You might recall my self-depreciating post the other day – I just couldn’t understand why The Scoop was getting out-ranked in iTunes by a marketing video about underpants for men.

We’ll, today we’re enjoying the giddy heights of number 2 on the iTunes Music Store business podcasts category and we’re featured on the podcasts homepage too. I’m currently number 2 behind Michael Pascoe’s Market Report. I can live with that – after all, he is a former AFR journo.

I’m a pretty mild-mannered kinda guy, but today I’m mad. 3 Mobile, my mobile phone provider seems to be struggling with the concept of customer service. My Dopod smartphone has not been taking phone calls since last Thursday. That’s 5 days where callers to my mobile have dialed my number and heard one ring before the call is hung up by the network. It’s not me being rude, I promise. SMS still works fine, and I can still make calls. But I can’t receive calls.

I logged the fault with 3 customer care on Friday morning when I realised I had a problem. They promised to call me back on Saturday with a status update on why the network was having issues. It’s now Monday and I had to call them myself. They had no idea why I didn’t get a call. And they still had no idea what the problem is. And they had no idea when service will be restored. In fact, the customer service person I spoke to (not sure if he was in Australia…) could not even promise that I would get a call back from their customer service people today. Maybe tomorrow he offered…

Nope, not good enough. I pointed out to the customer service guy that my mobile is my business line. It must be restored today. And if they were smart they’d see in their CRM system that I give them a lot of money each month. You’d think that means I need to be looked after!

My experience with this carrier, until late last week, has been fantastic. But now I’m starting to seriously question what’s going on with this company. It’s not just me. Cameron Reilly has been having a more difficult experience than yours truly – story here. And Shane Williamson, an ex-3 employee, has gone into bat for Cameron.

Stories like these remind me that many companies in Australia still have not engaged with new media.

Update: Well, I’m not sure how it happened. But at 7.30pm last night I got a phone call. We’re back on the air and I’m a happy man again….

It nearly didn’t happen. I was booked on a flight from Sydney to Canberra at 6am to attend the first day of the AFR’s GovTech conference in July. And in hindsight it would have been far less stressful if I flew down the night before. Instead of telling it to wake me up at 4am Thursday morning, I inadvertantly ticked 4am on Friday morning. It turns out it is possible to outsmart your smartphone. Lesson One: don’t set your alarm when you go to bed at 1am on the same day you have to get up… late nights affect your judgement.

So you can imagine how I felt when I sat bolt upright in bed at 6.35am, a full 35 minutes after my flight took off without me.

Skip forward to when I turned up at Sydney’s domestic terminal at 7.30am, still trying to regain composure. Here’s where I’ve got to tip my hat to Qantas. The woman at the ticketing counter graciously put me on the next flight at 8.10am and didn’t charge me for another ticket. By some small miracle I made it to the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra at 9.20am, just in time to hear the final 5 minutes of Philip Ruddock’s keynote. It was also 10 minutes before video interview was scheduled.

Our film crew had already set up the camera gear and lights (I was told), so after a quick handshake I walked with Ruddock across the corridor and we got stuck straight into the interview. It was all done and dusted in 10 minutes, and after he’d gone I just sat there and stared at the ceiling for a moment. It was the second video interview I’d recorded with the AFR, and the first time I’d met Ruddock. And it nearly didn’t happen!

The rest of a day was something of a blurr, but fun. We interviewed Special Minister of State Gary Nairn, Federal Government CIO Ann Steward, and other federal and state CIOs. Edited versions of these interviews are progressively making their way to the site here.

As for Mr Ruddock, you can see our interview here. As a special bonus it contains my first crack at borrowing from the “piece to camera” playbook of your favourite ABC/commercial TV reporter. Yes, I am a print/online journo discovering 3D. Be gentle! Oh, and Lessson Two: when fronting a camera in Canberra in July do yourself a favour and wear a warm coat. How cold is it down there for crying out loud???

Ok, so don’t ask me why The Scoop is competing with the aussieBum video podcast on the iTunes music store’s business podcast category. Call it one of life’s little mysteries. And call it sheer curiosity, but I checked out the aussieBum vodcast (it’s an Australian brand of underpants) – and I guess you could categorise it “business”. Maybe “men’s business”? It’s actually a very clever piece of marketing. An attractive woman walks around with a microphone and camera on Sydney’s beaches, gets unsuspecting buff men to try on some new undies, and films the results.

I’ve got a sneaky feeling there’s no way yours truly & Co. can compete. But, we did have a taste of minor B-grade fame, possibly even C-grade, when our humble offering rose to number 5 on iTunes business podcast category yesterday. We’re even a “new and notable” podcast! That means we must have at least a few listeners, which is very reassuring. : )

I’ve been recording and producing The Scoop for about five weeks now for MISaustralia.com. I’ve been juggling this gig with time in the office on other editing and strategy-related duties for the site, and mixing it up with recording video interviews. Talk about a learning curve. The best analogy I can think of is having driven a car for years and being given the keys to a plane – all of a sudden you’re dealing with three dimensions at once. At a previous job I acted in a producer role, so this time it’s different now I’m in the hot seat. Here’s a few of the things I’ve been learning:

• Podcast and print interview questions really are different. It’s not that you’re after different information, people just want you to get to the point quickly on a podcast.
• Skype recordings suck. The Skype software itself is fine, but you just can’t trust the open Internet for any kind of quality of service. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time trying to clean up a Skype recording with a really famous IT industry leader because of frequent drop-outs. Never thought I’d say this, but I don’t think you will get a more consistent & clear sound than a fixed line until VoIP technology or bandwidth improves. Mind you, I’m also using some cool gear that cleans up a fixed line so that helps…
• It pays to have a friend who’s a sound engineer & musician (thanks James!) – audio gear is more tricky than it first appears.
• I say “umm”, “ahh”, and pause to think far more than I should – gotta love post-production.
• Planning episodes, setting up interviews, recording, editing, & producing always takes more time than I think it will.
• What is a “radio voice” anyway?
• A friend in radio says that if you smile, your voice sounds “warmer.” I must sound “cold” … ah well, just as well I’ve got broad shoulders…