General Advice About Podcasting
What are the most important things you've learned over the years?
I have learnt to keep the end user: the listener, the reader, the viewer, the pugnot in mind. I've also learned the value of shutting up every now and then. I used to do interviews where eighty percent was just my own voice, and then I realized that other people may want to hear this. I've learned the trick of generosity. If someone is telling something interesting, express that as they're going along. If someone says something funny, laugh! Do not sit there just being a passive sponge for all this stuff. Those are the three things. Also, try to keep the work up to the level that you were passionate about when you first started doing it. Try and remember that there's someone listening, watching or reading, and with the individual component of people you're working with, try to be as generous as you can with those. If I knew those three things, I'm certain to know them now; I'd have been a better broadcaster back then.
What advice would you give to someone making their first podcast?
There's a difference between a BBC or a Times podcast, but if you're setting out to make a podcast, make sure that you're doing it about something that you're passionate about - otherwise it'll sound bland, it'll sound flat, it'll sound generic. Make sure that you do a little bit of planning. We all fancy we can just stroll onto the radio in front of a microphone and start to perform. Maybe one genius in a thousand out there can do that, but trust me, it probably isn't you. It certainly isn't me. Have a little think about what it is that you want to do, and make sure that you're doing it about something you are passionate about. Don't overreach yourself - don't set out to do an hour-long podcast if what you've got to say is minimal - the truth is that it's better to cram a quart into a pint pot and leave people wanting more. The example I always give is when I first managed to commission young people to write about rock music. Review the new LP by lets say, Roxie Music, or Nirvana or whoever it is. Their first inclination is to write the entire history of rock music, and where Nirvana fit into it. Nobody cares if you know all that stuff. If it's important, it'll come out at the time. Try to stick to the subject you set out to do; cover it with passion, cover it with emotion, cover it with genuine love and then get off the stage. If people like it, they'll want more. Don't think you have to spill your entire gut on the first outing.
If you could change anything about your job, what would it be?
If I could change one thing about Podcasting, and I'm sorry to sound so conservative and go back to radio world, but I do miss the punters on the phone. It is extraordinary how much knowledge, fun, passion, madness, froth, anger, excitement, just plain old content and entertainment can be gleaned from winding up a pundit, or just asking them a question. They come on and drive the show, and it's your job, you've got to be funny and witty, and all those brilliant things that you're paid the bar stipend for. Basically, it's like herding cats into a place and watching them perform. I miss that about Podcasting. If I could change one thing, it would be that they are entirely reliant on the skills of the broadcasters. The more people involved, even if half of them are bonkers, the better the entertainment is.
