Interview - Toby Greenwood from It Takes Two on Brecks FM!

It's been an absolute age since I did any interviews on my blog, but finally they return! :)

I've recently become increasingly addicted to the "It Takes Two" show on Brecks FM.  The show is presented by twins Toby and Adam Greenwood, and is on every Wednesday evening from 7pm to 9pm UTC (aka UK time for British readers).  Toby was kind enough to take some time out to answer a few questions about their show, so, here we go!

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Q: Hi! So, for people who haven't heard of you before, who are you, what do you do, and tell us something exciting about you!

I'm Toby and with my twin brother Adam present It Takes Two on Brecks FM. I also work in admin for the Council. Something exciting about me? I have met the chef Ainsley Harriot - he was very tall lol!

Q: So, what's the "It Takes Two" show all about?!?

It Takes Two is a show for anyone- not just the younger listener. we aim to create a show that is enjoyed by both adults, young people and older people. We aim to give listeners the latest news and sport, quirky facts and great music in a professional and fun way.
 
Q: How did you get into presenting radio shows? Has it always been something that you've wanted to do?

We saw an ad in the paper for presenters at Wayland Radio- we went there to give an interview and ended up presenting after that, a little scary!!!!. after this we presented with some others on a show called "Our Turn" a show for the younger listener. After Wayland ceased broadcasting, we moved to SNYA Radio, an internet only station that was run by and presented by young people. We did this for several years before moving to Brecks FM - formerly known as Watton Radio - with some of our old presenters from Wayland Radio.

Q: How long have you been presenting for Brecks FM?

Around a year.

Q: What's the best thing about being on the radio?

Playing great tunes and having such a wonderful audience :)

Q: And what's the worst thing about radio presenting?

None - well the studio gets a bit hot in the summer but I'm being picky.

Q: Radio has changed a great deal over the years, from a purely audio channel received by radios, to today when you can listen to it over the internet, watch the studio over webcams, stream and listen again... do you think radio today is better?  Is it tougher for you, knowing that not only are you putting out a show over the radio, but also often being watched as well?

I think that radio is better- there is so many ways now to connect with the audience, social media etc, this can only be a good thing and provides good publicity for the station .

Q: What's the craziest or oddest thing that's happened to you while presenting radio?  Any technical failures at awkward times?

We were broadcasting but not going out live so the people listening were hearing silence, we were just doing our normal thing, none the wiser.....

Q: Any chance you can let us in on any ideas you've got for future shows of It Takes Two? Anything exciting coming up?

We take each week as it comes- just to keep you guessing.........:)

Q: Thanks for your time - so how can people listen to It Takes Two, and when is it on?

It Takes Two with Adam and Toby broadcasts on Brecks FM Wednesday evenings from 19:00-21:00, tune in online at www.brecksfm.com or on 106.9FM in the Watton Area.

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Many thanks to Toby for his time and for taking part in the interview, and I hope people tune in to their show on a Wednesday evening, either on the radio if you live in the area or otherwise via the website!  They also have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ittakestwoshow

Upcoming...

It's far too cold! I need a jumper!!!

Just a quick post to say that next week I've got an interview coming (it's been ages since I did one!), I've been in touch with Toby Greenwood, one of the presenters behind the "It Takes Two" show on Brecks FM, and I'm pleased to see that the exclusive interview will be live on the blog next Tuesday!  In the meantime you can listen to their show tonight (Wednesday 7pm-9pm GMT) at http://www.watton-radio.co.uk/ or on 106.9fm if you're in the Watton area.

Dressing Up

Road barrier pretending to be a shark.  Perhaps it's off to a fancy dress party.

For those interested (and even if you're not), I have two bits of news:

Firstly, I've got an interview tomorrow for teaching social media - fingers crossed!

Secondly, this is my 499th blog post - it's taken me a long time, but finally I'm nearly at that 500 post landmark.  To celebrate, expect a special post from me in a day or two.  Suggestions on how to celebrate are welcomed.

Finally, I got a new video out the other day for the first time in far too long - so, if you'd like to see a documentary about the plight of Easter bunnies, here you go!

YouTuber Interview #5 - CtrlGodDammit

Today's YouTuber interview features CtrlGodDammit, a sports video gaming channel with over 500 subscribers. The host of CtrlGodDammit, Rhys Douglas, is half-English, half-Welsh, and was born in Germany, but let's try not to hold that against him.

