Author: fcastaneda

618- Cancel culture now reaches Podcasting — a sad tale

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date May 26, 2022

In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we mention very briefly how the cancel culture has invaded the area of the podosphere and podcasting. We also see that this can be the start of censorship and the forcing of opinion by the radical left into the area where your own podcast may be found.

We talk briefly about the situation with one of the most dynamic, intelligent, fair-minded and helpful podcasters, Daniel J. Lewis, who had several podcasts such as the award-winning The Audacity to Podcast, as well as several tools which he created for the podcast community to help from email newsletters to improve your podcast content to SEO (search engine optimization).

This story was briefly mentioned in an episode of the show called Ask the Podcast Coach on 14 May 2022 by Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting podcast.

My experience with Daniel J Lewis has been a great one. Not only have I interviewed him several times in this podcast show, along with a previous show called The Struggling Entrepreneur, but I had subscribed to his shows and I had also purchased some of his intellectual property and items, as well as had been one of the key subscribers when he started his online membership of Podcasters Society.

He has been an excellent resource, very technically competent and one of the very highly regarded podcasters who won an award at one of the New Media Expo for his podcast show from the People’s Choice award for his flagship show. He has been one of the very trustworthy, honest and fair-minded people whom I have known in the podosphere.

In fact, when The Podcast Academy was introduced, he encouraged us to sign up and be part of that organization. Thus, with the trust I had in him, I did sign up. And when he was nominated to be on the Board of Governors for this organization, I wholeheartedly voted for him, and he won a seat in that group.

Now, in 2022, there was a controversy in which he tweeted his views on a matter on twitter. He did voice his opinion, and I believe (from knowing him personally) that he would engage in healthy and open and honest debate with others on the opposing view. However, the radical left charged at him and savagely tore him down by demanding his removal from the board. Well, he was “beat up” and “bullied” for his beliefs (in what should be an open and free-speech environment) and the Board succumbed to the woke ideology and asked him to leave. So he left the Board.

Well, I immediately canceled my subscription to the Podcast Academy and had enough of their radical left ideology in canceling someone with the great honesty and fair play that Daniel has.

What was Daniel’s remarks after this bullying?

On 8May2022, he wrote an email to his trusted distribution list, and I received this email from him:

“I am deeply saddened and hurt by the campaign of harassment, false accusations, and bullying against The Podcast Academy and me. I tried to slow the abuse by removing some of my comments, but to little avail. Regardless, I apologize to those I failed to extend equal grace while I was defending a baby’s right to life. I also apologize for using a common label I did not know offended some of the same people I was fighting for.

TPA members voted me in for who I am and how I promised to advocate for them, but a disinformation campaign disrupted TPA’a operations and compelled the board of governors to vote me out. I regret that I will not be able to keep my promise to the diverse podcasters I was eager to serve. I hope that TPA’s efforts to be inclusive will not further exclude people for expressing conservative, pro-life, or Christian values.

Sadly, after years of supporting The Podcast Academy, I’m now compelled to believe they are unable—at least at this time—to truly serve or represent the large diversity that the rest of the podcasting industry has welcomed since its grass roots. I cannot, in good faith, endorse an organization that let disinformation bully itself into kicking out one of its most passionate supporters.

In respect for the short-lived opportunity TPA and its members allowed me, I will not publicly discuss this further. I do not wish TPA to fail; I only wish The Podcast Academy to be truly inclusive and supportive of all podcasters, so that—together—we can help podcasts, podcastING, and podcastERS improve.

I will continue taking some time away from podcasts and social media to heal, reflect with thought and prayer, and refocus (but you’ll still receive my email series). No matter what, I continue to believe that podcasting is the most powerful way for anyone to share a message to change the world.”

So, in my opinion, Daniel still is a strong advocate for podcasters and is still a great resource for the podosphere. I will continue to look forward to his contributions in Askthepodcastcoach.com and his email newsletters.

