Build a Better Podcast

This week’s podcast will be on effective use of language in your podcast. As a special bonus, I’ve put online the list of English irregular verbs that I use in tutoring ESL students. It’s the most complete list I’ve been able to find on the web.

Episode Summary Format of BBP: Each episode will have four segments and an interlude.

• Segment 1: Comments from Listeners
• Segment 2: Tool Talk — choosing and using podcasting tools
• Interlude: The Long View — snippets from old literature, the older the better
• Segment 3: Building It Better — improving the communications effectiveness of our podcasts
• Segment 4: Coming Attractions — what’s coming in future episodes
• Credits and farewell.

Today’s Segments

• Comments: Lee Hopkins
• Tool Talk: Radio Shack Noise Cancelling Desktop Mic. Castblaster is a blast (but I don’t use it.) Mixer on the way.
• The Long View: Robert Herrick: “Upon Julia’s Voice.” Emily Dickinson: “The Soul Selects Her Own Society.”
• Building It Better: 90% of being good is not being bad. The five top ways to make your podcast bad: rambling, noise, misusing language, slickness (distancing), talking about the time.
• Coming Attractions: An episode on grammar, diction, pronunciation. What’s good about my favorite podcasts. Use and misuse of audio effects & music. Video podcasts of BBP.
• Bonus Poem: Walt Whitman: “One’s Self I Sing”
• Credits: Theme music: “Autoharp Polka”, Harvey Reid

Links

• For Immediate Release
• Berkeley Community Media
• Better Bad News
• Todd Cochrane
• Gerald Weinberg, Secrets of Consulting
• Shure SM57 microphone

DOWNLOAD the podcast here!

What I wrote on my other blog about blogging is also true about podcasting.

If you hunger to have somebody other than yourself overestimate the number of people who listen to your podcast, just say something truly vicious, harmful, and untrue about someone. Make sure it’s someone who’ll be able to find out, and who has the means to sue you. The lawyer on the other side will provide numbers that will have you glowing with pride at how famous you are.

Of course, I proffer this advice only to those who think they can survive the suit and who have no scruples.

I used CastBlaster last night for the first time. It was fun. I’ve always enjoyed doing any kind of audio, but this was the most fun I’ve had since the Christmas compilation I made last year for a few friends.

I recorded a little piece that I called my “minus eleventh” podcast, meaning I figured I’d need about 10 more dry runs before coming up with something worth publishing. What I recorded, though, was pretty nice, and I’ll include it in next week’s inaugural podcast.

Is podcasting a fad?

Well, does it matter?

Even if ten million people take up podcasting next year, and nine and a half million of those aren’t doing it the year after that…

Still, many many talented individuals and far-seeing companies will have used the medium, while it was at the height of its heat, to garner attention.

Can you be one of them?

If, during the thirteenth minute of your fifteen minutes of fame, you can show that you’ve really got the goods, you can be one of the few who gets an extension.

This site is here to help.

There are lots of sites that will tell you how to do a podcast. This site will do that and a lot more.

My aim here is to tell you how to create a superb podcast. I’ll tell you how to:

• know your audience
• understand when, how, and how much people listen
• know, for your audience, what is their meat and what is their poison
• achieve the best possible sound quality
• find the resources that fit your budget, whether it’s a pauper’s or a prince’s.

I’ll show you how to do it, how to do it fast, and how to do it well.

To get the site started fast, I’m starting it out as a blog. That way I can add new material fast.

But soon it will be hard to keep it organized that way. So I’ll be building a full-fledged website, or something like a wiki, as quickly as I can.

Come here daily! Subscribe to the RSS feed. There will be new material every day.

Happy podcasting!