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438- Anniversary of International Podcast Day

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we briefly discuss the annual celebration of International Podcast Day, which has been held since 2015 on the 30th of September. It was started by founders Dave and Steve Lee, along with Daniel J Lewis — each podcasters in their own right.

The agenda for this 30-hour broadcast worldwide is at Internationalpodcastday.com.

[Editor’s note: since this was originally planned to be a 24-hour broadcast of presentations and panel discussions, etc., it has grown to a 30-hour time span due to the international date line and the ability for some Asian countries to start earlier on the 30th of September, allowing the close to be in the Eastern time zone of the USA at midnight]


Since the very first celebration in 2015, I myself have participated in this event and have either listened to the presentations, as well as have delivered welcome announcements from my good buddy, Adam Curry,  of the No Agenda show for the initial event.

I would suggest that you can either listen live to some events during the broadcast online, or you can also get to consume them later online from the recorded archive. The growth of podcasting in the world has seen more sessions and presentations being delivered in national languages (not just USA English or British Commonwealth English), as well. This was true last year for the Latin American countries that delivered their content in Spanish. Thus, this has grown to a worldwide event with participation from all podcasters of various topics.

We hope that you find International Podcast Day a worthwhile event for you, as a podcaster, and that it can indeed bring VALUE to your show and help you become a more successful podcaster.

Thank you for your attention and hoped participation for International Podcast Day.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and InternationalPodcastDay.com. All rights reserved.

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439- Planning for uncertainty due to media hype and scams

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the themes from Todd Henry in a recent episode of his podcast show, The Accidental Creative. The episode title is “How to Plan for Uncertainty.”

Now, I have known personally Todd Henry since 2013 when I did interview him for a podcast show. In addition, I have also puchased some of his books (e.g., Die Empty) and some of his audio premium podcast episodes from AC-Engage. This is because I have found great value from Todd. And I myself have used some of his suggested strategies, which had turned out to be the right formula for temporary success for me as a podcaster and entrepreneur.


Todd delivers some key issues and themes for us to do better planning and be ready to PIVOT if and when another crisis arrives — either from events that impact our economy or from the media hype and exaggeration of a plan-demic.

You have to wonder if you are going to be forced to PIVOT in your podcast and business as an entrepreneur and podcaster. If so, then you can apply these suggestions to your plight today.

The three issues that are addressed to be a better planner and be better prepared for uncertainties — especially when the lame-stream media presents us with scams due to censorship, scams and misinformation by not telling the truth (and Todd gives examples and more details to explain each of these points):

  1. You should ask better questions;
  2. You have to “build your runway” when times are good so you can have it available when they are not;
  3. What is your main thing that you will have and rely on for your success that revolves around your mission.

We recommend that you consume the episode — either in audio from the podcast, or from his email newsletter where Todd delivers the transcript summary of the episode. In this way, a small amount of time up front can help us to plan for the uncertainty of either the podosphere or small business for the entrepreneur.


For podcasts, it could be that you have already created another domain to which you will switch and generate new content — and maybe use some marketing tactics to generate different revenue streams in a premium show. And if you have the domain and a brief outline and business plan which you have created in the form of a plan, you can be ready to launch and execute the action items to publish premium content or other tactics to make money when the other podcasts have stymied due to the uncertain event. For more information on how to make money from your podcast, you may want to refer to the book previously known as More Podcast Money from Dave Jackson. And later next month, the plan is to for him to update this book with another work, the title of which is called Profit from Your Podcast (which is available now as pre-order at amazon.com).

So now, you can have a blueprint on how to plan some strategies to deal with podcasting uncertainties.

For other entrepreneurial themes, you may want to develop alternate business plans to either go into another business with a separate business model or to create a small (but new) revenue stream for your business and focus on that until the uncertainty has become more clear or until it is gone.

