How to launch radio shows and podcasts

I may have mentioned the details within this article a couple of times before. If I haven’t, then I apologise for drawing this conclusion. Heck, clearly I didn’t do my job right. It’s a bit like a brain surgeon saying he can only fix your knee, or a comedian running out of mother-in-law gags.

I had a great session with Annabel Candy, the hyper-lovely custodian of the keys to SuccessfulBlogging.com and GetInTheHotSpot.com. What she doesn’t know about writing incredible blog posts, and waxing indecently well on travel tips, could be found on the back of a doll’s postage stamp.

From hereonin I’m going to incur the wrath of the poderati. In my experience, the best way to think about a podcast – from a normal person’s perspective – is as an online radio show. Chances are people listen to more than one episode of a show. Podcasting makes it easy for people to subscribe to your radio show. Therefore I will use radio show and podcast interchangeably.

So sue me.

We’re working together on a way to get more bloggers podcasting. After all, it’s a natural step forward from writing. When you podcast, you don’t just engage – you stir people. You create communities that feel bonded to your mission and agenda. You quickly develop authority status among your fast-growing tribe. And it’s addictive.

With so many ways to podcast these days, it took me a while to figure out the right direction for bloggers to become podcasters, but of course for any sane sentient being the simplest and most logical way ahead involved WordPress – the blogger’s notepad.

So here, dear blogger, is what you have to do when you’ve decided to invest a little time and money into showcasing your already-impressive portfolio of work on the audio platform. This is but a general, quick introduction since Annabel will be telling you much more about how to put this into practice in a forthcoming blog post that we worked on, and an accompanying video. These truly are exciting times…

Recipe for podcasting

1. Understand your subject, your vision, your audience. Be clear on your area of expertise, what it is people want to know about it, and who those people are. Check your pulse – are you passionate enough to sustain a long-running radio show on that subject?
2. Mine your existing content pot. Chances are you already have the stimulus for at least 20 podcasts. List them, extract the most valuable nuggets of information, and you have a set list for at least a dozen future episodes.
3. Plan your first show. Find a single, main theme for each episode, and break it down into three topics. Allocate 4 minutes to each topic. Take an additional 90 seconds to introduce your content and pique their curiosity by teasing them with something juicy that’s coming up on the show, and urge your listeners to feedback on what they’re about to hear. Factor in another 90 seconds to wrap things up, including another chance to compel your audience to feedback (social networks, Skype answerphone, whatever floats your boat and is most relevant to the style of your show).
4. Find some decent music for your intro, any segues (the bits that break up your show that signpost to listeners when you’re changing direction, topic or pace), and the outro. Go to Mevio’s MusicAlley.com or Jamendo.com, or if you’re feeling flush, invest 99 cents at JewelBeat.com.
5. Download Audacity, a free audio recorder and editor,and the LAME MP3 Encoder. Once you’ve installed both, using the Fade In and Fade Out effects, or being swish and using the Envelope Tool, you can create professional-sounding introductions and closing segments you can use over again (don’t forget to Save the Project if you want to reuse components of your edit), leaving you to focus on the main topic of the show).
6. Save your first show in Audacity as an MP3 file. Fill in the tags when it prompts you. Find somewhere to ‘host’ the MP3 on the internet. Either use your webspace (purists baulk here – if you think you’re going to have 10,000 listeners off the bat, go pay for some media hosting storage somewhere like Libsyn). Note down where you stored the file, in the form of a URL.
7. Open up your WordPress installation and add the PowerPress and Audio Player plugins. In the Feeds section of PowerPress, note down your feed URL. You’ll need that in a bit.
8. Create a WordPress post – this will end up being the shownotes for your first podcast episode. At the bottom of this page, add the URL location of your MP3 file. Publish the post.
9. Go over to Feedburner.com (make sure you already have a Google account, since Google now owns this service), and enter the feed URL we mentioned in point 7 of this tutorial. Click ‘I am a podcaster’. Fill in the fields and add a 600×600 pixel image that will be the artwork representing your radio show at places like the iTunes Store. Note down the feed address that Feedburner gives you.
10. Submit the feed you get from Feedburner to iTunes. Do the same for at least a dozen other ‘podcatchers’ – podcast directories such as Stitcher SmartRadio and Mevio. You are now a podcaster. Congratulations!

This is a bare bones guide to creating an online radio show. I could go into much more detail on each step, but in text this gets bewildering and it’s much easier to kick the tyres and learn by experience.

I remember the first time I tried to create a podcast, and I just couldn’t find the information about where to begin. Things are improving massively now, but the days of hand-coding RSS feeds through trial and error haunt me still…

The great thing about creating online radio shows and podcasts is the vast variety of ways to get stuck in. Some are easier, some harder, and your goal is make the job as easy and enjoyable as possible, since you’ll be the one injecting the passion into the show. Passion for podcasting is like expenses to MPs. You can’t have one without the other.

And show styles and formats differ greatly, too. Our Double D Guys show is on average 30 minutes long. I’m recommending you aim for 15. Different strokes.

Finally, don’t ever underestimate the value of having guests on or co-hosts for your show to revitalise old topics, and to add new perspectives to battle-worn ideas. You can either get people in your ‘studio’ or record Skype conversations. But that’s out of scope here and doubtless you’ll find dozens of articles elsewhere precisely outlining the best way to remotely record two-way conversations.

One quick, additional thing about the benefit of having guests on your show. Guests will spread the word about your podcast because they were pleased as punch to be asked to join in. It’s human nature. There’s no harm in asking them to tell their communities about your show, either. You’re providing value – they’d be daft not to shout about it and their part in it.

Oh, and one other secret tip about guests: Whenever you talk with a guest, at the end of the interview ask them to provide an ident for your show (hi, this is *** from *** and you’re listening to *** works just fine and is a great way of both massaging their ego and adding extra credibility to your show).

Of course this is simply an introduction to the art of creating podcasts, whether you’re a blogger or company owner striving to make your mark. There’s no doubt people are getting their content kicks in myriad different ways these days, and I firmly believe having your own online radio show demonstrates an amazing capacity for learning, sharing and innovating.

Watch out for much more on this here and over at SuccessfulBlogging.com in coming weeks…

Did this work for you? Inspired yet? Get in touch if I can be of more help to you.