Shawn King, host-producer of Your Mac Life, the Internet show about all things Mac, is launching a second show: YML XTended. And he’s got even bigger plans in the works.
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“We think there’s a market for a show like this,” King told MacCentral. “Folks want to hear more about Mac OS X. There’s nothing we’re covering on YML XTended that can’t be found out at, say, MacCentral or in Macworld magazine. But listeners can hear the voices of the people talking about Mac OS X, and the audio adds a completely different level. It’s a show that will help people, if not understand Mac OS X better, to know where there are resources for learning more.”
YML XTended is targeted at three different types of listeners, King said. The first are those who haven’t moved to Mac OS X yet, but are considering it. The second are those who have moved over to the new operating system, but don’t really understand how to use it to its full potential. The third type of potential listener for the new show is the power user and the Unix guru. “We want to show them what they can do with Mac OS X, what power it gives them,” King said.
“In other words, people like me,” King said. “People who were experts with Mac OS 8 and 9, maybe even before, but now are newbies all over again. For instance, there is a whole folder of Mac OS X applications on my computer — and I don’t know what they do. I want to help people like me.”
The show will follow the same format as Your Mac Life. There will be interviews, phone-in callers and “on-air” e-mails. For the first month or so, the hour-long show will be pre-recorded.
As for the future, King hopes to create a show that combines the advantages of radio, television and the Internet. That’s one of the reasons he recently relocated from Canada to Nashville, TN.
“In my mind, I’ve envisioned doing a simulcast of the Internet show on ‘real’ radio,” King said. “Nashville, of course, has a strong audio component, so there are a lot of people here who can help out in this regard. Plus, there are a lot of radio stations I can buy time on and simulcast Your Mac Life on traditional radio and the Internet.”
When will it happen? Depends on advertising support, audience support and other factors. However, King is experimenting with LiveChannel right now to pave the way for the future.
“We’ve been running tests with LiveChannel for the last few Your Mac Life shows,” he said. “We don’t want to just do radio on the Internet or TV on the Internet. We want to bring all the good things from all three and mesh them together into one show and one format. After all, our goal is to entertain folks. And visuals offer more entertainment possibilities.”
Live Channel lets users create a virtual live TV studio on any Mac. It handles all the production and broadcasting steps in a single application. It’s based on Channel Storm’s proprietary Live Render technology that enables video switching, compositing and professional transitions, all performed with real-time anti-aliasing on the multiple live video and audio sources, recorded clips, still images, logos, graphics and text that Live Channel supports.
The possibilities of the new show aren’t the only reason for moving from Vancouver (where he lived for several years) to Nashville. Opportunities popped up with Griffin Technologies and Marathon Computers, two sponsors of Your Mac Life. Also, King thought it would be an interesting “adventure” to be a Canadian living in the US. Plus, Nashville’s location makes it easy to travel.
“Geographically, it allows me to visit a lot of places I’ve always wanted to visit: Dallas, Florida, East Coast, all those places, and everywhere in between. I love to drive — I’m comfortable driving about 10 hours a day — and now I’ve got a good excuse to get in my car and head to, say, Pennsylvania or Cincinnati or wherever, as part of my tour of user groups.”
Plus, air travel is less expensive in the States than in Canada. This lets him visit still more Mac User Groups (MUGs). In fact, he’s planning on visiting a user group a month — except for July, when he’ll be at Macworld New York. You can keep up with King’s MUG touring schedule at the Mug Center, a resource for Mac user groups.
“I’ve been surprised at how many groups wanted someone to come and speak — not necessarily Shawn King, but a guest speaker,” he said. “And I love user groups. They’re great, and I think more Mac users should get involved with them. User groups are a great resource.”
With all the changes in his life — moving to Nashville, leaving The Mac Show to start Your Mac Life — King said, “professionally, things are going better expected.” When he left the previous show, he anticipated that it would take six months to reach its level of success with Your Mac Life. But it happened in less than two, much to his amazement.
“From a listenership point of view and the quality of the guests, the old show very successful,” King said. “But the Mac community really responded to Your Mac Life in a way that surprised and gratified me. I was blown away by the response. When the press release went out about my new show, I got over 1,200 e-mails and only two were negative.”