For now, I have been left with a sour taste in my mouth for The Podcast Academy and I will not say anything positive about it, but only have the memory of an evil-minded organization that falls into the clutches of the radical left, where debate is prohibited, and the only thing that applies is the saying “my way only or the highway for you.” So damn the Podcast Academy, and I will NOT support them in any way.

Daniel, as one of the biggest contributors to the positive elements of the podosphere and your care to help podcasters, I salute you and say “Long Live DJL and down with TPA.”

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Daniel J Lewis, Podcastreporter.com, theaudacitytopodcast.com

podcast

590- Ideas for setting up your Podcast studio

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date May 17, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss an earlier post by Ben Krueger, a podcaster at cashflowpodcasting.com, in which he posts the text by Adam Crookes in which the latter addresses the age-old topic of podcast studios. He gives some recommendations on how to set up a podcast studio as potential ideas.

Now, as I have stated many times before in this show, I do respect and admire the value that is delivered by Ben Krueger, as I have known him and interviewed him since the time I personally shared a booth with him the exhibit hall of the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas in 2014. So I thought that this would be a great topic to explore once more and get his perspective. However, I got some words from a guest post from Adam Crookes. And my perspective of the post follows after a brief summary of the article.

Summary of the Post

Now, for those interested in creating your own studio, the article gives you thoughts about what is required as food for thought:

Estimating the costs of setting up a studio;
What is required for the studio?
How do you set up a studio in your home? And the post then gives you a list of items and tasks required for your in-home studio:
- Here’s a list of equipment you should consider for your podcast studio:
  - “Computer
  - USB or XLR microphone
  - Audio interface
  - Mixer
  - Windscreen or pop filter
  - Microphone stand
  - Headphones
  - Acoustic treatments”
Then the post delves into the question about whether or not you can start your podcast shows with just your phone;
And finally, what is addressed is the age-old question about whether a podcast show is worth it to both you and your audience;
Then the article suddenly jumps into the subject of the necessity of headphones when starting a podcast;
And then a key question ends the post by asking if it is free to start a podcast on Spotify.

For these questions, I feel that this article, written by Adam Crookes, leaves out a lot of other key questions and statements that a new or aspiring podcaster needs to investigate before setting up a studio. One of these would be testimonials from those who have successfully set one up and are currently podcasting and reaching their success in their objectives at the time. Another would be the time it takes for a podcast studio to be written off or get a good ROI for your business, should you be creating a business podcast.

All in all, I find that this post does little in awakening a coherent target of your mind to investigate fully what is involved in setting up your podcast studio (other than the equipment and physical preparation of your home studio). I know that Ben Krueger would have addressed this topic with more research, more details, and with some personal and third-person experiences of successful podcasters who have set up their own studios and are showing great results from it — or experiences that did not see the studio succeed in the business.

One item you may want to explore is the Podcasting Business School site, where the main theme is to treat your podcast like a habit, but to grow it like a business. Within the 200 episodes so far, the podcaster did cite a few minutes on building a home studio for podcasting.

For myself, I have been a podcaster who has done remote reporting with adequate tools for the past 16 years, as well as have had a “podcast studio” (or a place where I record my podcasts with guests or by going solo) in several sites, from California to Texas in inbetween (including hotel rooms when I have been traveling and in transit). I will address the key areas that I propose for a studio in a later episode, as I will share with you my experiences for doing so.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Adam Crookes, Ben Krueger, cashflowpodcasting.com, podcast studio, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

588- Words do matter — especially PODCAST

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date May 11, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver to you the information that was espoused in Podnews.net newsletters that concerned the etymology of the word “Podcast.” And, of course, since this is not an absolute authority, and I, myself, have also some thoughts and concerns from my own experience within the podosphere since 2005.

In an earlier article delivered in the Podnews.net newsletter, James Cridland gives his views on the history of the world PODCAST. And in this post, there are links and audio players that prove the point of origin of both the eclosure and the word podcast in his experience.

