Ructions From Some Quarters....

Hi. I'm Stafford.and I'm an alcoholicYou might know me from The Internet's "The SeoulPodcast" along with the delightful Joe McPherson and the delicious Jennifer Young.

Collectively we have over 20 years of experience living and teaching in The Republic of Korea. We are all teachers of English as a Second language and the three of us either have or are actively pursuing postgraduate qualifications in the field. (Some of us for a second time).

In addition Joe has a number of years experience in Radio (Not to mention TV) in terms of production and research, Jennifer is a veteran of more than one Korea related podcast and I myself am no stranger to "The Studio" having done voice-over work over a number of years as well as doing some production work for a radio talk back station back in New Zealand.

So in terms of our little hobby, "The SeoulPodcast" you might say we're doing pretty well and we know what we're doing.

I couldn't possibly comment.

But plenty of people do, each week, in addition to the hundreds who actually download and listen to it.

The SeoulPodcast doesn't claim to be a hard hitting news show. Likewise we are more than aware of our sometimes slanted views, indeed we often revel in it, but we try to be as balanced as possible attracting guests from both sides of the political spectrum, contrasting "angry" bloggers with "happy" ones as well as trying to interface with current events.

What we try to do is have a conversation. A chat. A bit of a chin-wag amongst friends if you will, and we invite you to eavesdrop.

We've talked about Mad Cow. We've talked about Roh Moo Hyun. We've talked about ATEK, we've talked about the best places to see and go in Korea, we've talked about the contrasts between Korea and Canada, Korea and Hong Kong and Korea and most recently Korea and Japan.

And last week The SeoulPodcast #57 talked about H1N1, also known as SI or Swine Flu

Now stoooopid me, I had a few issues on Sunday, getting back from Busan and what not so made an appearance late in the piece after the guest segments and just in time to wrap up, so with that in mind I think I have a reasonably objective view of this particular podcast.

There has been some consternation, nay ructions, from some quarters as to the professionalism of what went on during the recording of number 57.

Now woe betide The SeoulPodcast should it ever become wary of a bit of hijinks, but I digress.

Anyway, it was mooted that some of the other recent quarantine graduates should be called to seek their reaction.

On the second try the Podcast managed to connect with one teacher named Riley who wasn't really prepared to speak on the podcast, mainly I think because he was eating dinner, was a bit disoriented, having just checked into a hotel after finishing quarantine, and I guess genuinely surprised to have been called.

Riley makes his excuses and notes that he isn't really up to making any comments regarding his quarantine, but he finishes the call amicably and has had no need to contact anyone since the show was published to ask for the segment to be removed etc.

Interesting Podcasting? Hell yes.

Hijinks? Probably a bit lame actually but no harm done. If anything there's one more listener!

Unprofessional? Bugger off. The "Rationale" of cold calling people for comment, live on air is a standard practice for radio and TV (and I guess Podcasting) and has been since time immemorial. Personal details weren't revealed, and it's a fair call to try and contact someone for their comments on an experience that is in the news.

Remember The SeoulPodcast doesn't claim to be hard hitting news, but if we can provide new insight to our growing listenership then we will take the opportunity when it arises.

The Hosts of The SeoulPodcast are equally cognisant of people's right to privacy and the implications of appearing on the show in relation to work and backlash from employers. Indeed, later in Number 57 Joe audibly stops himself from mentioning a school and the rest of he panel agrees that it's sensible in this case not to mention the school.

In no instance has there been peoples' private information broadcast over the internets. Their anonymity has not been compromised and no where has anyone's job been put in jeopardy.

In no way is what happened on SeoulPodcast #57 unprofessional.

Do you know what I do find unprofessional?

Inane questions as suggestions for journalism that are the quality of a 3rd grade survey activity.

What's in your fridge Fucktard?

Comments

[Hwarangi]

HeHe, Touche ^^

[Good Jen the Delicious]

You don't really pull any punches, do you? I still think one of you two slept with his girl and that's why he clearly hates us, and yet seems to listen to every episode, taking notes. 'Fess up!

[Brian Dear]

LOL. I have an empty fridge at the moment.. but I'm sure I'm not the FIQ (Fucktard-in-Question.) Come to think of it, I'm not a fucktard at all. Not even a ricetard. lol.. Great shows as always.. Interestingly, I have a bit of a journalism background myself, having worked for Reuters as a contract journalist from 1996-2002. So, I too have a bit of knowledge about "unprofessional" or not.. The Seoul Podcast isn't NPR (thank F'ing God!) nor is it the BBC (ditto) -- it's a fun romp through K-land. If anyone has problems with the lack of "professionalism," then they are invited to make their own show and let the marketplace of ideas be the judge. The show isn't unlike a fun morning drive show, but luckily with an exponentially higher IQ. I love the Podcast (especially since I'm on the soon-to-be-legendary Epidsode 57.) Keep it real, yo!

[John from Daejeon]

Time immemorial…really? I doubt Mr. Bell had to worry about Mr. Watson, or anyone else in the world, being a nuisance and cold calling him while at the dinner table back in the day (1876).

Too bad you didn’t cold call me. I have a unique spiel that I use when dealing with low-life salespeople, canvassers, and other wasters of my valuable time. It may involve earsplitting volume, extremely foul language, or your speaking with my parrot on speaker phone, so I can at least get a good laugh out of it.

[Stafford]

From Karl via Facebook:

I liked the piece. It locked in for me the state these teachers are in after their lock up. This poor guy didn't want to waste any more time trying to figure something out based on limited information he was gleaning from something he didn't fully understand and just wanted to get back to his life. I don't know if you revealed his full name or anything but the piece conveyed a certain mental state that I couldn't haven got from a blog post.

[Stafford]

From Joe via email:

I should have told you that I edited the parts out where Riley speaks fluent Korean. I'm pretty sure he's gyopo, and he was just talking to his girlfriend in Korean. So, he's not some naive guy new to Korea. I felt it was disingenuine for Jason to paint him as a disoriented guy new to Korea. He had a cell phone and spoke fluent Korean. I also cut out the phone number and consciously made sure that he wouldn't be easily identifiable. I've known a few people with that name. Did a little research and found, yeah, people on regular radio do much, much worse.

And via Facebook

Really? The first name? I'm getting word that Riley, after the call, found it pretty funny.

[Stafford]

From Michael Foster via Facebook:

Stafford, she's got a point. I almost entirely agree with you on this issue, but you really should have censored the teacher's name.

I'm not sure Mike realises Jason from Kimchi-Icecream is a dude....

[Stafford]

From Robin via Facebook:

Much ado about nothing.