Rhys playing Football Manager 2014 - Liverpool causes an own goal, allowing Norwich to take the lead.  I'll steer clear of jokes around the Canaries as I'm going down to Norfolk in a couple of months and don't want to be lynched.

Rhys - thanks for your time today. So, how did you get into making YouTube videos?

Wow, that's a hard question to start with. I started YouTube at University where I took a degree in Computer Game Production. I spent my spare time playing video games instead of watching TV, it was my main form of entertainment. Minecraft had begun floating around my Uni class which led to me being introduced to the Yogscast and my first experience of gameplay entertainment. It just totally replaced TV with instant access content in convenient length episodes. The first full series I ever watched was Yogscast & TotalBiscuit play Magicka and I loved it so after saving up some money for basic equipment, I recorded some Magicka on my original channel months before CtrlGodDammit was formed. CtrlGodDammit was made to try from scratch with a cool...ish name meant to just be a hobby to play games over the summer and show our experiences, then over time it was just me uploading videos and I decided I wanted to upload some content proving I wasn't terrible at EVERY game I ever play. From there, Football Manager on the channel was born,


Your channel is mainly focused on sports video gaming, and one of the things that really stand out is how good your games commentary is, which is quite rare - there are a lot of "lets play" videos on YouTube, but it's the personality of the person playing the game that makes it watchable. Did it take time for you to be able to deliver such a high level of commentary or does it come natural to you?

I've always had great pride in my vocabulary and in being able to speak well, I still deny to this day that my commentary is any good but I keep being given compliments so I'm always going to be grateful. The compliments have been so amazing, I have wanted to look into how Radio Lincolnshire produces live commentary for Lincoln City football games. I definitely don't have a face for a TV pundit so I'll take a radio career any day haha. My game commentary comes naturally from years of loving Football and being tactically minded. My energy, excitement and reactions have taken time for me to get used to producing videos. It has taken me a while to get into a comfort zone and I looked into a lot of sports YouTube channels to learn about different approaches. I can only hope more people share your opinion to help the channel grow.


The videos on your channel are often quite long, in comparison to a lot of other ones, which is a refreshing change to the current fashion of shorter and shorter videos. Is this a conscious decision or do they just turn out that way?

Some decisions are conscious for example, in my Football Manager videos, I display highlights of a whole in game month so they are never going to be incredibly short. I try to aim for 25 minutes to be the very longest I make my videos unless I simply can't help it. I must admit that I would like to produce some series with shorter videos e.g. FIFA 14 as it can be produced at a faster pace so I can get excited about making the next episodes even sooner. With my Football Manager series, I am quite happy with its current format and I think the longer episodes work. Overall I would say that the length is very game dependent rather than dependent on me.


An occasional special guest of your videos appears to be your webcam. Is it truly evil? Where did you obtain it from - or did it just materialise one day wearing a dark cloak?

Considering the money invested into the webcam then I would say it is certainly evil. It does concern me the amount of times it has frozen since I've owned it. The HD quality is fantastic but I believe you are referencing to a recent vlog I tried to make where my webcam was having an particular off day. It just kept freezing and crashing so I thought hey lets go with it, I'd rather do this in one take anyways and it added some subtle comedy to an overly serious video by my standards.


And as a fan of Norwich City, how do you think the Canaries season is going?

We have been a complete embarrassment all season. We will be in the Championship next season but there's nothing I can do so I try not to let it bother me. I have wanted Chris Hughton out before the season began. He had one season in charge and so many fans were sick of his negative tactics which you can see were physically effecting the performances of the team. For 3 years of success, Norwich fans became accustomed to a never say die attitude and good attacking play with Paul Lambert as the manager. Now we go out trying to get a 0-0 draw which is humiliating. If you go out to win a game you may draw, if you go out to draw you will usually lose. I realise many readers may not be Football fans so I'll stop there.


Finally, what would you say to entice someone who is yet to discover your channel? What video would you recommend for a new discoverer of CtrlGodDammit?