“As Eric Nuzum discusses elsewhere here, the first audio referenced by an enclosure tag in an RSS feed was published on Jan 20, 2001; with Dave Winer placing one song by the Grateful Dead into a post, as a test.

Christopher Lydon is generally held to have the published the first ever original piece of audio referenced by an enclosure tag in an RSS feed on Jul 9, 2003…The first program to automatically grab an audio show like this, originally called RSS2iPod, was launched by Adam Curry on Oct 12, 2003…But these audio shows did not have a name. Yet.”

Next, there is a viewpoint of the word “Podcasting” that takes place, with examples and sound bytes, as well. And it all boiled down to Dave Winer, credited with creating the podcast episode (along with our Podfather, Adam Curry):

The term “is credited by Dave Winer, speaking in Guy Kawasaki’s podcast Remarkable People:

Adam had the initial idea for why this made sense at that particular point in time. This was the first meeting that we had, and this goes back to 2000.

He saw me do it, and then he started doing it. And then, I don’t know, by September of 2004, there were twenty or thirty people doing [it], and we needed a name. And so we had a mail list and I asked people, “What should we call this?” And a guy named Dannie Gregoire said, just call it “podcasting.”

And Adam and I were doing a podcast called Trade Secrets, and on that we discussed it. So let’s just go with podcasting, and that’s it.

Guy Kawasaki: That’s how podcasting got named?!

Dave Winer: What did you think? We hired some kind of a market research firm and they did a focus groups and shit? Come on! That wasn’t how it worked!”

And then Cridland also records the words by Adam Curry about the naming of the word. And a section of the post ends with the first mention of the term “podcast.” And so, the term caught on, as is stated: “The term was quickly taken up. Adam Curry mentioned podcasting on his blog for the first time on Sep 21 2004; Dave Winer blogged ‘what is podcasting?’ on Sep 24 2004, by Doc Searls, who blogged about podcasts on Sep 28 2004, and Dan Gillmor on Sep 28 2004.”

And then some of the earlier podcasters stated the term, as well, in the media: “As an example that the term was already well-embedded, Todd Cochrane posted the first “Geek News Central Podcast” on Oct 9 2004; and, on the same day, Rob Greenlee posted a comment announcing the new name on the Web Talk Radio Show website. Evo Terra followed on Oct 13, 2004.”

The post finally ends with the question of “who invented the term podcast?” And so, the final reply to this inquiry is delivered from the viewpoint of Mr. James Cridland: ”

“Ben Hammersley was the first to use the term in print, in a widely-read publication.

Dannie J Gregoire was the person to make the term popular in the community: and it’s very possible that without Gregoire’s use of the term in Sep 2004 – and its enthusiastic use by Adam Curry and Dave Winer – we’d be calling audio referenced by an enclosure tag in an RSS feed something quite different.”

In my own viewpoint, the term podcasting has meaning for us early podcasters as requiring an RSS feed and adhering to certain criteria — which, today, is being “bastardized” by the younger set that want to define it in their own way, just because they wish to do so.

But for myself, the older meaning and etymology will stand as the true types for the terms. Why? Well, for me, you can pry the term “podcast” from my cold, dead fingers (reciting a pun from an old saying by Charlton Heston of the NRA).

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Adam Curry, Dave Winer, James Cridland, podcast, Podcastreporter.com, podnews.net, Todd Cochrane

podcast

587- Disruption technology in Podcasting

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date May 4, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of “disruption” activities and promotions and projects. In particular, we deliver a repurposed podcast episode from Tom Schwab of the program Interview Valet, where we look at the “disruption technology.”

Also, we owe some credit to Evo Terra (podcaster of today’s show called podcastpontifications.com) when he discussed with us what it is like to be a “podcaster disrupter.” And we plan to include that earlier repurposed interview in a later episode of this show. Evo felt that the “next big thing” in podcasting would come from a supportive “disruption” of the podosphere.

Now, as I mentioned before in this podcast series, I have known Evo when I met him in person in 2007, and also when I had strengthened my relationship with him, both in person and when I had interviewed him on my podcast shows since 2007.

