Part 3: Structure.

I think i was avoiding writing this last part due to the fact that we are all still learning how to do podcasting without sounding like idiots – and for anyone who has heard us – we still sound like idiots. So what i am going to do is go through all the tips and structure guidelines Charlie and i have been trying to follow. Of course they are not commandments sent down by Harper the Podcast God. These are just some loose guidelines and hints that Charlie and i both have had great success in using to create our awesome and somewhat insane podcast.

I want to jump right into the form and structure of a podcast. When i think about doing a podcast, a couple things really jump out at me.

One of the things i really struggle with while producing podcasts is that podcasting is not radio. It is something that is weirder and more free form. A podcaster is able to do anything (I mean anything) in her podcast. Since there are no rules to govern podcasting it becomes an excellent venue to create experimental audio or target a particular demographic that would never fly on more traditional broadcast mediums. What i personally struggle with is i interpret this freedom to being a key to the city of crazy. I forget that even though there are no rules to podcasting – we still need to have some structure and that we are still appealing towards listeners (whomever they may be).

So structure. When i was in high school a speech teacher taught us all how to make a speech. He broke it into three steps. First, tell them what you are about to tell them. Second, tell them. Third, tell them what you just told them. Although i think this is a 1 million eye view of speech making i really think this is a good start in a conversation about structure of an audio event. Whenever Charlie and i are planning a show – we try and explain what the show is going to be about in the first couple minutes. Then we have the show. Then we always wrap up the show by ruminating on how the show went. This allows the listener to know what is in store for them and after the show is over – be reminded of what they listened to. I think it is an easy rule to follow and doesn't have to be very literal.

An interesting thing about podcasts is how the listener listens to them. The whole idea is that the listener will download them and listen to them when they want. This could be a month after the podcast was released, it could be in an embedded player on a odeo ten minutes after the podcast was released. The whole idea of a podcast is that it is decentralized from any one source. You have the creator and the listener. There is no borders or constraints on where, when or who the listener is – other that those the creator places in the podcast (language, how they release it, etc). So you may have a listener that is not in your industry, not in your country – listening and loving your podcast 10 months after you released it. This is why i really think that identifying who and what you are and saying when the podcast is made is so important in podcasting. Making sure the listener knows exactly when the podcast was made and where it is from will help the podcast remain historical and not just fade as a weird audio piece.

Another thing that Charlie and i have been playing with is the idea of minispots or “bits” to fill space and to create something the listener is familiar with. In our particular podcast we are often so free form that the entire podcast could be about one thing – or it could be about 100 things. The next one is never the same as the previous one. So to make them a little more “normal” we decided to add some small 5-10 minute mini-shows into the mix. Just a personality or regular bit that is easy to produce and a bit canned. This allows your listener to be familiar with a portion of your show – no matter how random it is; and allows you the podcaster to have something that will take some time and add substance.

So those are the tips and structure ideas that have come out of our podcasting foray. I hope they are helpful. As always – check out Charlie and the skinnyCorp crew in our podcast. Also let us know what you think of our How To series.

Here's one thing that always bugged me about podcasts, not yours in particular, and I realize this sounds silly: Too much music. This is not radio, you're not a DJ. I'm not listening to your podcast as background noise, I'm probably driving somewhere, riding the bus, the metro, whatever, I'm not doing anything important. I'm deciding to focus on your show. Give me content. If I wanted to zone out to music, guess what, I have my iPod with me, I have 30 gigs of my favorite music right here, just three clicks away.

I'm Peter Griffin, and that was today's What Really Grinds my Gears. Back to you, Tom.

I sound like such a douche on the podcast yesterday.

I agree franz... one of the main reasons we have so much musicon ours is a lot of it is from one of our sites, 15 Megs of Fame. The point of 15 Megs is to discover new, unheard, independent music so it kinda makes sense to listen to it since you have probably never heard it before.

But we might tone it down a bit and make it a bit less about the music.

