Todays Channel 4 episode spotlights the major launch of version 5.0 at Open Channels FM, introducing a wave of fresh features and a content pivot for the network.
Host Bob Dunn guides listeners through the newest additions, including Open Channels News, the debut of the Open Signal commentary series, and a preview of Open Source Champions, a unique listener support level.
With updates to sponsor profiles, redesigned navigation, new podcast series, and a sharper focus on open source philosophy and trends, Bob Dunn highlights how Open Channels FM is evolving to better serve the open web and open source community.
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Takeaways
- Launch of Version 5.0: Bob announced the release of version 5.0 of the site, highlighting a detailed changelog documenting the history since 2016.
- New Shows Introduced: Bob introduced Open Channels News, hosted by Robert Jacobi, and Open Signal, a personal commentary segment by Bob focusing on open source and open web topics.
- Upcoming Feature – Open Source Champions: Bob teased the upcoming “Open Source Champions” support level for listeners, with more details to be revealed in episode 800.
- Enhanced Sponsor Profiles and Navigation: The site now features exclusive profiles for sponsors with updated navigation, making it easier to find sponsor information and access their profiles directly.
- Introduction of Series Format: A new approach will allow for focused series within existing podcasts, enabling multi-episode deep dives into specific topics, and these will be highlighted on the homepage.
- Shift in Content Focus: Bob emphasized a move from builder stories and product specifics toward broader conversations about philosophy, trends, and the future of open source and the open web.
- Updated Search and Site Chat: The site’s search and chat functionalities were updated, with a dedicated upcoming episode to discuss these improvements in detail.
- Refocused YouTube Channel: Open Channels’ YouTube channel is now dedicated entirely to Open Channels News, the network’s only video podcast, with Bob encouraging listeners to subscribe.
- Manual Update of Archives: Bob undertook the significant task of manually updating over 1,000 blog posts and episodes to ensure current sponsor information and call-to-actions, with around 150 posts remaining at the time of recording.
Questions This Episode Answers
Q: What are the most significant new features and updates introduced in Open Channels FM version 5.0?
A: Version 5.0 brings several major enhancements, including the launch of Open Channels News, Open Signal, and the introduction of “Open Source Champions” as a new support level. The update also features exclusive sponsor profiles, upgraded navigation, improved search and chat functionality, series integration into podcasts, and a manual refresh of over 1,000 posts to ensure current information (00:27–07:57).
Q: What is Open Channels News, and how can listeners access its content?
A: Open Channels News, hosted by Robert Jacobi, offers open source news streamed throughout the week and is the network’s only video podcast, now featured on a dedicated YouTube channel. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe if they prefer consuming news and updates via video (01:00–01:19, 05:37–06:21).
Q: How is Open Channels FM shifting its podcast content and structure with this version?
A: The network is moving from builder stories and product-centric episodes to broader conversations on philosophy, trends, and the overarching landscape of open source and the open web. Additionally, limited-run and ongoing series are being created and organized under each podcast, making targeted topics easier for listeners to find on the homepage (03:31–04:59).
Q: Where can listeners find more details about new features like Open Source Champions and the updated search and chat?
A: Further details on “Open Source Champions” and the improved search and chat will be discussed by Bob Dunn in upcoming episodes—episode 799 will cover site chat and search, while episode 800 will explain Open Source Champions and feature some personal reflections (05:08–05:37, 02:07–02:34).
Episode Transcript
Bob Dunn:
Hello and welcome to Open Channels FM Podcast Network with Hey, Bob here, and yes, this is a rather big update on the side. We are pushing out version 5.0 today, and if you are not familiar with the way we work around here, I do have versions for the site. In fact, I have a changelog, so that entire history of the site with the first inception of it in 2016 is all detailed there. And we’ve been working on a lot of things the last couple months. I’ve talked about a lot of them. Some of them have actually launched, but I wanted to make it official with our launch of 5.0. So what’s new?
Open Channels News launched on July 27th. Now I’m not going to go in a lot of detail. This is hosted by Robert Jacobi. You can find other episodes and even posts that talk about this more. It’s our open source news that is streamed throughout the week. And yeah, we’ve been working out the process and the workflow of this particular show, taking a bit of time, but we are getting so close. So check that out if you haven’t.