In one interview episode, I had Evo tell us how and why he described himself as a disrupter. This was both for being an entrepreneur and a podcaster.

Then, later, I had interviewed Tom Schwab of the Interview Valet program, where he was also noted as a “disrupter” in podcasting, as he was one of the first to publicly announce that he was NOT going to do a podcast, but rather, he would pursue his success in being a podcast GUEST. He announced this at the second Podcast Movement conference in 2015 at Fort Worth, Texas. And he later provided others with a business model that would help podcasters gain success in their shows by being a guest on other podcasters’ podcast shows.

As a matter of fact, we have the original interview from 2015 where Tom describes his business and his “disruption” of the podcast interview processes:

As you can hear from this repurposed episode, Tom describes his “disruption” in business and podcasting from the entrepreneurial side in the following summarized manner:

“Disrupted technology” that supports the pursuit of being a podcast guest (e.g., being and interviewee) as opposed to being the interviewer to lead the conversation on a podcaster’s own show;
Repeating someone else’s success may not be the best model to follow for success — in other words, do NOT be a “me-too” product;
Being a disrupter incorporates new models of how to do business as an entrepreneur, as well as a podcaster — but not by total imitation of someone else’s successful results (in particular, to avoid naming your show with the “on fire” suffix);
How to go about getting YOU as one of your prospects from being listener to being visitor and have you be welcomed to a tailored, individual welcome site for just YOU;
His “disruption” includes renaming some of the terms used in sites (e.g., a “welcome” page instead of a “landing page” or “squeeze page”) to make it more personal.
His disruption will be in the form of creating VISITORS and not to provide them with podcast audio episodes — but rather have them listen to yourself as a guest and then get them interested in your programs;
Monetization can also be incorporated in your business, as you can refer to his book, “Podcast Guest Profits: Grow your business with a targeted interview strategy.”
He currently has moved to interactive webinars (mostly free) to promote his program and the successes of podcast-guesting.

So, as one of the very first programs to emphasize being a podcast guest instead of a podcast interviewer, Tom has been flexible to adapt new methods for his success and his business.

We hope that this model of disruption may be of benefit to you as you shape your podcasting model for your show, or adapting parts of this to make your business more profitable and more successful.

So, later, we will deliver the repurposed episode from Evo Terra where he speaks to us earlier about plotting his way and pivoting to become a “disrupter” in the podosphere.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags disrupter, disruption, Evo Terra, interviewvalet.com, PodcastPontifications.com, Podcastreporter.com, Tom Schwab

podcast

586- Mastering your craft of podcasting

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 28, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we relate to you a set of podcast episodes, delivered during the week of September 20-24, 2021, that deal with the topic of improving your podcast show, as well as improving your “craft” of podcasting. These episodes were published in the podcast show by Evo Terra called Podcast Pontifications.

And what I would suggest is that this may be a good start for an actual project that you may want to plan and begin to better yourself as a podcaster, as well as learn some great techniques to improve the quality of your podcast shows.

Now, I have known Evo Terra since 2006, and I had met him in person when he attended one of my sessions which I delivered at the first Podcamp in Arizona in 2007 (when I spoke about podcast improvement for monetization and delivery). I had also interviewed Evo several times during the past 16 years on this show about his contribution as a “disrupter” of the status quo (for the beneficial reason of improvement of the craft and not just for the sake of doing away with the current workflows for podcasters). And Evo has a lot of suggestions that do provide value to both the new and aspiring podcasters, as well as to the professional podcasters.

So, in reviewing the suggestions and topics and products and other deliverables mentioned by Evo in his several episodes that centered around the theme of “improving your craft” to become a better professional podcaster (and not just a newbie), I also found myself noticing that much of the improvement can come from increasing your skills as a story-teller and a planner of content. However, this content goes beyond just podcasting show notes and blogs — it also dealt with how you can improve your craft by taking tips and suggestions from other types of media (including the press and books and narrations).

