Editor's Note: Andrew Hiscock kicks off a new series on notable podcasters with an interview with Current Gaming's Phil Kollar, he of Evil Avatar Radio, 1UP FM, and Rebel FM fame. It's an interesting read, as Kollar has plenty of thoughts on why podcasting strikes such a nerve with gamers, how Rebel FM came to be, and whether the four-dudes-talking format can evolve. -Greg

At the time of this post, you can find over 1,000 videogame-related podcasts available for subscription through iTunes. Perhaps more than in any other hobby, videogames enthusiasts have tuned into these professional and amateur talk-show productions. Oftentimes they come from established outlets, started grudgingly by hesitant hosts only to become the crowning jewels of an online property. Other times they are the gateway for a new audience to small blogs and sites.

Why is this new medium so popular amongst videogame players? In the first of a series of interviews with notable podcasters, I speak with Phil Kollar to explore the still-young phenomenom of the videogame podcast.

Phil Kollar should be familiar to many podcast listeners. A veteran of the medium, Phil has not only hosted, but was also a creative force behind the popular podcasts Evil Avatar Radio, 1UP FM, and Rebel FM. Recently he has taken a step back from podcasts, concentrating on his new position as Online Producer for Current's Gaming section (current.com/gaming). Despite his current lack of a show, we can be sure that he hasn't left the medium for good. The erstwhile host generously offered his time and insight to answer a few questions via e-mail.

Andrew Hiscock: You have an extensive history with podcasts, both as host and as guest. What about the medium drew you to it, and why does it seem to work so well with videogames as the subject matter? Why has the community embraced what is essentially as old fashioned as it gets: talk radio?

Phil Kollar: I actually first got interested in podcasting through 1UP Yours back when it was first announced. I won't lie: Part of the reason I wanted to do Evil Avatar Radio was that I believed I could do a "better job" than Garnett Lee and crew. As it turned out, that was a rather silly notion, but I ended up really falling in love with podcasting and became immersed in that culture. I think the primary reason that the gaming community started latching onto podcasts very quickly is that podcasts essentially make community the focus.

Whether they're from a large corporate site like 1UP, GameSpot, or IGN, or a smaller community site like Colony of Gamers or Bitmob, podcasts bring listeners/readers closer to the people working on those sites. They give the writers more discernible personalities, and whether they're really actively engaging the community or not, podcasts at least feel like a discussion. This is a major change from magazines and sites pre-podcast, where editors essentially were able to pretend like they were some chosen elite passing on the final word on games. Very few websites can afford to do that now, and the growing popularity of podcasts is one of the main reasons.

AH: While most people may recognize you from your work with 1UP, you hosted Evil Avatar Radio for a very long time. How did this particular show come to be and how has it affected your career as a videogame journalist?

PK: Like I mentioned above, my desire to do Evil Avatar Radio came from listening to 1UP Yours and a few other gaming podcasts (Gaming Steve, Team Fremont Live/Drunken Gamers Radio, etc.) and wanting to try my hand at doing a gaming-related podcast. I was a very active community member at Evil Avatar at the time, and when I realized they didn't have a podcast, I approached the site's owner about doing a podcast under their name. At the time, I had a college radio show, so I had relatively easy access to a real radio studio that was streaming online. I decided that doing a live show with call-ins would suitably set me apart from other gaming podcasts.

As far as how it's affected my career as a "videogame journalist" (though I'm not sure I'd call myself that), mainly Evil Avatar Radio just made me very aware of how important being connected to the community is. I'm not really into acting like I'm better than anyone else or that my opinions mean more just because I can write about them or talk about them more eloquently. I don't want to be set apart from everyone else playing videogames. I want to be part of a bigger discussion with people who are as passionate as I am.

AH: As for 1UP FM, how was producing a podcast for a large network like 1UP different from doing Evil Avatar in Minnesota?

PK: The biggest and most immediate difference was just the resources. While I was lucky enough to get a number of great developers and industry figures for interviews on Evil Avatar Radio, at 1UP it was simple as grabbing someone who was in the office to show off a game and recording a quick segment. There was also the fact that I wasn't working on the show more or less alone. On Evil Avatar Radio, I had some minor support from my producer and friend Justin Heeren and some of the other moderators at Evil Avatar, but with 1UP FM it was a real partnership between myself, Nick Suttner, and producer Andrew Pfister. That made coming up with segments, contacting publishers, and general planning and operation of the show a lot easier.

AH: That particular show broke the four-dudes-talking mold for most listeners with its segments, interviews, and guests. What kind of feedback did you get from listeners concerning format? Why don't we see more of this type of podcast?

