In January 2024, during an episode of "Tomorrow Will Be Televised," hosted by Simon Applebaum on Blog Talk Radio, an intriguing discussion unfolded, spotlighting a unique television channel, NOMADslow.tv. Jason Rodi, the creative mind behind this innovative service, shared insights into the inspiration and conception of a platform that's changing how we interact with television.
The Genesis of NOMADslow.tv
NOMADslow.tv emerges as a breath of fresh air in a cluttered media landscape, offering a tranquil refuge that encourages mindfulness and a serene engagement with content. The channel aims to provide a constant "stream of consciousness", featuring mesmerizing visuals from around the globe.
Rodi's journey into creating such a unique platform was influenced by his past endeavors, including founding Moment Factory, which specializes in creating immersive video environments. This background laid the foundation for NOMADslow.tv, where Rodi sought to capture the essence of nature and the world in its purest form.
A Different Kind of Television
Unlike traditional TV that demands your full attention, NOMADslow.tv is designed to be a constant, soothing background presence. Rodi envisions the channel as a window to heaven on earth, offering viewers a chance to experience the world's beauty without the typical demands of media. This concept challenges conventional television norms by providing content that doesn't vie for your attention but rather complements your environment.
Capturing the Essence of Slow TV
The content on NOMADslow.tv is a far cry from the fast-paced, narrative-driven media we're accustomed to. Rodi, through his travels and experiences, captures long, unbroken shots of natural and urban landscapes, inviting viewers into a meditative state. From the serene fields to the bustling streets of Rome, each piece of footage is a testament to the world's understated beauty, encouraging viewers to find peace and mindfulness in their surroundings.
Embracing a New Television Paradigm
NOMADslow.tv stands as a pioneer in the slow TV movement, offering a sanctuary from the noise and haste of everyday media consumption. Rodi's creation invites us to redefine our relationship with television, turning our screens into portals of tranquility and mindfulness. As we embrace this new way of experiencing content, NOMADslow.tv reminds us of the beauty in stillness and the power of slow, deliberate engagement with the world around us.
For more information and to embark on this serene visual journey, visit NOMADslow.tv.
Here is a complete transcript of the interview :
Tomorrow Will Be Televised with Simon Applebaum January 2024 episode of the program all about TV, on Blog Talk Radio. The guests: John Orloff, writer and co-executive producer of Masters Of The Air, Apple TV+'s new World War II miniseries saga that premieres worldwide today, and Jason Rodi, creator and organizer of the unique TV channel NOMADslow.tv.
SIMON APPLEBAUM: Three, Two, One. Masters of the Air is Apple TV plus’ first blockbuster mini series of 2024. And just a few hours after this morning’s debut, blockbuster praise is pouring in from critics and viewers alike. Writer and co-executive producer John Orloff joins me next in an Internet exclusive from Boston.
Our second half hour focuses on NOMADslow.tv, a very different TV experience. And over here, Jason Rodi will tell you why, from Montreal.
APPLEBAUM: John, what's next for you now that Masters of the Air has finally made the screen?
JOHN ORLOFF: I'm still figuring that out. I'm working on some exciting things that I can't quite talk about yet, but it's been such a long and exhaustive journey for me in particular, I'm sort of the only guy who’s been working on this thing for ten years. And, you know, I'm kind of taking a pause and a breath as I figure out what the next thing exactly is in my life. Because when I commit to something, my darling wife calls me the method writer.
APPLEBAUM: The program is Masters of the Air and the first two episodes you can catch right now on Apple TV + available on smart TV devices, including Apple TV's own set top box, as well as multi-channel bundles. _______________________________________________________________________
If you're a fan of Sunday morning on CBS, and I am, you know that before the closing credits,
there is a special minute or two where you go to a very unique environment somewhere in the world and you just be with it. That's right. Just be with it. Well, believe it or not, there is a streaming service where you can be with nature, with all sorts of environments from all over the world. It's called NOMADslow.tv, and joining us live to talk about it right now, with another innovative system, is the creator and organizer of the service from Montreal, Canada, Jason Rodi. Jason, good to have you with us.
