Month: October 2021

579- Steps for positive podcast interviews

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 31, 2021

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review a post from podcaster Ben Krueger that deals with the steps in how to interview someone for a podcast.

In this post, Ben gives some steps needed for successful interviews of your guests for your podcast episodes:

“Find guests that you are genuinely interested in.
Do extensive research on the guest to identify talking points.
Listen to previous podcast interviews featuring the guest.
Avoid interrupting the guest during the conversation.
Make sure they are given plenty of time to speak.
Don’t be afraid to challenge guests on their opinions.
Practice the concept of active listening.
Talk with the guest before you start recording.
Always keep the conversation moving forward.
Create batches of questions on particular topics.”

An example of this type of interviewer is Bill O’Reilly of the “No-spin news” podcast show. He interviews guests from BOTH SIDES OF THE ISLE or of differing perspectives, so that he can show that he will respect the viewpoints of the pros and cons of a particular topic (even if they may not agree totally with what he says or with his own “narrative” — because everyone does have a hidden narrative).

Many interviewers suffer from “group-think” or from subjective opinion-based narratives from which they cannot remove themselves when talking to others or interviewing others. This type of narrow-minded thinking will always go along with the narrative-of-the-day along the “party lines” that dictate what to say and how to say it, regardless of possible truth or issues that may surface when you have someone giving you a different point of view that may have merit.

Now, Ben stresses the dangers that may be underlying in your own attitude when you have basically a mindset that demands group-think or when you do not really want true and honest opinions and viewpoints from your guest that you interview. He states: “If you’re not interested in their opinions and perspectives, there will likely be an absence of thoughtful interview questions – and this will damage the value proposition of the content. To create great audio content with guests, you must lead with passion. It’s essential to focus on topics that both you and the audience care about.”

For this podcaster, my suggestions would be to review the steps outlined by Ben Krueger and see if they match your workflow and elements in planning and executing various podcast guest interviews. In fact, you may have an additional step or two that will help you to ensure clear, concise, fair and impartial interviews that will have an impact on your listeners.

As you may remember, I have known personally Ben since the 2014 time frame, when I shared a booth in the exhibit hall of the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas. I know that he has delivered good information and free pdfs at times for his listeners. He has suggested many tips and techniques which I consider of value, especially for the new and aspiring podcasters.

Ben Krueger

And although the steps that he outlines may take more time and seem to cause more trouble and time for you, they may be helpful in the long-term for you and your credibility as an interviewer. They certainly cannot hurt, and they may cement good habits in the preparation of guest interviews for you, the podcaster, in the future for your episodes and shows. And I, myself, have adopted a couple of these in my workflow that have already paid off with valuable results in my interviews for my podcasts. We hope that you will find some additional formulas for success with your podcast guest interviews.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Ben Krueger, cashflowpodcasting.com, group-think, podcast guest interviews, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

543- One success in Podcasting — case study of quality and audience

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 28, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we discuss a case study where a podcast show reached one of their success measurements (no, it was NOT financial growth or revenue streams). The measurements included two criteria:

Being considered a “quality podcast” by the publishers of an ecosystem with the managers of the ecosystem managed by the stream to an audience worldwide; and
Reaching an optimal audience that is filled with people of similar tastes, similar thoughts and like-minded listeners worldwide.

The podcast we speak of had originally one host. And it was brought to our attention since 2014, but it never took off the ground until 2018. And then, in 2019, a co-host was added — and since then, the two co-hosts have been recording episodes with greatly planned content.

In 2020, the managers of an ecosystem that is in the podosphere in managing a stream that runs 24 hours a day added this specific podcast show into the stream and called it a “quality podcast” and also remarked that one aspect of this show (in addition to the relevant and good content) was the audio quality.

Now, with these two factors that are in play in 2021 — both the right audience fit and the publishing of the episodes in this ecosystem that is a stream in the podosphere — we feel that we have met our main objectives to date.

But does that mean that you want to monetize the show?

At this point, no. We are happy to reach an audience of thousands of listeners who are like-minded and that we receive the backing of the managers of the stream.

So, what does this mean to us?

The equation of our “success” so far is that

(relevant content for a targeted APPRECIATIVE AUDIENCE) + (good audio quality) = our first measure of success.

So we are now contemplating how to IMPROVE the show, taking the audience in mind and creating more relevant content.

So, how does this show survive?

Well, our answer is that we keep it away from the censors that are available — that is, we do not ask for any Apple reviews or ANY REVIEWS or comments from the podosphere participants.

