The "Podcasting For ..." Project

Please excuse the interruption, I just anted to tell you about my new podcast which you can find at davysims.com. It·s about creativity, innovation, technology, media and investment and should be available every Thursday.

In the first episode I talk to Ross Moffatt about a project he runs called Pop Up which works with young musicians in Northern Ireland. Also there are tow musicians he works with, Sonja Sleator and Stuart Lunn.

In the second episode I’m talking radio with U105 station manager Peter McVerry who has been in post for 10 years. I’ll ask him to reflect over him time doing the job and what to expect in the next 10 years, with U105 getting new owners and moving from their old studios at what was the UTV building.

Radio veteran John Rosborough will be there too to discuss the latest audience listening figures.

I have thought about distributing this through the podcast, but as people expect an audio file, not a PDF, I decided it was better to post this PDF here and allow anyone to download it … for a short time at least

It is available on Kindle and as a paperback

The book is for young, trainee, or student journalists not specialising in broadcast media. It is an introduction to “making content”, podcasting and broadcasting whether you want to understand production on a professional level or simply because you want to create podcasts for fun or add something useful to your CV.

It is a result of experience teaching radio production to journalism BA students in Dublin. Most, but not all these pages are the module and support notes. The book is part of the “Podcasting For …” project which includes podcasts and the podcastingfor.com blog.

You can download the PDF from here:

Podcasting_for_Journalism_Student_free

Contents include:

• Deciding on your purpose
• The Production Team
• Roles of the editor, producer, assistant producer, presenters, reporters, researchers
• Turning the Prospects into the Running Order
• Essential Skills: writing, reading and “marking up” a script, interviewing, planning the interview, doing an interview,
• Programme structure,
• Recording in and out of the studio, equipment (studio, microphones, recorders), using a smartphone, using a digital recorder.
• How to edit using a computer and audio editing software,
• Programme making including structure, show notes, advertising, sponsors and other non-production credits
• Podcast platforms, blog and social media, making the mp3 audio file, setting up your podcast host, registering with iTunes, Stitcher and TuneIn.
• Digital Promotions, using Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Using more traditional methods of promoting.
• Managing the online community Drawing up the guidelines
• Copyright. Staying within the law.

Journalists, newspapers, magazines, television programmes, any supplier of news, opinion or information can use podcasting to increase their reach, promote their main publication, bring additionality to their subscribers. People who were once “ink only” journalists are producing radio – to various levels of professionalism. They range from the pathetically poor (failing to understand simple production processes like audio quality or engaging audiences) to podcasts that are high quality technically and editorially.

Many have turned to audio podcasting as a strategic way to bring distinctiveness to their brand. Producing a podcast episode should be an enjoyable experience, and the listener must be able to enjoy listening. It’s not about you as the producer and presenter, it’s about the listener.

Demarcations of the past are becoming meaningless. Magazines produce audio podcasts, newspapers make video, radio stations produce websites and so it goes. A journalism student beginning work in a newspaper or magazine, might well get opportunities to produce stories for the publication’s podcast. Better still, a talented journalist might be offered the opportunity start a brand-new podcast.

This book, and its predecessor “Podcasting for Communities”, answers the question “How?”. Find out more than you ever thought you needed to know right here.

You don’t need to be a part of an organisation to produce a podcast; any single person or team can produce stories cheaply and easily and bring those stories to their audience.

This is not meant to be a book you begin to read at page 1 and work your way through. It is intended to be reference for when you want to understand aspect or learn more about radio production and podcasting.

We can all be podcasters now because the tools to produce a podcast have never been so cheap (some, free!). The access to distributing our radio programmes on the internet has never been easier. Even the process to get our podcasts listed on iTunes is simpler than ever before. Although there is a lot more competition. There are more tools available to us and they are easier to understand

Let’s start with some history and some dates.

The Times (the London Times if you like) was named in 1788, the Times of India 50 years later in 1838. The New York Times was … 1851. The Irish Times started in Dublin in 1859.

Like the Guardian Newspaper – which is owned by the Scott Trust – the Irish Times Trust gives the publisher greater scope than those with more commercial obligations. In the digital age, it  was one of the first 30 newspapers in the world to go online when it had the domain Ireland.com – now owned by the Irish Tourism – and now, it is becoming a digital first publication.

Declan Conlon is The Irish Times’s podcast producer. Davy Sims and he met in their radio studio in a converted office just off the main newsroom.