I create YouTube sports video game content through role play and story building. I am in the process of creating a more entertaining trailer to the channel consisting of video highlights I have brought to the channel so far. I try to capture the viewers imagination and bring them into my gaming world. My success is down to you guys and I wouldn't be where I am or where I'm going to be if it wasn't for viewers believing in me or giving me a go. I may have mostly spoken about Football on this blog but I also intend to cover: Basketball, Driving games, Rugby, Pool and general games that I want to play to show you all my interests. I hope you all want to join me for the journey but the worst you can say is no and have a nice day.

Thanks to Rhys for his time, if you haven't already then go catch his channel now at http://www.youtube.com/ctrlgoddammit

YouTube Interviews #1 - The Nick Crompton

I've decided to do a series of interviews with YouTubers that I enjoy watching (to clarify, I enjoy watching their work - I don't stalk them or anything), to link with my 2014 Video Challenges, an effort to lift the quality of my videos.

Today we're interviewing Nick Crompton, a teenager from West Yorkshire who produces some of the funniest stuff on YouTube today. And yes, he's younger than me and more entertaining than me, but that doesn't mean that I'm jealous (ahem).
If you haven't seen Nick's stuff yet I'd really recommend it, it is extremely funny and Nick's reactions to... well life, really... are just brilliant.

So Nick - how did you get into making videos?

I made my first video in July 2012 just after I'd left Sixth Form. It was the beginning of the summer and I had absolutely nothing to do so I decided to get my camera out and start talking to it. My first 20-ish videos are still on YouTube but they're private due to how awful they are. When people email me asking for advice on how to start YouTube I always send them my first video and show them how bad I used to be. Making videos isn't easy and it takes practice. I'm now two years down the line and even though I've improved massively, I'm still learning stuff with every new video I make.

I remember finding your channel as a result of the YouTube Creator Academy last year, and kind of being apprehensive because unlike a lot of the people doing the academy you had something like 2000 subscribers already. Why do you think your videos are so popular?

I don't see my videos as being 'popular'. I just like entertaining people and making people laugh and I hope that's why people keep coming back to watch.

I'd suggest that you come across in your videos as being a bit older than you actually are, and with the persona of a sort of really good northern comic, a proper Yorkshireman loaded with wit. Is the Nick we see in your videos the same Nick in everyday life?

I think so yeah. A few YouTuber's use an online persona that they create for themselves. A great example is Jack Dean, his online persona 'JaackMaate' has gained him over 100,000 subscribers and it works really well for him. I like to think I'm just me. I turn the camera on and I'm exactly the same as I am off screen.

Nick distracted in the bathroom by a Rubik's Cube.  I wasn't expecting to type that when I woke up this morning.

Talking about video quality, it's clear in your videos that you put in a lot of work polishing them - the quality is always fantastic, the custom thumbnails are brilliantly designed to attract viewers, the clone scenes are always perfect - does it come naturally to you to put that amount of work in, or is it an effort for you to do all that after you've spent your time recording?

The recording part is definitely the easiest aspect but I love editing and graphic design so the whole process seems to come naturally. Me and my friend Jason use the term "Full package" when we're making videos. The full package is a video that is well planned out, really well edited and has great graphics to accompany it. You can film almost anything and make it look good with great editing and well designed graphics.

Did you learn much from doing the YouTube Creator Academy?

I'm partnered with LittleDotStudios who taught me most of the things that they mentioned in the YouTube Creator Academy. I think it'll help a lot of beginners but I don't think I gained anything from it.

You've been involved in some great collaborations, particularly "The Final F*** Off" with TeaMakerJason, where the world was saved by people telling you to...um... go forth and conjugate... nothing personal I'm sure. Any more collaborations on the horizon? And is there anyone in particular you'd like to work with?

Oh yes, the Final F*** Off was the collab of the century. I still can't believe how much of the community got involved, it was brilliant. Shout out to TeaMakerJason for the great work on that! I've been talking to a few other YouTuber's about collaborations but nothing has been arranged yet. My dream collaboration would have to be with It'sGrace.

What do you get up to when not making videos?

Since I started my gaming channel I hardly do anything else but make videos but that's exactly how I like it. I now constantly feel busy and productive by doing what I love to do.

And for those people that haven't enjoyed your videos yet - what would you say to make them watch?

Well it depends what kind of content you prefer! I'm really proud of my latest sketch: http://youtu.be/hq3Uf_yNTlA
But if you prefer gaming videos then you should definitely check out this: http://youtu.be/XtU--EzfsX0

Nick - thanks for your time.