Arroe Collins Pod-Crashing

Probably because I’m a Broadcast instructor I see a lot of startups and huge letdowns. Yeah I’m the guy that proudly stands up front looking at all those rows of hardcore dreamers and says, “If you’re here to chase radio get started in the smallest town in your state. The big boys are already full with three million people are sitting impatiently on the waiting list. Or… You can start podcasting and declare yourself hired. Because you’re the president and CEO of Me Inc.”
The problem with opening that door is that everybody thinks it instantly comes with fame and fortune. Yeahhhhh guess what? When those numbers don’t show up the thought of doing more episodes sits in the cellar until you’re in the mood to pop open the microphone again or you’re taken over by jealousy. Everybody else looks like they’re having fun so it ignites a new fire in your drive forward.
Not to be a buzz kill but podcasting demands a lot of attention. You’ve got to be willing to work hard and be committed. Even if you’re doing it as a hobby or you’re a business that’s been convinced that it’s a new way to reach customers, you can’t envision a certain number of expected episodes then quit. You’d never unpeel a banana then set it on the counter and walk away. You’d have fruit flies in less than 60 minutes.
From the first start know in your heart podcasting is always moving forward. They say the human being can read the same sentence seven different ways. Take the subject of your episode. It too can be delivered in multiple ways. You’re never the same person on each episode. It’s completely natural to always bring different ideas and experiences.
Look at the way Chelsea Handler continues to cover mental illness. Same subject. Several different episodes with brilliant content and hardcore attention grabbing inflection and storytelling. The other day I was instantly drawn to Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert because he reposted a conversation with the late Peter Fonda. Famous person with a crap life. We’ve all heard them but not in the way that Peter brought his story forward.
The reason why I bring this up is because so many podcasters get caught in the hiccup. It’s that one moment when your creative juices don’t show up. Oh I’ve been there. This is my fortieth year in broadcasting. You get to get to this part of the journey unless you’ve learned how to move through those pain in the ass dry spells.
As to why so many pull their podcast ship off the water? It’s the same old stories, “I wasn’t feeling it. I’ve run out of ideas. The social networking part of the process is too time consuming. I’m not making money and that’s not in my plans.” Yeah yeah yeah.
Subliminally speaking. Hitting that blank spot in the wall can easily affect you. The listener in you is tuning out. Is your show moving in forward motion? Is it more about you and less about the physical listener? If it is… The listener in you is in the front row of your show! It’s read to punch the next button.
No seriously! It doesn’t matter who’s hosting the show, the inner core of every person involved is affected by their way of how they listen. The listener in you has a completely different personality then the performer. Which is why you can’t stop podcasting after thirteen strikeouts at the numbers game.
If the ambition and addiction to podcasting has left you cooled off. Grab some space and head out to the streets or busy office. Time to listen to the episodes in the very places your fans and followers are hooking up to the vibe. Put yourself at their level. Adlibbing and improving are a skill. If you’re dropping tracks with no scripts those ears of yours know when the subject at hand is either off coarse or out of tune.
I do get a little bothered when talent tell me, “Not every podcast can be a homerun. I crack the mic open and we’re off!” Which basically tells me (the listener) that quality doesn’t matter. Edit edit edit! You make a mistake, keep moving! Get the thought out! Then return to the crime scene to patch up the disturbance.
Hitting the blank spot in the wall is a symptom that requires a solution. I totally grasp the free spirit slash organic approach to breaking bread on the microphone but man you can’t wing a bowling ball a hundred miles an hour at the pens and expect to get a strike unless you follow through.
Oh hell yeah. I’m repairing your desire to podcast with my personal experiences as a bowler with the AJBC. It was in the late 1970’s but the analogy of following through is the first step toward a new beginning.
If you’re getting burned out then create a shorter podcast. If you’re tired of waiting for people to show up, do the episodes yourself. If the podcast subjects are all over the place… follow through with well disciplined focus. One thought per break. The food talk goes on the cooking channel not the main vein. The book talk goes to an author podcast not the hot spot. Break up your subjects by giving them their own stage.
If your final decision is to put a nail in the coffin be ok with it. This isn’t terrestrial radio where there’s only so many stations in each town. You didn’t terminate yourself from the podcast. Something needed to grow in a different direction and a sliver of your life looked at that blank spot in the wall and chose the easier route. I’m gonna walk away for a while.
Hmmm you’d gain more experience if you hung in there. Teaching yourself how to quit is a bad habit with no doctors in the market to fix the broken spokes. It’s ok to lose a couple of teeth in this hockey game. It’s not supposed to be easy. There’s always joy in podcasting! The joy of exercising your right to speak.
So what’s the moral of the story? It’s perfectly fine to soak your big toe in podcasting without taking it as serious most. Dabbling around with it part of the growth. Do yourself a favor though. When you do reach that blank spot in the wall try not to advertise it to your family, friends and followers. During that break from the action repost your past performances. Gaining new listeners every day is a fun part of the practice. If your episodes are stacked they aren’t going through ten pages of stuff to find your best work.
If they haven’t heard it before. Then it’s a brand new show. If you haven’t heard it in a long time. It can feel like a brand new show. You might be inspired to crank up the creative engine and give yourself a shot of juice.