I also agree with Franz. This is one issue that Charlie and I have really been pounding out. It is quite hard when you come from a traditional radio broadcast background to understand the decentralization of a podcast and more importantly the point you brought up - that the listener may be listening to the podcast on a device that holds 5000 songs that they love - so the place of music in a podcast is interesting.

How Charlie and i have been talking about this is limiting music to music shows. Like the smoking popes show that was just posted, or the anathalla show from a minute ago - but not every show. Keeping things topical and interesting.

This is something we are working on and i think it is hard for a lot of people to grasp.

i personally think it should be more funny, less music (to quote jacob) and should be more interesting as well. But we have grown so much i am excited to see what happens in a month - let alone 6 months.

Here's a comment from the peanut gallery a.k.a. a new listener. At the moment, I'm just listening to my first couple skinnycorp podcasts (the anathallo & smokingpopes ones). My unrequested criticism is that the audio level is too damn low. Of course, when somebody talks directly into a mic at full volume or when you play music, the signal is basically filled up, but the other half of the time, even with my speakers cranked I can hardly make out what is being said. I guess it's an inherent problem when you have more people in the studio than you do mics, but even Charlie's voice is much lower than it could/should be. My MP3 player's oscilloscope is barely moving, man. So to summarize, 1) tell guests that they HAVE to talk directly into mics, and 2) raise your general threshold of what is a "high enough" level on your mixer/software.

And on another note, my cow-orker Jonathon has a sweet picture/collage of anathallo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehopeful/111182568/

Nice summary. I think it´s very important, that the next podcast is never the same as the previous one. Maybe you can include every 10 minutes or so a short break with a commercial or a songs so that we can relax and think about the content of the podcast.

Podcasts seem to get very popular in these days. I guess podcasts will get the new "evening-news-shows" of the future.

Nice site.

thanks

This is something we are working on and i think it is hard for a lot of people to grasp

thank you

nice article, thank you.

thanks!

thank you

This is some good info here. We just started up a new podcast, and after listening to it, we decided to make A LOT of changes. come check us out at myspace (www.myspace.com/resetradio) or search us on itunes (reset radio - rustin hariss and skyler saville )

I meant . . . Rustin HARRIS . . . duh

Great Blog and sites!

Thanks very much. See you

foto mature collant incontri con tardone presentatrici italiane bionde a pecorina cerco troie arrapate immagini zozze casalinghe inculate zoccolone segretarie

Thank you .. :)

thnx

thx

thanks

thnx

thnk

thanks

thanks

thnkss

thank

tnhk you

Thanks very much. See you

Good job.

Online bookmakers, such as UNIBET, have the opportunity to handle much more customers desiring to place a bet and thus make bigger profits than regular ones.

thanks

This is some good info here.

Good job.

thanks

dssdsd

dsdsdsdd

dssdsd

thanx

thanx

thanx

thanx

thanx

thanx

thanx

tahanx

thanx

thanks

thank you

thanx sex

thank

thank

thank

thank

Thanks Your Four Sites..

Thanks Your Four Sites..

Thanx

thanx

tanx

tanx

tanx

tanx

tanx

good luck..

worldwomans nice

twnc

tanx

Fikra

http://www.fikraturk.net

Thanks

thanks good

thanks good

thanks good

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks

Komik



Karikatür


Fıkra


Hikaye


Animasyon


Video

wWw.Komedi.Gen.Tr

nice blog. yüzük script

wery Nice blog. tnks travestiler

thanks good

thanks good

thanks good

haberler

sohbet

thanks

thank

thank

thank

thank

thank

Thank you

Kenthaber sohbet

Kenthaber chat

Kenthaber sohpet

Kolaymirc web site

Kolaymirc web site

Besiktas web site

Besiktas web site

Besiktas web site

thank

thank

Türkçe mirc

thx

Mega Forum

Sanatoriy in Kirykivka

hospital tube

 Name:
Email:
  URL:
Comment (B, I, A, UL, OL, LI tags allowed)

Ultra Hard Math Test! To verifiy that are a real person, and not a Casino or Viagra supplier, please solve this super hard math equation.

five plus nine =

By posting, you promise to be nice.