Also, as referred to before, we launched Open Signal, or I guess I should say I launched Open Signal. I just mentioned this last Friday. And again, there are episodes talking about this more if you want to get into the details, but it’s basically a commentary by me, the founder of Open Channels FM Podcast Network. Again, what I’m going to be focusing on are honest, personal takes on open source and open web. I’ve been at this a long time, so giving it a shot as a commentary each week.
Now, the next thing that is new and we haven’t actually made public is Open Source Champions. I don’t want to get into this a lot right now. I just want to announce it in version 5.0. It’s an added support level for our listeners. And we’ve taken a bit of a unique twist on that. Now I’d like to get in more details, but I’m saving that for Friday, episode 800. So you’ll hear a little bit of reminiscing from me on episode 800, plus details on Open Source Champions.
We’ve also added some new stuff on the site. We’ve made exclusive profiles for our sponsors, kind of a different approach. We do have links that go directly to their site, but our sponsors invest a significant amount of money to help us keep the lights on and really a lot more. If you’re kind of curious about what I’ve done with the profiles, if you go to the main menu and look at sponsors, you will see each one of them is listed there, which directs you to the profile.
Which I should mention too, we’ve updated the navigation, been testing this a lot over weeks, months, maybe even years, and we’re kind of tending to do it a little differently this time. So if you’re curious, check out the new main navigation.
Another thing we have talked about a little bit is adding series to our 4 podcasts. Well, I should say 5 podcasts, but probably won’t be doing it on my Open Signal. And what that means is every once in a while, either our hosts or someone will create a series that will neatly be tucked into one of our podcasts. And those series can be ongoing, but also they can be maybe 3, 4, 5, 6 episodes specifically drilled down to a certain topic. So if you are looking for the series, I’m kind of still working a little bit on actually putting a place on the site for them, but you’ll see them listed on the homepage under the different podcasts.
And now, as far as updates, a few bigger ones. One of them is something that I did an episode on called Still Moving the Needle on Open Source. And what this is, is a shift in content towards broader conversations. We’ve been focused a lot on builder stories and specific products and stuff over the years. And this time we’re moving more into philosophy, trends, and the bigger picture of what’s happening in open source and the open web today and in the future. So it is a significant shift, but I think it’s just the right time to shift to with everything that’s going on. It doesn’t really take away from what we’ve done, but just moves to a different approach on how we will be putting our conversations together.
Now, what is new and updated is our search and our site chat. Now, again, like Open Source Champions, this is a little bit more of a topic I want to dive into and just kind of the thoughts around it and even the history around what we’ve been doing with this. So I’m going to be tomorrow on episode 799 talking more specifically about that.
And another update, in a sense, with Open Channels News, we refocused our YouTube channel and dedicated it to just Open Channels News, primarily because it’s the only podcast we do video with. Now, we’ve just started basically from ground zero with that. And I would encourage you, if you are into YouTube, I mean, you basically spend a lot of time there. That’s how you consume a lot of your information and education and all those kinds of things. I would recommend subscribing to our YouTube channel over there. Because then you can be zeroed in on the news that Robert Jacobi brings us each week in the open source world. You can go over to YouTube, search for Open Channels News, and again, would love for you to subscribe.
There were a few fixes that we did that I’m not going to get into that, if you’re interested, actually, I think there’s about 3 of them, but they will be included in our most recent update to our changelog for version 5.0.
One thing I’d like to point out, and just because it’s one of those crazy moments, essentially because of one reason or another, I went into our 1,000+ blog posts and episodes one by one into the post and made some changes. There are several reasons for this. And yes, some of you out there are probably sitting saying, hey, you know, why didn’t you have AI do it? Well, after a discussion with Claude, not going to be possible if I connected the site to Claude. So I figured all these little pieces, I’ve let some of them sit for a few months just because, okay, here we go again. But one significant one where I wanted to make sure I had all the current sponsors, call to actions, and every episode from the past in the post, that kind of pushed me to, okay, well, let’s do it. And at this point, I’m— I think I have about 150 left to do. So I’ve been doing a lot of those. But again, they were something that just had to be done manually. There was no way around it. But getting close to the end.
So that is version 5.0. I didn’t want to make this particularly long. I am going to break out a couple of those new things that I mentioned for the next 2 episodes. And I hope you join us tomorrow for the episode on, you know, a little bit around the AI search site chat that we’ve added to the site. And on Friday, I hope you join us for episode 800.
Until the next time, take care.
