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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.”
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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.
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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
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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
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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 -
The Podcasting for Communities’ podcast is part of a project that includes the podcastingfor.com blog and the Podcasting For Communities' e-book which you can find on Amazon. There are links on the blog: www.podcastingfor.com In this episode, Davy Sims talks to rock journalist and podcaster Mitch Lafon. He has been writing and then podcasting about music since he was 11 years old. One on One with Mitch Lafon offers something that many music podcasts don’t. I have mentioned several times in earlier episodes that using music on podcasts can be problematic – rights, costs, permissions all can be difficult. But even though Mitch is talking to musicians – he doesn’t use music. Instead he allows his interviewees time to expand on their ideas. He also runs the full interviews, with a minimal amount of editing and tidying. If you are starting out in podcasting there are several very useful tips here including planning an interview, relationships with your interviewee and your listeners and managing your reputation. There is a lot more too. Find Mitch here: Youtube Facebook Twitter iTunes Spreaker Davy Sims davysims.com You can download or subscribe to the podcast from iTunes The Book – Podcasting for Communities Podcasting for Communities is not meant to be a book you begin reading at page one and work your way through. It is intended to be something you refer to when you want to understand or learn more about radio production and podcasting. The book is available for Kindle from Amazon.
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How long should a podcast be?
When I was about 12 or 13 and at school, a teacher would tell the class to write an essay or a report on something or another and the first question from my classmates would be “Sir, sir” – they were almost all sirs. “Sir, how long sir?” When we were younger the answer would be one or two pages. When we got older the length was measured in words. 500 words was a lot. 1000 words was a punishment.
Pity the poor teacher who had to read 30 500 word essays or worse 30000 badly written and smudged words, scribbled in exercise books as quickly as we possible could.
We were not thinking about our audience. If we were, we would probably have done a better job, and got a better mark.
In radio, we are trained to work in blocks. A commercial radio station might work in 12 or 15 minute segment. BBC tended to work in 15, 30, 45 and 60 minute segments which included announcements, credits and time removed to trailing other programmes. These days the shortest scheduled radio programme I know is BBC Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day at just two minutes.
If a programme is too long it will “Crash the pips”. That is get caught up in the Greenwich time signal. No? The noise that goes: pip, pip, pip, pip, pip, piiip. Too short and there will be dead air – silence. Crashing the pips and dead air are the second greatest sins of radio the first two are failing to turn up on time and swearing in front of a microphone.
You don’t get those sins in podcasting. Except being too long because you have taken a lazy approach to editing. Or being too short and you don’t tell all the story you set out to do.
Put the listener first. The only important time, is the time you are going to talk from them. Make their time worthwhile.
People listen to podcasts differently. I have often sat in my car to hear the end of a programme or interview. Now, I can catch up on demand. If I am enjoying a podcast, I might listen to the end, but if I must stop listening, I’ll return to the story next time.
So don’t get too obsessed about the length. Focus on the narrative, the story you want to tell or your interview wants to tell. Edit out all that distracts from the story. Add pauses and music and your own commentary as you need them to move the story along.
When it’s finished, check the duration. Does it feel right? Can you remove more?
And you will have your own variation on the quotation, “I’m sorry this podcast is so long, I didn’t have time to make it shorter.”
