Tag: podcastbusinessjournal.com

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620 – Podcasting studio replaces fm-radio student station 91.7

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter Show, we discuss an activity that has taken place this year — the replacement of a radio station by a podcast studio. This story took place earlier in 2022, and it was highlighted in an article in the Podcast Business Journal. The student radio station was called “KEOL La Grande 91.7 fm.”

The publication was on 25 May 2022 in the  Podcast Business Journal

The title of the article was “Former Radio Station to become Podcast Studio.”

Here is the summary from the article:

“The former student-run radio station at Eastern Oregon University is being converted to a podcast studio for students. KEOL was voted away in 2021 by the student fee committee due to the high cost of operating the station and reduced interest from students, according to The Observer in Oregon. The podcast studio will not requite student fees.

Students will soon be able to launch their own podcasts in the studio space.

Vice President of Student Affairs Lacy Karpilo told The Observer, “We wanted to make sure we still had something exciting in that space for the students. It still allows for the spirit of what the radio station was, but utilizes the technology and expertise we have without the same funding issues as with the radio station.”

This was quite startling for myself, as my own alma mater has had for the past 60 years a local fm radio station (and it still has today). Not only is it a good training ground for those who want to enter the broadcasting arena in the major of Communication Arts, but it gives them plenty of experience. Well, the funding of a real fm radio station requires some commitments on the part of the school.

In this case, the funding easily lost out to the desire of the students to get into the area of podcasting.

Now, do I myself see this trend growing? I think so. It only makes sense, since many of the students themselves interested in the podcasting arena probably have quit listening to radio. And with the low cost of podcasting, it is easy to see how the popular medium can replace the expense of a real fm local radio station

Do I feel that this will continue and that we will see more of this type of conversion going on in the future.

I do.

A local podcast studio for the students — especially if there are dormitories or housing on the campus — will provide a great benefit for them. What I would be more interested in would be if the school had courses in podcasting taught at the site, so that the benefit of a real podcasting studio could be maximized by the students themselves.

At this point, we can begin to see a trend where the cost of a local radio station may give in to a podcasting studio for the student body in a university or college. And I will keep checking to see if my old alma mater will continue to support and fund its old radio station or go in the direction of KEOL La Grande 91.7fm.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2022, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and PodcastBusinessJournal.com. All rights reserved.

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528- Podcast quality from your interview guests

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a recent post in the podcastbusinessjournal.com from Dave Jackson, podcaster of the School of Podcasting, where the topic centered on the audio quality from your interviewee and to whom the blame should be leveled. The title of this post was also mentioned in the podnews.net newsletter, and it was: “Stop blaming your guest for bad audio.”

In this post, Dave mentions that you, the interviewer, is really to be held responsible for any episode interview where your guest has bad audio. Dave says that you are to blame for letting bad audio be recorded and published in your podcast show interviews.

And Dave delivers to us several options so that you would not have to deal with sloppy or bad audio in your published interview — for example:

  •  Dave says: “You control what guests make it to your listener’s ears.”
  • Just as a potential prospect may ask you for examples from your portfolio of either art, podcasts, videos, etc., so, too, you can do the same to qualify (and later vet) a potential interviewee:  “When I have people pitch me to be on my show, if they’ve done their homework and connected their expertise to my audience (which 98% of them don’t) one of the first things I’m going to ask is, “Do you have a link to a previous interview so I can hear your audience quality?”
  • As far as equipment goes, Dave suggests several low-cost options for interviewees to deliver quality audio when they record (especially if you are doing a double-ender) — e.g., the Samson Q2U is an ideal mic (which used to be the AT202x series of mics), as well as the Blue Yeti (as long as it is configured properly and placed in the correct positions for quality audio capture). Now, for myself, there is no mention of the Samson go-mic (which is what I recommended for my co-host to use, and which he has used for 50 podcast episodes as an interviewee or co-host) or other quality mics that are affordable;
  • And finally, Dave suggests what to do for a proper job of planning for audio quality for interviews (and this is merely a way to get the interviewee to obtain the proper equipment for quality, and not a total rejection): “When you say to them, “I’d love to have you on my show, but your audio isn’t currently cutting it. If you want you can order a cheap headset or some earbuds, and we can try again later.” You’re not saying “No.” You’re saying “Not now.” 
  • And then you have the proof of the pudding when you find out why your podcast show may be suffering:  “The bottom line is if you’re wondering why your podcast isn’t growing, it may be that it’s leaving a bad taste in people’s mouth…”

Now, for this podcaster, I have had multiple interviews with many podcasters, celebrities, professionals, etc., during the past 15 years of podcasting. And the worst audio occurred when a guest refused to use a quality mic and agreed to the interview when I had to call him on Skype (remember that old application) and he did the interview from the mic on his smart phone while he was outside. Needless to say, the quality was not good and it would not stand in today’s circles of acceptability. This was an exception, for his partner (also a podcaster and a tech-guy, had wonderful audio when I had interviewed him the year before).