Why?

Because we know that we want to stay away from the censorship and de-platforming that is done by the social media and others who are trolls that just want comment on negativity (regardless of anything else) with false narratives.

Thus, this podcast show has found a good audience, and the success of the audience embracing the content is proof of its success — and our download numbers prove this. So we do NOT need any Apple reviews, as well as any promotion or marketing. Why? Because we do not need any comments or reviews from the activist and radicals in the podosphere.

And so far, this equation has proven to be a great one for our show.

So this is a case study of a podcast show that originated in 2014 and 2015 — but finally was launched in 2018 — and has reached some milestones of success by the feedback that matters the most: the audience and the managers of the ecosystem that supports its listeners.

Thus, we hope that you, too, as a podcaster, can set your objectives to include great audience fit and feedback, as well as publishing it in the right locations and tools to reach a grateful set of listeners. And if you do, then we wish success for your show.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags co-host, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

542- Podcasting changes for your audience podosphere experience

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 22, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the results of a study that influenced me and that I underwent a review after listening to a May, 2021, episode from Evo Terra in his Podcast Pontifications show.

In that episode from Evo, the question pondered was: how is a podcaster supposed to embrace and live by consistency, since everything in the podosphere is changing so rapidly?

So, with this in mind, he explained how he went through a review of his own podcast show and wondered how he could improve and change it for the better, as a good experience for the listener and audience. And Evo listed nine things that he did with his show to improve it, as the theme of the episode was “The Process of Changing your Podcast.”

Thus, I let the study take place over some time. So I looked at most of these nine things which related to me and my shows, and I added a couple more (see, below, for my comments of my own review, as well) for me to examine in my review — although I did not wish to change anything just for the sake of changing. Evo Terra and I are different in that aspect, for he gets the urge to change often.

And the nine things that Evo examined do follow my 2 additional items. They are:

Repurposing older episodes from all my podcast shows and re-relate them to the current environment — this is one of the extra items that I added, for I did comment about this earlier in this podcast show. And this has worked extremely well for me, for content can be fresh and new (even though the theme is from before), but with a different spin that relates to the current time;
contemplating whether to add a co-host or to add additional current interviews with key people who can add to the value of the show for the listener — this is the other extra item that I added. And this means that you should always be asking how to improve the show from the audience’s perspective. For example, do they want to hear another voice or another viewpoint or even some rants or banter or polite arguments or discussion?
And here are the nine changes that were experienced by Evo in his podcast show this year:
- How to do your podcast prep — mainly the OUTLINE and the steps, the process, the resources and the habits; [for me, I have tightened my podcast prep for all my 3 shows]
- Change your sites and phone resources for all new branding; [for me, this was not a key issue and needed no update]
- Update and re-implement a brand new web site; [for me, this was not applicable]
- Incorporate CORRECTED transcripts with different collaboration and processes for speedy transcripts; [I do use show notes as a means of transcripts for my audience]
- Any change to your electronic in-box deliveries of your newsletters and email correspondence to your mailing list with the third party vendor or company you may choose (remember that Adam Curry had a problem with Mail Chimp recently); [This was not applicable for me]
- Evo switched to an herbal tea from coffee, due to vocal coach suggestions; [I drink both tea and coffee quite sparingly]
- Evo has been seeing a vocal coach, so that he can take care of his resource (his voice) for the future as a podcaster; [I have not employed a vocal coach]
- Evo has engaged a sound engineer to improve the sound of his episodes and great quality with a brand new way to do post-production; [I have improved my own post-production processes, tools and quality]
- Evo has changed his processes for creating in-app episode details, thanks to Apple; [this, for me, did not apply]

If you are on a show that has a seasonal publishing schedule, then you may want to do your improvements from this list (or also from those of your own lists) for your next season — that is, after you leave a hint to your audience about changes at the end of your current season.

As Evo said: “Changing is never finished.”

And so we may see Evo changing and improving on a faster track than you may be on, it is still a good idea to review some of the ideas of change that Evo has done after a good study, and then see if your podcast may be able to benefit from one or more of these to improve your show. If you do, we hope that the results will be increasing your audience, getting your listeners to agree that you did provide value to them and having better success in all ways for your show.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Evo Terra, PodcastPontifications.com, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

540- Podcasting website requirements

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 16, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review a post by Mark Asquith of rebelbasemedia.io in which he reviews the five “must-have” items for creating a podcast website that will “stand out.”