Either way, we hope that you can plan for your success by planning for uncertainty, as Todd Henry simplifies the process in his episode. In this way, we hope that you can avoid being spun around in confusion, frustration and loss of business and loss of podcasting by the uncertainty of the times.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Todd Henry of TheAccidentalCreative.com. All rights reserved.

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465- Dealing with woke and cancel culture in Podcasting

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver an editorial on podcasters’ dealing with the cancel culture and woke in today’s environment — and possibly in the future. Thus, what is delivered is my opinion on this topic.

With the recent acquisition of the Joe Rogan Experience show by Spotify, the podosphere was in a deluge of discussion about the millions that were offered to Joe for his content, both past and present or future. And that meant that after a certain date, you, the podcaster, would have to pay to get access to his content and consume it.

Well, there was a lot of controversy when not all the episodes of the JRE show were brought over to the new platform. In fact, many were missing — the controversial ones. This did not seem to bode well for this type of arrangement, since many of the JRE fans wanted to have available the older episodes, regardless of the controversy. And it seems that the employees of Spotify wanted to set policy and determine what would and would not be permitted to be available, due to the content. Obviously, these employees were part of the “noodle boy” demands of the woke and cancel culture. I was glad that the CEO of Spotify said that he would not allow this.

Well, now, it seems that the recent deplatforming of another show is causing waves of discontent and disgust in the podosphere. The “Podfather” — that is, Adam Curry of the No Agenda podcast show — has been capriciously removed from the Spotify app and has been deplatformed and taken down — again, by the same “noodle boy” tactics of self-appointed cancel culture employees whose attitude is that they will be the only ones who will act like “parents” and determine what will and will not be allowed to be available on that platform. And, of course, there was no notice given or reasons delivered for this decision and the subsequent actions.

This has definitely caused an uproar in the podosphere and has given Spotify a huge black eye of self-appointed censorship with the content that they once had made available to podcasters and listeners.

Why should these immature acts cause such concern for podcasters?

Well, suppose that you had planned your revenue-generating tactics for your podcasting business in dealing with the content on that platform. In other words, you had committed part of your business to the content being available; you had counted on this super directory and platform to help make you successful. And then, all of a sudden, without warning, the content was removed — not just an episode, but all the content and all episodes, from one minute to the next.

There was a story that a listener was consuming the content of the No Agenda podcast episode on his break while working; and he returned to work, for he had planned to listen to the rest of the episode after work. And when he did, the episode was gone. Not only that, but ALL the episodes and content, etc., of the No Agenda podcast show was totally removed. What a shock, especially when no mention was given either as a warning or any reason for this removal.

For this podcaster, I can only imagine the ire that was caused by those who pay to have spotify deliver content to them, but also ARE COUNTING on it for their business revenue streams or as part of their business plans.

I know that I, myself, have only the worst things to say about Spotify and the “noodle boy” mentality that the employees of that organization are now putting into action. At this point, we can equate this to the old tale about “the inmates are running the insane asylum.”

My hope is that the CEO will put a stop to this and remove these cancel-culture bigots who determine that they, alone, can decide what content is delivered to a paying audience — just because of their woke bigotry or social justice warrior causes.

But for my money, this “podcast wanna-be monopoly” is not worth the time nor money to be a part of, or to give hard-earned money to, or to even consider a part of the podosphere. They have proven themselves to be a CENSORSHIP group that willy-nilly determines what should be banned from the consumption of a paying audience. I am personally banning them from my life, and I am relating this story and promoting banning them from the lives of other podcasters — and I feel sorry for those whose businesses depended upon what was considered once as a good success story.

Now, with other alternatives around, Spotify will soon learn that these woke employees are going to be damaging the company right where it hurts — in the pocketbook. My only guess is that perhaps the determinants of this type of censorship may be related to the CEO or the owners of Spotify — and if that is the case, then what can you do if it involves family? That is always a possibility for the unreasonable.

