I'm sorry but I'm going to have to say I don't like the new design over the old design either! I agree the old one wasn't perfect, but when I opened the site up today it was like a whack in the face and it made me come hunting on the forum to find out what had happened!
I don't mind change, but only when its for the better
Here's my input:
1)
'The smaller header is nice. It leaves more room for the content', I agree with this but I did like the blue gradients in the background of the blog description previously. Depending on what kind of look you want from your blog you could try to do something similar with your new header and perhaps your section headings too.
2)
'I find the bold text disturbing.' I also agree with this, and its probably the most annoying part for me about the new design, it makes the writing really hard to read and that's probably due to the fact it is smaller as well. I really like the font formatting of the blog posts from the old design. Perhaps just a slight change of this would make a dramatic effect on the overall feel of the new design and people would see what has changed for the better?
3) I like how you have changed the section headings to make them stand out more.
4) Please don't forget your blog and keep the videos coming now that you have also got your radio show going! I find I can't concentrate on just listening to audio, I need video to go along with it. Have you thought about trying to capture video while doing your radio show? I guess there may not be much point to that tho..