As an experienced podcaster, I wanted to see what he would include in these necessary items for aspiring podcasters. The reason I did this is that I had seen his video titled “How to record a podcast episode: software and setups for all budgets” — and I was interested in what the absolute requirements were mentioned for a podcasting web site.

Well, I saw the main sections of this blog post about a podcasting web site, and he goes into detail about each one. They were:

Include a web magnet (and he refers you to a site that explains how to create a lead magnet;
Get involved with your podcast (and he gives several examples, such as contributions, questions or feedback — as well as a private podcast or bonus feed);
Have organized and optimized pages (and he includes a reference to Evo Terra of PodcastPontifications.com as an example: “Evo Terra’s revamped website places a lot of emphasis on his written content. Every episode has a transcription, full show notes and is tagged to make navigating his vast content library super easy.”);
Include a SPONSOR KIT, which should have the following:
- “What you’ll provide for them – what does a sponsorship include, and how much will it cost?
- Your previous ad-reads (if you have them)
- An overview of your stats, including downloads, unique listeners and listener behaviour
- Information on your demographic and audience
- A contact form to call to action to get in touch.
- A link to your PDF sponsor kit.”
A guesting page (with speaker and guest profiles and other needed promotional and preparation information pertaining to guests for your show).

And the main conclusion for this post is: YES, you DO need a podcast website, if you are serious about becoming a professional podcaster and stepping into the world of monetization.

For this podcaster, I have used in the past the models created and espoused and delivered by such pundits as Paul Colligan and others to fill these requirements — and deliver many more for me.

Of course, Mark is monetizing his call to action to have you, the podcaster, engage him to help you create these sites for your podcast show.

Now, you can ensure that you have included these (or something like these) items in your website, or you can farm it out to a third party (of which there are many). But the important things to get out of this post is for you to check against your own show and website to see if you are including — or missing — some of these items. And a good checklist is always a beneficial idea for you, as a podcaster, to review.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags 2030podcast.com, lead magnet, Mark Asquith, podcast web site, Podcastreporter.com, rebelbasemedia.io

Uncategorized

589- Podcasting in the past — luck passes me during a war

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 12, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this very brief episode of The Podcast Reporter, we remember past podcast shows that can have a memorable mental event during a date that triggers an anniversary. And a podcast show that you, a podcaster, can have at this time can also possibly bring back memories — in the form of flashbacks or other mental traffic.

For this podcaster, the event was 48 years ago, during the October, 1973, Yom Kippur War in the Middle East. At this time, I was an infantry paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division; and we were mobilized and deployed for action in the Middle East. In fact, our mission was to make a combat parachute jump at night in the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula during the War on the side of the Israelis to go and fight both the Egyptian army, and then their future allies as well, the Soviet Airborne troops.

This event came into my mind as a remembrance when I thought about the podfaded podcast called The Combat Infantrymen podcast show that honored those US Army soldiers who earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Association which sponsored the podcast show.

In this show, I not only had solo episodes about my own life (such as the combat tour that I had during the Vietnam War), but I also interviewed other veterans who had earned the Combat Infantryman’s Badge from experience in combat during a past campaign (since World War II and then afterwards, like Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan, etc.).

As a podcaster, we can reflect on our own past experiences that have contributed to our podcast shows to deliver value in the past to our targeted audience. For myself, I had veterans who were combat infantrymen and their families (who really wanted to hear about their experiences, since most veterans never spoke about their experiences in combat) who were my audience. And thus, I provided value to them — that value allowing them some type of closure with their past, especially trauma and stress.

So the VALUE to your targeted audience should be a podcaster’s main objective and concern — although that may not be someone else’s cup of tea.

So, this October marks the 48th anniversary of my mobilization and deployment activities for the Yom Kippur War of 1973. And truthfully, after having come back in one piece from my combat tour in Vietnam, I was scared that I would not make it during this upcoming campaign — it was a spectre that I dreaded. And the reason was that this was a new war — and for veterans, this is the dread.

You see, when you are new to combat and have never experienced it, your fear has a way to drive you to survive in that situation while you are accomplishing your mission. But once you have tasted combat, then the fear grips you in an ugly way where you cannot “hide” yourself as you did when you were going into combat the first time. Your anticipation of the worst case haunts you, and all you can think of is to get through the environment by remembering the experience that you had that did allow you to survive and yet recover from fear and do what you had to do: “TRAINING TAKES OVER.” And I lived this phrase and was prepared as I got ready for the parachute jump and then the care of the squad that I had to lead…training takes over.