Episode 22: When It Finally Sinks In
When what finally sinks in? This! Well what is this? Right. Before 2012 I was all out radio. Not against podcasting. I was just radio. I mean a totally sick puppy that spent 12 to 15 hours a day writing and producing commercials while performing physical shows in several different markets. Part of the workday plan was to blog. The goal? Write about everything. Not text. Not IM. Blog! It was my real voice. I could say anything. Which put me in several large circles outside the realms of radio.
Cool! A following that wasn’t being controlled by program directors and consultants. I was in charge of my own content and how it was being delivered. The goal was to drive the numbers up on the stations website. Big task for a non-morning show air talent. Not a battle. No war wounds. Just an open mind to walk and not jump into this new age of sharing information.
I loved my readers so much that letting them hear my physical verbal inflection had to be the next step. I know! I’ll Vlog! They can see and hear me! No no noooo. A total disaster. It was at this point of the digital journey that I realized most blog readers want the intimacy of reading alone. Pictures of long haired radio people with radio voices interrupted the interpretation of what they were pulling from the blogs.
My numbers dropped in the worst way. How the hell was I going to get them back? Angry at my decision to one up the performance I chose to walk away from the entire digital process to write a book called Scrambled Eggs. I wouldn’t return until it was published.
When it finally sinks in. When what finally sinks in? This! Well what is this? Right. That 2.5 year break from blogging and pretending to be a radio performer is what set the stage up for podcasting to take up space inside this open field of who the hell am I? Then there it was. A television commercial for Chevrolet bragging about how their new models featured wireless internet.
My Beatles moment. Blue Tooth was going to connect smart phones to the sound system in the car. I wanted to be on that platform! But with what? I talked over song intros. Podcasts are an hour or longer.
I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing. I sat down many times with national decision makers. The man that brought me to the Carolina’s in 1985 seemed ok with the idea but I can still hear him, “It doesn’t make money. So no you don’t have my attention.”
Every publication and broadcast blog spoke of the proper podcast length but nobody could decide. There wasn’t enough research to prove anything right. I was in charge of production for six radio stations I couldn’t stop the wheel to pull off an hour long show. Which is a cheap way of saying I had no fricken idea what I was going to talk about.
When it finally sinks in. When what finally sinks in? This! Well what is this? Right. Wait! It’s 2012! Those closest to the money in broadcasting aren’t interested in what I’m doing means I can make up my own rules! It was sinking in! You can’t break something if what you’re trying to create doesn’t exist.
Sixty second Classic Rock Reports. Yes! The more I did the more listeners I was picking up. Before long I had the attention of music promoters which led to actors, authors and famous chefs. But something was still missing. My real voice. The one created by blogging. Where I could talk about anything! Vlogging didn’t work, why would I take a chance on podcasting? I finally broke the ice in 2013 with a Podcast called The Choice. My addiction to creativity would serve as the platform. Normal people don’t put in 12 to 15 hours at work. I had a habit and it was all connected to creativity.
Utilizing my passion to write blogs I redesigned the layout by getting the attention off me and onto the listener. I’m not the only creative person on the planet. Outside of Julia Cameron where are the coaches and mentors that lead the builders and shapers through the desert? They’re not there!
When it finally sinks in. When what finally sinks in? This! Well what is this? Right. Bringing life to a niche requires unique and a willingness to learn how to fail. Each time I found my face in the mud I went deeper with the exposure of what it’s like to be a creative. Transparency became the steps that started to climb.
While the conversations with the people of fame continued to grow stronger and stronger so was the podcast The Choice. Texture was beginning to take shape. Learning how to find listeners meant playing by the same blogging rules. Write and talk about everything. One podcast will lead listeners to other podcasts. Cross pollinating the podcasts served as an invitation for listeners to explore. Oh he does this too! And this?
A friend asked me in 2015, “What are you doing? One minute you’re landing a conversation with Yoko Ono then you’re talking about writing books. Your Facebook page doesn’t represent the person I thought I knew.”
Remember I am no expert. I’m a daily student. I show up in this recording studio every morning at 5:30 to try and figure out why I’m here and not where my dreams should’ve landed me. Only one GM supported my footsteps during my final moments in terrestrial radio. He was enthusiastic because I was energized. He listened to my gut reaction to how listeners could get what they on demand. Any subject about every possible thing. This is where you put in the sponsor.
His exact words, “I don’t know what you’re doing but I understand why you’re doing it.”
Today iHeart Radio boasts with a very loud voice how they’re the world’s largest podcast outlet. I’m blessed to host 9 completely different podcasts on the platform.
So what’s the moral of the story? When it finally sinks in. When what finally sinks in? This! Well what is this? Right. That moment when you decide how important your art is to the world. When you sit down and record your first podcast. Struggle to get the second finished while endlessly envisioning new ideas that could lead my listeners to your performance.
When it finally sinks in that podcasting isn’t going away. It’s just getting started. There’s a lot of weeds in this wheat field. Quoting Steven Furtick, you can’t pull what doesn’t belong in the field out. You’ll injure the roots of the wheat. In all things podcasting, great shows to shake your head can’t believe I just sat through that. Let it grow. Let the weeds live with the wheat.

Episode 21: The Bridge

I was reminded a few weeks back that podcasting has always been the underground of broadcasting. Meaning those doing it in the early days and somewhat today were and are anti-radio. They wanted no part in the big corporate decision making because most of them were ousted from the center of their dream career.
I don’t know about others but from day one of my terrestrial radio decades I was always told that hard work dedication and loyalty don’t guarantee the gold watch at 50 years. In fact those three ingredients can lead to the infamous pink slip. A program director once told me how he wasn’t comfortable with hiring people that came with such morals. It got in the way of everyday radio changes.
I understand the underground aspect of podcasting versus radio. I also understand why iHeart Radio announced this week that some of their 850 terrestrial radio stations will serve as a platform for some of iHearts 250,000 podcasts.
It’s a brilliant marriage. For the first time it actually feels like podcasters are being treated like Broadcasters. But what podcast episodes get the nod? What were the qualifications? For those in the podcast underground this is exactly why there’s been a solid line between the two shapes of communication. The decisions are being made by the very people that ripped 6,000 plus brilliant radio people away from their on air jobs and replaced them with Ryan Seacrest and Bobby Bones.
Wow! That sounded pretty mean didn’t it? Especially since I’m a huge fan of Bobby’s podcast. The point is… Here is this lovely little piece of broadcast soil that’s been surviving on its own for two decades and someone’s knocking on the door with a brilliant opportunity to reach out to newer listeners by way of terrestrial radio’s enormous impact. I get it. But let’s do it without the voices already heard on that stage.
There are some brilliant performers in the world of podcasting. Mind blowing fresh ideas with the guts to break down old fashioned programming. I’d love to hear Marc Maron on a Sunday night iHeart Broadcast but would hate to be the editor that’s getting minimum wage to silence the F bombs.
The golden ring is dangling in the breeze. The opportunity to jump onto the airwaves of the world’s largest broadcast company but how will the shows be forced to change? It’s an honest question. I love talking with every podcaster that’s available to share their journey. It’s pretty cool to not only swap ideas but to hear the hunger in their soul to bring their vocal art to life.
Book authors that had to train themselves to use their god given voice. Being heard to most authors is showing up on a page in a book, magazine or newspaper. Now they get the chance to make sounds from their mouth? Terrestrial radio people know that when big business is involved in the broadcast it comes with formats that shout, “Do it our way of you don’t get to play.”
Look…I’m the same way with my 15 different podcasts. Each has its own personality and purpose. The broadcast platform is surviving on its own and doesn’t need a knuckle head to drop in a few episodes and screw it up. I met a terrestrial radio programmer one time that would’ve taken that thought and calmly replied, “This is why I can’t hire you. You’re stuck in your way. You’ve got to learn how to expand. If it means me redesigning your layout. So it goes.”
Will Ferrell’s character Ron Burgundy is getting a spot. The first episode of season two teams him up with presidential candidate Karmala Harris.
Seriously this is a brilliant move for iHeart Media. Content sent out over a 14 second song intro no longer makes connections with long term listeners. The average length of Ron Burgundy is 35 to 50 minutes. I listen to the entire show. Before podcasting terrestrial radio barely got seven minutes of my time before I jumped to another station.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but I hope this move from iHeart inspires other major outlets to begin utilizing podcasting. It would be a great way for small town owners to make time spent listening bucks. With the internet connecting itty bitty cities to the globe all things shooting from your server can be a money maker. Hell I remember when Larry King was only heard on the Mutual Radio Network during a time when every radio station was ABC NBC or CBS.
I’m gonna get kicked out of the podcasters club for not being anti-radio enough. Actually I see it as nothing more than another platform to push push push. But will the episodes have to follow a strict format? The organic behavior associated with podcasting is what makes it sweet to listen to. Which is what earned me an email last week from a podcaster that made it a point to remind me that putting the shows out there is another way for the companies to make money and the podcaster to make less.
There are so many ways to look at the possibility. Radio making money off other people’s talent is no different than 1950’s Boss Jock Radio. The partnership between iHeart and podcasters finally gives podcasters well deserved recognition. The number of business owners that still don’t know about podcasting won’t spend a dime until the seasoned leaders in making money for radio help gas up this new age engine.
I can’t help but wonder though how the surface of terrestrial radio is going to change when it comes to future hirings. Tomorrow’s talent is gonna have to know how to podcast. Your digital numbers will either catch the attention of the major corporations or invite leaders to look elsewhere. Just keep in mind. If your podcast opens the door for you to get employment the features you write and produce probably won’t belong to you. Once you quit or have been terminated the big guys have every right to keep everything that fell from your creative journey.
So what’s the moral of the story? Radio and podcasting aren’t just looking at each other from afar. Physically airing them on Sunday night’s means the relationship has moved to first base. There’s some touching going on. No need to call the parental figures. It’s safe play for now. Keep in mind radio has been around for 99 years. In order to survive the industry has learned how to beg borrow and steal. Protect your art while enjoying the respect iHeart Radio is sharing.

