Comparisons are often drawn between podcasts and radio, an obvious connection due to the reliance both mediums have on audio, but this fails to appreciate the unique values of podcasts and detracts from their benefits.
I noticed Henderson’s post in August 2022 and set it aside for later reading, and in just a few months it is gone from Henderson’s site. You can read the original via the Internet Archive’s copy of the page.
I hear this sentiment a lot: There are comparisons to radio… There are lessons to learn from radio…
But I always have the same question:
Where, specifically can I learn from radio?
Jessica Abel’s, Out on the Wire is one place I can think of.
What others (web sites, books, documentaries, everything…) can we come up with?
One of my dear friends used to work in radio in San Francisco. We often talk about podcasting and his lesson was about the way radio stations were merged and bought by large organizations. a
They ran them as cheap as possible, which
meant they became non-specific to their local audience. He saw the buying that Spotify and others were doing as similar to the efforts that essentially destroyed radio in his experience. He became a lawyer as radio stopped being a reliable industry to work in.
His experience is part of why I maintain that if it’s not on an open RSS feed (like a Spotify-only show) it’s not a podcast.
There probably are lessons we can learn from radio, but quite a few will be better described as warnings.
@craigconstantine@Mark One suggestion: take a listen to the replays of Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 show. He appeared on my Sirius radio this morning (9-10am PST Saturday) as I was getting my dog a Pup Cup to celebrate his first birthday. For those that do host-on-mic episodes I think there is a lot to be learned from Casey. His cadence, voice, enthusiasm & surprise musical facts was the best. Here is a link to some of his 1980 work: Casey Kasem's American Top 40 - FULL SHOW - June 28 1980 - YouTube
Someone was kind enough to pm me with this suggestion too…
Dan Carlin (Hardcore History) and Rick Rubin (famous music producer) discuss the muse, creativity, old work vs. new work, and so much I believe helps us—anyone who creates. Almost three hours. Typical long and meandering. Although Carlin hosts, Rubin takes the helm too.
There’s a book from NPR that I read on Kindle when I was starting out that was super helpful, especially since I was leading a team. SOUND REPORTING is the name of the book.
Some background: I was asked by a local arts group to create a 6 month project. It could be anything that I wanted, and I wanted to learn how to make (and make) a podcast. We made a lot of mistakes, but we did make a podcast with 5 episodes called Because Creativity Heals.
This experience gave me a direction as I learned what I lacked in knowledge which is why I did the Akimbo workshop. The arts program has not picked up the project again, but I know how to make a podcast much better now.
Carlin is such an amazing story teller. I’m sure he must use an outline, but it’s so impressive how he can speak for hours without a detailed script or major missteps along the way.
I noticed Henderson’s post in August 2022 and set it aside for later reading, and in just a few months it is gone from Henderson’s site. You can read the original via the Internet Archive’s copy of the page.
which is why I did the Akimbo workshop. The arts program has not picked up the project again, but I know how to make a podcast much better now.