Podcast Pontifications

The recent entrants into the pod-tech space are just a harbinger of what’s to come. The world is on lockdown. The economy is in the toilet. Lots of things suck. But things sucked when the housing market collapse of 2008 led to a recession. Yet all sorts of new ideas, products, and services came out of the other end. It’s starting to look at lot like that world all over again. I’m not going out on a limb when I predict a huge wave of new pod-tech soon to be coming at us fast and furious. 

Life under lockdown is horrendous for many. But not everyone. People unencumbered by pandemic-induced harsh realities are tinkering with new concepts and putting together new technologies specifically the podcasting space. 

That's why I say the wave we’re seeing now is just the start. 

As podcasters reliant on technology to ply our craft, our first reaction should be one of curiosity, not scorn, when we are introduced to new tech. But new tech threatens to upset the status quo or the equilibrium we’ve made between getting our next episode out on time and the utter chaos of our lives.

That’s why I don't want to dismiss or even laud any one particular new tool or service just yet. Instead, I’m trying to look beyond the current version of the service and the technology. If some new podcast tech looks interesting -- even if it’s not a perfect fit -- it's probably worth my time and yours time to sign up for their newsletter and maybe even keep the software updated. 

Again, our job is not to pick winners and losers. Our job is to find the promises offered by interesting innovations of today that might impact our podcasts tomorrow.

Some of you are actually playing around with a few of these early-release new tools and services. I would like to hear what you think about them. Love them, hate them… Tell me what you’ve picked up recently that you see promise in. Record a quick minute or two of audio, put the .wav file on Dropbox, and then send the link to [email protected].

If you’d like to show some support for this show, there two ways. The best way is to tell one other podcast or about this program. Pick up the phone or end then an email asking them if they listen to Podcast Pontifications.

The second best way is to go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra and... buy me a coffee. And please consider set up for a monthly contribution. Your support really means a lot.

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/todays-podcasting-innovations-will-impact-your-show-tomorrow

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

More people than ever before are deciding to launch their own podcasts. That takes a certain amount of curiosity to get started. What is it about podcasting that takes that curiosity away?

With newness comes a healthy amount of uncertainty, which often leads to fear. The layperson curious enough to investigate what it takes to make a podcast can be quickly overwhelmed by equipment choices, service providers, time constraints, and more.

Most people aren’t blessed with an abundance of time. In fact, if it were not for a lack of available time on my clients’ part, I wouldn’t have a podcasting business. Clients pay my firm to inject that curiosity into their podcast. Layered in with good processes and procedures, obviously.

It may seem odd, but a lot of podcasters just don’t care enough to become curious. It’s as if someone is forcing them to podcast. Which, in some cases, might be true. Some people cohost a show because it's part of their job. Some don't want to offend or disappoint the other host of the program. Which sucks for them and sucks for listeners, because their lack of caring bleeds through the mic.

The hyper-connected, always-available hivemind is a powerful force that can short-circuit our curious nature. Some are much more likely to turn to a Facebook group of 17,000 podcasters or a Reddit sub with 57,000 podcasters with their question rather than doing their own research. But what if the people who reply also aren’t all that curious and are just repeating un-researched advice they were given when they asked the same question a few weeks ago? 

We need a twist on an old saying: A lack of curiosity killed the podcast.

Luckily, we can fix most of those problems at the source so you’re no longer stopped from being more curious.

If it’s uncertainty and fear that stops you in your tracks, I’ll help by reminding you that you probably won’t screw things up if you experiment a little. If something you try doesn’t work, no one but you will know. Unless you decide to release it. But your listeners will forgive you.

If you’re lacking time, find someone with time. You can take yourself out of the time equation, but it’s going to take time to experiment with your podcast. You might be able to lean on someone close to who is curious. Or you might need to bring in some outside talent and pay for their time.

If it’s a lack of caring, then you should stop. Period. It’s not worth it to you or the listeners to keep putting out something you're not feeling.

 And if you find yourself relying on the tribe to do your research - stop. Do your own research first and then turn to your hivemind for validation. If you need them at all. 

As politicians and civic leaders around the globe are either thinking about or are in the process of lifting lockdown restrictions, I'm curious what that means to you as a working podcaster looking forward to the end of the lockdown. Record me a minute or two of audio and send that to me via a Dropbox link, which you can send to [email protected].

If you're curious what happens when you go to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra, I encourage you to scratch that curious itch. And you help support the making of this show. Win-win!