However, thank goodness that the superpowers did not decide to fight each other, and so we stood down and went back to our own division to regular garrison duties.

And so I did get through the anticipation and fear from being involved in the war of the Middle East. And the CIB (Combat Infantrymen’s Badge) podcast helped me get past that incident and to experience some closure.

And for this, the podcaster like myself can appreciate past experiences and past podfaded episodes to prepare for newer episodes and have success in podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Combat Infantryman's Badge, Podcastreporter.com, Yom Kippur war 1973

podcast

537- Some podcasters do not support progress for podcast software

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 9, 2021

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a theme of which I have been hearing more and more with live conversations from older podcasters — that is, those who started podcasting some 15 or 16 years ago (for me, it was more than 15 years ago). And we can tend to call these podcasters the “old guard” or “old timers” or “original podcasters.”

What is interesting is that this theme centers around “the gold old days” when podcasting was much more simple in not only discovery, but also in recording, posting, publishing, promoting, marketing and generating revenue from podcast episodes, podcast shows or podcast courses.

You see, in the early days of podcasting, there were not many tools available — either hardware or software — that made podcasting as easy and simple as it is today. You had to LEARN how to podcast by taking one of the very few available courses online or via audio or video course (you see, YouTube was not even available, as well as the other learning libraries like Udemy.com). Then you had to use the proven system of recording double-ender remote interviews and rely on the quirks of Skype for capturing the audio, and then rely on either free recording editors like audacity or fee-based editors like Adobe Audition.

For today, you have a ton of great hardware resources that allow you not only to capture the audio on both sides of interviews for yourself as a main podcaster and a guest (or guests), but also you have a myriad of software solutions to edit, post and publish (and then promote) your episode and show in the podosphere.

And earlier, you really only had the 800-pound gorilla (known as Apple iTunes) to rely on getting your show listed in New and Noteworthy, as well as getting reviews from listeners that could help you become more popular, as well as subscription and download stats to help you get ranked higher in the world of podcasts. And you see, today, you have not only Apple, but many systems and platforms that support podcasting — especially since now the social media platforms are getting into podcasting.

But if you wanted to become a podcaster then, you had to learn the hard way the details of podcasting from every point of view, every task, every detail and then be able to become versed in these — that is, become a professional podcaster who can then monetize the podcast environment in your business by becoming a podcast consultant or seek to become a pundit who would be recognized in the podosphere and then be asked to speak at podcasting conferences and events. And this led to your being able to promote (or “pimp”) your recently published book, ebook, course or program to audiences in person and in virtual events and replays. Why? Because you were then able to be known as a “podcast pundit” or resource with fame and with possibly generating revenue streams from your podcast (although it was almost impossible for most podcasters to make a full-time living from the revenues of podcasting — and so we had to be part-time entrepreneurs for such success).

So what happened to all the “good old days”?

Well, like all things, history and time have seen the PROGRESS of both the technology and the podosphere in terms of resources, hardware, software, conferences, ideologies, platforms and processes that have transformed podcasting to today’s situations.

I bring up this topic because several of the key podcasters from “the good old days” have expressed their opinions and feelings to me that they are not satisfied with the current status or direction of podcasting, and that perhaps they are tired of what is going on and the rapid pace of change and growth (especially with over 2 million podcast shows now) — so much so that they are considering leaving the podosphere and replace their once-passionate situation of podcasting with something else that will bring self-satisfaction with respect, development and success (whatever that may mean to them, like financial or fame rewards, etc.). In fact, they all mentioned that they do not support “PROGRESS” in podcasting at this time.

So, when a podcaster now starts to see this type of “twilight year” coming to his own environment, what should he contemplate? Should he depart from the podosphere or should he try to find a new niche in which he can rest his energy and his ambition and his passion?

This is an obvious call for a media content creator. For instead of audio podcasting, should he consider video podcastig? Should he consider going into the medium of screencasts and focus on creating helpful courses in video and audio that can assist those who really wish to learn — and perhaps become a regular on electronic learning libraries like Udemy.com? Or should he dedicate himself to writing a book or creating an audiobook about the history of podcasting from his own point of view and experiences (very much like political memoirs)?

For this podcaster, it really doesn’t matter what the arguments and directions for a PIVOT are (using the metaphor from Rise’s book about the Lean Startup Method) — but the important point is that the joy, passion and satisfaction from podcasting must be fulfilled. If not, then it becomes just a series of steps and tasks that one feels must be taken only due to habit — which have now become boring and even become an onerous task that can grow to become hated by the podcasters.

