From Broadcast to Podcast

By Andy Meadows

Broadcasting consultant, author, and talent coach Andy Meadows explains why radio broadcasters should start a podcast. Including how to apply their radio training, transition to long-form, choose their podcasting style, book guests, market and monetize it. Plus, a simple, easy to understand breakdown of the equipment and production tools necessary to create a professional, successful podcast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andy Meadows
• Release date: May 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393164241

Book preview

Why Podcast?

Anytime I’m trying to decide whether or not to take on a new weekly task I look at the pros and cons and try to decide whether or not it’s a good return on my time investment. I’m sure you do the same thing.

So, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of starting a podcast to help you decide whether or not it’s worth your time.

To be fair we’ll start with the negatives, the cons. It’s an incredibly crowded marketplace, which makes it hard to standout. It can be time consuming, especially in the beginning. Transitioning into a new medium is intimidating and nobody wants to represent themselves poorly on something that will be shared and promoted to the public. There are some initial costs for the equipment that have to be budgeted for if we want to do it right. Plus, it can be a challenge to monetize it and many podcasters make little, or no, money off of it.

Now the positives or pros. Total creative freedom, no program director, ops manager, GM or consultant telling us what we can and can’t talk about. We don’t have to stick to a specific demographic or appeal to one kind of audience. We’re building something that we own the rights to, creating our own intellectual property. We’re expanding our own brands without relying solely on a radio station to do that for us. There actually is money to be made. Podcast ad spending has been steadily increasing every quarter for the past few years. Now the average podcast has 3.2 ads per episode and there are ways to tie into network advertising from day one. Plus, it’s fun and a great creative outlet.

Most importantly, though, podcasting will help on-air personalities learn new marketing and digital skills while simultaneously improving their on-air skillsets. Being out of the confinement of an on-air shift within a specific format, allows personalities to broaden their radio chops. I’ve worked with solo jocks that picked up hosting skills through podcasting. Which in turn allowed them to be considered for morning show host positions instead of just co-host, sidekick or other dayparts. I’ve also worked with on air personalities that had traditionally been type-cast