Podcasting Explained

to podcasts. Some great podcast to listen to, And I've invited producers e In and Z is gonna ask a few questions to me about podcasting and about me and why I'm in this world wide podcasting meets so much to me. Z. I'm gonna turn the mic over to you and I'll let you ask the questions. I am in the hot seat this week, and I'm anxious to see what kind of questions she put together as a as a host. Welcome, you want you want to do a little wanna do a little intro for yourself? Hi,

I'm Ziania Dilvis. I am a content producer here at I Heart Media and I'm a legal midget. There you go. What do you mean you're a legal midget? Are you really that? I guess I haven't noticed. Yeah, I guess a lot of people say that, but I'm very short. You are short. If you want to see what Z looks like, go to our Facebook page. We put pictures up Halloween thing. Oh yeah, we do have we have that up. We'll have to put something else up to anyway. I'm happy to be on your your show today, ce,

So what do you want to ask me about podcasting? So, because I know you started off in radio and you did radio for so long, but then you made this transition. What is your history with podcasting? So? I again started radio when I was sixteen, and you know, kind of worked my way through all these small markets doing country and classic rock, and I ended up doing talk radio in d C at w JFK. I was a g. Gordon Ladies producer, and then we moved up to New

York and we have FM talk station there. Worked without being Anthony and Donna, Mike and if you're a radio geek you probably know some of those shows. Finally ending up here in San Francisco, and I had an FM talk show here at alex Radio. So I love talk radio, and ten years ago I saw that radio was changing in a lot of ways. In fact, it was so funny yesterday I listened to an old show from ten years ago that we did a W n W and I and I listened to and I thought, none of

this could go on the air today. None of its content, just content stuff, you know, we just it's too blue. So I wanted, I wanted to do more and and you know, and I've been radio my whole life, and I really just decided I needed to learn another skill. And there was this new startup that I didn't First of all, I didn't really understand what a startup was. I didn't understand the business model. I didn't understand anything other than the fact that it involved talk radio as

far as I knew. And uh and and I got to i'd be able on the ground floor or something. So the company was called Stitcher. I there were four of us, and I left radio, and everybody kind of said that was crazy, you know, to leave radio, especially a very successful show. But I thought it was the right move at the time. And be honest with you, it's not like I had like some epiphany and said, oh my god, the future of everything is podcasting. I

wasn't sure about the medium either. I took the risk because I liked I'd like doing talk and I felt like this is the medium where we could do any kind of talk radio we wanted. So I when I got to Stitcher, I got into the world of podcasting. And to be honest with you, ten years ago, you know, we thought that the podcast breakout was maybe two or three or four years away, and it didn't happen that quickly. It took a while. I feel like now is the

biggest boom I've ever seen of podcasting. It is this is the golden age for us. Right now, there's there's money being invested in podcast companies, and the reason is there's just good quality content out that we didn't have ten years ago. I mean, back then, most podcasts were, as I like to say it, you know, two guys telling dick jokes for an hour and a half and and not produced. Well. You know, the good podcasts that

we're out, we're radio shows. They were NPR shows that were being put out as podcast I mean, there were good podcasts back then, but it just wasn't like today, where you have so much good content out there in

so so many ways to listen. So I guess going back to basics, what is a podcast for people that don't know, well, a podcast is simply and by the way, if you if you if you don't know what one is and you you found this one, congratulations you might have found because what we do is we tweet these out and you might be listening to it on player. So basically, what a podcast is is recorded audio that is sent out to various distribution platforms via an RSS feed.

RSS feed stands for really simple syndications, so it means that you can syndicate your show to millions of people and all you have to do is upload it to a site. So a podcast, you know, can be uploaded to one of these RSS feeder sites and then go out to iTunes, to Stitcher, to Google Play and of course I heart radio. Uh so you have many ways that you can listen to a podcast, but at its heart,

it's recorded audio meant for on demand listening. Everybody can listen, everybody can listen, and everybody can do one which is good and bad you know, because yeah, I mean there are a lot of bad podcasts out there. There's some really good ones. But the great thing about it is if you have an interest in anything, anything, there is a podcast for you. Well, speaking of that, you ask our guests on this on our show all the time,

like what's the last podcast? They binge? But I want to always know what was the podcast that really made you fall in love with podcasts? Well, I'll say the first show was actually This American Life, and I listened to it maybe on the radio a couple of times. Uh, And then when it became a podcast that was like