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In this series I’m talking to podcasters, producers, writers and broadcasters about their work and their approach to podcasting. In this episode I’m talking to Belfast journalist Malachi O’Doherty who I have known and worked with for around 30 years. His was one of the first voices in this series. For the price a pot of tea and a bowl of soup Belfast’s legendary Book Finders shop and cafe allowed Malachi and me sit for over an hour to talk and think about what it is that we do. Malachi is an early adopter of putting audio on his websites – long before podcasting existed he was using the web to archive his work. Trying to Malachi into any convenient category is far from easy. His work, hobbies and interests constantly overlap. But the core is journalism. Malachi is always searching for a story to tell. He is a podcaster, photographer, journalist, writer, commentator in print and broadcast media. But he uses the web as his archive where he shares more than just reports. Some people may know Malachi as a columnist for the Belfast Telegraph. I first met him when he was a freelance radio reporter in BBC Radio Ulster . He still reports and makes documentaries. Malachi loves the kit: a fountain pen, a crisp new notebook, a Sony audio recorder, an SLR camera. He enjoys the platform and the format, YouTube, Podcast, Belfast Telegraph, Speaking to a crowd in a lecture theatre. Chiefly he is a story teller; he has more stories to tell than there is time to tell them all. And a good podcaster is a story teller. Links to Malachi's work: Facebook Twitter Malachi with an eye Malachiodoherty.com YouTube Old sites: www.myowntwowheels.com www.thestreet.ie www.artstalk.net Music in this edition From the Free Music Archive. Downhill Racer– Blue Dot Sessions A Calendar Spread– Blue Dot Sessions Whispering Poetry @Jukedeck Davy Sims davysims.com You can download or subscribe to the podcast from iTunes The Book – Podcasting for Communities Podcasting for Communities is not meant to be a book you begin reading at page one and work your way through. It is intended to be something you refer to when you want to understand or learn more about radio production and podcasting. The book is available for Kindle from Amazon.
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Once again we turn our attention to music. I like music. I like music in podcasts. But as I have pointed out on the blog and in earlier episodes, using music is complicated. You can’t use just any song or instrumental, unless you have a license and that can cost a lot of money – see the blogpost on PRS. In an earlier podcast I spoke to Cheyenne Hohman of the Free Music Archive which is a fantastic resource of over 100,000 pieces of music, many of them free to used in a podcast or video. In London a new start up called Jukedeck is using artificial intelligence to create unique music. Anyone can use it – musician or not. And there is no cost.
All the music used in this edition of the podcast comes from Jukedeck.
The website says “Unlike other music sites, we give you our music completely royalty-free. Once you’ve downloaded it, it’s yours to do with as you please - you’ll never pay any royalties.” Jukedeck has its origins at Cambridge University, where a team of composers, producers, engineers, academics and machine learning experts got together. There is a pricing plan if you want a more serious relationship with Jukedeck. So for example if you subscribe to Jukedeck Gold, you can download your music with higher quality audio - in WAV form instead of MP3. Find out more about Jukedeck at jukedeck.com. If you want to learn about podcasting you can find out more than you ever thought you needed in the book Podcasting For Communities on Amazon. More details at podcastingfor.comYou can download or subscribe to the podcast from iTunes
The Book – Podcasting for CommunitiesPodcasting for Communities is not meant to be a book you begin reading at page one and work your way through. It is intended to be something you refer to when you want to understand or learn more about radio production and podcasting. The book is available for Kindle from Amazon.
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Lets talk about Music In this edition of Podcasting For I’m talking to Cheyenne Hohman, the Managing Director of the Free Music Archive When I started planning this Podcasting For podcast, I searched around the Internet to find music I could use. I knew expensive licences were needed for using commercial music. Read about using commercial music here in the article about PRS.
So I searched “rights free music”. Many of the sites I found offered music that was rights free, but you still needed to buy a licence – sometimes an expensive one.
Then I searched “open source music” and found a treasure trove called the Free Music Archive. That’s where I found the music I use in the Podasting For podcast – Cloudline from the Blue Dot sessions.
There was a massive resource of all types and genres of music. I was a happy as a pig in well, you know.
But I wanted to find out more, I wanted to know if I could recommend the Free Music Archive at freemusicarchive.org to other podcasters – but also to friends who love to explore music – and right away I can say, yes I do recommend it. Cheyenne told me about the site, where it emerged from, how music lover, podcasters, video makers and musicians use it.