So I would suggest that you consume the content for these 4 episodes that Evo has published and see if the resources mentioned and the tips that are given can add to your professionalism in building a better podcast — especially if you have a business podcast.

Some of these are the following (and this is a non-inclusive list):

Make your podcast education a continuing education program and be SERIOUS about it by planning and budgeting for both time and money to include the knowledge that will make you better in the area of CONTENT CREATION AND MEDIA;
Resources that deliver training and workshops that can help you to improve your game in podcasting (he cites 6);
Looking to the Podcast Academy for insight and knowledge from others in the podosphere for inspiration; and
5 resources to “help you think like a SERIOUS podcaster.”

Although some of these resources mentioned and the roads suggested may have some financial costs, it is up to you to investigate how they can help you — after all, they are suggested by someone who has been a center of podcasting for over 16 years in the podosphere and has written some of the first books on podcasting.

So, for this short episode, we hope that you can evaluate if these resources and suggestions will help you to “improve your craft” of podcasting (and not just the mechanical part or the recording or editing part) in ALL areas of content creation, publication and distribution. If so, then you can, indeed, better yourself as a professional podcaster and as Evo says, “MASTER YOUR CRAFT OF PODCASTING.” And this can help you lead your business and podcasts to success.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Evo Terra, PodcastPontifications.com, Podcastreporter.com, The Podcast Academy

podcast

585- Tips for increasing Podcast listeners

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 22, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a past post by Ben Krueger, podcaster for cashflowpodcasting.com, that deals with the 16-year-old topic of “How to increase podcast listeners.”

Now, I have known Ben Krueger personally since I had shared a booth with him in the exhibit hall of the very first Podcast Movement conference in Dallas, Texas, in 2014. And I do respect Ben in what he posts and his suggestions for improving your podcasting careers — but mainly for new and aspiring podcasters.

Ben Krueger

Now, in this post, Ben answers the question of how a podcaster can increase the listeners to his podcast show. And Ben provides for us this evergreen topic in this post.

Now, the age-old question of how to increase listeners has been addressed from a myriad of podcasters, including the “old faithful” of experienced podcasters — from Dave Jackson, Rob Walch, Paul Colligan, Daniel J Lewis, Todd Cochrane and others. In fact, I, myself had given seminars and courses and classes in person at various conferences and podcamps in the past 16 years to address this topic. So, in my opinion, there may be some new items to address recent areas of the podosphere with new tools — but, all in all, this question has been beaten up totally, although it is a question still for podcasters everywhere. And Ben gives this post the attention it deserves, lest we forget all the hints of increasing your listener base.

Now, Ben summarizes the key elements for podcast listener increases at the beginning of his post with the objectives and understanding that podcasters must have when analyzing podcast listenership: “If you want to get more podcast listeners, you should start by focusing on creating content for a clearly niche and then building out a marketing strategy. This marketing strategy will ensure those who can extract value from your content are fully aware of its existence. To know how to increase podcast listeners, you must understand where your target audience is spending their time.”

So, in this post, Ben then addresses these topics, with details for each one of these areas:

Where can I promote my podcast?
How can I then promote my business podcast show?
How can my podcast make money (including advertising)?
How do podcasts go viral?
How many listeners are good for a podcast?
What is good podcast growth? (Remember: “Podcast growth is the scale at which your audience continues to expand over time.”)
How do I make my podcast successful?
Why do podcasts fail?

And the summary of action items can be rolled up into the words of wisdom by Ben at the end of his post: “With the right approach, attracting new listeners to your podcast can be remarkably easy. It’s all about experimentation and testing different marketing channels to see what forms of marketing resonate with your target audience.”

So you have to be willing to test your actions in podcasting and publication — as well as the beginning steps of planning, marketing, promoting and creating episodes in your show that PROVIDE VALUE to the listeners.