So, as a podcaster, you may have to be very careful in the near future about which directories or platforms or partners you choose — because, if not, YOU may be deplatformed and shadow-banned or shouted down or erased from your own content due to their narrow-mindedness and childishness.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and NoAgendaShow.com. All rights reserved.

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437- What we have learned so far … Chris Brogan

In this episode, we focus on some thoughts that were delivered to us by a thought leader, Chris Brogan, in an email from his subscription list. The mail was dated 9 August 2020, and the subject was: “What we’ve learned so far.”

In addition, as one of the earliest podcasters in 2004 and 2005, he was one of the four founders of the podcamp events, which are barcamp-style inbound conferences that had several good ideas — among them, no fees for everyone, and all people were participants and not attendees, and that anyone could present and share without having to be in a psuedo-elite class.

Because I have known Chris since 2010 in our in-person meeting (and since 2007 in various podcamps and other podcast meetings and entrepreneur venues), I thought that his words-of-wisdom may be beneficial for both podcasters and entrepreneurs.


My dealings with Chris Brogan

The last time I met in person with Chris was in 2014 at the initial Podcast Movement conference in Dallas, in which he was the keynote speaker to kick off the first ever conference of this type (which is still going strong, with a virtual conference scheduled for October).

Before then, I had actually had an interview with him and Julien Smith, as co-authors of the book, Trust Agents. And we discussed the plights and tribulations and benefits that faced the entrepreneur at the time. In fact, I did record the interview, and it was published in PodcastReporter.com as a bonus episode on 28September2009.

And when it came time for him to be the keynote speaker of the very first Podcast Movement conference event in 2014, I was there with him to get his ideas for entrepreneur and podcaster success factors. So I did manage to corral him in a corner of the conference during a few moments which he did not have scheduled in a break-out or session, and I managed to get an interview at the Podcast Movement Conference in 2014:

The latter was known as episode # 12 of this show.


Now, sometimes the original text of a short email and what is said is much more important than a summary or an abridged edition. In this case, I felt that for the entrepreneur and podcaster to get the maximum benefit of this conversation, it would be best to deliver the entire message from Chris. And knowing him personally as I do (and, yes, I have purchased some of his webinars and offers from him before), I know that the would not mind for me to share these words with you. And if you find this of value, you may want to go to his web site and subscribe, or go to his YouTube channel of The BackPack

And there, you can also subscribe to his video channel and latest delivery of information.


“What we’ve learned so far…”

And here is the email letter that was sent out by Chris Brogan to his network of subscribers on 9 August 2020:

“All the world’s a stage, Fred.

Seems that way in pandemic-ville, doesn’t it? Endless Zoom calls (remember Skype?), and every speaker and podcaster friend I know getting back into video. It’s a very visual world for some.

I launched The Backpack Show originally to be a way to just connect and stay in touch. A …point of contact. Then, I shifted it to be a way to …catch up. Then, I knew I wanted to do it even better, so I brought Kerry O’Shea Gorgone in as consiglieri and co-host, and that’s the show.

Last week, I talked about the graphics changing the world. I thought I’d share some more learnings from the show as they apply to YOUR business and how to promote.

Steal These Learnings

Package – the ads and graphics conversation from last week covers this. You need visuals to really pop the projects you work on. Naming something is good. LABELING it is better.

Guide The Community – doing the Backpack Show for a little while now, it’s easy to feel like everyone’s been there to see every episode. There’s always someone new, so be crisp in guiding people through every experience. “It’s a business show, but with morning show energy” is one of our taglines because we’re setting the stage for what to expect. Do this often.

Promote – we’re getting ready to do a few Facebook ads to see if that pumps the numbers. Feels like it will. For as much as I ever tweet, or if Kerry tweets, that still drives very little traffic. If the guest shares the show with their community, the show pops.

