It’s been another interesting year at the Podcast Factory.  First of all there was a record number of downloads…

In 2009, I was proud and amazed to report that The Dub Zone had over 118,000 downloads, and The Dub Step Zone, which had only been going one year had nearly 53,000.  Well, in 2010, I’m completely blown away and humbled by The Dub Zone getting nearly 197,000 downloads and The Dub Step Zone shooting up to over 234,000 – that’s more than all the downloads of 2009!  PCP had a steady 58,000 downloads, and all in all it the number of downloads increased from nearly 231,000 to 489,000. That’s a 112% increase.

I’d like to say a big thank you to my listeners who downloaded any of my podcasts during 2010, making this my most successful year since I started in January 2006. I’d also like to say and even bigger thank you to all the artists, without whom there would be nothing to download. I hope those of you that enjoyed the tracks have gone on to download, or purchase, some of the great albums available from the excellent netlabels out there.

In November I decided that I wanted to make some changes, start a new podcast and so I decided that PCP would end, after a 5 year run in January 2011.  So I set about recording 4 “Best of PCP” podcasts, which featured some of my favourite tracks over the last few years.

Then something very strange happened! Firstly loads of people told me they would be sad if I closed down the show… and then PCP won an award!  First I was told I’d won an award for “Best Personality Podcast for 2010 in the UK“, in the European Podcasting Awards. Then I gathered later that I actually beat all of the other European entries and so PCP was voted overall “Best Personality Podcast for 2010“.

It seems rather crazy to shut down an award winning podcast and so after a long time thinking about this over Christmas break I’ve decided that PCP will continue.

I have some changes planned to liven up the show a little and add even more content, so the new show will be sort of “PCP…The Next Generation”.

I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for me at the European Podcasting Awards. It really was an unexpected and humbling experience, especially when there was some excellent competition in the top 20 from 4 other members of the Association of Music Podcasting …. Justin Wayne, Grant Mason, Peter Clitheroe &  Rowley Cutler!

I do hope that everyone who now listens enjoys all or some of my podcasts. Let’s hope 2011 is as good a year for podcasting as 2010 was.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Pete