So we hope that the topics and the details for these ideas can fill in some of the gaps and try to answer some questions and ideas you may have about growing and increasing your numbers of listeners to your show, and thus help your podcast show to be more successful in those areas.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Ben Krueger, cashflowpodcasting.com, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

584- Possible aimlessness in your Podcasting business

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 15, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of a Podcaster’s dealing with aimlessness, in spite of what could be viewed as a successful podcasting business at the time of evaluation.

In order to do this, we refer to a podcast episode from Todd Henry’s show called The Accidental Creative.

Now, for a small business owner or entrepreneur or professional podcaster that has an outward appearance of having success at the moment, the feeling of “aimlessness” can begin to erode the confidence of your work and your duties, and it can start to allow the feelings of stagnation, fear of failure, a loss of purpose, and others.

What is aimlessness for the entrepreneur?

As Todd explains: “A lack of a clear through-line in your work — a lack of the overreaching “WHY” within your work or your commitment to your tasks for reaching success. When there is little connection between the core why of your work, it is difficult for you to do your best work ” and reach a satisfaction result from your work and results.

And this is true, even difficult, when you are doing the work that you may really love — Todd explains this, and I must say that this also applies to professional podcasters who are totally committed to their work and love what they do. The aimlessness is like an asymptomatic virus that attacks our soul and our spirit to prevent you from reaching your goals for your business and doing your best work. Sometimes, it can even lead to have little or no hope in deadlines and lack of appreciation for your tasks and results of your accomplishments (and even delay them).

Todd continues: “When you succeed, you can still feel hollow when you have accidental success, if there is not any intended purpose behind it.”

To overcome this, you still need good strategies in order to get to the final result of “victory” for your work, instead of futility. “Aimlessness can be destructive, removing the joy of success and the gratification resulting from your hard work.”

Aimlessness does not have cohesion between yourself and your work. You can start to feel this way when you recognize the early symptoms of certain states — like burnout, for instance.

Now, Todd addresses this issue with some strategies in defining your battles and aligning yourself to fight your opposing forces to make progress. And he sets these strategies within the framework of “passion” (and he correctly defines what real passion within your work is about). And more importantly, he explains about “productive passion.”

We recommend that you consume this episode to see if the strategies explained can be meaningful to you, your work and your business. He explains how you can discover this “productive passion” — especially if you want a small workbook which he offers from his web site to walk yourself through his strategies — with the following ideas:

understand the theory of “compassionate anger”;
what moves you emotionally?
what obsesses you (i.e., “the splinter in your mind”)?

So, we hope that you can identify your current productive passion and find value from Todd’s episode as described here. In this way, you can see if there is a possible road to aimlessness in your current situation and work, especially if you realize that you have not been spending your hours in good time/energy focus. We sincerely wish for you the best in getting your business on the road to success, especially when discovering and overcoming aimlessness.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags aimlessness, compassionate anger, Podcastreporter.com, productive passion, theaccidentalcreative.com, Todd Henry

podcast

582- Recording a Podcast episode on Skype

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 8, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme that is over 15 years old — that of using Skype to record a podcast episode.

This theme brought back very old memories for myself, as I had been using Skype since 2006. And it was included in the post delivered by Ben Krueger at cashflowpodcasting.com. Now, since I have personally known Ben since 2014 and trusted him with coming up for podcasters with value deliverables and suggestions, I was interested to see about this older method of doing remote interviews and capturing audio.

My own podcasting history with Skype

Since 2005, I have been involved with the podosphere, and for over 16 years, I have been a podcaster with many of my shows including the format of remote interviews — and most of them using Skype.

My experience with the earlier versions of Skype was very dismal — it took quite a few hours to get the configuration right so that it worked. And there was an application program that provided for capturing and creating the audio for recorded interviews — PowerGramo (which is no longer available). And like other competitors at the time, one configuration of PowerGramo allowed for each of the 2 podcasters on the remote interview to be recorded on a separate track. This was wonderful and allowed slight synchronization and slight editing to get the tracks ready to save and add other content (like music and intros, etc.). Of course, this was a paid application (one-time charge) and it proved very reliable.