Finally pick up the phone and use it like a phone to call another podcaster and ask them if they listen to Podcast Pontifications. That’ll get them curious about what sorts of goodness they’re missing out on over here. 

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/its-curious-more-podcasters-arent-more-curious

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

You want your show to be successful. I want my podcast to be successful. And of course, I want all of my clients’ podcasts to be successful. But how we define success metrics for podcasts is a big and sticky question.

It's fine to use the same metrics as every other podcaster… as long as you’re podcasting for the same reasons as every other podcaster. So long as the business goals and objectives of your podcast line up with the same business objectives and goals of every other podcast, you can track shared goals. 

But your goals and objectives are not the same as every other podcaster.

Tracking things like the average number of downloads per episode is tracking outputs, not outcomes. How you define a successful outcome for your own podcast is complicated enough. Crowdsourcing (or worse, outsourcing) that decision to various Facebook groups, Reddit forums, or Discord servers increases that complexity infinitely.

There’s a deeper problem with using generally accepted podcast success metrics tracking. They all point to the same assumed growth trajectory. Put more simply: Most podcast success metrics assume you want to make a really big podcast.

What matters is something much more simple, and I posit to you that it's a success metric worthy of considering for your own podcast. It’s the success metric that almost all intentionally-small businesses rely on:

“Can I stay in business?” 

It’s a simple, easy business metric disguised as a simple binary question with a simple yes or no answer. 

However, it does assume that you actually want to be in business in the first place. For a lot of podcasters, they really don’t want to be in the business of podcasting. And that’s OK. the vast majority of podcasts today are made by hobbyists because it’s fun.

But that doesn’t invalidate my simple metric. It just requires a slight modification: 

“Can I keep having fun?”

So whether your podcast is business-based or just for fun, this success metric doesn’t have to change. Can you afford -- either financially or emotionally -- to keep doing it?

But staying in business is very different from covering your costs. That’s why, for most, covering your costs is a bad podcast success metric. That’s not how you keep going. You have to stay in business. Or it's about feeling the investment required to make your show is smaller -- significantly smaller -- than the emotional return you receive.

That's really the podcast success metric that matters. 

And now, you have a choice: 

• Option A: Right now, start a new email. No, not a Tweet. Not a Facebook update. Not a comment. I want you to send an email to one podcaster you know who may or may not be listening to this program. You’re sending them your personal recommendation that they listen to Podcast Pontifications.
• Option B: Supporting the show by going to BuyMeACoffee.com/EvoTerra. 

You pick which option you like. I'm easy either way.

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/podcast-success-metrics-for-tomorrow

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

My body has clearly had enough of this locked-down reality. It’s behaving very strangely and I’ll share that with you in just a moment. But first I want to share a couple of stories from European podcasters (well, podcasters in Europe, at least) caught up in the pandemic like the rest of us.

French podcaster Laetitia Perraut of One Thing In A French Day talks about the extra work required with having three kids at home. She also decided to increase her frequency to daily, which as caused a 30% boost in her audience! And she’s trying out new music, deeper editing techniques, and even sharing non-podcast content with her listeners.

Professional expat Stephanie Fuccio of the Geopats Podcast moved from China to Germany when the virus was just getting going. As an ex-expat myself, I found myself wincing in sympathy for the realities she’s facing. What’s a digital nomad to do when all the not-at-home places to work are closed down, and the at-home environment is only temporary and not very comfortable? 

Back to me for a moment: Is anyone else having trouble eating? I’ve only eaten one meal a day for the last week. Perhaps it’s my body rebelling for the massive amount of food I consumed during the first few weeks of lockdown. Balance, you know?

And it just so happens that it’s the 300th episode of Podcast Pontifications. So… woot! 

But I know not everyone is having a good time with this. So I once again extend my offer to help. If you need any advice, direction, guidance, or just to bounce an idea off of someone, I’m here to help. Email me at [email protected]. No strings attached. I genuinely want to help.

I’ll end with this: Please tell one person -- just one person -- about Podcast Pontifications. Like actually send them a personalized email and suggest that they listen to this program. It makes a huge difference when you reach out to someone personally. I love the retweets. I love you sharing episodes on social properties. But sending one person a single message works really, really well.

Have a fantastic rest of your Thursday. Enjoy your Friday (because I don't do episodes on Fridays). And then have a great weekend. At home. 

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/european-podcasters-adapt-to-life-under-lockdown

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

What part of your podcast do you love the most? What part of your podcast do you like the least? 

Once you have the answers, it’s natural to assume the easy position of eliminating or reducing the thing you don’t like as bout your podcast and doubling-down on the thing you love about your show.

