Bitrate: Recent Episodes

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The one in which we say goodbye.

What!?

Brendan just bought his first house! He’s super excited and has a bunch of remodels planned.

But wait, goodbye?

Burnout and self-preservation have brought Mark and Brendan to a point where they need to put BitRate away, at least for a while. We’ll see.

Replay the BitRate burnout series

1. Endings
2. A gap in the Market, with Mathew Passy of CausePods
3. Formats Matter, with Dan Misener of Pacific Content
4. Production and Editing, with Drew Ackerman of Sleep With Me
5. Audience and Community, with Jenna Spinelle of Democracy Works
6. Managing expectations, with Yuvi Zalkow of Nerotic Tornado
7. Podcasting’s Darkest Timeline

Now what?

Well, as we learned from this past series, it’s a good idea to plan ahead and think through if it’s right to start a new podcast or project.

…So mostly likely we’ll start a new podcast right away.

Oh look at this! steadman.io/podcast

And for one last time, until next time, Mark and Brendan pontificate about the future of the podcast industry.

Last of the links

• Brendan’s remodeling
• Spotify buys Gimlet and others

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find 🙈 Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian

Find 🧔🏻 Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

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Yuvi Zalkow, author, developer, video creator, and podcaster, is in Brendan’s apartment and shares his experience with failure and persistence.

When starting a new project, how does one decide what format to do the project in?

Each format can lead to different feelings of overwhelm. Hopping from one to another can also be fatiguing.

What should one do about having to take time when podcasting?

It’s OK to not podcast, sometimes. Instead of framing it as “taking a break” from the podcast, another option is to think of the podcast in terms of seasons or series, where there will inherently be downtime to recuperate.

Take care of yourself out there.

Links links links!

• Castro, the podcast app with the light switch
• Embedded
• Beware of the Leopard
• Nobody Asked for This

Experience all that Yuvi Zalkow has to offer

• His videos
• His apps
  • NeuroticStix
  • Say the Thing
• His podcast Neurotic Tornado
• His book A Brilliant Novel in the Works

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find 🙈 Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian

Find 🧔🏻 Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout where we end the podcast. Wait, what?

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

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Jenna Spinelle of Democracy Works helps us get a grip on community engagement, and podcast promotion.

What’s a good way to receive feedback from your audience?

Set up a contact form on the podcast website and direct listeners there. The form can have specific questions and details that a listener might not think to mention but could be very helpful, more so than 280 characters of 😡!

What about engaging with the community?

Twitter is just one-on-one, maybe one-on-some. A Facebook page is uninviting. A Facebook group is a lot of work. A subreddit can be hard to get an audience going.

Slack or Discord is a great semi-public controlled community. And you may already be there for work collaboration anyway! Feel free to join the Podcast Advocate Network Slack if you want to talk podcasts or production.

What are good promotional tools?

Promo or episode swaps are free and can help you share audiences with similar podcasts.

And any interview suggestions?

Fidget toys can distract the monkey brain just enough but not take the mind completely away.

Taking notes can enhance presence while giving the hand something to do.

Improv lessons can teach the most important rule, “yes and”.

Those sweet links

• Zac Brown Band
• Trump on Earth podcast
• Pacific Content’s blog post on promo swaps work

Find Jenna Spinelle on the Democracy Works podcast.

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find 🙈 Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian

Find 🧔🏻 Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout with guest Yuvi Zalkow.

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• What is Democracy? :: Zeitgeist Films
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation
• Deliberative democracy - Wikipedia
• Trump on Earth Podcast
• Big World podcast | American University, Washington, DC
• Podcast cross-pollination: 6 lessons from a hacker podcast episode swap

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Drew Ackerman from the Sleep With Me podcast joins the boys to discuss the trials and tribulations of podcast production.

What is your worst case podcasting scenario?

Well, Drew Ackerman has a story for you! Sometimes, so many things go wrong, that it’s just better to scrap it and re-record the episode.

Drew’s podcast production cycle

Pre-production

• Brainstorming
• Taking notes
• Writing a script
• Editing the script

Production

• Recording the episode
• Rough mix
• Rough audio edit

Post-production

• Hand off to editor
• Listen through
• Make note or additional edits
• Mix for broadcast
• Post to fans/Patreon

Post-post-production

• Take listener feedback
• Make adjustments if needed
• Post to the actual feed

That’s all.

