Hal Woodman is perhaps better known online as Hewy Nosleep, writer of the No Sleep in Helena blog. Now he’s got a new project: a Helena podcast, so people can listen instead of read.

“I think someone asked about it a while ago, and I thought it was a great idea,” Woodman said. “I don’t watch TV much. I listen to all these different podcasts, and that’s my entertainment now.”

Woodman said he’s looking to make his podcast informative for Helena citizens, with separate segments where he rehashes local news and then interviews prominent members of the community, such as Helena City Council member Cris Nelson.

He hopes people will start calling in to leave voicemails with their questions about the city.

“I’d like to get to where people ask questions about Helena, and then I go find the people with the answers.”

He’s been doing the podcast weekly for about a month, and said that already 200 people have listened online.

Right now, Woodman’s broadcasts are about 10 minutes long, but he’s looking to get them up to 15-30 minutes long. The original plan was for him to do podcasts during the summer, but he said if they prove popular enough, he might keep them going.

“I told everybody I’d do it during the summer, but if it actually gets large enough, I may continue it. But I’m definitely going to do it through the summer,” he said. “I think it’s a way people can find out information about Helena as opposed to reading it.”

The podcasts can be accessed through archive.org, iTunes, or at helenapodcast.blogspot.com.

Woodman said the podcast really serves as a way to satisfy his own curiosity about his city.

“I tried to do things I’m curious about, that I hope other people are curious about,” he said.