Prologue
"We'll do it live!!"
Have you ever heard this phrase? It's a bit of an inside joke among podcasters, radio hosts, and even musicians that originated with a clip of Bill O'Reilly flipping out on his producer.
Yes, that Bill O'Reilly. Before he had his own television show and was paying women $13 million to settle various sexual misconduct lawsuits, he was losing his $#!+ as the host of the tabloid show, Inside Edition, which is where the clip is from.
I get it—working on deadlines can be stressful. But that doesn't mean you have to lose your cool ... and it doesn't mean you have to put up with those who do.
A couple of days ago, I dropped by the local NPR affiliate, WPLN, to sit in on their daily live show called This is Nashville. This is real radio, 60-minutes of programming down to the second. And every day, when the clock hits Noon, they're on the air—ready or not.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of pressure to be "on" and a lot of unknowns, especially with it being a guest-heavy show. The episode I saw had six different guests in various combinations.
And it was as smooth as a solid-gold limousine on cloud tires ...
You can't get the best out of yourself, guests, or the people you work with when you work in a stressful environment (or work with jerks). I'll share more thoughts on this in the audio episode of this issue. Get it here.
Steal This Idea
Local Local
Want a lot of listeners quickly? Go local.
Content like this is especially interesting to people in your area (or people visiting your area) and it's hard for people outside your area to copy.
Per listener, the most profitable podcast I've ever done as one about my neighborhood. I was working on a project to get more trees in the ground and I wanted meet people and to build awareness, so I started a weekly podcast that was basically 5-7 minutes of "neighborhood" stuff, like construction and building projects, a community event schedule, and legislation that would affect neighbors.
This kind of stuff is very interesting to people who live in the area and are affected by it. And those people are very sexy to real estate agents and local stores that are looking for more customers.
If you've got a "local" podcast, I'd love to know about it. Reach out via Mastodon, Bluesky, or Threads and let me know what you're doing.
Podcast Hosting Skills
Podcast Burnout?
9 out of 10 creators say they experience creator burnout.
Do you worry about these things?
- Stress of earning a living
- Sense of responsibility for listeners
- Parasocial relationships
- Constant connection and sometimes hate
- Inability to expand creatively
There's some good advice to help you here. My favorite is GET OFFLINE. As a bonus, this will actually make you a better host.
I'll share more thoughts on burnout, my experience with it, and ways I've found to work with it in the audio episode of this issue. Get it here.
Podcast Humor
Have You Given Up Yet?
How many people with resolutions for the new year have given up by now?
Hopefully not you!
If you are buying a lot of new gear right now, I'm curious what you're buying. Reach out via Mastodon, Bluesky, or Threads and let me know.
You know what I'm thinking of getting? A Shure SM57! Boring, I know, but it's a workhorse, can easily be EQ'd to sound like a more expensive mic, and its basically indestructible.
The Business of Podcasting
The Slow Burn of Podcasting
The above image refers to my daily newsletter on podcasting, not an actual podcast. But the lesson is the same ...
It takes time to build something.
These "15 clicks" came in the second month. The first month was only five!
There's a saying in the music business that "an overnight sensation takes seven years." And it's almost always true ... almost.
Yeah, sometimes something hits instantly, especially if it's online. But then what?
TWO HUNDRED MILLION people saw the "Chewbacca Mom" video. And she's has coverage from a lot of great media outlets, such as:
- Good Morning America
- The Late Late Show with James Corden
- The New York Times
- PEOPLE
- Cosmopolitan
Did you know she has a book? Actually a few of them.
Virality is great when you can get it, but the best way to take advantage of it is to have it on top of a "slow burn" foundation.
Classifieds
Swell AI
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Riverside - Remote Recording Studio
Riverside records high-quality audio (and video) directly from your browser. No special equipment is needed and connecting with your guest is as simple as sending a web link!
You can try Riverside free (no credit card is needed) and, if you like it, save 15% on any paid plan by using the coupon code BIGPODCAST.
The Wrap Up
When you're ready, here's how I can help you even more ...
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