What kind of feedback can you expect on an episode?

If you’re Drew, it could be anything from the messages explaining the impact – large and small – your work has had on your listeners. It might also just be something mean that you should ignore.

How much does, can, and should, feedback affect the actual podcast?

Feedback can inspire and educate to enhance the podcast, but it can also make one more aware of what they’re saying, how open they’re being, and make one ask oneself if they want to share certain details or thoughts.

Everyone’s favorite, the links section

The New Yorker article Drew mentions about how a short-order cook’s brain works:

Congratulations!

Sleep With Me wins Best Health Podcast in the iHeartRadio Podcast awards.

Check out Drew Ackerman online:

• @dearestscooter on Twitter
• And also @dearestscooter on Instagram
• The Sleep With Me podcast
• And if you have trouble sleeping but don’t want to listen to Drew to get to sleep, say no thankyou

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find 🙈 Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian.

Find 🧔🏻 Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout with guest Jenna Spinelle.

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Sleep With Me: The Podcast that Puts You To Sleep with Drew Ackerman
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

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Dan Misener from Pacific Content expounds on his prolific experience and expertise of trying and testing podcast ideas.

How does one construct a branded podcast, or podcast with brands?

It can’t be an infomercial, but the competition isn’t other branded podcasts, it’s all free content, so it needs to be genuinely good content.

What aspects of podcasting lead to burnout?

Podcasting takes a lot of time! It’s a huge commitment. It’s helpful to have a production team. And set goals to make sure it’s still what it should be. Think about your motivations to make a podcast, and set your goals accordingly.

Can the motivations to want to podcast change?

Absolutely, and hopefully they do! Format and process. Find where is the podcast on the scale of Jeopardy to Game of Thrones, and think of how that affects how the podcast should be produced, and how people will want to consume it.

Are there other tips for production that will help prevent burnout?

Make notes and do as much pre-work at the time of recording. It may be weeks – or months in this episode’s case – before the episode is edited and shownotes are written, so having contemporaneous notes will save a lot of time and lessen fatigue.

I did not take notes at the time, so I need to listen to the whole podcast again to get the good stuff. 🙈 That’s OK though, for me, ‘cause this is such great advice it’s good to hear multiple times.What if there’s a podcast idea, but it feels too overwhelming to even start?

Test it! Try just a couple of episodes with no intention to release. Iterate. They can always be released later as a special or one-off, but find out if the chemistry even works.

All those quality links:

• Hackable by McAfee
• Pacific Content is making original content with brands.

Find Dan Misener

• On Twitter @misener
• Listen to his hobby podcast Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids
• and read his amazing newsletter for Pacific Content

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian

Find Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout with guest Drew Ackerman of the Sleep With Me podcast.

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective

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Mathew Passy of CausePods, the Podcast Consultant, and Audit My Podcast, shares what to keep in mind when starting a podcast.

Does the podcast you create fill a void? If it does, who does it fill it for?

Don’t start a podcast if you just want to start a podcast. Have a mission. Do it for a reason. Start a podcast because you have something to say, and because podcasting is the best way to say it.

What is a gap in the market?

There may be a ton(ne) of podcasts similar to what one wants to make. As an independent creator, the podcast must be smaller, tighter, more focused, more niche than any others on the market, in order to succeed… depending of course on the metrics for “success”.

How does one plan to fill that need well?

The way you can really feel if the podcast actually matters: #engagement! You may be getting likes and retweets, but if no-one is actually talking to or about the podcast, it may not be fitting into a niche well.

What kind of research is needed to answer these questions?

Advice for using Reddit – or any social media, but especially Reddit because it can be a great tool – is this: read the rules. Take 5 minutes and read the rules for the forum, or the Facebook group, or wherever you want to promote. And engage on other posts; be a part of the community.

Links to things we mention:

Casting Call by Gimlet may have been a disappointment, especially considering the “winning podcast” hasn’t come out yet. If you’re interested in MultiLevel Marketing, Brendan highly recommends: The Dream about pyramid schemes.

Please check out Mathew Passy’s amazing lineup of work:

• Get podcast consulting
• If you have a podcast already, try Audit My Podcast
• Listen to his current podcast CausePods
• Or check out some of his other great podcasts.