every week, could not wait. In fact, I did the content for Stitcher, so I was the one that made sure all the feeds were updated so that feed I would sit there and refresh it on the day it was supposed to come in, just waiting for it to come in. But as far as like pure podcast go, I really felt I always liked the how how stuff works podcasts when when they came out, those were podcasts that I really enjoyed. And there were some radio folks who went into podcasting early on. Adam Krola is one

um I really enjoyed listening to Adam. I think the thing I enjoyed most is because I had a little background of course, you know, Adam and I worked with a lot of the same people in San Francisco and Los Angeles and and hearing him very kind of begrudgingly become a podcaster because he did not know he wanted to do it, you know, it's just he got fired.

He got fired. So this was just another and it came out exactly and a friend said, start a podcast, which is something I've suggested to many radio folks, and there's a lot of folks who start the podcast after

they lose their gigs in radio. And then he turns it into one of the biggest podcast empires in the world, you know, literally from his garage and that's where it started, in his garage with his friend who pushed him, pushed him into it, and the whole time, if you listen to the first episodes, Adam is I'm not sure about it at all. Yeah, that was in two thousand nine.

Had that started? Since you are the podcast king, can you give us a little history lesson on podcasting, Well, podcasting was started in two thousand four, That's that's the date most people agree on. And it was Adam Curry who if you don't know, if you're my age. You know who Adam Curry is because he was on MTV. He was he was a DJ, and a lot of people were like, Adam Curry started podcasting. Yeah, he and another guy I think Dave Dave Winner is his name,

invented it. That they're they're credited with that. And then the term came around in two thousand four from an article in The Guardian calling it podcasting. But when it really really really happened two thousand five, Apple added podcast to the iTunes store. And that's also the time around the time when the first iPods came out. So I was actually at the launch of iPod and didn't know it.

I was I was just moved to San Francisco and my friend was like, Hey, I'm gonna take you to the thing at Steve Jobs and I really didn't even know what I was doing. And it was actually the launch of iTunes, and I just remember sitting there. I went to meet Seal. Seal was at the event. I was like, I'm gonna good Seal. I could care less about the event. And after the event, people were like, what do you think of this new iTunes And I'm like,

nobody's gonna pay for this. We're just gonna pay for music. This is stupid. I got Napster Man. Yeah, and I got my first iPod. It was you know, this big brick. Yeah, that's awesome. I didn't know about that at all that you were at the event. I was at the event. Yeah, it's like awful circle now it is crazy. Yeah. Yeah, and you know, and and I'll admit, you know, podcasting for me is something that it seemed like a means to an end, and now I look at more as

the beginning of a new medium for for broadcasting. And it's where you know, I push a lot of you know, we're pushing a lot of our radio stations to to do more with podcasting because, uh, everybody likes on demand, and if you like on demand, then you like podcasting because it is that is what it is. It's Netflix for audio, absolutely, And it's also it's nice because well, as a millennial, I feel like my generation is really visual people. So if we read an article, we're always

looking for the video component of it. But I've realized more and more that not just my friends, but people my age, they listen to podcasts more than they go on YouTube, you know, like because if you're commuting or in the car, in the bus, maybe the video won't work. So you're like, oh, you can always have something to listen to. And my friends of A and I have tried to talk about this, but we don't really get why that is, Like, why do you think podcasting has

hooked millennial? Well, little little number for your thirty three percent of all podcasts listening happens with millennials only of it happens with jen X, which is my generations. You would think that would be the opposite, At least I would have thought, because usually when you think of a podcast listener, it's it's a middle aged white dude with a beard. But that is not the case. A lot of millennials are listening, and I think a couple of reasons.