Go Beyond – our guest list over the last few weeks and upcoming shows:

  • Mountain climber
  • Former pro football player/CEO
  • Professional comedians (2)
  • Magician/Positioning Expert
  • Broadway actor/singers (2)
  • The voice of Siri
  • NASCAR driver
  • Pro wrestler
  • YouTube celebrities (2)
  • Poop doctor
  • Chef
  • Adult film star and model
  • Futurists (2)

What’s interesting is that every time we invite one of our marketing or sales or business peers or friends, the results of attendance are mixed. Fewer views and less engagement for people in my same industry. Much more attendance and energy around the more unique guests.

Unknown is whether the perceived value of attending one type of show versus another changes. If you learn something from Daniel Pink or whoever, does it matter if fewer people see it than Scotland’s darling Janey Godley (who had 100x more views)?

Community-Driven – you know me. Everything I do has a massive community element. The show has live comments. We just launched a show email. We talk to guests and the community all the time on places like Twitter. Even more gratifying is we see people reach out and embrace our guests and thus expand those people’s communities even more. Threading together good people is the primary driving force behind how we execute the show.

Worth Checking Out / Thinking About

Not directly related to the show, but maybe so, it’s worth thinking about a few details:

  • People are consuming more video every day.
  • Very short form (sub 1 minute) and long form (over 30 minutes) seem to be the highest growth categories.
  • Instagram continues to gain attention share away from Twitter, Facebook, and the other social networks.
  • Email marketing is still the best platform for people hoping to do business with people and not just entertain.
  • People continue to make the transition from laptops/desktops to mobile-only computing/device usage. It’s a mobile world. Plan your business around that.

Finally – It’s the Work

You have what you sell and all that entails, but this – *waves hands around* – is also the work. Make content that engages. Connect with people around that content. It’s an easy model:

Content — Community — Marketplace

Build content that attracts people

Nurture those people into a community you serve

Articulate a marketplace that serves that community

That’s your work. Not just being good at your job. Not just running your company. It must be visible. And very very reinforced through repetition.

Are you ready for that?

Chris…”


We hope that these words from Chris Brogan may help to strengthen your resolve to succeed, in spite of the “Plandemic” and fearmongering and mask-debates going on during the virus crisis.

We hope that you can reflect on what you have learned so far, and that this will help to get you aimed at the targets of not only where you will want to go in the near future, but the success targets that you will have to learn in the coming months and years.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Chris Brogan. All rights reserved.

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436- Some ways to freshen up Podcasts

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver our own perspectives about a topic that came to us from a recent email sent from Squadcast that delivered an article about improving content for podcasters.

The name of the article and post was: “Need to freshen up your podcast? 10 Ways to Improve Your Podcast Content.” This was sent in an email by Rockwell@squadcast.fm.

The article cites ten of the personal favorite suggestions that may help a podcast “freshen up” the podcast. Now, I have been told by others that these are overly simplistic and rather obvious. Well, that may be so. But these are the obvious things that slip our minds when we are putting content together. And some of them may ring a bell in your mind as a reminder to review these suggestions and see if they can, in fact, freshen up your content.

These suggestions have a few descriptive sentences for each of the suggestions. In a short list, they are:

1. Keep listening to a LOT of other podcasts

2. Think back to the stories your family has told you

3. It’s all about curiosity

4. Look to your audience
“Your listeners aren’t just the people who are out there receiving the
content you create. They should be inspiring the content you create.”
… And what’s more inspiring than people?”

5. Pay attention to criticism

6. Create space for inspiration to find you

7. Leverage your skills

8. Diversity

9. Let people share their own stories

10. Stop stressing about “winning”


For this podcaster, the suggestion to focus on your audience and really “look” at them caught my attention. As was stated, they could be the ones who INSPIRE your content, not just the targets that will be consuming your content.

We hope that some of these suggestions would remind you of the importance of your podcast shows, so that you can “freshen up” your podcasts and make them more interesting and be able to increase your audience and deliver more VALUE.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and squadcast.fm. All rights reserved.

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452- Podcast conferences — change of the guard or agendas

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an opinion that was promoted on The New Media Show dialog that concerned the podcast conference speakers — naturally, it had to do with the selection results and why the presenters today are possibly in the “changing of the guard” as far as speakers at events.