PK: I'm glad you noticed that we played around with the regular videogame podcast formula! That was something we wanted to do very intentionally to create something unique and hopefully more useful than just another four-dudes-talking show. The listeners who noticed seemed to appreciate that, and I think as we reached our peak, a lot of new listeners who maybe didn't really dig the regular style of podcast were jumping on. Unfortunately, I think the layoffs happened right as we were hitting our stride, so that kind of cut it short.

I do think it's important to mention that we certainly weren't the first podcast to ever experiment with a segment format. I was actually heavily influenced by the excellent Broadcast Gamer podcast while planning the show. In fact, "backlog," one of our most popular 1UP FM segments, was actually also the name of a slightly different segment on Broadcast Gamer. As for why we don't see more of this type of podcast, I think the simple answer (which I believe was discussed on the Mobcast a while ago) is just that it's a lot more work. It's much easier to get a small group of gamers around a table or on Skype to talk about some simple pre-determined topics or news than it is to actually plan out a show with interesting, developed segments and interviews.

AH: The podcasts always seemed to be the heart of 1UP. No matter how much content goes up (and how much time is spent on it), it's the two recorded hours of voice that gets the attention. What was the general perception around the office on the relationship between writing and podcasting? Why were the podcasts so popular but were unable to generate substantial revenue for the site?

PK: Most people around the office loved doing podcasts, so I never got the impression that there was too much frustration with our listeners/readers loving them also. The main problem was that, yes, the podcasts took away from writing time, and even if they generated the most talk and fan appreciation, it was actual pages on the website that got ad views and thus made money. As someone fully immersed in the editorial side, this didn't bother me that much, because I cared about producing the best content, not making sure it made money. But it was clear to me that this problem (rightfully) concerned some higher-ranking editors.

Honestly, though, I'm not the right person to ask about why the podcasts were never able to be successfully monetized. I know just from listening and working on them that occasionally we got some advertising on the show, but whether those ads just weren't worth enough money or if we just weren't able to get them consistently enough, I have no clue. It seems like we've gotten to a point where podcasts are popular enough that advertisers should want to use them, and it seems like 1UP's podcasts in particular had the numbers to support this, but I have absolutely no knowledge of the reality of marketing and ad sales, especially in the current economic conditions. I will note that on a purely aesthetic level, I prefer for podcasts ads or sponsorships to be embedded in the show and read/discussed by the host in a very straightforward manner, a la This Week in Tech, but that's just a personal preference.

AH: After leaving 1IP, you had a short stint as host of RebelFM. The formation of the show was almost immediately following 1UPocalypse, with no shortage of guests. How did it come together so quickly? What motivated all the members and guests to be there those first few episodes?

PK: The first three or four episodes of Rebel FM were some of the most exhilarating, awesome podcast experiences of my life. The first episode was actually recorded the day after we were laid off, the evening directly following our last day in the offices as 1UP employees. Immediately after we found out about the layoffs, Nick Suttner and I decided we needed to roll right into something else. Shortly after that, we got Anthony Gallegos, his roommate Arthur Gies, Ryan O'Donnell, and Matt Chandronait involved as well.

Part of the reasoning behind starting so quickly was to keep us from being upset or losing momentum from the job loss, and part of it was to pull in all the 1UP FM listeners and give them something new to check out right away, something that would hopefully clear up the confusion and chaos of the layoffs and reassure them that the people they'd been listening to would be all right. In those first few episodes, we had a lot of ex-1UP/EGM employee guests, and it was a great chance for everyone to reminisce about their favorite memories from working under Ziff Davis and have a final chance to speak specifically to that 1UP audience. And for the most part, the fans seemed to really get into that as well. It was a really fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime feeling.

AH: You, and the people you have collaborated with, did things with podcasts that most people hadn't seen before. What is the role of the podcast in the future of how videogames are covered? Are there potential uses of the podcast that are not being exploited now, or are we stuck with the four-guys model?

PK: Whether you're talking audio or video podcasts, I think there is an endless variety of formats, focuses on different content, and even new takes on things that have already been tried. We had a really unique experiment with 1UP FM, but since then Robert Ashley has blown away people's expectations of what can be done with a videogame podcast with A Life Well Wasted. In between those two extremes -- playing with the formula a little and revolutionizing it entirely -- I think there are millions of new ideas just waiting to be tried out.

I still listen to a number of four-dudes-around-a-table podcasts, but there's already so many people doing it well and so many other people trying to emulate that success and failing. It's a stale formula that can really only be worthwhile for a small number of podcasts at a time, so I just really hope there are other people out there who want to try new things.

I can't say what I'll be working on next in the podcast realm -- I've got a couple ideas that are in various stages of development -- but I can say that I'll always be looking for a unique way to present it.