Like you said, when you're on you know, especially in the cities, when you're in public transit, if you look around, everyone has headphones on, everyone is consuming audio exactly, everybody's consuming audio. So that that's one reason, I think, and not the reason is it is a retreat. A podcast is a retreat from all the other ship that's going on in the world. So when you're listening to the podcast,

you're in it. You're in it. It's like it's you know, a lot of folks don't read books anymore, but it's the same mind. It works the same muscle in your head, almost like an audiobook essentially, it does, you know, and and and I think that when you're constantly looking at screens and looking at video and and and and up there, it's a job. Certainly. I of like, my phone is the job, and I'm I'm you know, I am anchored

to it. And when I'm listening to a podcast, I tend to not do all that other stuff, you know. I might like maybe look through a news feed or something, but for the most part, I try to just kind of chill, relax and listen to the podcast. So I think that's it. I think a lot of the students that that I teach like podcasting to do it as well, because it is such a free medium for them and it is something new, you know, where every all of

you guys do video. You just mentioned you teach students at the Academy of our university, our university, and you teach a podcasting class, not just a radio class. So for your students or for anybody listening, that have always had an interest in podcasting. What do you think what is the way to start one? Well, I'll say this, the first way to start one is to have, first of all, listen to podcasts. I can't tell you how many people tell me I want to start a podcast,

and like what's your favorite podcast? And they have Yeah, they have no answer. It's like, well, that's the first thing. Know the medium that you want to be in, and know it well, and and listen to a variety of shows so that you have some ideas of like there's these kind of shows, and these kind of shows, and these kind of shows. There's interview shows, and there's storytelling shows and journalism shows. Second of all, have an original idea,

don't you? And your thoughts are not interesting to very many people. Honestly, you could. You could be very funny and very interesting, but nobody is going to say I'm gonna listen to that podcast because it's got Jimmy's thoughts and feelings and Jimmy's talking about you know, things that Jimmy sees in the news. I don't know who Jimmy is. Those podcasts work if you're a celebrity, because I'm I love Anna ferris All. What is Anna ferris All? I heard love her. She's so funny. I would listen to

our podcast exactly. But nobody knows who you are. So have an interesting idea. Try to have a unique as we say in the marketing business, the USP, a unique selling proposition um, and then produce it well. The problem with a lot of podcasts is that they're poorly produced. You know, it's so easy right now to go buy a really good USB microphone, hook it into your computer and use Audacity, which is free or audition is what I suggest, and and do a quality recording, then add music,

and then edit, edit, edit, edit. Nobody wants to hear all the ums and os and And that's the one thing lazy students tell me all the time, which is I want to hear my oms and oz because it makes me sound more real. Nobody wants to hear that. In fact, how many ms and ohs do you have to edit out of my show every week? A lot? A lot. I'm an omana guy, which is fine, but you need to edit that stuff out. And then the other thing is to do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it every day. If you

do it, once a week. Do it, do it once a week. Stay consistent. Don't get into the habit of putting one off for a week. That's really bad for your listeners. And you have to be patient too. You're not going to build an audience up right away. Like we have podcasts. We have twenty six podcasts here in San Francisco, and we are still the audiences are growing because it's new for most of our listeners and it's new for the host as well. So we have to

constantly like be patient. You know, this is a new medium and it is growing and it is expanding, but it doesn't happen overnight for any show, for any show. We're trying to grow this show right now, and and it's and some days I look at the numbers and I go, what are we doing wrong? So we're doing anything wrong, it's just it's just not happened yet. And that's the thing that happens with most shows. There will be an episode, somebody will share it, other people will

get into it, and then that's what it starts. And then they go back and listen to what episodes, and all of a sudden, you've went from a few hundred people listening to an episode to a few thousand. It happens that fast, but you have to be patient. I like that, and I mean going back to producing it. Well, I think a lot of my generation, and I mean I think podcast listeners are more are they hear better quality now? They don't just like put something on it

like okay, it's whatever. Because I can't tell you how many times I've started a new podcast and I've heard lytches in the audio and stuff that they haven't fixed, and I'm like, oh, I don't want to listen to this anymore because I want to feel like they care about the podcast enough to put it out and make me want to care about it. Yeah. I mean this is there is a lot of money being put into podcasting right now, so there was a lot of high quality podcast so if you expect to uh compete with them,

you have to be high quality. That don't get me wrong. If you're just doing a podcast that about your passion, you know, your passion is is Purple Teddy Bears and you just want to talk about purple Teddy Bears and find other people that like Purple Teddy Bears, you know, that's that's a very niche thing. And you you know, that's the different story. But even that, do the best you can. Yeah, that's what it is, Do the best

you can. What are your three favorite podcast at the moment? Okay, the first one I want to start with is one that almost every guest that has been on this show, all five of them have said when we've asked them, what what was the last podcast you binged? And it was s Town now as Town came together a result of a message from an Alabama resident uh to a producer for Cereal. Also, those are all the same guys serial of This American Life. They all came out of

the same camp. And this guy despises his town and wants to do something about it and wants to investigate this wealthy family who's been bragging about getting away with murder. That's what you think you're getting into when you start the podcast. Where it goes from There is not anything where it starts. Um, this is just a beautifully well done podcast. It's well done because you care about the

people in it. They tell a really good story and and it's always it's always I almost I almost get choked up thinking about it because it is It is an emotional journey. And when we do good podcasts, we create empathy, and we paint pictures and we take you somewhere. And this is what this podcast does. Yeah. I remember when s Town came out. I sat on my couch,