If you are not a podcaster, but love to explore music, freemusicarchive.org is a place to expand your music experience. Find out more than you thought you ever needed to know at podcastingfor.com or search Amazon for the ebook Podcasting for Communities.
The Book – Podcasting for Communities
Podcasting for Communities is not meant to be a book you begin reading at page one and work your way through. It is intended to be something you refer to when you want to understand or learn more about radio production and podcasting. The book is available for Kindle from Amazon. It is equally relevant to community radio broadcasters, producers and managers -
About 20 years ago some of us had our first experience building websites with Angelfire and Geocities. They gave ordinary untrained people their first chance to be creative on the web. Yes, many of the early websites we built were ugly – well, mine were. They were certainly unplanned and a bit embarrassing. As people developed their skills, so the websites improved. I think that is just where we are now with podcasting. People are hearing about podcasts. They are subscribing, downloading and listening to them. And now they are making podcasts. Now, everyone can make their own radio programmes. We can all be podcasters now because the production tools have never been so cheap (and free!). You can experiment with podcasting without having to spend any money. Even listing our podcasts on iTunes is simpler than ever before. There are more tools available to us and they are easier to understand. So, why should community groups and organisations start podcasting? First – podcasting is mobile. People listen on the go; walking, running, driving. If you want to reach busy people podcasting can be a very direct – and intimate - way of doing it You can use podcasting to talk directly to people who make things happen.
Who are the people who really need to know what your organisation is up to? Politicians, decision makers, grant making bodies, local businesses who you want to recruit as supporters and funders? You might want to change government policy. There might be something going on that concerns the community and you want to bring that to the attention of people who can do something about it. You might want to campaign for change. These are all vital community exercises and a podcast – while it’ll not fix a problem alone – is one of the tools you can use to get those people to listen to you, especially people in power and perhaps even the mainstream media. You might just want to promote your organisation, tell people what you are up to, recruit new members, get talked about in a positive way. Organisations need promotion and publicity. They need people to know about the difference they are making. A podcast can get directly to your audience without having to ask the support of other media. So what do you say and how do you say it? Well, you don’ t berate and bark, shout and complain. You don’t want to boast or brag, either. As much as you might want to do all of those things. Your listener is just going to switch off. You should tell stories, stories about people, their lives and experiences. You need to carefully chose those stories and use words and voices to conjure up images. Podcasting done well is storytelling. You can use the audio along with your blog or website to tell your story for others to hear and understand. Be interesting, be amusing, captivate your listener, charm your listener. In a world where media seems almost entirely video driven, tell stories in your own words to inspire the cinema of the mind. Find out more than you thought you ever needed to know at podcastingfor.com or search Amazon for the ebook Podcasting for Communities. -
There are two versions of this edition. This is the shorter one. The other is the downloadable version. You can find it on Johnny Seifert's page on podcastingfor.com. In the longer version my guest Johnny Seifert spends extra time talking about editing on Audacity. Stick with us, all will be explained.
Johnny Seifert is part of the production team at TalkRADIO in London.
He is the showbiz expert and a producer on the Paul Ross Full Set Breakfast show. For his day to day work, he does the recorded and live showbiz bulletins, and he books and interviews celebrity guests. He also produces a weekly podcast made from the best bits from Paul Ross’s show. He is something of a radio enthusiast as well as being an award winning radio professional and a member of the Radio Academy. Johnny’s a radio producer and that’s what I wanted to talk to him about. I wanted to hear what it is that he does to produce a podcast. That’s mostly in a studio cutting and mixing audio. He talks about structure, planning and mixing a podcast and he talks about editing on Audacity in the longer version of this podcast. In the book Podcasting for Communities, there is a long section on structure, … how and what to plan, simple approaches and more complex structures. But don’t get caught up in that as you are starting out. Sometimes the structure is no more than "Hello --- Here’s the story --- Bye bye". One of the thornier problems for you and me is using music. TalkRADIO and other professional radio stations will have licences for playing music. You and I can buy a licence, but they are expensive. You can read about using commercial music on your podcasts here in this article about the Performing Rights Society. Johnny also talks about microphones and recording on an iPhone. There is more about microphones and audio recording here. This is Johnny’s Web Page Follow him here on Twitter The Paul Ross Full Set Breakfast show is here -
Just yesterday, I got a call from a young magazine publisher. He had heard about Podcasting for Communities from a mutual friend and wanted to find out how to start a podcast for the magazine.