In the episode # 397 of New Media Show, Todd Cochrane and Rob Greenlee (the co-hosts of the episode) mentioned that a podcaster from a show told them that they should “move out” and let newer podcasters be the presenters at the show. This begs the question of whether speakers should deliver value or just be part of an agenda. In other words, the value of the presentation is diminished, while the agenda and political correctness becomes primary in the decision making process.

For this podcaster, my opinion is that VALUE should be the primary determinant from the viewpoint of the attendees. And for myself, this means that education, training, new strategies and podcasting-relevant topics should deliver value to the podcasters (and that means ALL podcasters, including new and aspiring ones and veterans).

So when I saw the first listing of the speakers selected, it looked to me like the AGENDA and political correctness have sneaked into the selection process, and that the value for education and training for podcasters has now begun to diminish.

I also look at Gary Leland, who was one of the founders of the Podcast Movement conferences, and what he said was the real value to the podcasters — and that meant to provide the excitement for PODCASTING to the podcasters and content creators. There was no room for AGENDAS or political correctness in the selection process, because the excitement and VALUE to the podcasters was primary.

Well, since Gary Leland has left the Podcast Movement team in driving the conferences, the agenda-driven focus has moved in to steer the conference toward agendas. At least, that is my opinion and that is how I see the podosphere today for this conference.


Now, I have purchased my ticket to be an “attendee” at the Podcast Movement Virtual conference. Why? Because I had attended the PM 2014 (and I was a speaker at this conference) event. I also had recently attended the PM Evolutions conference in California in February. So I decided that I would be a virtual attendee at this new virtual event.

For the upcoming PM-Virtual event, I am thankful that at least two speakers will provide great value in the event and are NOT part of an agenda — these are Todd Cochrane and Tom Schwab. And that is just my opinion. But I ask “where are the rest of the experienced podcasters that do deliver value to podcasters in topics in which they are subject matter experts in their field?”

But if the direction goes farther into the AGENDA-driven focus for this conference, I feel that I will perhaps stop participating in this type of event. Why? Because the value for podcasters has begun to decrease, and the value to the AGENDAS has begun to replace this. And so, I will keep my focus on VALUE to the podcaster in terms of education, training, strategies and other value-based themes and topics for ALL podcasters — and not just for the Social Justice Warriors or those who have modern AGENDAS.

So, if the pendulum does swing back to the original themes of PM conferences, then I may go back to supporting that event and participate as an attendee again. But for now, I plan to distance myself from the agenda-driven conferences and steer myself toward the value-based events that do deliver podcasting gems to the attendees.

So thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and NewMediaShow.com. All rights reserved.

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435- Podcasting virtual conferences and their efficacy

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the value of meetings and conferences for entrepreneurs as a result of this virus crisis of 2020 — especially since face-to-face or inbound meetings have always resulted in high value and returns for attendees or participants.

This episode is from the original point of view of this entrepreneur and podcaster — and we zero in on the podcast events and conferences of the past 15 years, with its ROI and value delivered as a result of participation (either as an attendee or a panelist in a session or as a presenter, etc.).

My background with events spans over 40 years — 30 of them in corporate America as an employee of a large multinational, and over 19 years as an entrepreneur. I had attended many events as both a demonstrator and attendee, as well as a presenter in the USA and other countries worldwide. So I have had plenty of experience in what is called “Events Marketing” and have seen the development of new practices and techniques and skills for events — both inbound and outbound (or virtual).

However, with this new plandemic of the virus crisis of 2020, most of the events have been canceled or shut down for the remainder of the year 2020. And even though some of the larger ones tried to reschedule for the latter part of the year, it was still evident that the ROI for the hosting organization of the event would not be realized, and so a cancellation and/or postponement was the only alternative.