I listened to all of the episodes at once. I don't think I've ever cried over a podcast as much as said, like you talking about it now makes me think of the episodes and his voice and everything, and it makes me choked up. And it was beautiful. Here's a little taste, but I suggest go back listen to the first one. But here you go, something's happened. Something has absolutely happened in this town. There's just too much

little crap for something not to have happened. And I'm about had enough ship Town and things that goes on gorgeous. I mean, his voice gets me every time. Yeah, yeah, go listen to that. That like, finish this one, then go listen to that. Okay, I got another podcast for you, a little more on the fun side. This is one that's been around for a long time. It's WTF with Mark Maron. Now. Mark Marin was as a comedian and actor. Uh and not a lot of people know if you

didn't listen to Air America. He was the host of the morning show on Air America. Now Are America Blew Up? And Mark started this podcast again about the same time ten years ago when we were starting Stitcher. So I remember Mark came in and I did a podcast kind of like this one for Stitcher, and and we did an interview. And the one thing that Mark did that I think a lot of podcasters have learned from him

is Mark will go on every podcast he can. When, especially when he was starting, he'd go on any podcast he could as a guest because he's a great guest, and then he would people would say he's very funny. Oh, I'm gonna go listen to his podcast. So there's another tip for you podcasters. Go on as many shows as you can so people find out about your podcast. Um. Mark is a great interviewer and I love I think

Howard Stern is the best interviewer in the world. If you don't think that's the truth, and I don't know what's wrong with you, but Mark's really up there too. He he might be a close second. And he gets interviews. And the thing is this is a podcast, and he gets interviews with everybody, including President Barack Obama while he was president. I have to listen to that. Check it out here this well, you used to live around here? I did. Yeah, I was explaining to folks, pass it in,

these are my old haunts. Man. And and you how close is that in your memory? Does it come right back? Absolutely? Yeah, through somewhat of a haze. I mean it was college. So how old are you like twenty right, and you went right down the street. I've been down and it's how far away from you are you from that guy? Now? I mean, do you can you lock into that? Can you find that in yourself? Truth? I'm an entrepreneur. I

am fascinated by, you know, business building. We talked to Andy Holloway from Fantasy Footballer's last week and he you know the same thing. I think a lot of folks. You know, if you didn't listen last week, it's a really good interview. But you know, a podcast is a startup. It's a startup. It's a business. You know, if you want to make money. It is. So Alex starts with his pitch, how he pitched investors. It is and because

of him, I started a little company. I was like, oh my God, I have an idea for I have a brain of content company. I was like, oh, let's start that. Um. The rest of the seasons are great. They talked about different kinds of people in startup faces, but that first season is brilliant. That's going on my list, so check it out. Are you meeting someone with money?

This is my wife, nazanin early one morning a couple of months ago, stopping me as I was on my way out the door to do something I'd never done before. Meet a guy who works at a venture capital firm and try to get him to give me money to invest in my business, a podcast business. There you go. There's there's my starting point. But here's what I'm going to tell you. If you have an interest, go to I Heart Radio or your podcast provider, and there's curated lists.

Go look at those lists. Those lists are done by people who want you to find certain parts. They want you to find good ones because I want you to keep listening to podcasts at the end of the day. That's one of the other things I love about this business is we all support each other. We just want people to listen to podcasts. That's why no matter what company you work I work for I Heart Radio, but we're on iTunes, We're on Stitcher, we're on Google Play.

You know. We just want people to listen to podcasts. Um, So go to those curated lists and see and see what's what's on there, what's recommended, find something that you like. If you have a local radio station that you love, go check out their website, see if they have a podcast. If they have a podcast, go check it out and see and see what it's like. You know, it's a

lot of fun. Yeah. I actually have two of my own okay suggests, actually three, Okay, so my first one is pod Save America, which is by Crocket Media, and it's four guys from that used to work for the Obama administration. There were speech writers and like spokespeople for him and for someone that maybe not isn't like fully into politics, but I want to know about what's going on in politics, especially now. This is the greatest one.

