BW Podcasting: Any Suggestions?

Suggestions. Make sure your Podcasts are professionally produced, high quality, mixed audio. There’s too much yap, yap talk going on with Podcasting right now. Take a look at the Propaganda software if you’re going to be doing it yourself and get Steven an iRiver so he can capture a great thought anywhere at anytime. I’ve been waiting for an “influential” like Steven to start Podcasting. Keep your Podcasts to about 10 minutes or so. That would be the sweet spot as a lot of these top Podcasters like Adam Curry product half-hour to 45 minutes shows – a bit too much. My attention drifts after about 10 minutes, but I do love Adam’s show. Remember Podcasts are Tivo-for-the-Radio and I want to download what Steven has to say and listen to it while I’m working out at lunch – if it’s short I’m willing to commit. Talk to David Lawrence of PodcastDesign.com, he’s on the inside of what is going on in Podcasting and will open your mind about the possibilities of turning your Podcast into an interactive medium. David is brilliant.

James,

Thanks for the advice. Keeping it short is a good idea, I think. Though there are some podcasts that are longer that can keep my attention. But they're rare. Do you think these should be interviews or more like riffs on the themes? Love to hear your thoughts.

Podcasting will be a cool idea to pursue for BW. Wondering if you are planning tech based pods as well. I will be interested in that.

George,

So Steve Wildstrom writes about product and service reviews for BW and that's what he will focus on with his podcasts. But what other kind of tech podcasts you would be interested in hearing?

I'm glad to hear you'll be podcasting. If Heather is participating, I'll be sure to add the show to my list of Women in Podcasting: http://snipurl.com/bjnj

One suggestion -- please, please, please don't make this another tech-focused show. This new medium, as small a community as it is, is overwhelmed with technogeeky shows.

If you must cover technology, please focus on the "so what" rather than the "gee whiz."

Also, to me (and a lot of of other podcast listeners), "professional production" is less important than quality content with a unique voice and perspective. So don't go overboard with making it "slick." A lot of us love podcasts because we loathe the artificiality, superficiality, and homogeneity of commercial radio.

And yes, please keep it short. 10 min or less is fine.

Thanks,

- Amy Gahran
Editor, CONTENTIOUS

Amy

Thanks, great comments! I definitely plan to try it out and I am with you on the need to improve the profile of female bloggers. I mean, what are the numbers, something like over 50% of bloggers are women, but the top bloggers are men...

Good call on the tech podcasts. We'll discuss that, though I am sure that some part of our podcasts will be around tech, since we do cover it.

Thanks for opening my eyes to the world of blogging. I wasn't sure what all the hype was about over daily journals. Now I will begin to think of other ways it can be used.

Stephen and Heather,

I think one of the great promises of podcasting is the ability for the masses to listen to some of the "movers and shakers". For example, an in-depth interview with . . . Bill Gates, Steve Jobs,(how 'bout polling your readers -- let your readers choose) or any other major player in the marketplace -- doesn't have to be tech-based.

Of course, BW has the access while most other podcasters do not.

Also, most podcasters mention all types of 3rd party products that need to be used. Don't confuse folks: a podcast can easily be input into iTunes or other services like that.

Keep up the incredible work.

Kindest regards,

Ken Leebow

My rather controversial advice is "Don't !"

While podcasts and podcasting has seemingly swept like wildfire through the blogosphere, you might be better off by approaching it slightly sceptically.

Why the urge for writers to suddenly become broadcasters ? More importantly, what's the value ?

It takes a lot longer to convey the information with a podcast than it might reading a blog, and I get little extra. OK, I get to hear your voices, your hesitations, the background noise, your chuckles and your tone of voice, but am I really gaining much more useful information than if I read an equivalent post on your blog ?

I'd love to measure what the recall/attention rates are for listening to a podcast and reading a blog. Is podcasting just background noise ?

Oh hang on, I said all this already !
http://www.scalefree.info/2005/04/more_on_podcast.html

And yes, I realise I'm swimming against the tide here, but hey, it's not healthy for everyone to be a believer !

Oh I hate to spoil a party :-)
Just blog it, I can read/scan faster then you can talk.
Why does everyone want to be a radio star?

Anu

Thanks for the comment and I don't think it's that crazy, personally. Part of our discussion internally is where this makes sense to do it. We are interested in playing around with these different technologies, but it very well may be that they aren't interesting to us or frankly to anyone else. We already do video and have in the past tried audio. So, since we are talking to the kinds of people that Ken mentioned, it might be a good fit.