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian.

Find Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout with guest Dan Misener from Pacific Content.

More links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Horse Radio Network
• The Dream
• The Casting Call show about money
• CausePods

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We’re back, for a limited series on burnout. Please join us as we talk with each-other and some podcast luminaries about how podcasting can be a drag sometimes, and make us want to quit(!), but that we love it so much that we just can’t leave. It’s the best of abusive relationships.

Here are some of the topics for today’s episode!

What inspired Mark to quit Twitter?

We discuss how Twitter can be toxic – and we’re not even talking about nazis – how just having an account can be tiring. There’s a constant feedback, and lack of feedback, that can lead one to us wasting so much time and energy on something that will never be fulfilling.

What inspired Mark to post this to Facebook?

…I’ve deactivated my Twitter account today in an effort to re-shape my attitude to creativity. I’ve got some ideas for creative pursuits in 2019 and I won’t be making them for the shadowy panel of judges that sits in my head. It’s not for them; it’s for someone else. (This includes podcasts… I think I’ve made my last for a while.)…Mark declares he’s made his last new podcast project for a while. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Why is it so hard to declare that something is done?

Subscribers! We want to keep that audience, of course. But is it worth it? And what do we owe to, or are we owed from them, if anything? How do we say goodbye?

When does one end a podcast?

When it’s no longer fun. Simple as that. Maybe before…

What inspired this talk about burnout

Brendan found it very hard to come back to BitRate, and any of his other projects, because just thinking about podcasting was overwhelming. Here’s the article that inspired this series.

Do you leave it up or delete it?

Keep it up! It will always have value. Archive.org is a helpful resource to move your ended podcast to, so it can continue to be hosted online but not a drain on your resources.

Find @BitRatePod on Twitter, or at bitratepod.com.

Find Brendan @ThePodPlaylist on Twitter or at Podchaser.com as the new Podcast Librarian.

Find Mark at Podiant or at Steadman.io, his spiritual home on the web.

Listen to the next episode for another great discussion on podcast burnout with guest Mathew Passy, the Podcast Consultant.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Self-Preservation in the Age of Podcasting – Bello Collective
• How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation

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While the show is on hiatus, Mark can’t keep away from the mic so he’s embarked on a daily podcasting challenge. This is what it sounds like.

The best camera is the one you have with you at the time. The same can often be said of podcasting, if the mood is right. So make sure you pack a device that can record good-quality audio from you and your subject.

Links

• Dog Days of Podcasting challenge
• Mixdown - the show for podcasters with deadlines
• Zoom H1 portable recorder
• Podcast hosting with Podiant

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The illustrious Tom Merritt from Daily Tech News Show and Cordkillers joins us to talk about Acast, audience engagement, brie and more!

We also received an email from Joachim Robert who created Cast Rewinder. This cool tool allows you to drop in a podcast feed, set the starting episode and frequency, and obtain a new feed to use in your podcast app, so you can catch up on old episodes! Brendan has already started using it to re-listen to Harmontown. If you use this awesome tool, send us a tweet to @BitRatePod with the hashtag #CastRewinder. And if you’d like to see the code behind the site, check it out on GitHub.

Mark wasn’t able to listen to We Fix Space Junk because he put on a podcast festival! Check out the feed of episodes, and subscribe.

Brendan asks Mark about all the podcast recommendations to find out which pods Mark has stuck with out of

• Conversations With People Who Hate Me
• Doug Loves Movies
• Dissect recommended by Kevin Goldberg
• The Fall of the House of Sunshine
• We Have Concerns (Rest in peace. Use Cast Rewinder to start over from the beginning!)
• Work Life recommended by Bradley Davis
• The Incomparable Game Show (including the text adventure episodes)
• Sleepover by CBC recommended by Dan Lizette
• ZigZag
• We Fix Space Junk

Brendan will be going to XOXO, a festival for creatives in Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth, Milky Way, etc. If you are going to be there, reach out! Brendan is in the XOXO Slack group, and will be hanging out at the festival with his wife, Sarah.

BitRate is now on Spotify! If you’d rather listen there, have friends that only listen there, or are interested to listen on smart speakers, have at it.

