I've definitely been stumbling a bit. Still, not my intention to alienate new listeners.
To loyal CNI listeners, I humbly apologize. It's not the show you are used to and I promise to do my best to bring that back. Joe can never be replaced but I hope to find a way to keep the show entertaining and fun. All I can ask is to stick with it for awhile until the kinks are worked out.
The format will stay the same: Intro, banter, reviews, news, interview, Top 3, listener feedback, plugs, etc. I've talked of switching it up a bit and still might tinker around. CNI has always tried to cover a wide variety of things from the nerd world. When reviewing comics, we don't just cover DC and Marvel. We'll cover superhero, indie, slice of life, all ages, noir, zombie, and pretty much any type of comic book out there. We try to keep our TV/Film talk somewhat related to the sci-fi/fantasy realm but can go a bit off topic on occasion. I've been told by some listeners that they don't like when we cover indie work. They just like the DC and Marvel stuff. Others are the opposite. Most seem to like that we cover it all. If you're not in that category, tune in for the parts you do like! We always have our show notes up of what we're reviewing and the news bits we're covering so you can make the choice to listen or not based on that.
Also, we discovered years ago that listeners seemed to enjoy hearing about our lives as well. What we've been up to that week and what not. Not everyone cares or likes that bit and I'll admit, we definitely went on too long in the past. I'll do my best to curb that "personal" info time down to a minimum. But for the few that don't dig it, I can show you tons of emails and comments to those that do.
If I do make changes and you like them, let me know. If you don't, DEFINITELY let me know. I'm going to need YOUR help to keep CNI going. CNI has an amazing global audience in the thousands and thousands. I don't want to lose that and hope to keep on building it. Please feel free to send in suggestions, criticisms and yes...even the hate can help improve. Good thing I don't have any of those pesky human feelings.
Thanks to everyone for always supporting us. And to the new folks tuning in or maybe just checking out an interview here and there, come back and check in on us every once in awhile. Hopefully, you'll like what you hear.
Email: [email protected], visit the official website and "Like" the Facebook page to send messages/comments.
Thanks again!
Jimmy Aquino
Host - Comic News Insider