Recently, I had participated both as a speaker and an attendee in the podcast conferences — from the New Media Expo (that dealt with all new media, such as blogs, video, screencasting and podcasting, etc.) to the Podcast Movement conferences, etc. And before then, I participated as demonstrator, speaker and attendee at the smaller inbound conferences such as the Podcasting events (e.g., the original Podcast and Portable Media Expo) and smaller Podcamps, etc.


So the question is: now that events have had to switch to a virtual “venue” over the internet, what value has been lost and what value has been gained?

Value Gained — especially ROI

The best part of the virtual conference is really a boon for the bean-counters — or for your budget, if you are a solo-preneur. That is, the SAVINGS in hard dollars that would have been spent in travel, lodging, food, laundry, transportation to and from the event, and other costs associated with inbound conferences that required an entrepreneur to go to an outside venue either to the other side of town or clear across the country (or even another country). The ROI possibility is greatly improved.

In addition, for HEALTH and HYGIENE reasons, the inbound events also save the entrepreneur from virus and health problems. This could be from the air circulated on an aircraft to and from the venue, to the hand-shaking, to the crowds at the event, and to the close proximity of demonstrators in the exhibit area when one is getting a demo of a product or getting information, etc. So there is no problem of contracting any colds or flu or other viruses (especially in late fall and winter times, such as those events in Las Vegas).

But besides the money saved and NOT spent, and besides the avoidance of hygienic and health threats, what are the OTHER values from avoiding the inbound conference?


“Paradise Lost” — especially in relationships and community

You can hear the list of valuable ROI engagements as discussed in recent podcast episodes from Evo Terra of Podcast Pontifications. In this podcast, he discusses the fact that the same type of relationship-building and getting to know someone in person cannot really be duplicated in a Zoom meeting or virtual conference over several days, where the speaker or demonstrator is speaking to a camera and not to a human being.

I agree wholeheartedly with Evo on that account. The last inbound conference I did attend was the Podcast Movement 2020 Evolutions event in Los Angeles (just before the lockdown occurred). I was able to re-energize with some of my fellow podcasters, as well as get to know some new contacts in person. The value and the nature of the relationship was unique only to person-to-person engagements and cannot be duplicated over the network with poor quality (as in zoom) or via a one-on-many presentation with poor audio and video. The Q-and-A portion of a virtual event cannot compare to asking a question live in front of the speaker or guest, and then later on catching that individual in the hallway or in the session room to get a one-on-one discussion, as well as handing a business card and asking for an interview, etc.

What seemed to be a great landscape and opportunity to derive value for future engagements, products, services, offerings and especially JOINT VENTURES was something which, unfortunately, I seemed to have taken for granted. And I think a lot of us can “resemble that remark” (as said by the cartoon cat, Garfield).

That great part of the in-person meetings and conferences was LOST — in fact, it seemed to me to be a “paradise lost” (as permitted by Milton) to the entrepreneur.

In addition, as a demonstrator, I was able to influence and promote my products, services, offerings, offers and web site, podcasts and other assets to the attendees and reporters of an event in a most influential way (that got good, measurable results) when I was in the exhibit hall of such a conference. And in the virtual world, this is entirely a situation lost.


The future and Regaining the value

So how can we regain the value of events in this re-defined normal of the world because of this plandemic and virus crisis, both now and after it is over?

For myself, as an entrepreneur and podcaster, I will continue to be VERY skeptical of the events as they go through their growing-up period of availability over the internet. I have already sat through different events, such as the SHIFT event from the PodcastMovement.com team. And for me, this registered as a very low 2 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is excellent.

That does not mean to say that I will not risk to invest in other sessions or events. I have registered for the upcoming and non-refundable Podcast Movement Virtual conference for 2020, just to see how it is and compare it to other events. While I am hoping to get greater value out of that (comparing it to the Podcast Movement 2020 Evolutions inbound conference), I am not holding my breath — for I forsee some growing pains still going through their evolution, with the attendees as the losers on this end.