But that’s not what you should do. What you should to is quite the opposite.

Your show needs tension. Often, it's the tension between the things you like and the things that you don't like as the host, creator, producer, or showrunner of a podcast that give the podcast life. Maybe not all of the life, but certainly some flavoring and seasoning. And no one wants to listen to a lifeless, flavorless podcast. So you never want to get rid of all tension.

It's in that margin -- the gap between what you love and what you hate -- where you find the true life of your show. It’s also where you may find new opportunities to take your show. Because growth often happens in this “conflict” zone. It’s where your innate problem-solving attentions keep returning to time and time again. So… lean into that tension!

There’s another trap that’s easy to fall into when thinking through the love-hate question. That’s the trap of conflating things that you just simply don't like to do with an aspect of the process of making a podcast that you don’t like. Sorry, but you can’t decide not to do the staples of making a podcast. You have to either get over that hatred or hire somebody else to do it for you. 

There's the old saying of “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change and change the things I cannot accept”, but I don't know that it’s all that useful in this setting. Sometimes the things you could change would make a vastly different and perhaps inferior product.

Maybe instead of looking for things to change about your show and your process, perhaps you should spend attention on the tension-parts of your show? Yes, I know that sounds really, really weird. And honestly, I'm not even sure I'm properly communicating the point I’m trying to make. 

But that's okay. That's one of the things that I love and hate about this show is that sometimes I don't know exactly where I want the conversation to go. But it tends to get there in the end.

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/lean-into-your-love-hate-relationship-with-your-podcast

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Every time someone requests a proposal from my firm to help promote and or market their podcast, I always politely decline.

I turn down those jobs because I know the only predictable way to make a podcast successful is to nail the basics first. I know that spending money on promotion before the basics are in place is a waste of money. And I don’t like wasting anyone’s money.

Before you spend any marketing/advertising/promotional dollars on your show, you have to get these three things nailed down.

There are actually four parts of Thing One, and they are equally important. No corner-cutting:

1. A web presence for your podcast. I mean a real and functioning website for your podcast. I do not mean an automatically generated website that is powered by your podcast’s RSS feed. Your RSS feed is designed to distribute episodes of your podcast to directories and apps. It is not designed to propagate a  website.

2. Complete distribution of your podcast. The right way to use your podcast’s RSS feed is to send out your episode to various apps and directories. Yes, that means Apple Podcasts. It also means Spotify and Google Podcasts. But it also means a dozen or so other directories and apps that maintain their own list of podcasts. You don’t get to control where people find your show. 

3. Don’t forget listenability! Before you throw money at getting people to sample your audio, make sure the sound quality doesn’t drive them away. No, “good enough” probably isn’t. Not when you’re talking about investing ad dollars. Listenable audio files are table stakes, and I’m a little ticked that I have to keep saying that.

4. Rinse & repeat & repeat & ... You have to be able to repeat your processes with every episode. You have to be able to do that and meet your self-imposed release schedule. And if you can’t, then you need to make an adjustment. 

“Advertising is a tax paid by the unremarkable.”  Everything I just said above is moot if the contents of your episodes aren’t remarkable. You can have the best-looking and most-optimized website in the world distributing pristine audio files to every single platform on tight schedule… and still fall flat if the content is “meh”.

Before you try to bring in people from the outside (ala advertising), you have to start at home. Notice I didn’t say leverage “a” network. I said leverage “your” network. If you honestly have no network: start building one! And if you can't build your network, then you borrow one. 

You have to do all three of those things before you spend a dime marketing your podcast. But here's the cool thing: If you do all three of these things really well, you probably won't need to spend any money advertising or promoting your podcast. 

You may still want to spend money to grow your show even more, and that’s fine. Especially if you can draw a straight line from more listeners to more income. But don’t do that before you have all three of these things nailed down.

I know you’re probably busy with things, but if you could spare a minute or two telling me about your experiences as podcast living through the novel coronavirus pandemic, I’d love to feature you on Thursday’s episode of the show. Put a minute or so worth of audio on Dropbox and then send the link to [email protected], please? 

And if you have one more minute for me, please use that minute to tell one friend about Podcast Pontifications. It really makes a difference when you personally reach out to someone and tell them why you think they should listen. It's great when you retweet me and you share my content on Facebook, of course. But nothing beats an individual outreach to one person.

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/3-things-to-master-before-promoting-your-podcast

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Is comedy a genre? Is podcasting a genre?

