“One, she's a professional broadcaster. My guess is that she has experience in the industry for speaking, whereas I don't. One of the reasons I started podcasting was to improve my speaking skills.

Second, she has a team of production people helping her to do what she does. I started from scratch. Everything I've done is from what I can learn on my own as time permits. Though from what I hear, she started much the same way.

Third, she has the backing of labels. There's no doubt about it that money makes things sound better. My self-produced albums don't sound nearly as amazing as those I've done in a professional studio. A good engineer makes a big difference. Record labels provide the money to make decent albums sound great. T&S plays mostly (though not exclusively) bigger named artists in the industry.

I approach the podcast differently. My goal is to support the independent artists who don't have the time or money to get heard by T&S. Many of these artists are just as good musicians, but they don't have the money to spend to make an album that sounds perfect. They do the best they can with the resources available and then release it to the world.

Ultimately, T&S is networked into a business world that independents can't compete in (yet). And I do my best to give them voice and say, there's an alternative to the old world system where the artists are not heard. So as you say, she has the money and experience behind her to make her sound professional.”

Have you heard Thistle & Shamrock? What are your thoughts? I'd love to improve the overall sound of my podcasts to a level of T&S. But ultimately, I do prefer to support the independent Celtic musician. Thoughts?

I had a couple responses when I posted this for others which were enlightening to me.

“And Fiona Ritchie (who is Scottish, BTW) started out in a very similiar way to you, just different technology. She started as a volunteer on public radio as a grad student in North Carolina in the early 80's. She does have tons of experience. I'm not aware that she's gotten rich doing this work.

I am not comfortable with the divide between independent and commercial art. I think of it as a continuum. Some folks get lucky and break through to commercial success, and I have yet to meet an artist who was not happy to do so. You should be very proud of giving a voice to the folks who have not yet been heard. I see no discontinuity between what you do and what Fiona's been doing for nearly 30 years.

And I am not aware of any great differential in quality between the two. I focus on the music, and am glad to have both.

Her long experience, focus and resources result in a smoother production. And if this was all you were doing, you would progress along that path as well. Question is, is that what you want to do?

In sum – I see no conflict between you wanting to improve the overall sound of the podcast and a preference in supporting independent music. Is this question about the differential in production values of your podcast or of the music you play? You can still play the latter while improving what YOU do.”

and also:

“Fiona. First her voice, with the quite thick Scots accent. Then, the way she narrates: It's like your closer on RenFest Podcast. The descriptions, history, and back-stories she gives takes you to Ireland or Scotland, to the back corner of a smoky pub with the pint glasses clattering and the common folk speaking of the day, then proceeding to forget about it with the music. Marc, she paints pictures with words, and then uses the music as a brush to fill in the colors.”

I found especially that last post interesting, because that is a major difference that goes beyond indie or major label tastes. Fiona gives more facts and stories in her shows. I don't. Though Wendy's Cleveland Celtic Podcast focuses on that little more, as does the Celtic Folk Podcast. For the most part, I just play the music.