Podcast Research

 

Before I will be able to make my own podcast I will start with research. I will look at two different forms of podcasts. I would like to focus on interview and solo podcast. I will discuss the topic, production elements and techniques used. I will talk about my general impression and think about which elements could I use in my own podcast. 

Interview podcast usually includes one or two hosts who speak with one o more guests in episode. The guests give ideas of particular subject. We can highlight expert interviews and entertainment one. 

First podcast that I consider interesting is interview podcast. It was rewarded by British Podcast Awards in 2018 and it's title is "Griefcast: Funny People Talking About Death". Each week host Cariad Lloyds talks to a different guests about their experiences of grief. 

Following the author Cariad Lloyd (2020): "Griefcast is a podcast that examines the human experience of grief and death - but with comedians, so it's cheerier than it sounds" and then we can find Telegraph newspaper opinion: "Balancing the funny with the awful is something that Griefcast does brilliantly". This podcast is example of interview podcast. 

While I listened this podcast I noticed elements such as introduction music, women voice that introduces the podcast, background music, the reason why she did the podcast, then breaks with music, I can hear good quality of the recording and then she started interview with introduction of their interviewers. Then she started interview and asking questions. Interviewers sharing their experience about grief and death. In several moments they are using high volume noise and laughing and it makes this podcast comedy. At the end there is a thanks for conversation and outro that informs when we can find the podcast. 

I can hear  effective story telling in a funny way but often dramatic and emotional, I see an interesting setting and there is reflection from the experience. Also I can hear great background music. All of these elements are good connected.  

Here is the link that you can listen to it: Griefcast

Another example of podcasts it is Mono-Cast/Solo podcast. I found interesting podcast made by Joanne Penn - a creative writer called " The Creative Penn Podcast for Writers". She is sharing parts from her book 'How to make a living with your writing: First principles'. This podcast lasts about twenty minutes. 

At the beginning we have the voice of the author with background music when she is introducing her podcast. Then she say about the date, and what she will be talking about. She is talking about her book and its chapters. The topic of the podcast is how to make the money being a writer. When she finished introduction I can hear break with music. Then she is reading her book. At the end we have outro music and summary of the podcast. Then she talk about where can we found her book and where to find her. Then she express hope to see the listeners next time. What is important there is no presence of any other people, just her. 

I discovered different types of  podcasts. Now I will know in which direction to go. Both interview and solo podcasts I consider interesting. I noticed different elements used in them. An idea for my podcast is slowly emerging my head. I can see Joanne Penn has a blog about creative writing and she is supporting her articles with podcasts. I think this a very good idea in terms of content writing. She made diversity of her content. Her work is not only accessible for readers. Not every people has too much time and then they have an option to choose podcast and listen to it. Then I think about nicely designed cover for 'Grief podcast'. It is no something sad but colorful. Quite interesting. As we know people in grief wearing black clothes to express his sad feelings. 

How I will implement the research to my work? 

Now I have clear idea how my podcast should look like. First is to think about the title of my podcast. Then think about the introduction music, next is to introduce myself. Then will be break with music. Then I will introduce my podcast and talk about it's topic. After I will do a break with music - I think about jingle or something similar. Then I will introduce my interviewers. Next will be to ask questions and listen the answers. At the end I will add outro music and say thanks for listening. At the end I will think about how to design my Podcast cover. 

In the next blog post I will do the brainstorm and start generating ideas about my podcast, I will think about it's topic and outline. 

Sources:

https://www.brafton.com/blog/video-marketing/types-of-podcasts/

https://castos.com/best-interview-podcasts/

https://chefcharlescarroll.com/2021/11/18/episode-245-adam-heath/

https://cariadlloyd.com/griefcast

https://podcasts.google.com/