Tgr::Box

I will admit upfront that I am not a podcaster, but I absolutely love the medium.  So while this may come off as a “those that can’t do, teach” rant, but podcasts are trying to reach audiences, and I am an enthusiastic member of that particular demographic.  My intent with these comments is to offer constructive criticism about common issues that bug listeners in the hopes that podcasters will stop falling into these traps and therefore, get bigger audiences and make better podcasts.  The more good podcasts, the better. I won’t delve into the whole technical aspects of the medium – not everyone has a pro audio studio and not needing such is one of the things that makes the medium great.  Mostly I want to address issues of content and structure that can make a podcast listenable (or not) from a listener’s point of view.  Some podcasts are done by pros, and some are done by amateurs with a friend over Skype.  I think that the points addressed here are applicable to the wide gamut of shows.

- For God’s sake, have a format:

We outline papers and presentations before we write them, and a format is the outline for your show.  The main argument for a format is that if you can not “outline” your show into bits or segments, then you don’t know what your show is about.  If that is the case, then you should not be doing a show.  Full stop.  It is a very rare podcast can come off well using a free-form format.  The best example I can think of is the No Agenda podcast done by John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry.  The only reason they can pull it off is because both of them have decades of professional broadcasting experience and additionally, because they are wickedly smart blowhards in love with the sounds of their own voices.  Some of the Simply Syndicated shows like The Definitive Word can pull this off (to differing degrees of success from show to show), but again, I think they are in the minority.

The other compelling reason for a format is it gives your listener a roadmap to the show.  It adds pacing and gives the listener cues to listen closer to certain parts.  For example, I frequently listen to Mac Break Weekly podcast in the background while I’m working, but when Leo does the bumper before the “picks” segment, I know to start actually paying attention to that.  Also see: the “things of the day” segment on Geek Nights.  Both of these bits make me want to listen since they are timely and targeted and the format lets me know when to care.  Formats add structure for both the podcaster and the listener, and that is nothing but a good thing.  Bonus points for some sort for perceptible transition between bits (music, etc).  Succinct one-topic shows like The Greatest Movie Ever are exempt from this format rule since he/his guests only talk about one thing, get on with it, and then STFU.

- Ensemble casts fail more than they succeed:

Casts with more than two hosts tend to fall apart pretty quickly.  Geek Nights (two hosts), The Word Nerds (two hosts from a rotating pool) and Anime World Order (with three) seem to operate pretty well.  It gets much harder with more than that and even three can become troublesome.  Human interplay between the hosts is something that can certainly make a podcast great.  On the other hand, a bunch of people talking over the top of each other is a recipe for a piping hot cup of fail.  The only shows with ensemble casts that consistently work seem to use one of the following methods:  First off, the “benevolent dictator” gambit.  Many of the podcasts from the Twit.tv network (This Week In Tech, et al) are shepherded over by Leo Laporte (see also: decades of broadcast experience).  He can keep multiple guests on topic by nipping at their heels and steering the topic.  So, in that case, we get the benefit of the “human interplay between a group of people” factor without things spiraling into chaos.  The other way I’ve seen work with more than two hosts is when one of the hosts “controls” a segment of the show.  Anime World Order employs this tactic.  If a particular host is driving a part of the show (with a review for example) then that person remains nominally “in control” for that part.  Shows that have too many hosts and no moderating structure often break down into talk over each other free for alls that are simply awful.  Avoid this.

- If you are going to make a podcast, then please make a podcast:

If you are recording a show for people to listen to, please keep this in mind while you are recording it.  Your listeners may very well care about a quick and interesting anecdote involving something in your life.  But I can assure you, unless you happen to be broadcasting from some controversial location that is at this very moment being frequented by powerful world leaders, no one cares about what is happening around you at the moment you are recording.  An example:  I’m a geek and so was shopping around for a new “general interest geek” podcast a few weeks ago.  In my searching, I found a podcast that seemed to be pretty well spoken of (name redacted so as to not be a dick).  So I grabbed one of their shows and in the first few minutes of the episode, one of the hosts decided that some personal text messages/chat was more important than doing the show.  This left the other host to fill the dead air with “hey kitty kitty…” at what was presumably, her cat.  Don’t make this mistake.  Even some well-listened-to shows like Diggnation can fall into this trap from time to time.  I think that they can get away with it due to star power, and a large/forgiving listenership.  If you do not have this star power, people may just stop listening to your show since this sort of thing is boring.  By all means, bring your life to your podcast, but do not podcast in the middle of your life.

- Knock it off with the fake ass self-deprecation:

Too many podcasters like to toss in “humorous asides” about they “don’t really know what they are doing” and/or are “just winging it”.  Stop this and stop it now.  If this is really true, then listen to some other podcasts, take some notes, devise a format, learn how to use the compressor and EQ in GarageBand and come back later.  If this is not true, then such statements are merely disingenuous crap that are neither true nor amusing.  No one wants to listen to a creative work of content that constantly tries to convince the listener how half-assed it is.

- Consider that you and your friends may not be as amusing as you think:

I’ve had hilarious, epic even, group conversations with my friends that were full of nuance, humanity, insight and even wacky hi-jinx.  On the other hand, I’ve never thought that the rest of world would care to hear any of these conversations.  If you are making a podcast thinking that the rest of the world just must experience what you and your chums talk about when you have a few drinks/puffs/energy drinks in you, stop now.  We don’t.  Very few podcasts can survive on the personality of their hosts alone, and unless you have professional broadcast experience (TWIT, No Agenda, Diggnation, et al), are some person of note in a given field field (see last point), or have unique personal chemistry (Geek Nights, their recent content slippage notwithstanding), a show can not survive on wacky hi-jinx alone.  Corollary to above, no one will flock to your hastily set up PHPBB forums either to bask in the glow of your and your friends.

So, that is a humble rant about the recurring problems that often make podcasts that could be cool, unlistenable.  A “not-to-do” list.  Podcasts come in all shapes, sizes, topics, durations, experience generating content, and levels of technical production gloss (do discover a compressor preset in GarageBand/Audacity at least) – and that is exactly what makes the medium beautiful.  I think that there is room – and audiences! – for every podcast from twenty minute long amateur “one-host and a headset” offerings to the longer, slicker shows done by long-time broadcasters like Leo, John and Adam.  I’m not looking to snub all podcasts that I find to be substandard here.  These thoughts are offered by someone who listens to a lot of podcasts and who has been turned off many that I want to listen to because of these common problems, and who wants more podcasts to rule rather than fade/fail.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 at 2:56 pm and is filed under Internet.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.