What I’ve Learned in Two Years of Podcasting

A few simple tips for starting your own show…

A couple of years ago I got really into podcasts. After listening to shows like TLDR, Hello Internet, Reply All and The Incomparable I decided that I wanted to start my own. I asked some of my closest friends from high school if they’d want to try it out with me. Two years and eighty episodes later our little podcast has become one of my main pass-times.

I’ve learned a lot about myself, my friends and the creative process over these eighty episodes. And after a few people asking me about how and if they should start their own podcasts I figured I should write down what I wish I knew when we started:

Mood is everything. Everyone on mic needs to be in the right mood or the episode will be worthless. We’ve started building in time to just talk and get our good vibes going before we push record each week. Even with that buffer though, sometimes the stresses of life still spill over into the show. Don’t beat yourself or your co-hosts up for it, just be better next week. Know your boundaries. You need to know roughly what you will and won’t talk about on air. Establish this with everyone on the podcast and stick to it. On Dudes Brunch we have a strict “No Bummers” rule. If a topic is so serious that we can’t poke any fun at it we just don’t discuss it at all. Stick to a schedule. You need a regular recording time so that everyone can make it most weeks. If you’re doing a one-person show this is less important, but still helpful to avoid Brain Crack. Edit liberally. For the first year or so of Dudes Brunch we recorded it live on YouTube and released it unedited. Those episodes are terrible. Learn to edit. Then get comfortable cutting anything that doesn’t work. If the show isn’t tight you’ll loose your listeners halfway through. Recurring Jokes reward faithful followers. As our show continues we add more and more recurring jokes that our listeners love and comment on if we forget. They do create a learning curve for new listeners though, so don’t get too deep down your own rabbit hole. Do your homework. Know the topic before you talk about it. Period. Uninformed conversation is meandering boring. Do it because you love it. This has been the hardest thing to remember. As we each fall in love with new successful podcasts we sometimes find ourselves wondering when our big break is coming. We do a good job off-air of reminding each other that this is more about us than it is about the numbers. My cohorts and I have known each other for ten years as of 2017. The podcast is more about our collective relationship and our love of chatting with each other than anything else. As time goes on I find myself checking the statistics less and looking forward to recording more.

Thinking of starting your own podcast? Hopefully this helps. Experienced podcaster? I’d love to swap notes with you. Hit me up on Twitter!