This is the last episode of BitRate for a bit. We’re taking a little break, but we will be back. Stay subscribed for occasional mini-episodes. But for now, thanks for listening. You are amazing. Seriously.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser

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Aaron Wong from Nobody Asked for This, Holler Presents, and the band Downtown, joins Brendan and Mark to discuss being new to podcasts, initial discovery, the new Google Podcasts app, and the question of whether we need a “Netflix of podcasts”.

The trio reveal their thoughts on the previous recommendation of Sleepover by CBC, and The Incomparable Game Show.

Brendan recommends Mark try the podcast We Fix Space Junk, an audio drama about a space mechanic with an odd mission. The first season is out now; take a listen.

We talked about the good and bad of Google’s Podcast app, and Brendan did the math(s) to see if that app was actually going to bring 4x the audience as iOS. Results: it might.

Fast Company says that there is room for someone to come in as the “Netflix of podcasts”., and Birchtree has a counter argument. Marco Arment agrees with Birchtree and the group pontificates about how a Netflix (or Blue Apron?) for podcasts would help or hurt the industry.

Check out Aaron’s band Downtown or his music podcast Nobody Asked for This and his improv comedy podcast Holler Presents.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Host-read ads most effective: Nova releases 'Podcasting Intelligence Report' | radioinfo
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• storybreak stars<
• How to synchronize podcasts between Google Podcasts and Google Home | Android Central
• Is Google really bringing 4 times the audience?
• We Fix Space Junk
• It’s Not “Netflix for Podcasts,” It’s More Like “This Site Only Works in IE6” – BirchTree
• RadioPublic opens up a new investment platform so individual users can get a stake » Nieman Journalism Lab
• Holler! Presents: by Holler! on Apple Podcasts - Aaron's improv podcast
• Downtown - Aaron's pop punk band
• Cosmo Sheldrake

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Dan Lizette of The Podcast Digest joins the conversation about podcast culture.

Mark shares concerns about a previous recommendation, and reveals his thoughts on Brendan’s latest suggestion, which Dan chimes in about after his recent interview with Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant.

Brendan suggests Mark try a podcast he’s tried before… The Incomparable Game Show. But maybe he’ll like it more this time. Recommended episodes:

Text adventure:

• 21: Light Lamp
• 33: Exits Are Unknown
• 55: There Is a Sign Here
• 82: It’s Meatloaf Day!

Family Feud style:

• 87: You Shall Not Pass (Answers based on Incomparable listeners, including me! Part one.)
• 88: Pantheon of Muppets (Part two!)

Dan shares a recommendation as well: Sleepover by CBC.

Podcast discovery is the big topic of the day, of every day really, if you think about it, and the group discusses IsItGood, a new startup with initial funding to give algorithmic recommendations, and Podchaser just finished their seed funding round. More new, well-rated podcasts are coming to your ears soon.

Dan shares his story about booking great guests on podcasts, and provides some helpful tips for aspiring podcasters.

Plus, what do we think about podcasts about podcasts?

Subscribe to Dan’s show to hear Dan interview the creators of In the Dark, right as the finale of season two comes out.

Links

• Google launch Google Podcasts app
• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• New app seeking to be the "Rotten Tomatoes for podcasts" readies for launch - Baltimore Business Journal
• Podchaser Inc Closes on Seed Round, Plans to Shape the Future of Podcasting - Podchaser Blog
• The MuffinWorks Podcast Universe infographic mentioned by Brendan
• The Podcast Digest - Dan's show

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A new favorite podcast is added to the list, #MeToo extends into podcasts, the Google Podcasts app is actually out now, beware of Anchor (possibly), and how much is too much when it comes to re-listening to podcasts?

Mark reveals his thoughts on We Have Concerns after listening to several episodes. Brendan shares ZigZag as the next podcast contender to be Mark’s favorite show (a successor to Note to Self by Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant on their “StartUp” type quest to document the creation of a podcast company, but with the blockchain).

♪ Bitcoin is Blockchain’s baby! ♬

Google Podcasts is now in the Play Store. If you have an Android phone that can run it, please let us know what you think, @BitRatePod on Twitter. Mark has ordered a new phone and will report back next week. If it arrives in time.