Episode 20: Where Should I Put My Podcast

Where and how you post your shows no longer comes with a huge dark cloud. Put away your fears and out of control wonders cuz the golden age of swapping thoughts in a box has reached a new level.
For years I’ve called podcasting the undiscovered next big fad. The only people doing it were angry individuals seeking to be heard, comedians, actors, radio wanna-be’s and millennials tired of hearing the same six songs on the radio. Since the very beginning it’s been a one on one connection to listeners demanding content.
It seemed to be the life. You were giving yourself permission to create fun, informational and affective radio. Several things have always stood in the way for radio people to participate. No money. No energy to keep up with the pace of booking, recording and posting and in reality because of company contracts some jocks were stapled to an agreement that kept them off the platform. You know, you belong to us and only us. Which I ran into a couple of years ago and I’m still not over the battle required to protect my junk.
In 2012 I became a podcast hider. I didn’t want decision makers to know what I was doing. The goal was to help create a stronger product that I could take to them so advertisers could leap all over it like a weekend party dog discovering a fresh plate of BBQ.
Why podcasting? When I first fall off radio’s right and left speaker there was no place to go. I needed to burn off a huge chunk of fat! I didn’t want to be any jock on the air. I was sick of being someone else’s entertainer only talking about station events how many songs we played an hour and the morning show.
My only creative outlet was in a production room on a mission to bring forward the almighty dollar by way of writing and producing commercials. That’s not a creative stage. It’s how others make a ton of money off your gift. The payoff was experience which means what when you’ve been wired to create and design full feature shows?
The good news is many Podcaster’s are no longer hiding. No I mean that! The big boys are in the game and they’re grasping for every idea to see if it’ll lure advertisers into the process of future success. Does that mean more radio people are spitting out episode like popcorn shells? Kinda. About three times a week I’ll run into a radio or television person and ask them where their podcast is and its always the same ole answer “Yeah I’ve been meaning to get around to that.”
Without jumping into my Superman Underroos I continue to be one of the ambassadors. I mean why not? Holy crap we can do anything we want without program directors. It’s for all people and all ages. It’s a smart move for those truly wanting to graduate beyond blogging and or hosting a liner card driven radio show.
Here’s where the story’s gonna change. You have a podcast. But where do you put it? The show is no longer the only character on the journey. There are new podcasting platforms popping up every day! Find out who they are and get your voice and performance out there! Wait wait wait. There’s some history in those words. It’s not always been this way. Five to ten years ago the platform wasn’t so easy to access. Mainly because to get a podcast up meant you had to spend money. A lot of it. Which I thought was pretty unfair because those controlling the servers to host the episodes knew nobody was making money. So what the hell? The new age took several hits because thinkers and doers would quit. There was no true payoff.
Well it’s not so much that way anymore. Things are evolving extremely fast. Almost to the point of information overload. Almost two years ago a little bit of profit sharing began reopening doors. It wasn’t much but being a radio prostitute I was happy to pick up three pennies on Monday and another penny by Friday. It fed the ego.
In the past six months a powerful boom boom pow for the podcaster has been put into play. Make the pennies without having to shell out huge bucks to be on a platform. Anchor.fm latched onto my attention right away. So much so I did a frickin endorsement commercial for them! On July 30 2019 Spreaker created an explosion of excitement by introducing Spreaker Prime. No charge. 5,000 shows a month downloads.
Now comes the biggest problem of all. Mike Rowe, Ryan Seacrest, Steve Harvey and Bobby Bones are gonna continue taking over the planet. The huge broadcasting companies play by one rule: You don’t have to have a great podcast our investment is in “your” name. Shaquil O’Neil hosts a show. Well sort of. He’s there but with four or five other guys talking sports. It doesn’t matter. The scent of his breath makes money.
So what’s the moral of the story? It’s safe to say that now’s a really good time to grow with your podcast. Start thinking about it as being a bigger connection to people. Spreaker and Anchor.fm know the way through the dry desert and although it may never turn into the full luxury of the promise land, it gets your bump in the road out there further than terrestrial radio with its twenty year habit of cutting and pasting stories to their website.
The energy you put into this little monkey of a project is how Justin Bieber became a monster of a musician. That little boy from Canada didn’t let anything get in the way of his love for music. Cold nights and sweltering days he spent countless hours playing his guitar on city sidewalks and parks. Then one day the little dude put up a video on YouTube and planet began to tilt.
Spreaker and Anchor.fm are giving you a chunk of hell that has frozen over. Who saw this coming? If you let this opportunity sit on the shore like a fish trying to get back into the water you’re gonna miss out. Yes podcasting is work. Nobody knows the true way to walk. Those of us who are talking about the journey have lived a trail of trials. We’ve not won every battle but damn if the payoff this week wasn’t Spreaker Prime. I started with Spreaker in 2012.
The glory right now is knowing your voice can be everywhere. Put it on every platform out there. I thank God for Mark Maron every day. That man along with a fist full of others stepped onto this stage several decades ago and prepared a new generation of content seeking listeners to keep searching for more. I’ll never get over the fact that some people like to call it a hobby. Maybe it’s because podcasting is fun. You can either laugh a lot or dive into subjects that truly affect those who’ve chosen to listen.
On Demand listening works.

