The Podcaster's Guide to a Visible Voice

How are you using or avoiding artificial intelligence in your podcast? AI is a shiny new offering with loads of possibilities, but a lot of people are also understandably threatened by its wide-reaching and ever-growing abilities. On today’s episode, Mary connects with Amanda Cupido, an adjunct professor, TEDx speaker, podcast producer, and author of the book “Let’s Talk Podcasting.”

Amanda has her finger firmly on the pulse of all...

How can you take your guest episodes beyond a basic Q&A? When you think of a podcast, what comes to mind? If “a mic and two people talking” is your first thought, you’re in good company, but in this episode, Mary encourages you to expand that definition. Your show is about so much more than the interview. That one-time guest isn’t the person who keeps listeners coming back week after week—that’s you! So, how can you us...

What’s the right way to go about being a guest on other podcasts? When’s the last time you went on another show as a guest? As a podcast host, it’s easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day requirements of running a podcast. After all, you’re expected to find guests, record episodes, edit episodes, post everything online, and find fresh ways to get the word out.

Here’s the good news: being a guest on other podcasts is an excellent ...

Video has taken podcasting by storm, but how do you know if it's right for your show?
As a podcaster, how are you interacting with and utilizing video? More and more, we’re hearing about creators tacking on this visual element, and platforms like YouTube and Spotify are eagerly showcasing all the success stories of podcasters giving their audience a fresh way to consume content.

Sure, it’s relatively easy and inexpensive to get you...

How do you know if social media is really worth it? Social media inundates almost every aspect of our lives these days, from communicating with friends to deciding what to listen to, watch, or buy—all the way down the line to actually listening to, watching, and buying it. So, of course, many podcast creators worry that leaving social media behind is an enormous marketing faux pas.

But what if it isn’t? Amanda Laird is the marketin...

What shifts in podcasting have you noticed in the last few months? In the first episode of 2025, Mary dives right into the changes we’ve seen in podcasting just since last fall. More and more hosts are leaning into partisan politics and using their shows to share their thoughts and concerns with a huge audience. This has further legitimized the industry, similar to when celebrities started to don the mantle of podcast host several ...

How are your values guiding your voice, schedule, and future plans for your show? The holiday season is upon us, and that makes this the final 2024 episode of The Podcaster’s Guide to the Visible Voice! Throughout the year, Mary fields tons of questions about all things recording, speaking, and producing. So, here’s a round-up of some of the impossible-to-Google questions most podcast creators ask at some point.

How can you make your podcast more accessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing? It goes without saying that we don’t know what we don’t know. When it comes to how people with auditory differences—such as those who are deaf and hard of hearing—interact with our podcasts, the only way to learn how to do better and make those episodes more accessible is to ask. And that’s exactly what this episode does.

What could doing less look like for your podcast? Life is chaos these days. The hours often seem to fill up instantly with all the things on your plate, so don’t feel bad if publishing podcast episodes start to slide to the bottom of your to-do list. Stumbling on the podcasting flow is totally normal—and totally fixable. The good news is that you can cut back on your workload and still release an impactful, exciting show.

What can you do to keep your voice in tip-top shape? As podcasters, we use our voices a lot. Chances are, that essential instrument of yours has temporarily abandoned you in the past. Whether the symptom stems from getting sick or from overuse, waking up to croaks, rasps, or silence is an awful feeling, especially if deadlines or interviews are looming. In this timely episode, Mary returns to the mic on the heels of her own voice l...

How much do you prioritize your vocal health? Most of us, even if we work in the voice acting, podcasting, or broadcast industries, don’t think too much about our voices. But remember: if you don’t have a voice, you don’t have a podcast!

How do conversation skills make your podcast process more enjoyable? Even if we’re lucky enough to “do what we love,” work tends to have tedious aspects we don’t like. Craig Constantine is a passion podcaster who, through the creation of thousands of episodes and rigorous reflection, has built a workflow that simplifies every step of his method, from prep to publication.

How do you create clear and open communication with your podcast guest? Every podcast—and every episode, for that matter—has a lot of moving parts. As podcast hosts, we know that in order to stay organized, we need systems in place. But those systems should extend to more than your recording and editing tools, and how you publish your episode. You need systems in place for your guest interactions, too.

How do you make sure your show evolves along with your listener?
As an independent podcast creator, chances are you wear a lot of hats. You’re the host, of course, as well as the producer, the audio editor, the marketer, the designer… When you’re so focused on doing all the things for your show, it can be easy to forget that your podcast isn’t about you at all. It’s about your listener.

How can activating your beginner’s mind help you facilitate an authentic podcast experience? For many podcast hosts, the draw of creating a show is two-fold: we are eager to engage with and educate our listeners on topics we’re passionate about, and we look forward to the personal learning and professional development our interviews and solo episodes can foster.

How has being a podcaster changed how you listen? There are plenty of ways AI can make podcasters’ lives easier, but there’s one human ability Mary firmly believes AI will never be able to replicate (or at least not for a very long time): true listening. We humans have the incredible potential to distill the emotional impact underlying the words a person speaks. Artificial intelligence bots, on the other hand, can only...

How can we make sure your podcast is accessible to everyone? Everyone in the podcasting world is talking about accessibility these days, as more and more platforms release improved transcription services aimed at making the process easier for creators and meeting growing expectations around equitable access. Of course, AI tools are leading this charge, and simply publishing whatever that tool spits out—misspelled guest...

How can transcripts positively impact your podcast? Podcasts have always had an audio-first following, but as-is, audio isn’t accessible for everyone. In the wake of Apple Podcasts’ announcement to begin including transcripts with their latest update, it seems likely other platforms will begin to follow suit. This raises an important question for podcast creators: is it worth preparing transcripts for each of your epis...

How do you bring your humanity to your podcast? Sharing your voice isn’t always easy. Factor in the painstaking writing of your script or copy, all those edits and revisions, and some nerves about speaking into the mic, and even the most heartfelt story can wind up either flat and unemotional or encased in that “reporter voice” from the dawn of radio.