Thus, as long as you, as an entrepreneur, can keep a skeptical eye and know what type of VALUE should be delivered to you by these events, you can be a good judge and critical thinker of their worth to you. And you should be able to see how and what type of improvements are occurring in the world of virtual events.

With your eye on lower costs and your desire to obtain VALUE for your time and attendance (and cost from the entry fee or virtual ticket), you should be able to put together what we have always advised — a COST-BENEFIT-ANALYSIS chart with your expected outcomes and results. And with this, you can make a determination to either wait until the events go back to inbound or to receive the VALUE in some other form of delivery, be it by way of virtual conferences, webinars, calls with others on the network, podcasts, screencasts or other media and technologies.

We hope that you can plan for — and receive — the value you deserve after determining whether or not to participate in some way to a virtual event in the near future. As for myself, I will be skeptical, but I will also reach out to take a low-cost risk to see this new paradigm of events for entrepreneurs.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation  . All rights reserved.

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podcast

455- Podcast guest interviews — a study

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review the results of a study that focused on podcast interviews. This study was presented by Tom Schwab (someone whom we have interviewed before in this series since 2015). His platform is called Interview Valet.

This study was prepared by Tom and delivered at various conferences. In fact, from the current emails from the Podcast Movement Virtual conference announcing the speakers, it seems that Tom will be giving his presentation at the virtual event. In the past, he has delivered this topic at the Podfest Global Summit as a keynote.

But for now, the presentation slide deck can be obtained for free at the web site for Interview Valet.


Now, I have known Tom since 2015. I had even interviewed him in an audio episode in this podcast series about his programs. What intrigued me most about him was that he stated that he did NOT want to be a podcaster and create content in that manner; but that he wanted to grow his prospects and leads by being a GUEST on other podcasts. And so he put together his platform for helping other entrepreneurs become guests on podcasts and then create value in this manner.

As you will see in his free pdf document called “The State of Podcast Interviews – 2020”Tom delivers 16 pages of data from his study to support his programs called “Podcast Guest Profits.” And in this deliverable, Tom presents the DATA as he studied it for podcast interviews, including:

  • The platforms for recording guest interviews and the analytics associated with them;
  • The best days of the week for guest interviews;
  • The duration of the cycle from invitation to the actual recording and from recording to posting the guest interview episode;
  • The breakdown for audio vs. video interviews and even the live interviews; and
  • Some conclusions for future guest interviews in the podosphere.

If you, as a podcaster, wish to include guest interviews, then this data will be a good resource to begin the investigation of the direction you may wish to take in your plans for podcast episodes. And coupled with other podcast resources and information given by others about how to select guests and then prepare for a good interview, you should be able to create good content that will excite your listeners and deliver VALUE to your audience with the topics which they wish to consume and the experts that will be interesting. And this should help to grow your podcast successfully.

As a side note, you yourself may be called upon to be the GUEST and BE INTERVIEWED. And we have a past audio episode from this series that is delivered by Max Flight on the issues and the preparation of being interviewed:


For this podcaster, I had started in 2006 with a podcast guest interview show called The Struggling Entrepreneur, which has unfortunately podfaded after nearly 500 episodes. It has been replaced by a more modern version podcast show called The Struggling Biz. These shows interviewed aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as new entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs and those who did not succeed — and each episode presented some lessons learned from multiple angles. We even had interviews with some small business owners that said that they did NOT want to be entrepreneurs, but preferred to stay in their career day-jobs.

So, for myself, guest interviews are helpful for the podcaster — not only in generating interest and delivering quality content, but also in improving your skills as an interviewer, content creator, aspiring journalist and informer (in my case, a Podcast Reporter).

Thus, I wish the best to you in becoming a great interviewer and for creating great episodes in your podcast show with your guests — and in making your podcast show successful.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Tom Schwab of InterviewValet.com. All rights reserved.