Episode 19: Is It Really Podcasting?

What is podcasting? When I was first led to its little known source of energy in 2012 it was extremely hard to find someone that listened. They’d heard of it but didn’t own an iPod so they didn’t listen. Today the term podcasting is being thrown all over the place. It’s acting like the new Disco. Hot, fresh, something knew and everybody seems to be doing it. Especially writers, producers and ad agencies that are trying to convince their clients that podcasting is the new age of reach.
Wait wait wait. The dictionary in my hand like a southern preacher with a Bible… Podcasting: The practice of using the internet to make digital recordings of broadcasts available for downloading to a computer or mobile device. For many, podcasting is a logical next step from blogging.
Wowwww interesting. Because that’s how I kind of made my way into this pretty cool little sport that big business radio wanted nothing of until about 18 months ago. Now everybody’s bragging about having the most podcasts. Two years ago podcasting was so completely unique to business owners that no matter how much I tried to lead their company to better places to gather followers the structure we were building tumbled and blew away with the wind. My vision had no support. Due 100% to those controlling the budget not having the knowledge or understanding of how they were way ahead of the learning curve.
What I’m starting to see a lot of on Lnkedin are people trying to drive businesses toward podcasting. I’ve posted over 9,000 episodes on Unplugged and Totally Uncut and you’re telling me that the business decision makers are going to have an impact with podcast listeners with lesser than ten or twenty episodes? Every night between midnight and four in the morning we are bombarded with television info-mericials. Businesses utilizing the availability of unlimited time and space a podcast offers have done one thing… They’ve created the next level of selling but on demand.
I can now go to their website and hear a better description of the product being offered. I hear testimonies and interesting stories on how my life is going to change. Yep. It gets the wear the label of being a podcast. It’s content. Consumers devour it.
The problem with a company doing its own podcasting is pretty much letting your six year old child be in control of the household decisions and banking accounts. I realize how easy it is to podcast but your ego is getting in the way. Quality matters and it’s going to get harder for understudies and wanna-be’s to participate because new age listeners are finally getting a good idea of what to expect and what to tune out of.
The problem with ad agencies helping out is how they’ll rip the humanisms of podcasting from under you. I can hear it now, “You need to cover this and this and this and don’t forget to talk about this and this and wow even this.” Too much information overload! To get a non-professional talent as the speaker to cover every subject smoothly and organically like podcasting is going to be near impossible. Changing the subject during the conversation has to flow like water moving toward the ocean. If you’re going to leap head over heal on the subjects it becomes choppy and without emotion.
It’s like listening to a dialog commercial on the radio, “Hi Barbara how are your veins? Oh they hurt. I need to see a specialist.” The conversation is fake. There’s not attachment for the listener. On demand listening means exactly that. We made the choice and effort to locate the podcast we’re listening to. If there’s no genuine heart or benefit for the listener don’t expect the client to purchase the product.
It’s taken me nearly four years to finally get used to the endorsements longtime podcasters are getting paid to do these days. I hate it with a passion. I didn’t come here to listen to Mike Rowe brag about how AT&T has made his life better. If that’s the case then dedicate an entire episode to the company and let me decide if I should make the move. 30 to 60 seconds of talk still isn’t going to do it.
Back to the definition of podcasting. Key words. The practice of using the internet to make digital recordings.
The practice. Not the once. Not the twice. The practice! In martial arts we were trained to believe that we’d never master our skills until we practiced the moves one thousand times. So when I come across a definition that clearly states the practice of using the internet to make digital recordings. As a consumer I better see a thousand episodes. That’s a little overboard but you get my point.
Then again you might not. Just stay in my lane right? No. While production director of six radio stations between 2006-16 I always put one thing first. The client. When a business owner sits down with me and clearly states, “If the 3000 bucks I’m putting down on the table doesn’t get me new customers I have to go into a meeting and fire one or two employees.”
It happened! I’ve been with business leaders spending hundreds of thousands in advertising and they’re scared beyond freaky. Now companies are being asked to leap on board the hot new fad called podcasting. It’s going to bring you bigger cha ching than ever before because we’re giving our buyers content they can hear more about rather than make decisions over a 30 second commercial caught up in a stop set of ten or more.
When you invest your money in company podcasting go for the big bang and brilliantly design an enormous amount of episodes. One thought per break. If you’re Walmart selling Nike shoes. I better not hear about fishing poles and fresh bread. If you’re Panera Bread introducing new soups and rolls please do not bring up hot macaroni and cheese. Utilize the power and the beauty of what podcasting can do for you. Give you endless amounts of episodes so consumers can be focused on what invited them to put your company’s words in their smartphone or computer.
So what’s the moral of the story? There are too many radio people that still don’t know the impact of podcasting because they won’t invest in the required sweat to make it look better than another way for the wild man in control to make another dollar for the business. The reason why the big names of podcasting are making advertising dollars isn’t because they showed up in a meeting one day and shouted, “Neet oh! It’s money on the go!” They’ve paid the price. Did their episodes when they weren’t in the mood. They located their following by serving their listeners. They built the platform over an extremely long period of time.
Companies that leap onto the podcasting platform expecting to find the pot of gold are going to get pissed off when the return of the investment isn’t fast enough. They’re going to hate podcasting and will probably never put another dollar into podcasting. That brings injury to our product. Without those advertisers we’re just messing around with a hobby. We’re protecting the advertisers by writing, producing and creating shows with quality content. Great podcasters can sell the spots off a leopard without a listener realizing they just purchased something and we never once created a call to action. They made the buy because real podcasters share they don’t take.