Here's the deal: When I'm listening to my iPod, it's to take my mind OFF of work. When I'm on the plane or something, I'm usually READING magazines or the like, and would rather be listening to music, etc than getting the latest info on Media Center PCs or something similar. PLus, podcasts eventually lead to commercials - 'cause all this stuff isn't free - and I am NOT about to start listening to ads on my iPod. So, I love my BW subscription, and I've got this 'blog on an RSS feed to my LJ, but my iTunes is going to stay Business Week free, for now.
Just so you know.

Heather - as a long time subscriber and reader, I have to echo the comment about interviews. Podcasting for BW, in many ways, can be an end run around not having a cable channel or not having a strong partner presence on a 24/7 news channel, and can provide the kind of depth in your reporting that rounds out the words on the page.

It's a bit of a pain to record all the interviews you do, but if you're able to get the big ones on tape, even excerpts of that will...speak volumes. NYT does a great job of doing behind-the-scenes photoblogs with narration, and when faced with a word count limitation in your weekly book, imagine the connections you'll make with readers if you point them to "further reading and listening" on your blog and podcast. They'll be able to decide for themselves whether subjects are being sincere, evasive, smart, dismissive or simply schooled in the art of PR, just from their voices.

I am flattered by James' comments, and I have no doubt that you'll produce a highly listenable podcast. Some suggestions: do produce for the headphone - most listeners are using portable devices, not large systems with huge speakers and lots of dynamic range (being in LA and driving as much as I do, I'm usually using my iPod and the Griffin iTrip, but that's still a near-field, intimate experience). Despite Amy's gentle protestations to the contrary, Id make very sure your production elements reflect the incredibly powerful image the BW logo and print layout invoke in the readers' minds. I believe a series of shorter pieces, that are story-centric rather than all-inclusive, will be listened to more easily and more often than longer ones - 5-10 minutes is well within the sweet spot. And make sure your mics are well placed, have compression on them, and have windscreens that are effective. If it's a telephone recorded interview, make sure the caller and the interviewer are at the same level, and that podcasts are normalized as well before publishing. You might want to consider an actual studio set up, although I'd be surprised if somewhere along the way BW didn't have something put together for a radio or TV thing.

These concepts may seem basic, but you'd be surprised how many times in the last few months I've heard major brands shoot themselves in the foot by not reflecting in audio what their print images have built over the years. My esteemed colleague Amy is right - there is something to be said for the raw nature of the 'soundscene' type of podcast, but that can sound so much better and will be so much easier to listen to with a bit of attention paid to production values. I don't think anyone will listen to a well produced and commercially viable podcast from BW and decide to reject it because it sounds like it was produced by a professional - or resembles the polished nature of commercial radio.

And...I couldn't disagree more with Mark - his outright dismissal of the potential for a for-profit podcast business model makes me wonder if he just reads BW to find out what the enemy is up to. :) Some podcasts will remain ad-free forever. Others will, of necessity, contain spots or placed sponsorship. Believe me, purists like Mark will abandon their anti-sponsorship snobbery the moment you provide them with consistent, provocative and engaging content.

Another step is podcasting comments like these, and feedback from listeners. I'm setting up toll-free numbers for a few of my clients, so that people either engage in a talk-show format, or simply retrieve and feature listener content. Contesting, interactive quizzes, "give us the questions *you* want to ask Bill Gates", location recording, backstage commentary - things like that use the audio medium for more than just a reflection of what can otherwise be simply typed into a blog entry.

And after previewing this, I really wish the paragraph tags BW places before and after my individual grafs actually worked. :)

This is very interesting to watch unfold - I look forward to hearing what you come up with!

David

Heather,

Rather than making it a standard format of just interviews or riffs on themes, I would like a more eclectic approach that reflects what is hot, relevant and topical -- Mr. Wildstom's brain and how it perceives the world at the moment. If the content would be better by bringing on a guest -- do it. If the cast is a reflection of a recent meeting and observation that Steve had I would love to hear that too. It's the quality of the content and unique and authentic perspective that will keep me listening. Now how you format it might be driven by other ancillary issues like sponsorship, tagging and plugging an online event or the next Podcast guest etc. I do think it should be produced in good quality audio as David mentions, but I don’t think it should feel “staged or over produced”. Good luck and I look forward to hearing it.

David

I really appreciate you taking the time to weigh in! The mix of technical and format advice is really helpful. I think we're going to have recording set ups here and in a couple of other bureaus. Using them to build off of coverage is a sound point.

Thank you again.