Episode 14: It Sounds Like A Podcast
So many different types of people have dominated the presence of terrestrial radio. The two most common are the sound perfectionists and those who bring the performance no matter how messy the background.
Podcasting’s totally rewritten the rules on what is or isn’t broadcast quality. I love it when Conan O’Brien sits in the back of an airplane and pulls off a lengthy conversation. The roar of the jet in the background makes me feel like I’m sitting in the seat next to them. Whereas I’m was sort of OK with Amy Schumer’s kitchen conversations with three others.
It’s me with the problem! I’m not fond of the vocal echoes caused by a lack of sound proofing. NPR has always been brilliant with taking listeners somewhere without having to pull back. They can afford the extremely expensive equipment to not only record the reports but clean them up in post-production.
Where I become a sound perfectionist is when the background becomes what I’m listening to and not the physical conversation. Someone’s eating, ruffling papers, moving their chairs or the guest on the show has had no training what so ever on how to properly speak through a microphone.
The very second you slip a pair headphones on a newbee the physical sound of their voice casts ugly clouds on their willingness to truly let go. If they aren’t using phone then they’ve got no idea what volume they’re at on the show or how many popped P’s are smacking my ears.
This is why business decision makers and fresh new listeners have to have an adjustment period. To learn how to accept this new age of we’re doing a show even it sounds like I’m taking a cold shower on a cold summer day.
I don’t know why it took me 7 years but two months ago I grew extremely tired of trying to clean up sputters and spins of conversation so I whipped the equipment into 100% left and right channel capability. I’m on the right side the guest is on the left. Whoever burps or says yeah way too much is easy taken out making the conversation warmer.
One of my shows is called Unplugged and Totally Uncut. I’m call bull on that! The editing that goes into the show is a hardcore disciplined project. Your identity as a podcaster is determined one show at a time. The day you bust open a can of this is what you get is when your biggest listening audience will somehow find you that day and seriously decide if the episode fits within their day.
There’ve been many times I’ve had to pause podcasts to figure out what I’m doing wrong as a listener because trying to fit my square head in their round hole was turning into a battle.
My very good friend Nathan used to spend hours cleaning up his podcasts. I’d listen to them and feel like it was too sterile. Real people talk have ums in them. We stammer and say the wrong words. I like the feeling of knowing as a listener that those doing the talking are one of us. Then again, I’ve been known to march into my own podcast production and re-ask a question because it didn’t sound right.
The podcasts I never return to are those that hit play and record and whatever happens happens. I get it. Life as life. But there comes a time in every conversation where someone asks, “Where are the restrooms?” Another words they’ve chosen to bail.
I was talking to a friend the other day about knowing the end result of the question you haven’t asked. I’m a show prep whore. I dig for the junk in someone’s trunk that you’re not going to find on Eddie Trunks show. Rather than ask questions. I make statements. I’m sure my guests hate me for it. I send out a sentence then sit back and wait for them to reply. Nobody likes dead air. I said it. Now react to it.
Remember, as the producer I get to go back in and clean up the chop shop. But let’s get back to that. Knowing the end result of the question you haven’t asked. I never take my mind off the listener. It’s a radio thing that program directors shove so far up your system of choice that when you’re out here on your own flying by the seat of your pants it’s like damn it they were right!
How do you know the end result of a question you haven’t asked? If you did your homework correctly the process of getting answers should be a conversation not an interview. Podcasts sound like podcasts because everybody’s trying to one up the other. Letting your guest slip into conversation mode is a huge score because it’s no longer about the podcast. Every bit of your journey through thoughts should now be based on what’s taking place in the conversation. Listeners are fed the insert question here approach to news talk radio.
I have pages of show prep material and rarely get through it. Today while talking with Rock and Pop legend Dave Clark about the remixing of a Freddie Mercury song we totally got engaged into what was being shared rather than being investigated. I hate being interviewed! I’m such a smart ass on so much stuff that any answer given would be me trying to get the interviewer to stop scratching the surface and get into the soul.
I got the idea for this episode from the podcast Inside Conan which features the behind the scenes people of the show. What it’s really like to be a writer, music director to physically designing Conan’s suits. One of the guests chuckled at the hosts and simply said, “So this is what it sounds like to be on a podcast.”
Outsiders have no clue what to expect and those of us who’ve weaved it into the only suit we wear have learned to muster up story about who what why when and how we do what we do as podcasters. How should a podcast sound is a question that may never locate an answer. This is a no rules world of talkers and thinkers setting free the right to be independent and happy, sad, politically incorrect, completely into themselves and whatever other shape is made available on a daily basis.
So what’s the moral of the story? It’s very simple. Look before and beyond the performance. It’s too easy for me to say that bad podcasting is making the rest of us look wanna be radio people that can’t land a job at iHeart, Entercom or Fat Willie’s Broadcasting Headquarters and Suites.
It’s extremely easy to turn this into a hobby only because for 40 years all things in my life broadcasting have been my hobby. Cleaning the house and mowing the lawn is a job and I bitch at the image in the mirror everyday about hating what he expects.
Pay close attention to the distractions. As listeners there’s only one of us out here. The power of one on one theater of the mind is extremely present and as podcasters we have the will and the way to give them good breaks or another reason to push them away. Know the end result of the question you haven’t asked. There’s a much better chance that you won’t sound like a podcast.