Episode 18: What’s In The Name

I’m extremely guilty of trying to come up with catchy names or titles for my podcasts and episodes. Unplugged and Totally Uncut, The Choice, View from the Writing Instrument and Pod-crashing to name a few. Weird way out there labels but nothing as cool as Marc Maron’s WTF, Discraceland, The Joe Rogan Experience or Crime Junkie.
While thumbing through iHeart Radio’s podcast directory I had an extremely difficult time locating Ellen DeGeneres’ On The Go. I wasn’t aware of the title. It wasn’t as easy as Elvis Duran On Demand or the Ben Shapiro Show.
When I danced for the first time seven years ago with podcasting my DJ radio ego wanted to be cool like 48 Hours, Good Morning America and The Late Show. I wanted something that could be branded by me and not a major Broadcast Corporation. Podcasting was like taking my first baby step. No more scooching across the floor. I was up and ready to run. That’s when I realized babies don’t learn how to walk they learn how to fall.
Podcasting’s the same. Everybody has the freedom to write, produce, act out and say whatever they want. What happens if the name of the show or episodes become that collection of letters people aren’t typing into search engines? No matter how many times you social network the presentation the image doesn’t come to mind when new and old listeners need something pretty awesome to stuff into their ears.
I chose Unplugged and Totally Uncut because in the opening scenes of the digital race I thought I’d be original and let listeners in on the entire process of the interview. From the comedians walking into the studio and never knowing the show started before they arrived to leaving in my vocal mess ups cuz I want to be just as human as those who’ve chosen to take a shot and listen. More importantly I was the production director of six radio stations and editing was too time consuming so I had to come up with a name that basically said this is why it isn’t perfect. Unplugged and Totally Uncut.
7 years later, as a personality I’m still unplugged. I’ve always been on the strange side. I’m ok with a head dented in by the school of hard knocks. The totally uncut part has change tremendously. I’m an editing whore. It took me the longest time to learn how to edit for podcasting versus editing for a terrestrial radio show. Podcast listeners accept mess ups and but make them sound natural without having to edit the show to absolutely no mistakes. During those days my numbers were horrid. I remember a listener writing to me, “I love your effort but if I wanted to hear a show I’d turn on the radio. I’m more into conversations.”
View from the Writing Instrument is the writer in me being awkwardly overbearingly too determined to never say, “I talk with published authors.” I wanted a podcast that was all about who what where why and when is your next book due? I live the life of writers because in all things I do it all starts with letters, sentences and paragraphs. My biggest battle wasn’t getting the authors but rather who and what is a writer? What about songwriting? What about script writers? Those that put together recipe books? It truly opened the door for me to broaden my niche.
I also have a podcast called The Lyrics From Billy’s Forest. I don’t want to call this a dork moment because the story behind the name runs extremely deep into the soul of why broadcasting is the addiction. What do you think happens on The Lyrics From Billy’s Forest? A farm boy country songwriter gone big city? Nope. Mark Twain inspired tree hugging poetry? Nah. I spent two years writing in the forest that surrounds the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, NC. I started doing it the day my father passed away. I wrote things down no other place on the planet shot through my thinking system. I’d always tell myself “These aren’t my words. These are the lyrics from Billy’s forest.”
A podcast I totally get into is NBC’s Songland podcast. The name says it all. But only if you’ve seen the weekly music show on television. The Best Of Steve Harvey is a great name. It tells thumbing around podcast listeners exactly what it is. The Best Of. Not to be confused with The Steve Harvey Show podcast.
Armchair Expert from Dax Sheppard totally rocks my listening world. If my wife wouldn’t of told me about it the name Armchair Expert would’ve convinced me that it’s a sports show. Right? I’ve had a conversation with the creator of the LORE podcast. The Dude’s totally focused and turns word play into a candy store. Chelsea Handler’s Life Will Be The Death Of Me sounds like a totally awesome comedian driven laugh your ass off funny show. But it’s not. She’s incredibly brave to push mental illness forward and deals with it by taking the subject to multiple stages and through many different levels. When you listen to the podcast you’ll instantly get the name but without an explanation it kinda sat there for a while. I didn’t grow up listening to albums and cd’s that featured comedians. I’m that guy that’s an out of control visual.
Stuff You Missed In History Class is a brilliant title. Food 360 with Marc Murphy puts being an all-out fan of food on the most important part of the day list. Purple Panties though kinda scares me. What if while listening my wife looks over my shoulder at the smart phone and sees only Purple Panties. That’s why I can’t figure out why E.D. commercials put so much focus on men having more sex. Guys are shouting “Hell yes!” Women on the other hand are thinking, “He’s gonna screw around on me.”
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend makes me laugh without listening. I wish he would’ve gotten into radio decades before podcasting. The Last Podcast On The Left makes me wonder about what’s across the hall on the right. What do you think this podcast is about? Judge the show by its title! The Last Podcast On the Left. It covers all the horrors our world has to offer but imagined and real. Demons and slashers to cults and serial killers.
So what’s the moral of the story? There are millions of podcasts currently playing, many of which bare unique names that don’t always come up while using the search engine. I totally grasp the energy put into being original and how fun it can be to stick our way of thinking way out there globally. Thinking like a listener I’m reminded of my talk with program director of a Charlotte station in 1985. He wanted me to drop the name Arroe Collins. Listeners would write on the Arbitron Earl, Harrold, Errol and believe it or not Aerosmith. I disagreed and did everything I could to protect the name. 35 years in the same market and I still bump into people that greet me with, “Hey Arlo.” As in Guthrie.
As big corporate business radio gets its arms wrapped around podcasting will those being hired need to create content need to shape up their names? The way I moved around the oddness of my titles was to put Arroe Collins on it first then the addition of the other title. A smarter me would of spelled my name A R R O W totally taking out the letter E.

