The Jag Show

The Daily from the New York Times -one of the biggest, and in my opinion, best, podcasts out there is expanding.  They're going to offer a daily 10 minute recap of the day's headlines.  But in this week's rollout, they are doing something right, AND something wrong.

Here's what they're doing right - they are promoting the show on their flagship podcast.  The best way to grow your show is by targeting other podcast listeners.  It's t...

Yes, I'm a 42 year old man and I'm recording this podcast while wearing a pair of my new Lululemon pants.  And I found them the same way most people find podcasts.

Look, we all know the pandemic changed EVERYTHING.   From food delivery to media consumption to...PANTS.  As a recent New York Times Op Ed said - the best things to come out of Covid are "soft pants."  I've been working from home since 2018, and my wife has since March 20...

We've all been there as podcasters.   We finish our interview, we sign off, and the guest sends us an email and says, "oh, can I add something?"

What's important to remember in podcasting is that, in most cases, this isn't hard-hitting "gotcha journalism."  We aren't out to GET our guests or catch them with their pants down.  Usually, we are highlighting them, or something interesting and relatable about their story.  In fact, getti...

Two things that will be central to growing your podcast in 2023  are a YouTube channel and an email list.

First, YouTube.  Now don't be scurred.  If you're camera shy, this doesn't mean you need to shoot video of your podcast.  There are tools like Headliner and others that will take the AUDIO of your show, and either your show or episode artwork or an image of your choice, add one of those moving waveforms and boom, it's a video f...

I grew up a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan.  Every April, we thought, "this could be the year."  Until it wasn't.  But in honor of what used to be our national pasttime, today I'm going to tell you what podcasting and baseball have in common.

When you start your show, it's April.   You've got big dreams.   You're going to be the next Serial, or the next Joe Rogan.  You're going to get millions of downloads, and sell enough ads to quit...

To paraphrase a great philosopher of the early 2000's.....FINALLY.....The Jag Show....has come back....to podcasting.

First, apologies for the hiatus.  I've spent much of the last six months on a passion project - the WJPZ at 50 podcast - interviewing alumni from a half century of my college radio station.  Look for a case study on that show soon in this space.

Also, on Tuesday, April 4, I'll be co-presenting "How to Launch a Podca...

Hey everyone, it's been a minute.  Gonna break down the last month or so of podcast news and look forward to 2023.

First, a programming note.  Yes, I've "pod faded" with this show a bit.   That's largely because I've been dedicating a lot of time to a passion project, a show called WJPZ at 50.   It celebrates 50 years of the radio station at my alma mater, Syracuse University.  We are releasing interviews with alumni every Monday, W...

It's been awhile since we did a recap of news in the podcasting world - so I'm gonna share some headlines that have grabbed my attention over the last month or so:

The biggest story is Edison Research's Spoken Word Audio report, released at the end of October, and surveying Americans ages 13 and up.  Some of the key takeaways: 131 million Americans listen to Spoken Word Audio daily, that's up 25% since 2014.   Also, 29% of all audio...

A great way to promote your podcast is in other podcasts.  It's what's known as a "Feed drop."  If you can work out a trade with a similar podcaster, you can promote each other's shows.    The old adage is "fish where the fish are."  It's a lot easier to land a podcast listener from another podcast than it is from a social media channel.  They're already on their podcast app!

With that in mind, here's a demonstration of how that wor...

My wife and I are back from a week in Disney World with some friends, and a lot of the things they do there can apply to you and your podcast.

Now I realize Disney has about a 90 year head start on you, and 50 for Disney World specifically.  Nor do you have a multi-billion dollar marketing machine and 4 generations of super fans at your disposal.  But here are 8 takeaways from the Mouse House that you can scale down to your podcast.

TikTok continues to out-innovate (and out-grow) other social media apps.  And podcasting could be their next feature.

PodNews, via AudioMeans, reports that there is a new "bot scraping our feeds." Or, in English, another party is starting to look at our podcasts.  And it traces back to TikTok servers.  Details are scant so far, but this makes total sense.   TikTok has been rapidly gaining on other social media apps, so it only makes...

The big news in podcasting this week was Spotify canceling 10 shows from its Parcast and Gimlet studios, leading to a layoff of just under 5% of its workforce.  And it's all because of...greed.

 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/spotify-cancel-podcasts-parcast-gimlet-1235234758/

These shows are Spotify exclusives. While it's true Spotify is one of the biggest players in podcasting, they are far from the only game in ...

I really don't want this to be a podcast where I talk about radio, an industry I left in 2017 after almost 20 years.  But for the second straight week, we've got a radio company who's trying to break podcasting.

Last week it was iHeartRadio, and their sketchy practice of buying podcast downloads as ads in video games.  How sketchy was that? Well depends on who you ask.   This week, it's Audacy, formerly Entercom, and CBS Radio befor...

Is iHeart scamming the podcasting industry?  That's the implication of an article this week that was widely discussed in the podcasting world.

The story is from Bloomberg and written by Ashley Carman, one of the most respected reporters in our industry. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-27/inside-podcasters-explosive-audience-growth

Advertising buys in podcasting are based on audience size - downloads and streams.  Acco...

Yesterday, I went to the North American International Auto Show, known to locals here as the Detroit Auto Show, or just the Auto Show.  And it reminded me of a common question I get from podcasters - when should I release my new episodes?

Now, whether you release, weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever, the key to growing your show is consistency.  As your show grows, your listeners will learn when to expect new content - whether that'...

Did you see 16 year old Shane Hawkins pay tribute to his dad at the recent Foo Fighters tribute to Taylor Hawkins?  Well, turns out how you heard about it and how you watched and reacted to it - can teach us a lot about podcasting.

How did you hear about it?  For me, it was a combination of social media post after social media post, and hearing friends talk about it.    Was it the same for you?  Did you run to YouTube to see it?  Or...

Welcome to Season 4 of the Jag Show. We're going to start with what I learned this year at Podcast Movement, and how you can improve your show.

The first thing you should know about is video.   Your show needs to be on YouTube.  According to Edison Research, 48% of the podcast audience has consumed a show on YouTube.   So even if your show is audio only, put a graphic, or an audiogram with a moving waveform up, and upload that audio...

You may have noticed that it's been awhile since I've come out with a new episode of this podcast.  And for that, I apologize.  I've often talked about "PodFade" in this show - it's when after a certain number of episodes, a podcast falls down your priority list.   Well, it happened to me.  Today, I'm going to tell you how it happened, and what I'm doing about it.

My wife and I are doing a lot of traveling this year - call it pent u...