JASON RODI: It's so good to be here. Thank you.
APPLEBAUM: Was Sunday morning an inspiration, those few minutes of being with nature? Was it an inspiration to do this service.
RODI: It was not directly, but you can say all these things are an influence of sorts. I think of films like Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi, very impressionistic narrative films showing us amazing imagery from all over the world. To me, this felt like ultimate cinema back in the day when I first saw those films. And I do feel that we're creating something here with NOMADslow.tv that is truly a different kind of television, mostly because you have it on when you're not really watching TV. Instead of turning off the tube, you basically turn it to NOMADslow.tv. And I see it personally, as the creator, as a window to heaven on earth, this idealized perspective of our world, creating a state of mind in the audience that, instead of grabbing at your attention, like pretty much every other piece of media out there does, this really creates a different kind of state of mind that some would call soft fascination, the kind, as you were describing so well, that you get out in nature when you're managing to just be.
APPLEBAUM: Jason, how did you come up with the idea? But first of all, what does the NOMAD in NOMAD Slow stand for?
RODI: Well, NOMAD - I created another company over 20 years ago called Moment Factory and this company ended up doing all kinds of video environments, creating the backdrops to concerts and that sort of thing. So I was always creating atmospheres through video and lighting. Through that part of my life, I developed NOMADslow.tv, specifically this kind of content. But when I left Moment Factory, I thought Moment Factory was so good to me, just even as a name, it really created something that went beyond me. So I thought, what is the word that would bring me the best things in my life? For whatever reason, I thought of NOMAD as that, for the travel aspect of it, but also because I felt like it was kind of the opposite of a factory. It was going to allow me to be free in my life if I became NOMAD. So that's a very personal reason. And it's really just to manifest the best life I can for myself.
APPLEBAUM: So how did you come up with the concept of NOMADslow.tv? Did you get a lot of naysayers, people who say: “No, this is not going to work. You can't get people to sit for this kind of programming beyond a minute or two. You got to be crazy, etc., etc..” That kind of talk?
RODI: Yeah, well, when I thought of creating a TV station, back in the nineties when I was in film school at NYU, I thought: “Do I really want to become another director? I don't want to ask permission from anybody to make my content, to make my films.” So I thought of this TV station as a movie that never ends, that I can just keep adding to and that the audience would be there too. So you could see this as the inception of the idea, back in the late nineties, as the Internet was becoming a reality for the distribution of video online. And then through the years, as I mentioned earlier, I made a lot of content that was not necessarily narrative content. It was more to create an ambience, an atmosphere. So I had this idea, I started streaming 24 hours a day in 2014, finding a way for me to do that with ease, for it not to be a stressful thing, to be able to have with a minimal team, a TV station of my own. Now, obviously, the technology and our means have evolved greatly since 2014, but this idea evolved into slow TV. This was, I felt, what would fit this vision I had of, I guess some 30 years ago soon. And it's really in 2020, in April of 2020 that I finally went live with it. And that turned out to be just about when the pandemic was starting, so my timing was serendipitous, really, because I came on the scene with the right kind of content. People couldn't go outside, you know, and after a while of just channel surfing and watching the next thing, you want to be able to just lean back, let go, and almost meditate. You know how meditation became so big during the pandemic? My content and my concept really had a purpose in people's lives right away. And I saw it in my own life, how it affected my mind, the way I work, for example. Like, personally, I'm a screen addict. Right now, I'm looking at four screens around me. All of them are on. And if I can also be listening to a podcast at the same time as I'm listening to music and answering emails, then I'll do that. And you can call it a sickness if you want, but I found NOMADslow.tv to be the remedy for that sickness, because it allows me to focus, it allows me to give attention where I need to give it. It's not grabbing at me. It's soothing my mind. So it's not something you watch actively. You obviously, as I'm talking to you now, I'm staring at the screen and I'm being kind of hypnotized by the images. But that's exactly the idea. My flow is improved by it instead of disturbed by it.