Episode 17: TMI

This is gonna sound so 1990’s but in a way with so much change we can kinda still get away with it. How ya diggin the internet and all things connected? In so many ways it’s still making life easier while turning a lot of worlds upside down. Like the way we love, trust, shop and plan for an extremely unpredictable future with AI’s on the horizon.
Speaking from the heart, the digital information age has had a hell of a good time pulling in volumes of information on all of us. Who, what, where, why and how we are and will become.
The Russian’s and Chinese aren’t stealing our background and lifestyle. Aimlessly we’re giving it away on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Podcasting.
In her book The Artist Way Julia Cameron clearly lays out the path that so many walk on. One of our cheap hidden away joys in life is standing in line at the grocery story comparing our experiences with those featured on magazine covers. Your day felt like crap while it was happening but it’s nowhere as bad as Brad Pitt and countless others in Hollywood.
Don’t look now but I’m getting a vibe as to why the popularity of podcast listening is on a swing upward. It’s due to our need to compare stories. Interestingly enough there’s a lot of us tossing our lives out there in ways that haven’t been truly tapped into until now.
With texting, emailing and blogging you truly couldn’t grasp the inflection and energy in our voice unless you were featured in a Vlog. Video Blogging. With podcasting the storytelling is wide open and wow there are some well-respected hosts and guests putting their private parts online so others can relate with or laugh about it.
Howard Stern continues to set the pace when it comes to digging up hardcore nearly next to porn stories. His guests to this day find no reason to hold back. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being a huge fan due to how low he can go. But but but… You have to fork out the bucks to get him on Sirus XM. Because of podcasting Stern’s no longer the only one going there. Dax Sheppard, Conan O’Brien, Chelsea Lately and hordes of others are deeply blessed with settling into a brilliant conversation then slowly opening the heart of the guest and then let them confess.
I laugh like a child when I hear Mila Kunis drop a sailor sized F bomb while talking about what it’s like to be a mom. Comedian Nicole Byer discussing the placement and meaning of every tattoo on her body. Alec Baldwin unveiling why politics is extremely taboo with his brother to faking an Italian accent at dinner physically changes the flavor of your spaghetti.
Because I listen so intently to podcasts the best part of the story is no longer in the tabloids. But how much information is too much? I host a show called The Choice. Its wide open on what it’s like to be creative and having to live with a world that fails to get what you’re going through. I have to be extremely honest in my episodes! Creativity and the act of allowing yourself to be a peace filled artist is hardcore and I’ve got the razor blade cuts on my arms to prove it. And I’m not alone.
I’ve been a daily writer for twenty five years. When blogging was hot and moving forward I took the handwritten chicken scratch and set it free. Putting on the digital platform where you can physically hear my emotions wasn’t an easy journey. The early episodes from 2015 sound like I filled in a bunch of blank boxes.
It took a few years to stop being a radio disc jockey doing a podcast to finally being real about having to deal with and come face to face with being creative. I don’t cuss but I do throw myself under the bus. Being truthful about the mental conditions a creative person deals with daily helps me with my other podcasts where I’m blessed to talk with the famous. I love listening to their stories unfold and with it a nugget of gold that didn’t make it to the grocery store checkout line.
But are we sharing too much information. As a martial artist we were endlessly scolded if the Master found our notes in someone else’s hands. Too much information becomes another person’s weapon against you. What you pour into your extremely public podcast can be heard by potential employers. How you present your political or religious views are ways for outsiders to get inside.
Podcasting presents one golden opportunity of strength. The power of one on one. I’m not seeing groups of people listening to the same podcast in the same room. I do though hear from a lot of single listeners taking in each and every word one at a time. I’m honestly shocked that Twitter lover President Donald Trump hasn’t gotten into podcasting. Not weekly addresses but podcasting like he Tweets. The man loves to use his voice on the smart phone app but hasn’t graduated to the podcast where we can hear every musical note used to make his point.
This is another one of those situations of how much information is too much? Could he keep it together without loosely tossing out a few things that should’ve remains private?
So what’s the moral of the story? There’s a lot of talking going on. A ton of subjects and confessions that leave the mind body and soul dangling on a string. As host and or producer of the podcast you’ve always got the power to cut up the conversation or simply let your guest know where you shouldn’t grow. I’ve had people tell me things about their television show that couldn’t hit the air. The event taking place was still a month out. That’s why I’m a true believer in recording everything then editing.
I was with Phil Collen of Def Leppard yesterday discussing the bands events but the embargo to place it on the digital stage won’t be lifted until the end of the month.
How much is too much information might actually reach a point where each podcast has to come with a permission to broadcast contract. The guest must lay down their signature as a way of giving clearance to the host and producer to post the conversation. Remember one valuable rule about podcasting. Just because you take down an episode doesn’t mean it’s gone from the world. Listeners have downloaded hundreds of thousands of my episodes. I don’t have Disney pockets to erase what once existed. Always keep your head on straight and play the game knowing it can always come back and bite you very very hard.