They add much to it. They bring in um, congressmen and people running for office and just tell you how to get involved. And I think, um, what you if you're not agreeing with the current administration, or even if you are, this is such a great podcast to just dive into and get involved and do something to help your country. I see you and every other UH person that works in our department tweeting about this show, and I've not listened to it, so I'm exus to hear

his taste of it. This morning. Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his partner and former Trump advisor Rick Gates were each indicted on one count of conspiracy against the United States, one kund of conspiracy to under money one kind of acting is an unregistered agent of a foreign principle, two counts of making false statements, and four counts of failing to report foreign bank accounts. Manafort turned himself into. Forgot is also one count of but

what about the uranium? Alright, So that's pots of American. My next one is called ear Hustle and there by Radiotopia. It's actually super interesting. I heard about it through a friend and it's with two inmates from the San Quentin State Prison and um barrier artists. Her name is Nigel Poor. So the two guys are Irlan and Antoine and they're serving like thirty years to life for fifteen years, and everything is done in the prison. They only have a few hours of the day. They have a media lab,

they sound designed, they edit. Everything has to be done in the prison. And not only that they have before they put out the episode, it has to be approved by the information officer at the prison. And your hustle

in prison talk means eavesdropping. And so it's just all these different fun um interviews and what prison life is like, what having a cellmate is like, or getting a date to get out of prison, and everybody always they always say, like people think that they know because of TV shows what it's like to be in prison, and you never do. So this is really great if you ever wanted to know.

I'm fascinated. There's only three ways off the Shoe debrief Parole, our pine box me I accepted the fact that I was going to get out of there in a pine box. We're going to be hearing a lot about the shoe on this episode, so maybe we should first explain what the shoe is. The shoe is an acronym that stands for the security housing unit. It's the whole, the box, the dungeon, and in some states it's called solitary confinement. All right, And my last one is another shout out

to a show that we do in San Francisco. Oh yeah, heart. So it's Two Girls One podcast with Carolyn mccartell and Sandy Stack, and it is single Life over thirty five for women over thirty five. And I'm not in that age range, but it's so relatable. They are hilarious. I come in and I listened to it. If there's a new episode and they're super unfiltered, and if you just want a good laugh, listen to Two Girls One podcast. But I know that there are people that get that

have been on Tender and things happen. Dude, my friend got married from from Tinder, which didn't Tinder used to be only like it was an unspoken rule that Tinder was only for hookups, right, and now people are getting married. It's like match dot com. What's next, plenty of fish? Who knows. I'm sure it's out there. I'm sure it's and they have a kid now, my friend, Um, so it can't. There are exceptions to every rule that shows good for guys too. I listen, I laughed. I listened

every of course, I listen. I love it. I listened every week. Well those are good, So those are starts for you folks that are new to podcasting, and like I said, the best way is to just go and look. Go find some podcasts and listen to them and and and find something good that you like and then share it with people. That's the other thing, you know, and this this business is new and we need people to tell people about podcasting. So if you love podcasting, go

out and share it. Share this podcast. That would be fantastic. We'd really like that. Also, go on our iTunes page and rate and review. That's also a big way to help out your favorite podcast. Um can also follow us go on Facebook Access Podcast and on Twitter at access podcast one. Still waiting so waiting to get the real Access podcast but whatever, follow us there. So I hope you'll enjoyed listening to our special podcast week edition of

Access Podcast. If this is the first time you've listened to this podcast, go back and listen to some past episodes. We've got some great guests that we've had on over the past. We've been doing the show for almost two months, so go check them out. Access Podcast is produced by z engineers David Williams and Horse Swang. Artwork by Dalon Runberg. Music im post by Casey Franco special thanks to the podcast guru god of I Heart Radio, Chris Peterson, Don Parker,

and Katie Willcox at I Heeart Radio, San Francisco. You can follow us on Facebook Access Podcasts, follow me at Maddie Stout m A T T Y s t a U d T on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you can download the iHeart Radio app if you have it already, go to the podcast section, listen, share and tell your friends. Thanks by m HM