So, for me, the idea of becoming a content creator in a new world of media (regardless of audio or video or blogging or other types) should be paramount. It is of such importance in a rapidly changing world that this should be examined every year in a planning session with yourself, where you review the situation today, as well as your feelings and your future in the podosphere. Then you can create a cost-benefit analysis (where money and financial gain and revenue may not be the main considerations) to see what your real key success factors are for going toward your own personal RETURN ON INVESTMENT in your life.

I know that I, myself, go through this every year (I have since my 11th year in podcasting, when I felt the rapid change during my forced absence due to illness and family deaths). And my end result is that I have felt a renewed sense of PASSION and enjoyment from today’s podcasting — mainly because I have not let myself become a victim of letting habits become my “stale prison” due to any lack of planning and considerations for the podosphere and my relation to it (both then and now and the future).

I wish you the best in your own planning sessions with yourself to reflect and contemplate what value participating as a podcaster in the podosphere means to you now and in the future (or not); and for your strategies in determining what will be best for you in the near future.

Will you pivot or not to a new direction in the area of media? The choice is yours, and I wish you all the luck in the world if you do decide to continue in podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Podcastreporter.com, podosphere, progress

podcast

536- Get into Podcasting — a case for a podcast consultant

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date October 2, 2021

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the situation where an aspiring podcaster may want to start a podcast, but does not want to go through all the details about Apple and other providers to begin a podcast show and post episodes. They also don’t want to keep up with the rules and regulations, processes and procedures (which seem to be always changing frequently now) by Apple and other sites in order to create, test, post and publish episodes for your podcast show — they just want to create the content and publish it very easily.

So, one way of doing this (besides doing it by yourself and getting frustrated with the firms who do not call you back or take your technical support calls or answer questions in person but only by bots) is to go the route of using a podcast consultant until you understand the process and have a smooth running system that you can handle in the creation and posting and distribution of your content where you want).

For this podcaster, I started podcasting 15 years ago. I used a free tutorial that was distributed online by Jason Van Orden (a podcaster at that time for the Podcasting Underground show). And soon, I realized that I needed a bit of education (which was not really available as it is today) by hiring a podcast consultant. In my case, I hired Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting. Using remote conversations and communications via the internet, he set me on my way on the path to podcasting, and from there, I was on my own. I did hire him later on when I set up various other podcast shows, so that he could set them up, post them, publish them during the time which I wanted to focus on new content for my current shows. And this worked out very well.

And since then, other podcast consultants announced that they wanted to assist aspiring podcasters to launch their shows — one of them was the Podcast Repairman from Gary Leland, as an example.

And because of these reasons, I can see a favorable argument for hiring a good podcast consultant (like Dave Jackson or Daniel J Lewis) to assist me with MY OWN instructions, restrictions and limitations as agreed by a written contract or one saved by audio or video recording to assist in setting up a podcast show and episodes, and leaving you a well-oiled machine for you, as a podcaster, to create and publish your content in the podosphere.

Now, for this podcaster, I have also been a podcast consultant for several years, and it was enjoyable and I have had good customers that thanked me for getting them started in the podosphere and delivering VALUE in the editing of content and “productizing” the episodes which they published. However, with medical problems and family emergencies, I had to withdraw from this podcasting career specialty and only to keep a customer or two that wanted only screencasting services (e.g., creating video tutorials for software products and services). I only focus now into podcast content creation, but I am no longer a podcast consultant to assist others in setting up their shows.

But if I were now an aspiring podcaster that wants to start a show and focus strictly on the content creation and publication, I would seriously consider getting a quote from a respected podcast consultant (with a good and long favorable history of grateful customers) to assist me in getting my show created, launched and set up as a “publishing machine.” And if I wanted to monetize my show after creating and publishing it, I would then use the suggestions given to me by authors and podcasters who have published content on how to successfully make money from their podcasts — especially like Dave Jackson with his latest book, Profit from your Podcast.

I hope that you, as an aspiring podcaster, will find success in starting your show — whether or not you decide to use a podcast consultant, so that your show will deliver great VALUE to your audience and help to get you on the road to success (especially if you wish to monetize your show).

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Daniel J Lewis, Dave Jackson, gary leland, Jason Van Orden, podcast consultant, Podcastreporter.com, schoolofpodcasting.com