I get that comedy is the underlying thread that ties standup comedians to comedic actors in movies. It’s the common thread that ties together the writing room of a sitcom as well as those who’ve made a career writing not just funny songs, but only funny songs.

So yes, I think comedy is a genre. But I’m less sure about podcasting.

I mostly view podcasting through a medium-shaped lens. All arguments about “what makes a podcast a podcast” eventually come down to the mechanics of media files distributed via RSS feeds. That definition clearly says that podcasting is a medium, since none of the words used speak to the content. 

When I got into podcasting back in 2004, it was as a creator. But I very quickly transitioned to becoming more of a facilitator. Even today, I’m still clearly a creator of content, but most of my contributions to podcasting remain on the facilitation side, which skews my perspective.

To really hold onto the notion that podcasting is its own genera, two things need to be true. First, there needs to be enough differentiation between content provided via podcast and other similar mediums. Second, there needs to be enough similarity between content provided within podcasting itself.

That second part is tricky. There's not a lot of overlap between the content put out by full-cast audio drama producers and a series of business-focused interviews. Yes, there’s some technology overlap, but I’m not convinced there’s a lot of commonality in the content. 

I realize most podcasters probably don’t struggle with this question. Which means you likely have an opinion of where podcasting fits, either as a genre or a medium. Sometimes I wish I had that level of clarity and conviction. 

Rather than try to put all of podcasting into a single box, maybe it’s better to just choose your perspective. And then maybe change that from time to time? I’m clearly medium-minded when it comes to podcasting. Perhaps I should work harder at being genre-minded, at least from time to time?

While we’re on lockdown, can I encourage you to increase your R-naught value? No, not by being irresponsible when it comes to public health, but in spreading Podcast Pontifications! I can’t stress enough how much it matters when you tell one person -- just one person -- who is also a podcaster about this show. It makes a huge difference.

You’ve also seen some mixed messages on when we might get out of this mess. Until that happens, I still want to share stories from podcasters just like you. So please, record some audio and send me a link to [email protected].

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/podcasting-genre-defining-or-mired-in-medium

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Today you’ll hear from three podcasters on the front line of the pandemic:

• Robert Crandall, from the Short Storiess podcast recently received a glowing review from a listener who credits finding his show as a way they’re getting buy during the lockdown. 
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• Brazillian podcaster Rodilson Silva, host of GuiaKast and RSS News, shares how he’s spending his newly discovered time at home to let him focus more on his show.
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•  Mark Goldman from Where Accountants Go explains how recent changes to the format of his episodes have been received by his listeners.

Life here at ShEvo Studios, the home base of Simpler Media Productions, continues to be fine. Unexpectedly, I’ve managed to get some actual, in-person human contact in a safe and responsible matter this week with other podcasters. It just so happens that Carrie from The Vocal Fries podcast lives not far from me here in central Phoenix. As my wife Sheila and I were walking the neighborhood with our very stylish face masks from our time spent living in Bangkok, we saw Carrie and her husband Chris walking on the street in the opposite direction. It was good to catch up, From a good 10-15 feet away, of course.

I’m going to keep that streak running as tomorrow I'm meeting ex-UK and current AZ-podcaster Sam Walker for coffee. Some of the local coffee shops are still open for drive-through service ( support the local economy if you can, right?) and she and I are going to meet to exchange beets for shower cleaners. Because I got beets in a farmer’s market box that I won’t eat and she bought a shower cleaner that she can't use that I can’t find in my grocery store. (So.. support your local barter economy, I guess?) We’ll meet at the local coffee shop we both like, but maintain a safe distance from inside our own cars. I’m really looking forward to that.

Yes, I still want to hear your podcast pandemic story, podcaster. Please record a minute or two of audio for me, put the .wav file on Dropbox, and send the link to [email protected]. I'll most likely play it on next Thursday’s episode.

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/podcasters-report-a-mixed-pandemic-performance

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

The perennial topic and the existential crisis of making the pivot away from audio podcasting to favor video is back! Under these extenuating circumstances, there seems to be a perfect storm brewing, and much of is pointing straight to online video. 

• The data on podcast consumption during the crisis is mixed, highlighting some uncertainty around download numbers. 
• 
  
• Then there’s the impossibility of going through a day without catching a reference to Zoom or another video conferencing service/app.
• 
  
• Add in the launch of Quibi, a much-lauded and finally launched short-form video-based entertainment app.
• 
  
• Top all of that off with a huge uptick in YouTube consumption. It's 2020, and it’s still a lot easier to watch YouTube on your TV than it is to listen to a podcast on your smart speakers.