So, unless I know what type of equipment is being used, I would now prefer NOT to conduct an interview over the telephone. I have always preferred to do interviews in person (if possible) with my handy Zoom H2 or H4n or Q3 or even my Zoom H1 that I would hold in my hand, because I could then control the quality of the audio — and I could clean up any wrinkes in post.

But for the newer podcasters or the aspiring interviewers, I would suggest that they should take Dave’s post to heart. Some podcasters have even got to the point of having an extra quality microphone and recorder — and then sending it to the guest, so that quality would not be impaired and all glitches could be corrected in post.

So, we hope that you, as a podcaster, would be very conscientious about the required audio quality in today’s environment and insist that the right mic and the right positions of equipment and settings would be the environment for any future podcast interview recordings with your guests.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Dave Jackson and podcastbusinessjournal.com and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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BONUS — Podcasting community is now free at PMU

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a BONUS episode with news that the community that was announced a while back — Podcast Movement University — is now free. This came from the Podcast Business Journal. The podcastmovement.com team saw that they were not getting much of a response with their unfair pricing, and so they have decided to make it no charge (i.e., free) to join and participate.

And so I have joined and participated in some of the discussions. I also plan to participate in some of the webinars and discussions on line and live audio and video.

You can also sign up for free for this community (I highly recommend this as a free resource — but advise you to cancel if they start to charge for their site):

Podcast Movement Team: We Were Wrong!

Thus, as I do suggest for new and aspiring podcasters, this seems to be a good idea to join a community of podcasters that can be of benefit to you and your plans for improving your show and becoming a better podcaster.

Thank you for your attention.

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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444- Five tips for Podcasting — to improve or derail your show

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver a perspective of “Five tips” written by other podcasters to deliver both how to make your podcast stand out, as well as recognizing environments that may derail your podcast show.

(1) The first article is one written by Mark Asquith that delivers five ways that can help your podcast to “stand out.” This is the article from the Podcast Business Journal titled “Five ways to make your podcast stand out.”

Mark recommends these tips:

  • Repurpose your podcast content;
  • Be a guest on other podcasts;
  • Feature guests on your podcasts;
  • Use paid advertising channels; and
  • Expand your online presence.

For Mark, putting this all together can be a great strategy to incorporate these tips and provide a written plan to make these suggestions into reality. For him, consistency and continuity are some of the most important factors that can lead to success. As he states in the close of his article: “By optimizing your content, building relationships with fellow podcasters and your audience, you can organically grow and distinguish your brand as well as attract new listeners and subscribers.”

(2) The other article takes an almost opposite theme. It was also delivered by the Podcast Business Journal, and it had the title of “Five things that derail podcast success.”

This article by Steve Goldstein begins with the serious attitude for the podcaster: “five things that will derail your success, including not having a plan, not respecting the listener and not having a fresh take.”

And then Steve describes the five elements that can create a dangerous signal for your podcast. They are:

  • Not having a fresh take, point of view or original topic;
  • Not clearly positioning the benefit of the podcast;
  • Not having a comprehensive promotional plan;
  • Not respecting the listener’s time;
  • Not having a “high definition” map and plan.

And Steve goes into more detail about what he means by these themes (which, for some podcasters, may seem “too simple” and thus, may be disregarded all too quickly).

With the growth of podcasting today, and with over a million “competitors” (that is, the total number of podcast shows) that are competing for the attention of audiences today, Steve summarizes the importance of taking these five elements into account: “these five factors are becoming more difficult to ignore as key success factors.”

As a podcaster, I would recommend that a few minutes should be given to see the five positive elements from Mark and the five caveats from Steve. They can serve as both suggestions for adding to your roadmap of success, as well as perhaps acting like a signpost that warns you of potential “land-mines” on your podcast journey. I think that the best value can come from possibly helping to “spawn” new ideas for you or build on prior ideas to solidify your own podcast journey to success.

We hope that these will help you to define your future steps in podcasting and avoid any problems in the the near future.

Thank you for your attention.

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

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400- Good podcast intro to hook your audience

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In this episode, we hail and celebrate our 400th episode of this Podcast series by discussing the value of a good intro for your podcast episode and some suggestions by Matty Staudt on how to grab your audience with the art of the “tease.”.

First, however, we shall share with you a milestone that we have reached — 400 episodes. Now, this was not the first time that we have had 400 episodes in one of our shows (we did that before years ago in an earlier podcast show before we had to podfade it). And having been a podcaster for the past 15 years, longevity is one fine trait with experience in the podosphere.

Since October 15th of 2019, we have published an episode every day. And although it was never planned as a publishing marathon, it ended up being one because of the content ideas and the podosphere news that have created information for us to share with you.

However, we have used the format of the short-form podcast (i.e., less than 10 minutes in length) for much of the last 200 episodes, and for most of the publishing marathon since October of 2019.

And we intend to provide more value to our listeners with the information about the podosphere and other new media topics.