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podcast

434A- Podcasting vs Social Media on smart phone

In this repurposed episode of The Podcast Reporter, we focus on the theme delivered originally by Dave Jackson in his School of Podcasting show earlier which compares the effective communication and better business results between Podcasting vs. the Social Media on a smart phone.

This topic came up previously by Dave Jackson in episode # 640, in which he interviewed Paul Colligan of The Podcast Report show.

As you will hear in this repurposed audio episode, there are main differences that define the environment of each platform — podcasts vs. social media. These include the “quick hit” of social media vs. the “listening and consumption of media with intimacy” to the listener. What is interesting for me is that Paul actually compared the landing-and-staying time of the user for each platform, and what this meant to him in the world of new media.

Another theme is the “hype” from social media vs. the full consumption of media in podcasting. In addition, there is a brief description of the “OTG” topic for those of you who may have been contemplating to get “off the grid” in order to improve your mental health — with a key example of the podcaster who has done this (namely, Adam Curry in his show, No Agenda podcast).


We hope that you find this topic relevant and interesting for you, as a podcaster — and especially if you are a profitable podcaster. If so, we hope that the value you find in this discussion will help you select the better platform for your own communication and decide to invest your time in generating content, discussion and other areas of communication.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Paul Colligan and Dave Jackson. All rights reserved.

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podcast

434- Dilemma for creativity and innovation in Podcasting

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver our perspective and historical background when related to the ideas from Clayton M Christensen of his book titled The Innovator’s Dilemma (which you can get in hardcopy or kindle from amazon.com).

As a backgrounder and historical point, we see such companies that had the opportunity to take advantage of future technology and innovation and be true leaders in the fields of:

  • Movie rentals — how Netflix stole the market from Blockbuster, even though the latter had the opportunity to buy the former, but declined;
  • Xerography and copiers — how Xerox stole the market of copiers from IBM, even after IBM had the opportunity to buy the technology and firm that was later a key competitor, Xerox;  and
  • PC Operating systems and portable phones — how google and Apple stole the market of smartphones and search engines from Microsoft.

Now, what about podcasting? Has there been new technology that can now upset the apple cart for podcasting?


Well, in several podcast episodes of Grumpy Old Bens and No Agenda and other tech-focused podcast shows, the example of DeScript is given as the possible next technology to turn the podcast industry and podosphere upside down.

So, if you understand the technologies used with DeScript, do you think that being able to change the text of a text transcript will be revolutionary to change the face of podcasting and force the indie podcasters to become extinct?

For this podcaster, my perspective is that the podosphere is still a level playing field for indie podcasters — this is my opinion. And with the growth of podcasting by the new shows (now over 1 million shows in podcasting), the technology of creating audio from text and including it into a podcast or making an entire show from the audio-generated from transcripts will compete with the following areas of the indie podcasters:

  • the perspective and credits and credentials of the indie podcasters who have gained a reputation and a loyal following in the podosphere;
  • the audio of an accepted podcaster’s character, voice, sense of humor and personality that sets the podcaster apart from anyone else;
  • the loyal fans of podcasting who hate to hear any type of robot-like voice, regardless of how “perfect” it may seem to the newer publications creators (like the millennials);
  • Those listeners who still find value in the older methods of publication and reception of audio podcast episodes and shows and refuse to change; and finally
  •  Those podcasters who still want to continue their workflow in creating and publishing outstanding content for the audiences which they have (and have worked so hard to get over the past 15 years).

So, as the above is only my opinion, I suspect that we all have to keep watching the space of technology in podcasting and see what the newer innovations will be. And perhaps we need to focus on the podcasting tech shows to see if innovations like DeScript will grow (and how fast it will be accepted by the podcast community). Please remember that when blab was available several years ago, many podcasters jumped on this technology and predicted that this would be the game-changer in podcasting for the future — and you saw that this was removed after a year or so from the podosphere.

So, we hope that you keep involved in understanding the technologies that are being created, and the innovations that may change the participation of podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and DeScript.com . All rights reserved.