Podcast 513

Advice for Podcasters. When I introduce myself as a podcaster at business network events, and events where I speak, or when I am singing the praises of podcast advertising to potential clients, they often say, “I want to do my own podcast”. I often have people ask me to tell them how to podcast, how to post their podcasts, what microphone I use, how I record and so on. I don’t give Advice for Podcasters, but this week a FaceBook announcement that a ‘big convention for podcasters’ would be held soon, triggered a response and the need for some Advice for Podcasters. The event includes a lot of radio people who will be on panels on which advice to podcasters will be presented, including ‘critiques’ of podcaster’s podcasts and ‘suggestions’ for what they need to do to ‘sound better’. If you’re a podcaster, should you listen to radio people when they give advice about how to ‘sound better’, or podcast ‘better’? First, podcasting takes a lot of work and effort, especially to stay in it and especially to make any money at all in it. We’re working on the monetization part, but who knows where the solutions will come from as far as making more money. Right now, about 25 percent of the public listens to podcasts – according to radio researchers. I think it is probably much higher, because it’s very hard to assess whether people listen to podcasts and how long they listen, when they listen. There’s no question podcasting – as all on demand services – are going to grow by leaps and bounds as smart phone penetration increases, and as new and more powerful iterations of these devices are developed and purchased. Let’s face it, radio is a contracting industry, and while people in the radio industry don’t like to hear it, it’s a sad fact that the old girl just ain’t what she used to be. What’s amusing about the radio industry is, radio people seem to think they ‘know’ how everything should be done, and aren’t shy about telling everyone else what they should do, and how they should do it. After pooh poohing podcasting for years, companies like Hubbard are jumping into the podcast business (Hubbard Radio just bought a huge share in Podcast One, for example), in an effort to establish a beach head in podcasting, even though everyone in radio will tell you how dumb podcasters are and how terrible they all are. Radio people are trapped in a paradigm, a specific approach to what they do. This approach is what has killed the business, and it will probably never get fixed. The same thing is happening to broadcast television, and movie studios and record labels to a lesser extent. This is a good podcast for you if you’re thinking about podcasting or doing anything creative today. Creative people; artists, writers, musicians, and DJ’s have tools that never existed before, and the ability to reach audiences we would never have been able to reach before the very real technology revolution. This is a change that calls for Revolutionary Thinking. Should you spend thousands of dollars to hang out at some radio convention and have them listen to your ‘tape’ and tell you what they think? Well, my Advice for Podcasters? This podcast is free. Listen to it first and see what you think. Sponsored by Hydrus and Brush Studio in The West End Saint Louis Park.

Podcast 226

ASMR. Say what? How has communicating on the radio changed over the years, from the glory days of AM Rock Radio, to Progressive FM Radio, to today’s Talk Radio Ghetto on AM. Are internet delivered on-demand-audio broadcasts changing how we communicate? Autonomous sensory meridian response is a fancy name for getting tingles when you hear certain people speak. ASMR is pretty big on You Tube, with ASMR ‘artists’ garnering millions of views and shares, and likes, for their ASMR videos. Some of them talk about issues, some of them role play, some of them tell stories. One thing is for sure. They don’t yell and pound, and they don’t take calls. With public radio stations in many major markets now garnering a higher share than commercial news and talk radio, it may be that a softer vocal approach, while delivering information on heavy issues, delivered on-demand, over the Internet is ‘The New Talk’. (Editor’s note: I certainly think so!). This podcast includes a sample of favorite ASMR artists, plus some audio nostalgia, with air checks of the Late Great Larry Lujack at WLS in the early 70’s, and George Michael at WFIL around the same time period. Plus, a bonus sample of early – and rare – ‘Progressive’ FM Radio Giant, KSAN-FM in San Francisco, in 1969. Some people laugh at ASMR artists, but they’re using the new tools, in a completely different way, to have fun with sound, and media, and technology, and they’re clearly speaking to a new generation of ‘audio’ listeners. Are offerings like ASMR changing the way we communicate with media? How might that eventually change what we see and hear from politicians, cable news channels, podcasts, broadcast and internet radio, and each other? Time for a fun podcast about something new. Sponsored by X Government Cars, and by Depot Star