We Are Offaly

A forum to air your views on Offaly GAA matters and beyond.
LooseCannon
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Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:31 am

Re: We Are Offaly

Post by LooseCannon »

Good Luck

pigeon house biffo
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Posts: 243
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2017 10:49 am
Club: Rynagh

Re: We Are Offaly

Post by pigeon house biffo »

Does anyone know if this podcast will run again this year? It was a fantastic listen last year especially for someone living overseas. If there is any updates on it or its future going forward I would appreciate it.

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Lone Shark
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Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 5:21 pm
Club: Ferbane
Location: Roscommon
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Re: We Are Offaly

Post by Lone Shark »

Only right I should field this, all things considered ! :D

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this podcast, but the truth of the matter is that the logic behind it was to try and steadily grow it into something where it would be worthwhile for sponsors to come on board, and it was difficult to do that. I'll be frank and say this was largely my fault. I got a lot of support from people on here and people generally, but it is the nature of podcasts like this that you need to be up and live by Monday evening to get a good listenership, and I struggled to do that. I work in the Roscommon Herald office on Mondays, and for family reasons Tuesday is usually my day off - weekend work and all that. That meant that it was Wednesday at best, or sometimes even Friday, before it went live, depending on who I was trying to line up to be my guest at the time - and the numbers suffered for that. I felt I got good people in - at the risk of singling people out, the episodes with Seán Ryan, Colm Cummins and Niall Wynne I thought went quite well - but the time constraints just meant that it rarely went over 500 listens, and you need to consistently hit 1000 to have any chance of interesting a sponsor.

Moreover, the structure of the Offaly championships and the poor fortunes of the county don't help. I make the biggest chunk of my living at weekends, and I have to choose where I go. I'll often take a slight hit to go to a game in Offaly as opposed to one at the same time in Roscommon, Westmeath or Galway, but if you aren't a staffer for a local paper, then there's slim pickings for the likes of Division Three football in Tullamore, and there's nothing at all in it for you in an away game. The fact that we went with club championship structures that involved 28 games to eliminate two teams meant that national papers who previously would have taken roundup pieces also lost interest. And while it's one thing to do something like this as a labour of love, it's another thing entirely to do it when you're passing up €200 worth of work at one game outside the county, just to be at the more revelant one locally.

I will say this - if there is a sponsor out there who feels that there's value in it for them to get in on the ground floor and put something together, I'd love to hear from them. Alternatively, if someone else would like to take up the mantle and run with it, I'd be happy to pass on whatever small amount of experience I have, and to hand over the branding for them to pick it up. But unless something unusual happens, it won't be realistic for me to take it up again this year unfortunately.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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