And the benefit was that I could also pay for an additional service from Skype called “Skype-out” — this allowed me to “dial” into analog phones or cell phones in addition to “dialing” into another Skype user via the internet. Thus, when doing an interview with someone who considered himself “low tech,” my interviewee would not have to deal with Skype (if the interviewee did not have it installed and configured for his use). This was a great benefit, as I could schedule and conduct interviews over the telephone without any problem (except using software like early versions of Izotope or Levelator (as well as other software like Auphonic) to try and correct problems with the audio).

And finally, there was another configuration of Skype for the reverse, called Skype-In. However, for my own situation, I was the main initiator for an interview, and I did not require this at all.

But when Skype was acquired by Microsoft, my old application that worked as a Skype add-on (which was PowerGramo) no longer worked at all — and PowerGramo soon was retired after that. And then the configuring of Microsoft’s Skype became such a jumble of “electronic spaghetti” that I gave up in frustration in using my “old faithful” combination of Skype and PowerGramo. Instead, I sought out and sparingly used other applications like Evaer, etc., to do remote recordings and capturing the interviewee’s audio — but it was really not a good substitute for the PowerGramo app (RIP). And so I reverted back to my trusted double-ender method to record podcasts, even though I had to deal most of the work for both editing, finalizing mp3 files and synchronization to create the golden mp3 file.

And to this day, I have relied on the double-ender for interviews — which basically limits my current interviews to other podcasters.

Ben Krueger on recording a podcast on Skype

In the 2021 post by Ben Krueger, the theme of using Skype is discussed in detail by Ben with his declaration that he would “be breaking down everything you need to know about how to record a podcast on Skype.”

In addition to having a properly configured Skype program on your PC, you will need to have properly configured call-recording software to create an audio file from the interview or discussion (remember, I had used the older program, PowerGramo, as my call-recording software). Ben gives examples with Ecamm Call Recorder and also GarageBand, Audition, or Audacity. He also mentioned Piezo by Rogue Amoeba. He also mentions Audio Hijack.

He continues “If you have a PC, you will want to use the professional version of Pamela for Skype.”

Also, the topic of using Zoom comes up when trying to record a podcast by using the in-built recording feature. And then he highlights a tip for creating video: “Even though you may not see an immediate use for the video content, you should record it regardless. Further down the line, you may want to leverage the video content from your recordings on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.”

So these tips may be good for you to try to prepare remote interviewing, and Skype may or may not be the best choice for you as a podcaster. If you want to try Skype for remote audio capture, then I would suggest that you consume this post with all the details that Ben gives you.

And remember that a double-ender is still a great solution when you are interviewing a remote podcaster. It may seem like more work. But the creation of your audio file, downloading your interviewee’s audio file, synchronizing both tracks of audio, adding your music, intros, outros, and other content (like bumpers, etc.) may well be worth it — for you can form a good workflow for you to have a great-sounding interview of episode with your co-host.

I will continue to rely on my double-enders and only use Evaer as remote recording software when needed to capture the remote interviewee when the double-ender is really not an option.

I hope that you, as a podcaster, can decide if Skype is for you, along with all the other options mentioned above. Whatever the case, I wish you success in creating a smooth workflow that works for YOU, and that your remote interview or co-host episodes will add to your success for your show.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Ben Krueger, cashflowpodcasting.com, double-ender, Podcastreporter.com, Skype

podcast

578- The craft of podcast story-telling

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 4, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we review some themes from Evo Terra in his podcastpontifications.com podcast show — in particular, why podcasters may not consider themselves as good story-tellers and learning the craft of story-telling.

In his recent episode where he discusses story telling, Evo tackles the self-imposed limitation that podcasters may have when they believe that their story-telling expertise is not good enough for podcasting — and the possibility of being “out-podcasted” by a good story teller. He states: “But not every podcaster is as confident in their storytelling abilities. Many struggle with storytelling on their shows, either because they have an actual deficiency when it comes to storytelling or because of that pesky imposter syndrome that won’t shut up as it tries to convince competent, capable podcasters that they’re worse at storytelling than they really are.”