 

___________________

 

The "Podcasting for ..." Project:

"Podcasting for Communities" and "Podcasting for Journalism Students" are guides to help you and your team learn about podcast and community radio production. They are written by Davy Sims a 40 year veteran of BBC, radio, and web production.

Podcasting for Communities paperback here and e-book here

Podcasting for Student Journalists paperback here and e-book here.

Both books have essentially the same information.

 

Download and subscribe to the podcast:

iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and Libsyn

 

Music: The music used in this podcast episode is  Cloudline from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4. Find it on the Free Music Archive.  Downhill Racer by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.    

You can listen to the track in full here.

As we reach episode 21 … this is the story so far.

In September 2016 Belfast journalist Malachi O’Doherty was the first voice on the first episode of what was then called “Podcasting For dot dot dot”. He talked about how digitising and archiving his work – audio and photographic – has changed the way people access it

Now the podcast is part of a project with two books Podcasting for Communities and Podcasting for Student Journalists.

Along with this blog they are a guide for anyone who wants learn to produce podcasts or community radio.

I’m Davy Sims and I’ve been making radio since 1979 and producing podcasts since 2008. And in this episode, we listen back to some of the people who have offered the project their expertise and insight.

In this project so far, I’ve focused on five production skills – reading, writing, recording, interviewing and editing.

And I’ve looked at production strategies such as structure, technical challenges, organising a production team, podcast platforms, community management and … to begin with … purpose which, among other subjects, Larry Gifford of the Radio Stuff podcast covered.

That idea of intention or purpose is found in every aspect of production.  BBC News anchor Maxine Mawhinney also spoke about interviewing and said you should start by thinking about the end and what you want from the interview.

Alex Bell and Freddy Soames are two QI elves. Freddy was responsible for the initial technical set up for the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast, even though at the time he knew nothing about recording audio … and he had a lot of challenges to overcome.

Willis McBrier who lectures in Creative Media at Belfast Metropolitan College and former BBC where he worked as a broadcast and communications engineer also talked about microphones and recording audio.

When I was trying to work out how to produce a guide to podcasting for anyone to read, one of the themes I wanted to cover was rights – and how not to inadvertently fall foul of the law. I also wanted to use music in the podcast. So I searched “Open Source Music” and found the Free Music Archive website. Here’s FMA’s Managing Director Cheyanne Homan

Mitch Lafon is a music journalist from Montreal. He specialises in interviewing high profile rock musicians. Yet his podcast – One to One with Mitch Lafon -  contains absolutely no music.

He lets the musicians take time to talk. Mitch’s way of going about producing his podcast is to ask questions and listen to the answers. He tries to keep the interview as it would be if it were live. But sometimes you’ve got the fire up the editing software and get to work. Johnny Seifert produces the podcast for Paul Ross Full Set breakfast on UK’s Talk Radio

That is – more or less – the story so far with the Podcasting For project.

But I want to finish with a couple of thoughts. The first is about persistence, getting someone to answer that question. Barbara McCann is a long established journalist – she reported from the first Gulf War for UK television. She still works on radio and TV and has her own production company. One day she was at the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont in Belfast. A banker had been giving evidence to Stormont committee. She wanted him to ask a question and he was the one who ended up looking silly.

And a final thought

To end we go back to the beginning and ask “Why podcast?” Olly Mann from Answer Me This, the Media Podcast, Modern Mann and more shares his thoughts.

 

    The music used in this podcast episode is  Downhill Racer from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4. Find it on the Free Music Archive.  Downhill Racer by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

You can listen to the track in full here.

Just before we start ... I’ve just published the second book in the Podcasting For series – Podcasting for Journalism Students – it on Amazon for Kindle and you can get links and more information here. Davy

Without wanting to sound like I’m singing Burt Bacharach … If you see me walking down the street and I start to laugh before we meet, I’m probably listening to the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast

Fish is more than a comedy podcast, though. It is witty and interesting and there is never an episode that you don’t come away from wanting to tell everyone about some weird fact or facts you’ve learned. Which is sort of the way it started.

And yes I am a fan.

As far as I can establish, it’s the first UK podcast that’s been commissioned as a TV series. No Such Thing as the News. The TV show and the podcast have more or less the same format – four people riffing on strange and obscure facts and laughing quite a lot.