He said that they had been thinking about it for a while and wanted to ask me about what equipment he should buy.
That's where a lot of people think the starting point is. To be honest, so did I at one time. But it is not. The starting point is exactly the same as any other project - you don't buy the kit before you know what you want to do.
You start with The Purpose. Yep, you and the people you're starting out with might be all excited about the shiny new things - and let's face it, who wouldn't be? - but that is for a little later on.
Larry Gifford has had an extensive radio career in the USA and now in Canada. He produces The Radio Stuff Podcast. He says that having an intention is really important. Larry told me in an interview you can find here on podcastingfor.com that the intention for The Radio Stuff was and is to connect radio lovers around the world and share great ideas and be positive about the radio industry. He told me "It's really about following our curiosities and talking to interesting people.”
If you are in a community group, discuss the project with the whole team so everyone buys into the idea. Even if you are a one person operation – many podcasters are – you should still think this through for yourself. And yes, write it down and every few weeks, re-read the purpose and ask, “Is this what we're really doing?." And maybe once every six months ask yourself if the purpose is still relevant. As other volunteers join your team you can talk to them about the purpose and describe what it is you are all trying to achieve together.
Once that's sorted out, you are probably going to think about the format or formats you are going to use. You'll be a few steps closer to the shiny new things.
As your podcast or project continues, you are going to wonder if you are having any impact. Only you can define what you want to achieve with your project.
Even though seems like early days, this is also the time to decide how you are going to evaluate the podcast. To know if you're making any difference, you need to know what to measure. I strongly suggest you build in how you are going to evaluate the podcast at this early stage.
The magazine publisher was off to a good start. The magazine had a very specific purpose. We talked about that and began to discuss formats.
What's the takeaway from this? Podcasting is like any other project you do. If you want to start something, start at the beginning.
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It’s more than 10 years since Olly Mann began podcasting. He’s now one of the most prolific and popular podcasters in the UK. When he and Helen Zaltzman started Answer Me This, hardly anyone knew what a podcast was.
When the Guardian stopped making their weekly media podcast, Olly, who was a contributor became part of the team that established The Media Podcast which is still going strong.
To The Media Podcast, you can add The Guardian's Tech Weekly, and more recently his new podcast The Modern Mann plus his work in radio.
Olly has plenty of advice for podcasters who are just starting out.
The whole show this time is an interview with Olly Mann.
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This edition of the Podcasting for is all about recording audio. I’m talking to an old friend Willis McBrier – we talk a lot. The conversation is in two parts.
First it’s about sound itself, ambience, record levels, psychoacoustics.
In the second, we talk microphones and there are some examples of what a podcaster might use.
Willis McBrier lectures in Creative Media at Belfast Metropolitan College. His career began over 30 years ago at the BBC as a broadcast and communications engineer and more recently, a trainer.
Sound … the recording of sound … the creation of sound … the celebration of sound and music runs in Willis’s family. Both his daughter and son have their own music projects: Sarah runs an Audio Visual Arts festival of electronic music Audio Visual Arts and Matt is a music entrepreneur – his project is called Feel My Bicep.
Willis and I met in Belfast’s Oh Yeah Centre. A place that also celebrates sound in particular the history of music in Northern Ireland. And it nurtures new music in Belfast and beyond.
The music is Cloudline from the Blue Dot Sessions’ Album K4 – you can find it on the Free Music Archive: that’s freemusicarchive.org
I’m using it under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Licence.
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