APPLEBAUM: When people get into their seats or their couches or sofas to watch this service, what are the images that they see? Give us some some examples.
RODI: Well, first of all, they don't really sit down to watch NOMADslow.tv. As I said it's like screensaver TV. So you're basically, if you sit down to watch, you're turning NOMADslow.tv off and going on to your favourite streaming service of the moment. But if you get up in the morning and you turn NOMADslow.tv on, you leave it on for the rest of your day. You're going to be travelling through your subconscious mind throughout the whole day, visiting different parts of the world that are presented in a timeless fashion. It's not there telling you: “Look at this event that happened recently, or look at me now as I'm telling you this exciting story that you're missing.” Quite the opposite. The camera will always be travelling. There'll always be movement throughout the landscape, done in a real impressionistic manner. And so the state of mind that I get in when I'm filming a movie for NOMADslow.tv, if I'm walking through a landscape, I'm walking very slowly. I’m in a real meditative state because often I'm also recording sound, so I'm trying to make as little noise as possible as I'm moving through and some of my shots will last over 20 minutes sometimes. So this state of mind that I get in, almost like a monk walking slowly through a field, to create an image, this state of mind that I get in naturally as I film these moments, is essentially the state of mind that the audience gets into through these natural landscapes. Sometimes I can also be filming in a city. Some of my favourite images from this past year are drone shots I shot over Rome while the sun was coming up, and it's as if I was flying through a field of antennas that were there shining and pointing at each other over Rome. So poetic, Simon, and one of these shots lasts over 20 minutes, and it’s always changing. And then I find some smoke leaving a chimney. And then we go through that smoke and we find the sun rising just behind it. A state of mind! That's that's what you'll end up getting from NOMADslow.tv.
APPLEBAUM: Hearing Jason Rodi. He is the creator, originator and organizer of the service known as NOMADslow.tv appearing on some smart TV sets and smart TV devices. He joins us live from Montreal, Canada, this half hour. Right here exclusively on Tomorrow Will Be Televised. Jason, first of all, before we get into how you do this footage, which smart TV sets devices are currently playing NOMADslow.tv. I know that ROKU is, I believe Apple TV. Is anybody else?
RODI: Yes, we are pretty much on all of them. We're trying to be! I know LG is set to come on in a month or two and Samsung the same, but otherwise anywhere you get your streaming services like Netflix, Disney or any of them, you should be able to find NOMADlife.tv. Yeah or of course on our website NOMADslow.tv we also provide all the content in a VOD fashion there, the same way you can find it on any streaming service. We have a screensaver that you can also get off of the website. This is interesting because, I was thinking : “You don't even go to this content. You just want it to come on, like a screensaver does. So three years ago when we started the project, it’s one of the first things we developed, which is a screensaver that launches our live stream automatically onto your screen whenever you set it to launch. And I just love it in that form actually because it’s when I stand back, it's when I stop at the computer for a couple of minutes, that then these images will come on and it's usually when my mind started going somewhere else. And it just helps me focus once again, into the present moment.
A lot of it is about that. It's about being in the present. And I was looking at a lot of the other episodes that you've been doing and I love that I get to be on this show, you know, because I was having those same thoughts that you brought up near the beginning. I thought, this is so different. Do I have a place in this industry? Can I go and compete against everything else that's out there? All the magnitude of content that's released daily?” And so I went to MIPCOM a couple of years ago, started speaking to people, getting more involved in the industry, getting to know the industry better, and I saw very quickly that no one was doing what I was doing, especially not with a kind of cinematic approach, or an artistic approach, or even a personal approach than I might have. So that gave me a lot of confidence to go forth and really push it. And we've produced hundreds of hours, all in-house, over the past three years since. And now as we're coming on to the market, onto all these platforms, Fire TV, ROKU, and the likes, well, I'm getting feedback from the public. You know, I'm getting emails from people telling me it's making a real difference in their lives. It's a real joy, because who wants to just add to the pile of stuff that's out there and that's grabbing at our attention all day long? It felt great, you know, to bring NOMADslow.tv to the market. And we're really just getting started, frankly.
