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(By Richard Davies) In the four-and-a-half years since leaving network broadcasting for podcasting, I have learned a thing or two, and un-learned a great deal more.
Above all I have been shot through with awe by five beautiful things about podcasts. Each one of them is part of what is unique about our growing medium.
1. Faced with a cornucopia of choices, podcast listeners choose to listen to you. Instead of tapping the remote or casually switching on the radio, they make an intentional up-front investment of time. Considering that podcast discovery is the chaotic audio equivalent of a twenty-block-long unsorted, overcrowded magazine rack, this in an incredible tribute to you and your project. Despite all the odds, your podcast has somehow found itself into their ears. It’s not on in the background and because of this, your audience is more likely to be present than passive. There is a direct connection between host and listener.
2. Unlike broadcasting, everyone starts at the beginning of a podcast episode. They don’t dive in half-way through. Most people listen on their own. This allows podcast creators to construct a story, knowing that if they engage the audience, you will be with them from beginning to end. There’s no need for the radio “re-set”— giving listeners a time check, and reminding them about the subject of the interview. The intimacy of podcasting allows for a deeper narrative.
3. Listeners aren’t distracted by video images. And writers don’t have to bend their stories to line-up with the most compelling pictures. Too often important stories and ideas are deemed boring for television because producers and script writers don’t have exciting video to use. Some of the finest and most intimate podcasting is just one solitary human speaking to you— the sound coming from tiny speakers in your ears. Another comforting thought for wrinkled oldies like me: We have the same chance to connect with listeners as a bright young face with perfect teeth. And we don’t have to worry about our wardrobe and dress sense.
4. Podcasting is a blue jeans, not a business suit medium. It began from the bottom up, not the top down. Today, despite the entry of giant media companies and venture capitalists, some of the best and brightest podcasts are indies: produced by a team of two or three or four people with a very small budget, who are motivated by passion over profit. Unlike broadcasters, podcast producers don’t have to get a approval from network or station gatekeepers.
5. There are no rules! One of our “How Do We Fix It?” episodes was twelve minutes, another, 37. Many of the hundreds of thousands of podcasts that are in production have small, highly specialized, niche audiences. While some teams carefully construct everything they do, others allow spontaneity to take listeners on a joyful, surprising, unscripted ride.
Yes, there are obstacles and frustrations for anyone who produces a podcast, but all of us are blessed to be part of something, that at its best, has the power to make the world a better place. And that is beautiful indeed.
Richard Davies is a podcast narrator, producer and consultant. He is executive producer and co-host of the weekly solutions journalism podcast, “How Do We Fix It?”.