Evo does have a few suggestions that have worked for him to master his craft of telling stories:

become an avid reader;
listen to podcasts that tell stories;
use the OUTLINE method to get a draft of the story you wish to tell, and then refine it with good story-telling materials and tools;
keep some stories “in your back pocket” just in case you need to bring one up and relate it when you are being interviewed or recorded in a podcast;
Practice the craft of telling stories constantly (and for many episodes) in your show: “As with any skill, you have to practice. Yes, even those who have mastered their craft—regardless of what that craft is—have to practice.”
Practice speaking your story out loud, as this is one way that it helped Evo to internalize story-telling;
Move your mindset to positive telling of stories to others.

For this podcaster, I have studied the art of story-telling, as my studies in my college undergraduate work was in writing for television and film — and story-telling was a key part of learning the craft. And always, the feedback is most important.

However, as a podcaster, mixing the story telling with the fact-based narration or deconstruction of events and situations is also something that is learned over time with much work and practice. And I would suggest that outlines and the writing of good show notes for your episodes would also be a major boost in perfecting your story-telling abilities — and your listeners will be able to comment on that more positively than other podcasters who become critical (and sometimes for the sake of just being critical of other podcasters).

Thus, I would suggest that you listen to the episode about story telling from the August, 2021, episode from Evo Terra in his podcastpontifications.com show and then review your own methods and workflow and processes and tactics that you may now use in story telling — and improve on them or incorporate new ones for your show.

I agree with what he says that your podcast show will “out-podcast” other shows when you tell good stories in your content and deliver that kind of value to your listeners.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Evo Terra, PodcastPontifications.com, Podcastreporter.com

podcast

576- Podcast skills today may not sustain you tomorrow

Post author By fcastaneda
Post date April 2, 2022

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of podcast skills and the perspective of Todd Henry, podcaster of The Accidental Creative and also The Daily Creative.

Todd has spent a great deal of time in letting us know that we have to keep “sharpening the saw” (an expression used by Steven Covey in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) which means that we need to sharpen our skills continuously, as well as do up-front key planning for success.

And Todd gives us food for thought in this famous quote from Pablo Picasso: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

And the key idea that is the take-away from Todd’s micro-episode is: “The skill that you are known for today will be unlikely to sustain you tomorrow. You must continue to grow.”

And we learn the podcasting craft and then come into our own genius in podcasting after much experience — from imitating others to get the experience, then diverging and delivering our own style, framework and VOICE in the podosphere (because we now have learned what works for us due to our growth). Todd can contemplate success when we experience making a “unique mark” and delivering a “unique contribution” in the podosphere.

Sound familiar?

Well, Todd then throws a bit of reality as he splashes the waters of realism in our face — we will hit what he calls “the crisis phase.” And he describes this phase in this manner: “But, then we hit what I call “crisis” phase. This is when we suddenly realize that the work is fine, that it’s delivering on expectations, and that everyone around us seems happy with what we’re doing, but we feel stuck. We’re doing what we’ve always done, and we’re doing it well, but we know that we are no longer growing.”

Now, does that sound familiar?

So before we can stagnate and start to get nervous about our future growth, Todd suggests that an avenue of growth may lie in going down the road of learning and in building your skill — in fact, building a new skill: “Then, you will be able to incorporate it into your existing work and use it to find new ways of accomplishing your goals.”

For the creative podcaster, this is the inspiration that comes with skills transfer or skills-learning that can invigorate you as a content creator and skilled professional.

And it is up to each one of us as podcasters to go beyond our limits and see which new skills we can learn (or adopt) or internalize so that we can go beyond our limits today and have what we need to grow our craft and sustain us tomorrow.

Thank you for your attention.

Tags Podcastreporter.com, steven covery, the accidentalcreative.com, the seven habits of highly effective people, thedailycreative.me, Todd Henry