Episode 15:
Posting Times
With so much
attention being spent on delivering weekly episodes, podcasting has taken its
first true step toward scheduled programming.
Legendary talkers and performers might disagree saying they’ve been
doing it for years. Which I won’t argue
with until we bring in today’s newer shapes and shades of podcast listeners.
It’s not
about leaping over to iTunes to lap up a few thoughts then spit out a
reaction. Podcast episodes are found
everywhere but does your chosen platform make it possible for new and old listeners
to add you to their schedule?
Because I
come from a 40 year radio career programming runs deep into my soul. I personally can’t stand uploading an episode
and letting it sit there for a week. I
program the platform like an over active network.
The idea
first hit me in 2013 when I realized the platform (if used right) takes
listeners automatically to the next episode then the next then the next. My time spent listening numbers were racing
like wild cats. Only to learn that
potential advertisers still had no clue how to utilize it for their marketing benefit. For the performer the idea of monetizing was
beginning to unfold but the majority of us continued to struggle how we can get
new age of listeners to meet us in the middle.
If you aren’t getting paid for your episodes Howard Stern calls your
podcast a hobby.
Programming
my 15 different podcasts has taken years of chance taking. Which podcast could survive as a weekly
feature versus daily uploading? The
biggest numbers always show up when I post up to five new episodes a day. One listener wrote to me and said “You’re my
daily newspaper. I listen to keep up
with television, a little political news, the latest books, movies, music and
whatever else someone has invented. It’s
never the same day twice. The variety
works.”
Unplugged
and Totally Uncut, The Choice and View From The Writing Instrument survive
quite well with constant change. The
Lyrics From Billy’s Forest and this show Pod-Crashing cannot. I’m not trying to sell anything. The other podcasts feature actors, musicians,
authors and creators that need to push a product. As the programmer of the podcast I make sure
they don’t come across as info-mercials.
We plant the seeds without having to pressure sell the listener. There’s never a call to action in any of the conversations.
Being the
Production Director for iHeart Media kept me firmly locked in on coming up with
newer ways to reach listeners. Sadly the
podcast industry continues to operate its commercials the same old fashioned
way. If they aren’t physically produced
then it’s an endorsement. Most of the
talent plug in their personality and try to come up with fun ways to be
entertaining but whewww not everyone’s a comedian.
Commercials
are still part of the programming. When
and where do you place them is just as important as when do you post your
podcasts? For many years I tried to
offset the posts. To try and pull off a
Ted Turner by freeing the episodes at five past the hour. A few months into the attempt I realized that
podcast listeners are listening in real time.
It’s during their time. That moment
when they happen to show up and plug in.
Posting five
new episodes a day on three of my fifteen podcasts is well thought out and
programmed. Episodes on Unplugged and
Totally Uncut start at 7am, 10, 1pm, 4 and 10.
View from the Writing Instrument are 8am, 11, 5pm, 8 then 11. The Choice starts at 9am, 12 noon, 3, 6 then
9.
Why? Well obviously it must work. It brings in the numbers. I just started posting episodes on a
different podcast at 2am and 5am. The
numbers aren’t really there. I’ll keep
trying but will probably begin leaning in on the open areas of daylight hours Eastern
Time.
My most
listened to hours are 4pm eastern to 3am, which is why I started landing new
material on the other show at what seems to be odd times. The most important part about programming
your podcast is that it’s there the moment the listener arrives. The reason why I don’t tune into favorite
episodes is because iHeart Radio doesn’t keep my list available. It’s always changing so I forget who I’ve
listened to and locate newer podcasts.
Which in all honesty is great programming on their behalf. It puts other talented talkers in front of
those who support the system.
So what’s
the moral of the story? Programming your
podcast sounds a little insane and could easily come across as a phobia. But!
Reaching my first million wasn’t handed to me. Every listen was earned because I took the
time to take chances while trying to utilize the wisdom learned while helping
to design and maintain terrestrial radio.
I come from an extremely programmed background and it’s had a very good
payoff.
Programming
episodes to show up every hour might be a little too much and yet the
information and content shared isn’t a one break per day delivery. There’s a lot of things happening around us
and when you tap into that vein it means you’ve got to keep up with the
managers and press agents on a mission or step aside and let someone else do
the job for you.
I get
it! Podcasting is about creating a niche. That’s like going to a hockey game and they’re
playing basketball. Do you stay or try
and find the ice? When listeners catch
onto your style and how it’s delivered they begin to show up and it’s up to you
to bring forward a loyal relationship.
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