They are QI Elves. Fish does not live alone in the media ecosystem. It is related to the TV series QI and the BBC Radio 4 series the Museum of Curiosity. And I’m a fan of those, too. You can trace Fish’s ancestors right back to Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and before.

I wanted to talk to some of the QI Elves about No Such Thing as a Fish, not only because I’m a fan, but because of the technical and production approach they take. No radio studios are used in the making of the show. I wanted to know how they do what they do.

Alex Bell is occasionally a member of the podcast panel. As well as researching he edits No Such Thing as the News. Freddy Soames was responsible for the very simple and very effective technical set up for the podcast.  But inadvertently is responsible for one of the enduring images of both the podcast and TV programme; the microphones.

The microphones are Rode Broadcaster mics plugged into an Apogee Quartet

The podcast started in March 2014 – you can still hear the first episode on the website – and as I write this, the team have reached episode 148.

If you are starting out on your podcast unless you have a deep understanding of audio and audio recording, one of the most difficult things to work out is what microphones to use. It’s all well and good hiring a studio – supposing you can afford such a thing – but a studio might not help create the atmosphere you want for the show. One of the characteristics of No Such Thing as a Fish is that it is not studio bound. It has the atmosphere of  something thrown together just for the fun. It sounds like a bunch of friends sitting around in an office.

The podcast is on the website and if you missed the two TV series, they are on YouTube.

Fill yer boots.

On Twitter:

@alexbell_ 

@fsoames

@qipodcast

Facebook

No Such Thing as a Fish

No Such Thins as the News

And if like me you are fascinated by the sig tune, here it is in full:

 

 

 

Barbara McCann has been a journalist in radio, television and print since the late 1970s.  

In this edition of “Podcasting for … (communities, journalism students, anyone interested)”, we talk about interviewing and writing for radio (and podcasts). 

Along with reading, writing, recording and editing, Interviewing is one of the key skills for podcast and radio production. I write about them all in the book Podcasting for Communities.  

I also wanted Barbara to share some tips on writing for radio. She told me about the first big lesson she learned. “On my very first day back in Downtown Radio, the great Harry Castles handed me a press release and said “Write that up for me.” So, I spent about an hour writing five or six hundred words. This was for radio.” She laughed at the memory.  

“Harry took it, God bless him, and sat down at the type writer – as it was then – and he wrote two lines. And I thought “Oh my Lord, he has told the whole story in a couple of lines.” And I learned from him, economy of words, especially for radio, is to have a couple of lines to get over the main story. It’s the main points. And that’s how I regard writing anything for radio or television. Just tell the story in one or two lines.”  

As a final thought, Barbara added, “Also with no ‘big words’, as we call them. Your listener would be trying t work out what that big word means and miss the whole gist of the story.”     

___________________

 

The Project:

"Podcasting for Communities" is a guide to help you and your team learn about podcast and community radio production.It is written by Davy Sims a 40 year veteran of BBC, radio, and web production.  The book is available for Kindle from Amazon. Combined with these podcasts and this blog, it is a simple introduction to production and is equally relevant to community radio broadcasters, producers and managers. Read more about it here on this blog.

 

Download and subscribe to the podcast:

iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn and Libsyn

 

Music: The music used in this podcast episode is  Cloudline from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4. Find it on the Free Music Archive.  Downhill Racer by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.    

You can listen to the track in full here.

 

 

 

 

Barbara McCann has been a journalist in radio, television and print since the late 1970s. I interviewed her for the Podcasting for Communities series and in the next episode Barbara discusses interviewing. Along with reading, writing, recording and editing, Interviewing is one of the key skills for podcast and radio production. I write about them all in the book Podcasting for Communities. I also wanted Barbara to share some tips on writing for radio. She told me about the first big lesson she learned.

“On my very first day back in Downtown Radio, the great Harry Castles handed me a press release and said “Write that up for me.” So, I spent about an hour writing five or six hundred words. This was for radio.” She laughed at the memory.

“Harry took it, God bless him, and sat down at the type writer – as it was then – and he wrote two lines. And I thought “Oh my Lord, he has told the whole story in a couple of lines.” And I learned from him, economy of words, especially for radio, is to have a couple of lines to get over the main story. It’s the main points. And that’s how I regard writing anything for radio or television. Just tell the story in one or two lines.”

