Saudi Arabia’s most talked about podcast talks about nothing at all!

During radio interviews.

The amount of time we spend looking for a good radio channel or playlist at home, the car or office is way more than anyone would like to admit. Finding the right track for your mood, getting the right frequency and getting that song in just the right volume that suits the mood is a challenge! The number of playlists out on the Internet can make your head spin, video playing apps do work at home, but are you sure that it won’t be disconnecting if you’re on the road? How can you be 100 percent sure that this is the right station for you? You really can’t, not to mention sparing yourself from cheesy radio hosts fake laughing their way through a show or playing music that really doesn’t sit with your state of mind. So how about a podcast? I mean who wouldn’t like to hear news on the go for the politicos out there, the latest for you tech-savvy geeks, the hottest new winged liner for the fashionista in you and just about everything else for the chilled individual greedily tapping on the keyboard so as not to forget her next sentence (guilty as charged).
Let’s talk podcasts. These have got to be the best creation that came out since radio; at least that’s my personal opinion (admit it you think so too). With more and more people tuning in to listen to podcasts, it’s gaining a lot more momentum lately than when it first started. So what is a podcast? It’s simply a digital show that you can download to your computer, phone or player, a portable radio show you can listen to whenever you want and wherever you want. Frankly, podcasts are amazing to listen to if you have some free time instead of spending that time in search for the right station or music, you have to learn something either way so why not through a podcast? A group of friends wanted to do just that, create a podcast and combine their different interests, talk about everything and nothing at all, educate but be the cool kids in class and joke around at the same time. After planning it for months and never finding the right time to do it, all it took is one lunch break at KAUST and that’s it, Mstdfr came to be. Ammar Sabban, Rami Taibah, Omair Taibah and Faisal Alaseeri gathered at Ammar’s home, brought out his recording gadgets and microphone and talked, just talked.
I wanted to know more about who the people behind Mstdfr are, they grabbed my attention with their name obviously, such a quirky Arabic slang and the content was intriguing as well. After a couple of podcast episodes, I requested to interview the bunch and I was kindly asked to participate in one of the podcast episodes. The conversation was between Rami, Faisal, Ammar and I and here’s what went down with all three giving their answers at the same time.

Let’s start with the name “Mstdfr”, what does it mean and how did you come up with it?
To start, the name popped up in the middle of our first ever podcast episode, we (Ammar Sabban, Rami and Omair Taibah, Faisal Alaseeri) were trying to find a proper name for ourselves and we didn’t want something normal, we wanted to geek out which was the whole purpose of the podcast actually, to geek out. So we were just talking about geeks at school and how they’re know-it-alls and we figured that “geek” in Arabic is “dafoor” and playing around with the word, “Mstdfr” popped up as a derivative of the word, and there it was, our name. Hi we are the guys behind “Mstdfr”

Tell me a bit about the concept behind the podcast?
We want to have fun basically. We welcome a guest for every podcast, we’re a diverse group of people and it’s in Arablish (mix of both English and Arabic). Each guest of course has a different background and to have a diverse group with diverse ideals and different life views keeps the conversation going sometimes more than the time intended when recording. Of course we do talk about their background and get an understanding of what they do and how they do it, we hear their story and we just go from there. We literally move from one topic to another keeping with the flow of the conversation because we’re having fun. Yeah we do poke around a bit and be all competitive, but all in the spirit of fun

How do you choose your topics? Are they totally random or do you have a list?
We do have a list of topics actually, they’re picked at random and we don’t really define each guest with a topic they’re most comfortable with. We’ll just call them up, ask them to join our podcast and allow the conversation to flow in and out of the topic at hand. We’re a diverse group, we don’t usually agree on everything and we tend to agree to disagree but that’s the fun part, to keep ourselves away from our comfort zones. Some of our topics run through current affairs, culture, technology, media, challenges facing the new Arab generation, and everything in between. This is how most conversations between friends are anyway, we’re just broadcasting it to the world to listen to with us.

How do you see your podcast progressing? Is it attracting as much listeners as you expected?
It was way more than we expected! We now have under our wing eight shows in Arablish, English and Arabic. We get good feedback and some even send long messages wanting to seriously interact and answer and comment as radio shows sometimes do but they can’t because it’s a podcast. Some of the comments that we get are hilarious, it’s a fun side activity for us and we have more ideas coming up and more guests too. It’s a podcast that caters to all.

I’ve been hearing Mstdfr this and Mstdfr that, you’re gaining a lot of momentum and I’ve been hearing people mention you every now and then. It’s been a year since you’ve launched and so far you’re ranking well up in the top 50 podcasts, why do you think so?
We think because of the diversity of our topics, we don’t stick to one topic per podcast, we can start anywhere from movies to bacteria, and we’re thankful for our listeners and followers. Because of them, the Mstdfr show is ranking in 4th place this month under top comedy podcasts in Saudi Arabia, we fell from 1st place last month but it’s all good. We also have “ilm fm” ranking 4th under technology and “eish btswi” in 38th place under education.

You guys are really enjoying this, aren’t you?
Yes we are, how can we not? We gather every few days, talk about anything and nothing. With the help of a guest, who might be shocked by the amount of straight forwardness in the conversation, but it’s how we like the flow to be; easy going, awkward, kinda embarrassing at times, knowledgable and educational not to mention understanding that our listeners want something different, new and fresh; that’s how we feel we represent and at least we don’t have a million cheesy and annoying radio advertisements in one show, that’s the best thing about podcasts, it’s nonstop!
We came a long way from our first episode, no more bleeping but we still get to talk no strings attached. A year later, we’ve created a studio now, people can actually come, rent out the room with an onsite producer at hand, microphones, a 12-track mixer and remote recording capabilities. Through our fun time recording podcasts, we’re encouraging more young Saudis who want to create a podcast to go ahead and do it, just have fun while doing it and innovative ideas are limitless.
You can download the MSTDFR show on your phone from the Apple Store, Windows Store, Google Store or listen to it on SoundCloud. You can also find the other shows on www.mstdfr.com
So check them out, it’s fun and hey, it’s free!