Brendan and Mark tread lightly as they discuss the indirect accusations against Chris Hardwick from Chloe Dykstra, accusations that Hardwick has denied. We have no place to weigh in on this, but felt that it should be at least mentioned, and our disappointment noted.

Justin McLachlan on Twitter read through the terms of service for the podcast host and app Anchor, and has a long thread with notable highlights about how Anchor “owns the rights” to user content and that the user must pay for any legal fees if Anchor is sued. We have thoughts (and up-to-the-minute followup).

On lighter topics, Brendan is concerned that he listens to himself too much, and Mark helps Brendan feel a little less narcissistic.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• ZigZag podcast
• Stable Genius
• Google Podcasts launches on Android
• Chloe Dykstra's statement about a prominent podcaster
• Chris Hardwick's rebuttal
• The Anchor terms of service thread
• Anchor's CEO's reply
• Daniel Lewis' audio diary entry

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Mark reveals his thoughts on The Phenomenon, and receives a new recommendation for his next favorite podcast from Brendan.

Brendan is really excited about the updates coming to the Apple Podcasts app in iOS 12, for one specific reason. And Mark provides the clarification as to why it’s not even the biggest update.

Google is following Apple’s path of moving from the music app to a dedicated podcasts app, but Mark and Brendan don’t have the details yet.

Brendan has just released a great episode of Serendipity City, and is just starting work on season 2 of Unplaced, while Mark has a new workflow to keep him busy and up-to-date on all his podcast editing, including this one. Enjoy the editing on this show? Check out Podiant Productions to see if it‘s a good fit for your podcast.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• The Phenomenon
• We Have Concerns
• Apple Podcasts changes in iOS 12
• Google to launch podcast app in Android's Play Store
• Podcasting is generating how much revenue?
• Support Unplaced season 2 on Indiegogo
• Serendipity City

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Mark chatted with Jason Reed of the Stop and Search podcast, which picked up two silvers at this year’s British Podcast Awards.

They talked about the night itself, joining Scroobius Pip’s podcast network, and coming together like a bunch of Transformers to fight Megatron… or are they Megatron? No, they’re the good guys. We’ll get back to you on that.

Mark and Brendan will be away for a couple of weeks, but will be back to the usual show very soon.

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser
• Speech Development Records - Scroobius Pip's website
• DrunkCast #182
• Partly Political Broadcast
• The Dream Factory
• Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd
• Law Enforcement Action Partnership UK

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Praise and critique for audio dramas, AudioBoom goes boom (maybe), and banter about Banter.

In the continuing saga to find Mark a new favorite podcast, he reveals he has subscribed to one recommendation, and completed a whole season of another. Progress!

This week Brendan suggested The Phenomenon, an audio drama based on a book by the same name about aliens and the secret society humans devised as humanity’s safegaurd.

Mark elaborates on how a patent troll has failed and the history of AudioBoom, the latter of which is facing severe financial troubles at the moment after a failed merger.

In response to last week’s discussion with Bradley about social podcast apps, Twitter user @LonelyBob suggested Banter! We are enjoying the app and we discuss the features that seem to be working well. On Banter, 🙈 is @ThePodPlaylist and 🧔🏻 is @iamsteadman, as any reasonable person would expect. Join us!

🙈 Brendan hopes you’ll support the IndieGoGo for season 2 of Unplaced, the audio drama he edits and writes the music for.

The call to action!

Podchaser is running a contest to raise awareness of their review sharing feature. If you review an episode or podcast, say… BitRate for example, and share that review on social media (tagging in @podchaser and using the hashtag #chasingpods), you’re entered to win a pair of CAD Audio headphones!

For every episode you review of BitRate, we are entered to win a new microphone, so we can sound better for you! (or really just 🙈, ‘cause he’s in the US and needs the mic more.)

It would not only be an ego boost, but it’s an oppertunity for us both to get free audio gear! So happy reviewing!

Links

• Follow the show on Twitter
• 🙈 Follow Brendan on Twitter
• 🧔🏻 Follow Mark on Twitter
• Rate and review us on Podchaser

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Bradley Davis, the creator of Podchaser, joins Mark and Brendan to discuss how much data podcasts provide to podcast makers, podcast apps, and the podcast industry.

Cold Open Inside Joke Twitter Thread

Bradley and Brendan suggest new podcasts Mark has never heard in the ongoing quest to find Mark’s new favorite show, and Mark provides feedback on previous recommendations.