APPLEBAUM: Where have your nomadic travels taken you to shoot footage for the channel? And also, have you gotten thoughts from other people who've seen the service saying: “I'd like to shoot footage for you. Here's this place that I would like to see represented on your network, and I'm a good producer, let me join you in your quest.
RODI: Yeah, well, that's a really good way to frame those two questions, actually, because they do answer each other to me. At the beginning, I involved some producer friends of mine, people that also make films and videos that I knew had great content of this sort. I mentioned Moment Factory. So just through that company, I got to know, you know, a long time ago great video artists that have fitting content for this. But quickly had I compiled it every time it would go to something that I didn't make myself, there was a kind of clash there. So I thought, you know, it only lasted a couple of months before I decided only to have our own productions in the channel, to develop the language before opening it up. That was in the middle of the pandemic, back in 2020. So I was already working with some of my existing catalogue. I've done extensive travel throughout my life. I've climbed the Seven Summits, I've skied to the North and South Poles and I've made films throughout all of those journeys. So I had a kind of base catalogue to work from. And then from there, as travel slowly opened up with the pandemic, it was wonderful because I got to at first explore my city of Montreal through this kind of lens, this language. Then I was able to explore beyond that into Quebec. And until just merely a couple of years ago now, my first real trip that went beyond Canada, was to Bora Bora. And then ever since we've been all over; Japan, all through Europe. Next we're heading to Africa. So until I've created a catalogue that spans the planet, the way I know how, I'm holding back on accepting submissions.
But as has happened before in my life, it was the same thing. When I started MomentFactory.com, in the year 2000, I was putting one movie of my own every week with no explanation and it took a couple of months before I started receiving submissions from other video artists that were recognizing themselves in what I was making, because it had no category. It wasn't short films, it wasn't narrative, it was, as I mentioned, kind of ambience or "moments" as we used to call them. So that's what's happening right now with NOMADslow.tv. We're getting the recognition, the audience is building, and so I'm getting those kinds of emails from people going: “Jason, I'm heading out on this trip and I think, just from seeing what you're doing on NOMADslow.tv, I believe I could do something that's really in that vein, really with that language.” Because it's not just beauty shots. So some artists are getting it, and now I'm starting to receive the kind of content that is a real fit for it. It's been a process, frankly, and it's really the beginning, as I said earlier.
APPLEBAUM: Well, the name of the service is called NOMADslow.tv and is currently running on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, soon will be, as you heard earlier, on LG, Samsung, and all other smart TV sets, device and multi-channel bundles. So definitely check it out. It's a very unique experience. You want more details about the service online, here’s where you go : www.NOMADslow.tv. That’s www.NOMADslow.tv. Jason Rodi, the creator, originator, organizer of NOMAD Slow, thank you again for joining us. Congratulations with how your service is going and hopefully many, many more achievements in your nomadic travels in times to come. It's been a pleasure having you on.
RODI: Thank you kindly. Pleasure's all mine.
APPLEBAUM: You're welcome. Take care and have a super weekend and safe journeys.
RODI: Ciao, now.
APPLEBAUM: Jason Rodi joining us live from Montreal, Canada. By the way, as I was hearing Jason, it reminded me that years ago I saw, with my girlfriend at the time, a wonderful movie called Russian Ark, an incredible movie, which is all done in one camera shot for over an hour,
taking place in and out of the grounds of the State Hermitage Museum in Russia. It's an extraordinary film. You ever get a chance to see it, do! It reminds me of what Jason is out to do with NOMADslow.tv. For Tomorrow Will Be Televised, I’m Simon Applebaum in New York. Thank you for listening. Have a fantastic weekend. Remember, let there be peace on earth and let it begin with you. Until the next time, stay well and stay tuned.