So yes, this looks like a perfect storm. These reasons and more seem to indicate it might be time for podcasters to make the switch to video. 

But looks can be deceiving.

Most podcast episodes make for terrible video content that most people don’t want to watch. This isn’t idle speculation on my part. It’s a measurable phenomenon you can test yourself, and I call it the 90/10 Rule Of Video:

90% of viewers are gone before they've watched 10% of the video. 

I’ve yet to find a consistent exception to this rule. I’ve worked with several podcasters who post video versions of their podcasts’ episodes to YouTube. In every case, they discover a tiny, tiny retention rate when they dig a little deeper into their “view counts”.

Successful video producers know the importance of making visually-compelling content. With very few (if any) exceptions, an un-moving video shot of one or two people talking is not visually-compelling. 

Our brains, which are attached to our eyes, need near-constant changes to stay stimulated. Our brains aren't good at watching talking head videos.

If you're thinking of making the pivot to video, please understand you have to do something more than stare at a camera and talk. No, getting a second person on camera via Zoom isn’t what I mean by “more”. That’s just two different talking heads, and it’s equally as boring to the visual processing center of our brains.

If you feel compelled to try your hand at video, podcaster, then by all means: go for video! But please do something compelling, interesting and amazing with that video. That's the only way you're going to make video work for you.

Do you know a struggling YouTuber who’s unwilling to make the investment in cameras, switchers, and all of that post-production work that's much harder in the video than in audio? Suggest to them that they make the pivot to podcasting. And if having them listen to an episode or twenty of Podcast Pontifications helps you make the case, great! 

I’m still collecting (and sharing) stories of how the novel Coronavirus is impacting your world as a podcaster. Right now, if you can, please record a minute or two where you tell me how your world is impacted by the pandemic. Load the .wav file up on Dropbox, and then shoot me an email with the link to [email protected]. 

In fact, I will share some stories from other podcasters on tomorrow's episode of yet another Podcast Pontifications. 

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Share this with a friend: https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/dont-panic-and-pivot-your-podcast-to-video-during-the-pandemic

Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

Follow Evo on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the trend of broadcasters who no longer have access to their professional broadcast studios are producing less-than-professional results for all of us to see.

Funny. Back in the day, it was podcasters who were leaning into the reduced spit-and-polish, embracing a “rough around the edges” approach that set us apart from the broadcasters.

So now we have not only big media trying to force authenticity into their podcasts, but big broadcasters on crappy webcams and built-in microphones trying to stitch together their programs with tools we gave up years ago.

Podcasters who also notice these trends typically have one of two things to say about it.

“Why haven’t these forced-to-stay-home broadcasters figured out how to make great cont from home? We do it all the time.”

“Maybe we've been making episodes that are too produced? Maybe we need to expose a bit more of the process to our audience? Maybe it’s having those rough edges present what makes a podcast special?”

I'm going to dismantle both of those arguments. 

I promise you, no rational person listens to your show ONLY for the imperfections. More often than not, they're listening in spite of those foibles.

No, I don't think that you should make a less professional show. No one ever stopped listening to a podcast because the episodes sounded too good. 

These broadcast pros aren’t doing a crappy job because they don't know any better. They’re doing it on purpose.

They're putting out a much lower-quality version of their regular programming on purpose. It’s completely calculated. They want to showcase the fact that they are in their homes and not their big studios.

So the next time you see them on screen looking dorky and goofy, with bad audio as they shout at their webcam from across the room, understand that they are intentionally keeping it rough-and-tumble because they want you to miss the professional quality they made before. That way, you too are longing for a return to normalcy. 

Rather than lamenting broadcasters encroaching into our lanes, remember that they're here temporarily. They'll be out as quickly as they can, and the space will be ours once again.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that we need to be less picky about quality than we are today. Get that bad notion out of your head! if you need someone to talk you off the ledge, I am your huckleberry. Email me [email protected] before you make any silly decisions about reverting to a lower-quality show. 

Also: New podcasts are exploding right now, so there’s a very good chance someone you know is starting one. I’d appreciate it if you told that person about Podcast Pontifications. Sure, the content is quite a bit above the “how to” content they need, but getting the new crop of podcasters thinking about podcasting’s biggest questions seems a good idea, right?

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Podcast Pontifications is published by Evo Terra four times a week and is aimed at the working podcaster. The purpose of this show is to make podcasting better, not just easier.

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And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit SimplerMedia.pro to see how Simpler Media Productions can help your firm. Podcasting is our only business!

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th.