Bradley gives his 60 second explanation for why podcasts should not be completely free and ad-supported.

Follow up: what did Mark think about the recommended podcasts so far?

• Conversations With People Who Hate Me
• Dissect
• Doug Loves Movies

Bradley and Brendan offer new podcast suggestions:

Bradley: Work Life - An organizational psychologist who evaluates teams around the world to see how they work together. A different take on the business podcast.

Brendan: The Fall of the House of Sunshine - Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog meets Repo! The Genetic Opera meets Greg the Bunny set on a kids’ TV show about dentistry.

Podcast app shake-up

PocketCasts / NPR consortium compared to Overcast, RadioPublic and other podcast apps.

What does this mean for NPRone? Does anyone use that?

Anyone know about RAD? What are our thoughts about tracking?

What apps do we use and why?

The data email and podcasts can get from us

Email newsletters are able to see who is subscribed, if they open, and what they click on.

Podcasters are able to see… download numbers… and don’t even know if an episode is played.

Do we want podcasters to have more anonymous information about us?

(If you enjoy newsletters about podcasts, you can subscribe to the Podcast Advocate Newsletter for recommendations, podcasting tips, industry news, and more.)

Online ratings, the five star system, and anonymous reviews

What do we think about rating and reviewing podcasts online? Is it helpful? Does anyone find a new podcast from a review?

Plus, custom lists are coming Podchaser!

Are podcasts sustainable?

Is the ad model for funding podcasts sustainable? Should podcasts always be free? Brendan hopes so. Brad says no.

Thanks for joining us Bradley!

Find Bradley on Twitter and at Podchaser.com.

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Kevin Goldberg of discoverpods.com joined the conversation with Mark Steadman and Brendan Hutchins to discuss marketing a podcast correctly.

Kevin and Brendan share a recommendation each to Mark to help him find his next favorite podcast. Today’s recommendations are:

• Kevin - Dissect, breaking down a hip-hop album and producer, a serialized music podcast.
• Brendan - Doug Loves Movies, a movie panel show in front of an audience with comedians playing trivia games and talking about movies.

The Habitat and Sandra by Gimlet are discussed in detail, including spoilers, so listen for the spoiler honk and if you haven’t listened already, be warned, because this group has opinions!

Kevin explains how Brendan and Mark are doing fine, but should really be marketing podcasts to the 60% majority of people who aren’t yet listening to podcasts. Podcasters should use traditional marketing tactics to get more listens, views, and engagement.

Lastly, Kevin helps us understand what it’s like to take all the things podcasters say and turn that into text to be read on a website.

If you would like to leave a rating and review in Apple Podcasts, we’ll try to remember to give you a shout out on the following episode. Thanks for listening and sharing. It means the world.

Links

• Dissect – A Serialized Music Podcast
• Doug Loves Movies
• The Habitat by Gimlet Media
• Sandra by Gimlet Media
• Why Isn't Anyone Marketing Podcasts Correctly? | Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods
• Exclusive: Inside The New Google Podcasts Strategy That Could Double Audiences Worldwide
• Disgraceland
• Consider leaving us a review
• Never Seen it
• Gimlet’s Casting Call Podcast- Discover Pods
• Phoebe Judge | WUNC
• About Lookalike Audiences for Facebook ads | Facebook Help Centre
• For a list of podcast guerrilla marketing techniques and link, the PAN starter kit.
• The podcast about Used Car Salesmen that Brendan couldn’t remember: Planet Money - Episode 836: The Rational Madness Of The Used Car Salesman

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Mark and Brendan discuss Google’s plans to bring podcast joy to Android users, and delve into friend-of-the-show Ma’ayan Plaut’s comprehensive article on podcast feedback.

🧔🏻 Mark is also looking for a new favourite show, so tweet #bitrate with your suggestions!

