BBC Scotland launches Scotcast news podcast

It's the launch day for Scotcast, BBC Scotland's new current affairs podcast.

It will land in your feeds four times a week - Monday to Thursday at 17:00 - and I am your host.

We'll be bringing you conversation with trusted journalists and experts about the country's biggest news stories.

I've been an avid podcast listener for almost 20 years. I was one of the really early adopters.

In 2006, when I moved abroad for work, podcasts were very much in their infancy.

They were a good way to keep in touch with the stuff I missed from home - a little bit of culture - but mainly football.

I'd plug my heavy old iPod into a PC and leave it overnight. In the morning I'd have a new podcast ready to listen to.

We've come a long way since then.

These days if I have a decent signal I can download an episode in about five seconds - from the top of a mountain or the back of a bus.

Back then I knew of maybe half a dozen podcasts that were good. Now a quick check of the podcast app on my phone tells me I subscribe to 79 different shows.

Some drop every day, some once a week, others are limited series that I've still to listen to.

Everything's on there, from the Definitive Story of Joy Division to - whisper it - The Archers Omnibus.

Unsurprisingly, I have loads of news and politics podcasts on my list.

But I don't have a podcast that specifically covers Scottish news and current affairs.

We're launching Scotcast to be the answer to this.

It will also go out on television on BBC Scotland in the evenings and on the radio too.

In each episode, with the help of colleagues and guests in the studio, we'll bring you a detailed look at a story of real significance in Scotland.

It could be hard news, it could be politics but it could just as easily be culture, entertainment or sport.

A subject has to be relevant and interesting - that's our only rule.

The Scotcast format will allow us to really get into an issue and look at it in depth.

It's something that's always harder to achieve in a busy news programme on the radio or television.

If we do our jobs properly, we'll help you to better understand the country we live in and how it works.

But we want it to be an easy listen - hopefully we'll make you laugh as well as think.

We've been rehearsing the format for the past few weeks and it's working well. I've certainly learned a lot so far.

The first lesson was this - you know how most podcasts sound like the presenters have just walked into a studio, opened up their microphones and started talking?

Well it turns out it's a lot more complicated than that.

It takes a lot of effort to make a show sound like it didn't take much effort!

But you don't need to worry about any of that, you just need to subscribe, sit back and let us do the work.

I really hope you can join us.

Scotcast is available on BBC Sounds with a new episode at 17:00 every Monday to Thursday.