Pod-Crashing Episode 16: Know Why You Want To Do It

Shaking hands with the future without getting a good look at who it is I’ve just met. That’s how I describe this lifestyle. If you aren’t prepared to let it consume your every thought and time schedule it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to start.
I recently had this conversation with a well-known and highly respected movie critic who wasted no time telling me that he prefers to be a guest on podcasts without ever having to host them.
Here’s the thing. Paul Stanley of KISS says it best when he meets fans and followers that mention how they’d like to one day get into music. If you’ve burped up those thoughts then don’t leap into podcasting.
It’s not being a jerk! It’s being honest, upfront and very forward without you having to guilt trip your journey into another wall of failure. My entire 40 plus years of radio have been flooded with men and women who’ve been told they have a great voice and think they should get into broadcasting. Or those that come out and stick their stake in the mud “I once did college radio. I was thinking about getting back into it.”
First… I’m not gonna stop anyone from dipping their big toe into a giant pool of nobody knows where this is growing. I’ll say it again. If you think you’re going to get into anything and you feel like you have to tell people without ever taking the first steps… Don’t injure your heart and willingness to want to create.
I’m still pissed off at myself for getting into canvas painting 250%. I invested my soul into the process of creating and marketing. I thought I had what it took to be a little better than good. I was making money at local shows and wanted to nationwide. The moment we opened a show in New Orleans and the critics came out I was done. I’ve never lifted a paint brush again.
The only reason why I’ve spent 40 years in radio is because I can’t shake it free from my frame. I live it. I breathe it. I fail with it and find better things to do other than sit and stew. I keep pushing beyond what others will never see. The darkness, the lonely times when you think you’ve got a brilliant idea and flops again and again. If you’re gonna take one or three swings at podcasting and leap back onto land. Save yourself the time and buy into a different ship.
I love Chinese food, hotdogs and perfectly broiled steaks but you won’t catch me on the streets of America trying to sell it from a food truck. Those that live the life and style wouldn’t kick me out of the race but they’d be honest enough to tell me how deep you have to dig before you can drink a sip of whatever it is your chasing.
I get that podcasting is a great hobby. I started my radio life in 1976 hidden away in my Billings, Montana upstairs bedroom using a Mr. Microphone that could be heard a thousand feet from the house. I know how the local DJ’s handled me when I’d call in and ask simple questions about delivering the right words over a song intro. Most of them would chuckle and simply put into the air, “Don’t get started if you have to ask these sort of questions. Experience it first then grow into the path of speaker talkers.”
I actually didn’t instantly fall in love with radio or podcasting. It was a feeling that I needed to be part of it all costs. It reminds me of how I got into martial arts at 42. I wouldn’t allow it to be my midlife crisis. If I was going to take classes it was to become more than a black belt. It was gonna have to be the way I lived the rest of my life.
This is the part of the radio station conversation where the program directors would lean into the conversation and bluntly fork out a harsh thought, “Get the passion out of your game. It’s injuring you. You’re taking things way too seriously. The only thing we want from you is to do your job. Radio isn’t an art gallery. It’s a business.”
Harsh right? Broadcasters hear it all the time. Podcasting will soon make the same evolutional changes. The big guys have arrived and in their business eye it’s a business. They want to make money and they want to do it now. iHeart and Spotify aren’t messing around with who is thinking about getting into the podcast circle. By the time you decide to take that leap of faith there won’t be any more room inside this oversaturated digital world.
If it’s truly what your heart is commanding podcasting is going to require more than a USB microphone and a recording device. Growing into this pair of shoes meant discipline. Just because your studio might be in the coolest room in the house doesn’t guarantee your family and friends will allow you enough time and space to keep up with the rat race.
My wife didn’t understand any of my dedication and passion. There I was trying to hone the skills of creating content for an on demand listener and she wanted to know why I didn’t find another radio station to drop my vocals over the latest in music.
Podcasting was first introduced in the latter part of the 1980’s and it’s still one of the biggest mysteries of the industry. Is it because those inside radio watched AM stereo and HD radio take the route of no listener interest? The good news is, listeners don’t have to purchase fancy radios to pick up the sounds nor do they have to wait for carmakers to redesign the dashboard of cars.
Conan O’Brien can’t enough of the digital stage because in his words it allows him to get closer to those that have brushed across his night show without ever truly getting to know them. You can hear the drive to be a leader in his voice whereas I felt nothing in the Ron Burgundy series. It doesn’t mean it was bad. I love Will Ferrell. I’d love to hear just him being himself. Like Chelsea Lately. She’s nailed the purpose and the plan.
So what’s the moral of the story? Podcasting is always going to be a toy. It’s inviting to every age group whether you’re rich or living off the street. It’s incredibly fun but it’s very time consuming and needs a lot of attention. When those numbers start rolling in and your listenership is motivating your drive to reach out there even further don’t spoil the moment and tell people it’s a hobby. The emotional connection you make with listeners isn’t a game. Fans and followers love to hear you sweat while having a good time on the net.
The moment you tell them that it’s not really what you want to be doing it’s like you cheated on their time. Remember it’s always their choice to find you then come back. Don’t be telling people you’re thinking about creating a podcast. That’s no different than someone walking up to me and forcing their vocals into a lower range trying to sound like a disc jockey.
If you’re gonna play. Play for real. Get muddy. Find failure and grow from it. Discover your voice. More importantly teach your path.

Episode 15: Posting Times

With so much attention being spent on delivering weekly episodes, podcasting has taken its first true step toward scheduled programming. Legendary talkers and performers might disagree saying they’ve been doing it for years. Which I won’t argue with until we bring in today’s newer shapes and shades of podcast listeners.
It’s not about leaping over to iTunes to lap up a few thoughts then spit out a reaction. Podcast episodes are found everywhere but does your chosen platform make it possible for new and old listeners to add you to their schedule?
Because I come from a 40 year radio career programming runs deep into my soul. I personally can’t stand uploading an episode and letting it sit there for a week. I program the platform like an over active network.
The idea first hit me in 2013 when I realized the platform (if used right) takes listeners automatically to the next episode then the next then the next. My time spent listening numbers were racing like wild cats. Only to learn that potential advertisers still had no clue how to utilize it for their marketing benefit. For the performer the idea of monetizing was beginning to unfold but the majority of us continued to struggle how we can get new age of listeners to meet us in the middle. If you aren’t getting paid for your episodes Howard Stern calls your podcast a hobby.
Programming my 15 different podcasts has taken years of chance taking. Which podcast could survive as a weekly feature versus daily uploading? The biggest numbers always show up when I post up to five new episodes a day. One listener wrote to me and said “You’re my daily newspaper. I listen to keep up with television, a little political news, the latest books, movies, music and whatever else someone has invented. It’s never the same day twice. The variety works.”
Unplugged and Totally Uncut, The Choice and View From The Writing Instrument survive quite well with constant change. The Lyrics From Billy’s Forest and this show Pod-Crashing cannot. I’m not trying to sell anything. The other podcasts feature actors, musicians, authors and creators that need to push a product. As the programmer of the podcast I make sure they don’t come across as info-mercials. We plant the seeds without having to pressure sell the listener. There’s never a call to action in any of the conversations.
Being the Production Director for iHeart Media kept me firmly locked in on coming up with newer ways to reach listeners. Sadly the podcast industry continues to operate its commercials the same old fashioned way. If they aren’t physically produced then it’s an endorsement. Most of the talent plug in their personality and try to come up with fun ways to be entertaining but whewww not everyone’s a comedian.
Commercials are still part of the programming. When and where do you place them is just as important as when do you post your podcasts? For many years I tried to offset the posts. To try and pull off a Ted Turner by freeing the episodes at five past the hour. A few months into the attempt I realized that podcast listeners are listening in real time. It’s during their time. That moment when they happen to show up and plug in.
Posting five new episodes a day on three of my fifteen podcasts is well thought out and programmed. Episodes on Unplugged and Totally Uncut start at 7am, 10, 1pm, 4 and 10. View from the Writing Instrument are 8am, 11, 5pm, 8 then 11. The Choice starts at 9am, 12 noon, 3, 6 then 9.
Why? Well obviously it must work. It brings in the numbers. I just started posting episodes on a different podcast at 2am and 5am. The numbers aren’t really there. I’ll keep trying but will probably begin leaning in on the open areas of daylight hours Eastern Time.
My most listened to hours are 4pm eastern to 3am, which is why I started landing new material on the other show at what seems to be odd times. The most important part about programming your podcast is that it’s there the moment the listener arrives. The reason why I don’t tune into favorite episodes is because iHeart Radio doesn’t keep my list available. It’s always changing so I forget who I’ve listened to and locate newer podcasts. Which in all honesty is great programming on their behalf. It puts other talented talkers in front of those who support the system.
So what’s the moral of the story? Programming your podcast sounds a little insane and could easily come across as a phobia. But! Reaching my first million wasn’t handed to me. Every listen was earned because I took the time to take chances while trying to utilize the wisdom learned while helping to design and maintain terrestrial radio. I come from an extremely programmed background and it’s had a very good payoff.
Programming episodes to show up every hour might be a little too much and yet the information and content shared isn’t a one break per day delivery. There’s a lot of things happening around us and when you tap into that vein it means you’ve got to keep up with the managers and press agents on a mission or step aside and let someone else do the job for you.
I get it! Podcasting is about creating a niche. That’s like going to a hockey game and they’re playing basketball. Do you stay or try and find the ice? When listeners catch onto your style and how it’s delivered they begin to show up and it’s up to you to bring forward a loyal relationship.