Links

• Gimlet's new fiction podcast Sandra
• Gimlet's new reality show style podcast The Habitat
• Conversations with People Who Hate Me
• Use #BitRate to reach us on the Twitters
• What’s There and What’s Not: A Guide to Constructive Criticism for Podcasts
• Thread: - Mark's casual conversation comedy podcast
• Beware of the Leopard - Mark's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy podcast
• Brendan's announcement of Podcast Playlist hiatus
• Please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! 😉
• Nobody Asked for This - Brendan's music podcast
• Brendan’s very silly and US centric tweet about Vox’s Today, Explained. Ugh. 🤦🏻‍♂️
• Exclusive: Inside the New Google Podcasts Strategy That Could Double Audiences Worldwide

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Brendan and Mark are joined by Arielle Nissenblatt, founder of the Earbuds Podcast Collective, to talk about listening to podcasts in a group, attending live recordings, conferences, meetups and more.

Links

• EarBuds Podcast Collective
• There Is No Good Card for This: What To Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love eBook: Kelsey Crowe, Emily McDowell: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
• Subcast - Product Hunt
• Glossary | Bitrate
• The beginning of a great twitter conversation about the word “podcast” and “audio drama vs fiction podcast” where Ma’Ayana comes around to the word podcast.
• The beginning of a great twitter conversation about the word “podcast” and “audio drama vs fiction podcast” where Ma’Ayana comes around to the word podcast.

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Mark and Brendan are joined by Jon Hickman of You Don’t Look Like a Runner and Thread: to follow up on what podcasts are called, the disconnect between magical video and mundane audio, and how online radio works in the UK.

Brendan and Mark also talk branded podcasts, Stphen Fry’s new Acast show and share their Smart Speed stats.

Links

• When We Were Very Young | Stephen Fry's Great Leap Years on Acast
• Nobody Asked for This - New season just started
• Branded Podcasts are Dead. – Pacific Content
• Brendan's super-long list of podcast about podcasting
• You Don't Look Like A Runner
• Beware of the Leopard - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy podcast
• Thread:

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Brendan 🙈 has uncovered some interesting stats from Acast and has things to say about podcast app user interfaces. Mark 🧔🏻 gets excited about news podcasts for millennials, and they both try and answer the question “when will audio dramas get their day?”

Links

• US 🇺🇸 podcast listener report by Acast
• Audible Feast -
• UK 🇬🇧 podcast activity report by Acast
• Wil Williams Reviews – Podcast News, Reviews, and Musings
• EarBuds Podcast Collective
• EarBuds Podcast Collective
• Endless Thread : NPR
• Homecoming by Gimlet Media
• Welcome to Podcast Enthusiasts United
• The Line Becomes A River: Amazon.co.uk: Francisco Cantú: 9781847924872: Books

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Ma’ayan Plaut, the Podcast Librarian & Content Strategist at RadioPublic, joins Brendan and Mark to talk about the world of podcasts and specifically the word “podcast”. Should that be the word to describe audio delivered over the Internet? What is it we are actually describing when we say “podcast”?

🙈 And yes, I (Brendan) put the punctution outside of quatation marks, because what is inside the quotes should be strickly what is quoted or reffered to; outside of the quotes has a different context. #WeHaveOpinions

Links

• Podcast Episodes on Podchaser
• RadioPublic - Free Podcasts
• Why we are introducing Paid Listens for podcasters on RadioPublic
• What is the Loyal Listener bonus? – RadioPublic
• Welcome to Cued Up – RadioPublic
• What does a Podcast Librarian do?
• Podcast - Wikipedia
• Origin of podcast - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
• Cued Up: the newsletter for podcast writers and critics
• This is the submission form for podcasters to submit their new podcasts or seasons. super, duper, excellent great if we learn about shows as soon as they have an RSS feed ready to go so we can start to support them immediately.
• The official BitRate podcast rebranding glossary!
• “TV is a nickname...”

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Welcome to a new podcast about podcasting.

Meet your hosts Brendan Hutchins and Mark Steadman.

Mark is the creator and developer of Podiant, a podcast hosting service, and host of Beware of the Leopard and co-host of Thread.

Brendan is the creator of Podcast Advocate Network and hosts Podcast Playlist and Nobody Asked for This.

In our first episode we examine the latest Infinite Dial report, and Podchaser’s collected insights on the future of the medium.

Links

• The Infinite Dial 2018: Podcast Listening - Edison Research
• Podcast Takeaways from The Infinite Dial 2018 Report | Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods
• Edison Research - Home
• 21 Podcast All-Stars Offer Insight & Predict the Future
• Today, Explained - Vox