As a final thought, Barbara added, “Also with no ‘big words’, as we call them. Your listener would be trying t work out what that big word means and miss the whole gist of the story.” I’ll be posting the full interview with Barbara on 12 January 2017. You can subscribe and download from iTunes, Stitcher, Tune In and Libsyn.

Podcasting for Communities is a project including a book, podcast and blog. More at podcastingfor.com

As an anchor on the BBC News channel, Maxine Mawhinney probably spends more time interviewing than anything else. The interviewees will be in the studio or remote – somewhere else in the country or really, anywhere in the world. Sometimes they will be in a different studio, or on Skype or a phone. She will talk to correspondents, reporters, eye-witnesses, politicians, business people … anyone. And news being news, Maxine might not get much notice about who she is about to quiz and what she’s going to ask them about .

Starting her career almost 40 years ago in a local newspaper Maxine has worked in print, radio and TV. She has covered all sorts of stories from court reports in the Bangor (now County Down) Spectator to high politics in the USA as Washington Correspondent for the national UK television network GMTV.

Our conversation started as a discussion on interviewing, but over 40 minutes we covered voice, delivery, presentation, difficult questions, difficult interviewees and how to use Pringles to  improve your voice

We also talked about writing and reading scripts and in particularly sight reading scripts written by someone else.

 

Podcasting for Communities is a guide to help you and your team learn about podcast and community radio production.It is written by Davy Sims a 40 year veteran of BBC, radio, and web production.  The book is available for Kindle from Amazon. Combined with these podcasts and this blog, it is a simple introduction to production and is equally relevant to community radio broadcasters, producers and managers. Read more about it here on this blog.

 

 

Music: Downhill Racer by Blue Dot Sessions is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial License.

This is Podcasting for communities – the starter’s guide to podcasting and community radio production. You can subscribe and download from iTunes, Siticher, Tune In and Libsyn.

Did you know if you have a high voice – you can lower it using a tube of Pringles? BBC News Channel anchor Maxine Mawhinney explained how and why those crispy snacks can improve your microphone skills.

In the next full length episode of podcasting for communities, I’ll be talking to Maxine Mawhinney about interviewing and presenting. With almost 40 years’ experience in journalism and broadcasting, Maxine presents 5 hour TV shifts and trains journalists at the BBC Academy.

You can find out more and subscribe at podcastingfor.com and hear other interviews with radio presenters and journalists about the skills of the trade.

Subscribe now and get all the episodes automatically.

 

Podcastingfor.com

A friend – a journalist with decades of experience – asked me about starting a podcast – but nothing too complicated. She needed a simple podcasting tool that didn’t require a lot of setting up, carrying equipment, or lots of faffing around.

I had a look around for something that is new, uncomplicated and effective. I found Opinion – an iPhone app from a Swedish company.

 

It is as good a place as any to start; better than most.

Advantages:

• You can interview
• You can record a talk piece
• You can edit the recording – proper editing not just top and tail.
• There is a music library! Hurrah! But … see below
• You can get unlimited space for <£3! The first 10 minutes is free.
• You can manage all the content from your iPhone
• Easily share content on Social Media (Twitter and Facebook) and email
• There appears to be an option to share on SoundCloud
• There is a browser version of your content anyone can see. (http://davy-sims.madewithopinion.com/)
• It it iTunes friendly (i.e.you can fill in minimal information and submit to iTunes – I guess you have to do that separately.

 

Disadvantages:

• It’s iPhone only.
• Being an iPhone you can’t easily monitor the recording.
• You can’t sign into the website.
• You can’t embed to a blog, however you can share on Twitter and embed the Tweet into the blog.
• Difficult to record a group of people.

My initial impression was that the sound from the website is a bit “mid range”. But I have listened more on other devices and actually the sound is pretty good.

My guess is in time they will offer “professional” services options packages

… 10 minutes later the music library hasn’t loaded. 

If you decide to test it, be careful as you fill in the information on the first window. We casually talk about a podcast as if that is the same as a programme. A podcast is the strand (Book at Bedtime) and each edition is an “episode”. So the Podcast title will be something like “My Mobile Impressions” with episode titles like “Air line strike”, “My book of the year”, “Why we need to eat more chocolate” and so on.

This is a good simple starting tool which sticks to the principles and doesn’t get too complicated.

Not sure about the music library – 20 minutes later, still leading.

If you have an Android phone, then Soundcloud is your best bet.