Episode 14: It Sounds Like A Podcast
So many different types of people have dominated the presence of terrestrial radio. The two most common are the sound perfectionists and those who bring the performance no matter how messy the background.
Podcasting’s totally rewritten the rules on what is or isn’t broadcast quality. I love it when Conan O’Brien sits in the back of an airplane and pulls off a lengthy conversation. The roar of the jet in the background makes me feel like I’m sitting in the seat next to them. Whereas I’m was sort of OK with Amy Schumer’s kitchen conversations with three others.
It’s me with the problem! I’m not fond of the vocal echoes caused by a lack of sound proofing. NPR has always been brilliant with taking listeners somewhere without having to pull back. They can afford the extremely expensive equipment to not only record the reports but clean them up in post-production.
Where I become a sound perfectionist is when the background becomes what I’m listening to and not the physical conversation. Someone’s eating, ruffling papers, moving their chairs or the guest on the show has had no training what so ever on how to properly speak through a microphone.
The very second you slip a pair headphones on a newbee the physical sound of their voice casts ugly clouds on their willingness to truly let go. If they aren’t using phone then they’ve got no idea what volume they’re at on the show or how many popped P’s are smacking my ears.
This is why business decision makers and fresh new listeners have to have an adjustment period. To learn how to accept this new age of we’re doing a show even it sounds like I’m taking a cold shower on a cold summer day.
I don’t know why it took me 7 years but two months ago I grew extremely tired of trying to clean up sputters and spins of conversation so I whipped the equipment into 100% left and right channel capability. I’m on the right side the guest is on the left. Whoever burps or says yeah way too much is easy taken out making the conversation warmer.
One of my shows is called Unplugged and Totally Uncut. I’m call bull on that! The editing that goes into the show is a hardcore disciplined project. Your identity as a podcaster is determined one show at a time. The day you bust open a can of this is what you get is when your biggest listening audience will somehow find you that day and seriously decide if the episode fits within their day.
There’ve been many times I’ve had to pause podcasts to figure out what I’m doing wrong as a listener because trying to fit my square head in their round hole was turning into a battle.
My very good friend Nathan used to spend hours cleaning up his podcasts. I’d listen to them and feel like it was too sterile. Real people talk have ums in them. We stammer and say the wrong words. I like the feeling of knowing as a listener that those doing the talking are one of us. Then again, I’ve been known to march into my own podcast production and re-ask a question because it didn’t sound right.
The podcasts I never return to are those that hit play and record and whatever happens happens. I get it. Life as life. But there comes a time in every conversation where someone asks, “Where are the restrooms?” Another words they’ve chosen to bail.
I was talking to a friend the other day about knowing the end result of the question you haven’t asked. I’m a show prep whore. I dig for the junk in someone’s trunk that you’re not going to find on Eddie Trunks show. Rather than ask questions. I make statements. I’m sure my guests hate me for it. I send out a sentence then sit back and wait for them to reply. Nobody likes dead air. I said it. Now react to it.
Remember, as the producer I get to go back in and clean up the chop shop. But let’s get back to that. Knowing the end result of the question you haven’t asked. I never take my mind off the listener. It’s a radio thing that program directors shove so far up your system of choice that when you’re out here on your own flying by the seat of your pants it’s like damn it they were right!
How do you know the end result of a question you haven’t asked? If you did your homework correctly the process of getting answers should be a conversation not an interview. Podcasts sound like podcasts because everybody’s trying to one up the other. Letting your guest slip into conversation mode is a huge score because it’s no longer about the podcast. Every bit of your journey through thoughts should now be based on what’s taking place in the conversation. Listeners are fed the insert question here approach to news talk radio.
I have pages of show prep material and rarely get through it. Today while talking with Rock and Pop legend Dave Clark about the remixing of a Freddie Mercury song we totally got engaged into what was being shared rather than being investigated. I hate being interviewed! I’m such a smart ass on so much stuff that any answer given would be me trying to get the interviewer to stop scratching the surface and get into the soul.
I got the idea for this episode from the podcast Inside Conan which features the behind the scenes people of the show. What it’s really like to be a writer, music director to physically designing Conan’s suits. One of the guests chuckled at the hosts and simply said, “So this is what it sounds like to be on a podcast.”
Outsiders have no clue what to expect and those of us who’ve weaved it into the only suit we wear have learned to muster up story about who what why when and how we do what we do as podcasters. How should a podcast sound is a question that may never locate an answer. This is a no rules world of talkers and thinkers setting free the right to be independent and happy, sad, politically incorrect, completely into themselves and whatever other shape is made available on a daily basis.
So what’s the moral of the story? It’s very simple. Look before and beyond the performance. It’s too easy for me to say that bad podcasting is making the rest of us look wanna be radio people that can’t land a job at iHeart, Entercom or Fat Willie’s Broadcasting Headquarters and Suites.
It’s extremely easy to turn this into a hobby only because for 40 years all things in my life broadcasting have been my hobby. Cleaning the house and mowing the lawn is a job and I bitch at the image in the mirror everyday about hating what he expects.
Pay close attention to the distractions. As listeners there’s only one of us out here. The power of one on one theater of the mind is extremely present and as podcasters we have the will and the way to give them good breaks or another reason to push them away. Know the end result of the question you haven’t asked. There’s a much better chance that you won’t sound like a podcast.