Fly fishing is deeply rooted in history and many fly fishermen to this day continue the traditions and techniques developed hundreds of years ago. There is an equal percentage of anglers who look to push the envelope of innovation to take this "sport" into the future.
Some traditionalists may scoff at the idea that one day we may look back and see that the Internet has had a greater impact on fly fishing than almost any other achievement. In my eyes, I can see that we are in the midst of an evolution that will forever change the fly fishing world. Never before have anglers from around the world been able to connect instantly to exchange information. We can conjure up a dream destination and within minutes we can have current fishing conditions, recommended patterns, local lodging, maps and any other tidbit of information we could possibly want. A world of fly fishing knowledge is at our fingertips and the process of sharing and gathering information has become instant and effortless.
Believe it or not the Internet is still considered to be in its infancy, and the technology will continue to grow and we will be able to do greater things in the near future. One of the new technologies is commonly referred to as a "podcast." Lucky for us two brave souls have decided to throw caution to the wind and launch the very first fly fishing podcast named Fly Fish Radio. I had the opportunity to recently talk with Mike and Wiley from Fly Fish Radio to learn a little more about this new frontier. I truly hope their endeavor is successful because what they are doing is unique and they are leading the way toward guaranteeing that fly fishermen keep up with the times.
Let’s start by assuming the readers are computer illiterate. Explain to us exactly what a “podcast” is, how it works, and what we might need to listen to your broadcast.
Wylie: The best way I have found to explain it is it's like a radio show but on-demand on the Internet, or as Bush says "the Internets." Rather than having to tune in at a certain time to catch the show, you can listen to any episode whenever you want to. Then the next step is to download the show to your iPod. Hence the name "podcast." Like a broadcast to your iPod.
How did Fly Fish Radio come to be? Who came up with the idea, what was your inspiration and what steps did you take for it to become reality?
Wylie: Fly Fish Radio was part of an idea I had been working on in early '05. I have a “portfolio” of fly fishing domains that I had outlined. Fly Fish Radio is the first site in the portfolio that I released. Mike and I have been talking about doing a fishing site for years, but we could never seem to make it a priority.
As for the inspiration… not sure; there isn’t anything like it out there and at first glance a radio show about fishing? Come on, it's hard enough to watch a TV show about fishing, let alone listen. Sounds like a horrible idea, right? So, I would say I was more inspired to build the portfolio of sites based on other areas of the Internet I had seen grow. Since that is what I do for my day job I thought, why not?
Mike: The idea is Wylie’s experimental brainchild. We knocked around the idea of an online flyshop guide service, etc., for a while. We even had a name, domain, and started creating a site, but we were always too busy to really make a go of it. Then Wylie called me and said he was doing a flyfishing podcast and wanted to know if I wanted to be involved. This was the perfect idea to get more involved in something we loved. I was eager to help and as we’ve continued on this journey/experiment I’ve become more and more involved and become immersed in the production and promotion of the site. We are both flyfishing fanatics, so we have a passion for all things related to flyfishing, and we’ve tried to put things we would like to hear, or people we would like to talk to, on our show. Our motto has always been we’re only as good as our guests. I took-off with the name/idea of flyfishradio to develop a logo and brand that would be fun and communicate what we are and what we do, and hopefully something that would look good on a hat. Also we both have a good mix of skills and talented friends to be able to pull something like this off.
Do either of you guys have a background in “real” radio or is this something that has been a learn-as-you-go process?
Wylie: Certainly not. I would think that’s pretty obvious to anyone who has listened to the show. No, don’t come to our show to get a big booming voice guy, or a real slick and polished show. But if you want some “real” information from some “real” fly-fish anglers, then I think our show has a lot to offer a listener.
To be honest, I think that has been part of the success of the show; is that we are your average-Joe fly-fish anglers but we get to talk to fly fishing royalty. Our guest is what our listeners really want to hear. Our goal is to just keep bringing good guests on the show.
You have the only fly fishing Internet radio show (as far as I know), how hard has it been for you to get fly fishermen to understand what you are doing? Are you happy with the amount of people you have listening to your show or do you feel that people have yet to embrace the idea of fly fishing radio?
Wylie: We have tried explaining to our guests what the podcast is about and how listeners will hear the show, but we gather from the silence on the other end of the line that they don’t understand or don’t care.
The same goes for sponsors. Its really hard to get across that its not a real radio show. It's on-demand. And how that is so much better than a regular broadcast because we know every single one of our listeners are interested in fly fishing, unlike the casual browsing of a radio or television show.
Overall, I have been really excited by how many people are listening in. I get a lot of emails everyday from listeners who love the show. I think there are plenty out there who still need to hear about what we're doing; I can only hope our listeners continue to help spread the word.
Mike: Younger, more computer literate people understand right away what it is and how it works. Some people aren’t quite sure what it is at first, but once we explain it they start to see the potential of this new medium. We have been growing exponentially every month and we expect this to continue. I think basically with just word of mouth we’ve grown pretty fast, so once we start to promote and market ourselves a little more we think it will get much more popular. We just need to get the word out to more people.
Fly fishing seems to be a visual sport. How do you try to overcome the hurdle of explaining techniques, fly patterns, destinations, etc., without the ability to show the listener what you are speaking about with photos or video?
