In our first Radio Free Finland under the new format, I met with Igor Polyakov of the Nordic Design Blog to discuss Nordic Design, in particular design in Finland like architecture, industrial design, interior design, clothing, glassware etc.. Enjoy!!

Download the show in high quality MP3 format at 64kbps (18.4MB - 39:24)

Igor currently owns a design studio named Hot Snow, working on various print and interface projects for leading Finnish companies. Previous positions include Art Direct at Interactive Partners Oy, UI Designer at JSOP Interactive, Art Director at ETC-WEB in France, and extensive work with Russian television stations.

A few big changes coming to Radio Free Finland I wanted to share with you. First off, the show will no longer be live. After one and a half years of doing a live show, it’s difficult for me to give up on this format, but there’s some very important reasons why…

- Doing a pre-recorded show will provide me with much needed flexibility in the interviews. I no longer have to conduct my interviews from my home, I can take my equipment with me and be mobile.

- Booking guests at one particular time and place each week (Mondays at 21.00 from my house) is difficult. Now we’d be able to meet at anytime, anyplace.

- The live broadcasts weren’t that popular. Thousands download each episode, but only about 10 people listen to the live show (the most we had was around 70). And I don’t blame them, it’s much easier to listen to the podcast on the way to work or something the following day.

- Recording live causes too many problems. The recording software (Pamela) and chat software (Skypecast) are just not stable enough to be trusted. I’ve already lost parts of two interviews thanks to software issues out of my control.

- Skypecast audio quality isn’t so good. Recording a one-on-one interview with Skype results in much higher sound quality.

- Just too stressful. Publishing a weekly podcast is time-consuming enough with the booking of guests, planning, recording, editing etc.. Doing a live show just created even more stress.

A couple years ago when I began planning Radio Free Finland, I envisioned a lively show full of round-table discussions and an active audience. But expecting a big audience to sit in front of the computers at a particular time every week, all with microphones in their hands, for such a niche topic like this, knowing that you can just download the podcast later and listen to it while you’re on the go…is just impossible.

So I’m a bit reluctant to end the live show, and a bit disappointed that I didn’t exactly achieve what I had envisioned, but I think these changes will really improve the show while lowering my weekly stress levels at the same time. I still aim to release a show an average of once per week, but not always on Mondays. If I book a guest on a Tuesday, I can record and release the show right away instead of waiting till the following Monday. I won’t bother announcing the guest in advance, when I announce the guest I’ll already have the podcast online.

Anyways, I hope Radio Free Finland listeners aren’t too disappointed. I think these changes will really improve the show!