To create your own podcast is very difficult for anyone. There are programs you need to learn, and must pick a topic that people would want to listen to.
The first time my partner and I worked on our podcast, for a class assignment, it took an hour and a half to create seven seconds simply because we were not familiar with the program Adobe Audition. However, after we got the kinks worked out, it went rather quickly. One thing we both noticed was how many times we say the word 'um' and 'like'. It took some self training, but we pulled through. We used music and sound effects to our advantage. If I was listening I know I would enjoy hearing music in between topics.
Podcasts might be a type of social media or the new radio, but I still don't think the public has fully grasped the concept. They are difficult to create, as I figured out from my previous post research, and are difficult to find good ones worth listening to.
Monday, November 2, 2009
I am a person who has never listened to a podcast outside of the classroom. I never found the reason to. If I want to know what is going on in the world, I turn on the news or read the paper online. To me, there is no reason to listen to a podcast with someone’s opinion. I just want the facts so I can make my own opinion. A podcast does not seem like the radio to me. Maybe if I found a podcast like one, I might be more intrigued to listen. My high school was 30 minutes away, so I listened to my three New York City stations everyday; Z100, PST and Y100. When a commercial came I changed the station to listen to the hosts or songs they were playing. Z100’s DJs were definitely my favorite. They each had their own stand out personalities like John Bell. He is an older man with a raspy voice.
Podcasting in plain English, for the person like me that didn't know much about them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c
So, compared to others, finding a podcast was not so simple. I finally found a website podcast.com, which gave different collections to choose from.
The first one I listened to was Poli Talk. The name says it all, and I love to listen to anything politics. When listening to this, I wasn’t impressed. The music they began with sounded like elevator music. Just because its politics, doesn’t mean it has to be boring.
Episode 57: Pick and Option, Any Option, talked about
The second podcast I listened to was a random pick that I chose because I liked the picture. I was curious what it was about but the title and picture had nothing to do with it. The title was Podrunner 132 BPM-Easy Going. After listening for two minutes about donations and commercials it turned out to be a techno workout podcast. All it played was music, which surprised me. I thought podcasts were similar to a talk show, but I guess I was wrong.
The third podcast I began listening to was a bit misleading. The title was Language Lessons, which indicated that they would be teaching you. Instead, it was a man reading in Latin, the play Julius Caesar. It was a basic podcast with no sound effects and no music.
From these three podcasts all from podcast.com taught me what works and what doesn’t work in a podcast. Although this is not going to be my career path, I think I might have figured out the secret ingredients to a podcast.
1. The 30 seconds should be the introduction for the show, not advertisements
2. The hosts should introduce themselves the same way every show to connect the listener to their voice. (Sometimes, two voices can sound similar until you start listening for a few minutes)
3. The meat of the show. Explain the topics for the day and get rolling.
4. Use sound effects and music to balance out the show. Both can also be used to separate topics.
5. Don't talk forever. You will lose your listeners.
6. Finally, remember there are always new listeners so make it appealing to your niche.
To learn how to create a podcast, here is a tutorial. It is very helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hrBbczS9I0&feature=related
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