So, now, on our 400th episode of this podcast show, we can look back to our roots of 2014, to the first episode and see that we have delivered value to our listeners and loyal fans, and that we intend to keep delivering such value as we possibly can. In the beginning of our podcast show, we focused on bringing you interviews with the legends of the podcasters who were the giants of the podosphere from the beginning and who helped us to form the podcast as a medium and several genres. We interviewed those who had been podcasting since 2004. And then we opened up our attention to other topics related to the podosphere which we felt were of significance to the aspiring podcaster, the hobbyist podcaster and even the professional podcaster or serious new media professionals.

Hook your audience with a good INTRO

In the recent post in the Podcast Business Journal, Matty Staudt emphasizes with an example of a boring introduction what it means to be exciting, relevant and catching, so that you can “hook” your listener in the first few minutes of your episode. The name of the article is called “Your Intro Matters.”

The importance of creating a meaningful and attractive intro is given the importance by Staudt: “People decide if they are going to listen to a podcast in the first minute. If you don’t give them the full picture in that time or hook them with interesting audio they will most likely move on to one of the other million podcasts out there.”

Now, although we have discussed good introls and outros before in this podcast show — especially with the reference of an earlier podcast episode in The Audacity to Podcast show by Daniel J Lewis — Staudt relies on a very simple and quick list of suggestions that he has seen work best for him when he produced his shows:

Voice first — as this needs to be warm and friendly to invite the listener to stick around and consume some audio that will contain the value that he seeks;

Set up the show — Deliver a “tease” with brief and relevant info: “I usually suggest a quick tease of content followed by these three important elements. Name of the show, who you are, and the show’s tagline/mission statement.”

What’s on today — The brief tease that describes the content to be delivered and the value that will be given to the listener.

Create your intro as the LAST task for your content — As Matty states, “One last thing. Do your intros after you have produced the rest of the show. It should be the last thing you do so that you know exactly what you are going to tease. A good intro takes thought, good writing, and the remembrance that each show is a new show for someone.”

Now, for this podcast, we have had a standard format for intros. This would include the episode number, then the key theme or the question that will be answered in the content (this is the “tease”). And then we will go straight into the meat of the content and provide the VALUE to our listeners so that they will not get bored. And instead of including many segments in the episode, we focus only on one theme in a short form episode. And many of our listeners have commented that they enjoy this format — especially now that many of our audience has to stay isolated during the virus crisis.

And the tease or tag line and intro are usually all created at the end, or they are set out at the start of production, but reviewed and mainly improved and modified after the episode has been produced (just as Matty states). It seems to be a good formula for us to use, and we strongly suggest that perhaps you can try this out for your podcast episodes and see how well it can work for you.

So we wish you the best in creating your exciting intros for your podcast episodes to hook your audience and keep them as loyal fans of your show.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Matty Staudt and PodcastBusinessJournal.com. All rights reserved.

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386- Keeping your sanity in podcasting

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The theme for this episode came from a topic found in the Podcast Business Journal, especially espoused by Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting.

These are several recommendations from Dave (and they are discussed in detail, as you will hear in this audio episode):

  • Don’t worry about things not in control;
  • Question yourself about what new situations exist today (during the plandemic);
  • Remember that your audience wants you to succeed;
  • Focus on tasks and details that will help you to make your podcast show even better;
  • Invite your audience to communicate and participate with you (e.g., with zoom or virtual communications);
  • “Dig the well before you are thirsty”;
  • Think about the hardest thing you have ever done.

Dave also has his own experience of suggestions to get motivated and take the first step toward completing your important project in podcasting.

We hope that you can keep your sanity during this plandemic, and that you can survive with flying colors to be successful, in spite of the lockdown, plandemic isolation and hardship or adversity.

As I always remind myself from my experiences and hardships that I had during the war: Remember that “each day is pure gravy.”

Thank you for your attention.

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

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357- Another course — how to start a podcast in 2020

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In this brief and repurposed episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the announcement and availability of yet another course that teaches the student about podcasting in the “how-to” arena. It is called How to Start a Podcast.

And the announcement of this program is in an article within the Podcast Business Journal.

So, it is that time of the year again for another course that traces the same roads over and over again. And once again, we recommend the book by Dave Jackson called More Podcast money, as well as the collaborative mentorship from Daniel J Lewis in his Podcasters Society membership site.

So, in the meantime, we thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2020, Matrix Solutions Corporation and How to Start a Podcast. All rights reserved.

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343- Yet another podcast training program — StartAPod

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver information about StartAPod — which is yet another podcast training course that shows you, as an aspiring or beginning podcaster, how to launch a podcast show.

This was discussed several weeks ago in an article of the Podcast Business Journal publication. The lessons and the “coming soon” modules are described from this repurposed episode from several weeks ago within this same podcast show.

The main themes are:

  • learn
  • share
  • earn

The goals are many and the vision certainly sounds as if they will, indeed, help aspiring podcasters.

However, my recommendations stay with Dave Jackson and his programs in The School of Podcasting — of which I have been a member and I have seen the value in his 15 years of programs in the podosphere.

Thank you for your attention.

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