Wylie: It hasn’t been as hard as it sounds. Most of our guests have been guiding or instructing for longer than I have been alive so it's very natural for them to explain how to mend a line so your streamer makes a 90 degree turn just before the swing, or something as simple as going a size smaller when those rising fish on the green don’t seem to take anything you throw at them. We also try to put fly patterns we talk about on the site for listeners to refer to.
Mike: That’s one of the beauties of the Internet. Our show is supported by the website and we have plans to include content rich media to show what we’re talking about. One of our goals is to educate our listeners, and one of the best ways to do that is with video. Another cool thing about flyfishing—there’s always something new to learn or a technique to improve on, or a place you’ve never been that you’d like more information about. As television and the Internet converge more and more people are getting their content and entertainment from the Internet and I think the lines between the two will become more and more blurred.
Obviously you guys want your show to be informative and entertaining. What do you look for when you are seeking guests for you show? Is there an interview process to weed out potential bad guests?
Wylie: We make a wish list every few weeks of who we want to try to get in touch with to be on the show. Plus we get a lot of leads from our listeners. I like getting leads from listeners because I don't know all the experts on the Deschutes or the spring creeks in Penn. So their referrals are great. Some of our best guests have been listener referrals.
Mike: We're willing to talk to most anyone we think can teach us something new about flyfishing, but right now we’re concentrating on recognizable figures in the sport to help build an audience. All the shows are pre-recorded and edited so we control the content. If a guest turned out bad we wouldn’t put it on the show. But we haven’t had that problem yet.
From what I gathered from the website, you guys reside “out West” and the show definitely seems to reflect that. Is it a goal of yours to branch out into topics that would be of interest to the listeners in the Eastern U.S.? Do you consider it a challenge to speak with guests and cover Eastern destinations because Western streams seem to be your area of expertise?
Wylie: We are trying to get more shows to cover other areas. If I could I would have a show each week for each region in the country. For now we are trying to bring in guest from all corners of the country. No matter who we bring on the show we are leaving some one out so until we get our 5 major region podcast going we will just have to make do.
We try to keep the topics more general. I think most everyone that fly fishes would be interested in hearing about the Deschutes one week and spring creeks in the east another week and salt water another.
Mike: Initially we had to find guests we had a connection with or people we could contact easily and since we live in the west we have had western focused shows. Also a lot of the topics we cover are universal for wherever you fish and whatever species you fish for. However, recently since our show has taken off so well we’ve been able to get in touch with people all over the county—with the help of our listeners especially. We’ve interviewed Ian Colin James, Dave Whitlock, and Lefty Kreh so far in 2006 and we have plans to interview guests, not only from all over the country, but from all over the world and its fun to talk with people from other areas with new ideas and experiences. Stay tuned we have big plans for FFR in 2006.
Your show seems to revolve around trout for the most part. Is there any plans to one day cover other species like bass, panfish, carp, etc?
Wylie: We are trying to bring people in to talk about all kinds of species. We have had a couple carp discussions. We will soon have a bass discussion with a ff’er from Michigan. Its been a lot of fun to learn about all these great fly fishing experiences that I don’t get exposed to in the rockies.
Mike: We’ve covered that a little bit so far but we definitely have plans to cover saltwater and warm water species as soon as we can.
At the time of this writing you have produced eleven episodes. Looking back at what you have done so far, do you feel content with what you have accomplished?
Wylie: I couldn’t be happier with the guest we have had on the show. They have been great. I think I will always be trying to find new ways to bring fly fishing to the internet. They are 2 passions of mine so it just makes sense that I will be looking forward to the next site to build.
Mike: I think we’ve accomplished a lot in a short period of time, but we have a long way to go and hopefully we’re learning from our mistakes.
Looking ahead, what you see for the future of Fly Fish Radio? Is there a goal to one day monetize it and make the show into a career? Have there been any thoughts about broadcasting the show on traditional radio?
Wylie: Yeah, I would love to do this full time. Im not sure the sponsors are out there. The fly fishing business isn’t very big and not a lot of money to go around. But, we would love to find some sponsors that have enough vision to see how this new medium can benefit them. Where else can you go to have your message heard 6,238 times in January by your target audience?
Im not sure this show would survive on the “air”. OLN canceled their fly fishing show. I cant remember the name of the host on that, but it was a good show, and if he cant make it Im not sure anyone can. This sport dies in broadcast. I like to think of my “channel” as a narrowcast. I think the technology is going to get better and better to make it easier to make bigger productions. And most important, get the content to anyone and everyone who wants to watch it, any time they want it.
Mike: We need to find companies willing to sponsor us that have the foresight to see the enormous potential of this new medium to grow flyfishing through educating, informing and promoting the sport. If we can do that then the sky’s the limit for FFR. We haven’t, seriously, thought about moving to traditional radio, or even satellite radio, but if we were approached by someone we would certainly listen.
Hatches Magazine Subscription
Price: $6.95 for each issue
The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.
Hatches Magazine Subscription
Price: $6.95 for each issue
The Premiere issue is ready for shipping & the Fall 2008 issue will be available September 1st.
