Listening to podcasts is like eating a submarine sandwich. Making a podcast is like making a submarine sandwich. But too many podcasters try to make one like they eat one. Let's fix that.
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Do you eat a submarine sandwich (hoagie) from the middle? Of course not. That would be silly. You start eating at one end. And you keep eating from that same end until you reach the other end. Or until you give up, decide you don't care for it, run out of time to finish, or just stop when you've had your fill
That's exactly how podcasts are consumed. They're started from the front, not the middle. You listen from the beginning and you keep listening until you reach the other end. Or until you give up, decide you don't are for it, run out of time to finish, or just stop when you've had your fill.
Sandwiches and podcasting have something in common when we "eat" them. But not when we make them.
Sandwiches aren't assembled one bite at a time until they form a complete sandwich. But for a lot of podcasters, that's exactly how they make their podcasts. Because they don't know of any other way. Or they get turned on by all the new gear and software designed to make record-and-release podcasts.
Can you do that? Sure. But I don't think you should.
There are more appropriate places for the record-and-release style of audio, many of which didn't exist just a few years ago.
A linear style of producing spoken word, where you start at the beginning and progress until you get to the end, adding in the music, guests, co-hosts, segments, effects, and whatever else is needed in real-time... we call that live radio. Or live streaming. Or social audio. Or whatever comes next that makes it even easier just sit down and talk.
But I think we're already seeing a division in audiences and audience expectations. Those that want that kind of raw, in-the-moment experience. And those who want content that's been edited, shaped, and transformed into something that can only be experienced as a podcast.
Take a look at any ranker or chart and you'll see that today's podcast listeners are voting for the kinds of shows that take more time and care than can be put into a linear record-and-release style of show or platform.
That's what makes podcasting special. So let's keep doing more of that, please.
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released weekly, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.
It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.
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