Sound advice


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The last few years have seen a resurgence in podcasting as a medium for storytelling, demonstrating thought leadership and providing a forum for niche interests traditional broadcasters won’t touch.

I’ve been working on TechRadio since 2007 and have seen a boom, bust and boom again for a medium that has evolved from ‘two guys and a mic’ into slick high-concept shows you won’t find in any other medium.

While the likes of Serial, Welcome to Nightvale, 99% Invisible and An Irishman Abroad have set the bar for quality and breadth of listenership, I’ve found there is room for every subject, every treatment and every voice.

So, in no particular order here are some tips that might benefit your own podcasting journey.

1. Get the basics right

Podcasting isn’t radio and there is plenty of variation in quality and quantity but that’s not an excuse to skimp on the basic tools of the trade: a decent microphone and editing software.

A basic set-up would consist of a microphone feeding into an audio editing suite. For starters, I would recommend the Blue Yeti, which plugs directly into your PC via a USB port. A favourite of podcasters around the world, at ‚¬180 it’s affordable and easy to use.

If you want to use a ‘traditional’ analogue microphone such as the ever-reliable Sure SM58 (which sells for about ‚¬100), you will need a USB interface, (prices for which start at around ‚¬30 for a single-port unit).

For software your options start with the free Audacity all the way up to Avid’s industry-standard Pro Tools, which will set you back about ‚¬500.

Whatever you choose, be sure to record in the highest possible quality for editing then compress the finished product into an easily digested format like mp3.

As for where to record, not everyone has access to a studio so if you can find a space with some kind of dampening it will make a huge difference to the sound quality. Even a set of curtains helps.

A final point, get yourself a good icon. It will be your first point of contact with the listener, so make a good impression with something clean and easy to read.

2. It’s ok to play with your format

Ten years is a long time to be in the podcast game and we’ve had to make some significant changes to our format over time based on the availability of technology and facilities.

When we launched as ‘The PC Live! Podcast’ it was me and my co-host Dusty Rhodes (yes, that Dusty Rhodes) across a desk. After a few years we switched to a roundtable format with some of our magazine contributors before scaling back when publication ceased and we rebranded to TechRadio.

The past two years have seen us change again, balancing ‘two guys’ banter with in-depth interviews. It’s been the most successful formula for us so far but that’s not to say it’s the one we’ll stick with.

Listener value comes first and between subscribers, plays and social shares there are plenty of metrics to provide feedback but use them as a guide for finding your niche ass opposed to a straight jacket to keep you repeating the same content over and over. That well runs dry faster than you’d think.

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3. Be a frequent flier

TechRadio is a weekly half-hour podcast and that means we have to find a lot of content. Thankfully we’re at the stage where companies approach us to get featured. Being in the tech space is also a big help as there is an endless stream of conferences we can approach to get a few words with keynote speakers.

This model doesn’t work for everyone and you can pick your own schedule to work with. Whether it’s publishing every other week, every month or recording in blocks and taking a few months off to source new material, so long as your audience knows when you’ll be around. A vague or irregular schedule can shrink your audience, so keep it logical.

4. Sort out your distribution

There are plenty of ways for people to find you and it’s no harm to get listed on as many as possible. The truth is for most people iTunes is their first and only point of contact.

TuneIn, Stitcher and Spreaker are good sources of content but if you’re not playing Apple’s game, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage. For hosting on your own site we use Soundcloud which is convenient and has its own set of analytics. A premium account will set you back $90 per year for unlimited uploads.

One trick you might like to consider is releasing a teaser ‘episode 0’ describing the show, introducing your team and what you’ll be talking about. Follow that up with a simultaneous release of the first three episodes. This will give listeners a sense of what you’re trying to do and help build a subscriber base.

5. Don’t brag about your iTunes ranking

A personal bugbear of mine is when people post screenshots of iTunes charts to Twitter, point to their position, say ‘hooray for me’ and bask in the reflected glory of their followers congratulating them on a job well done.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

When it comes to podcasts iTunes is not a sales and streaming chart, it’s a recommendation engine tuned to your individual preferences.
The algorithm behind iTunes podcast search is a guarded secret to prevent against gaming the system and there are plenty of podcasts with healthy rankings that haven’t been updated in months, if not years.

What we do know is that new subscriptions are the most powerful ranking factor — so it’s normal for new entries to rush to the top of the charts before their popularity levels off. After that, ensure your production standards are high, post regularly and often, put yourself in the right category and encourage listeners to leave reviews. There’s only so much you can do. So keep doing it.

Niall Kitson is the editor of IrishJobs.ie media partner, TechCentral.ie and the producer and co-host to the top-ranked TechRadio podcast.