Radio people are spoiled

First of all, I really appreciate you being here. This is The Segue’s first issue.

Coming up on The Segue:

Here’s a sneak peek into future issues of The Segue:

• Your show is a startup, act like it.

• Podcasting Software: Call the engineer

• 720 degrees of marketing your podcast

• Podcast revenue: The account exec is underpaid

But first. Today’s issue…

Podcasting is harder for radio people

I remember when I first mentioned podcasts to radio colleagues (2005). It was always met with phrases like “that’s amateur,” or “it will take our listeners.” We’ve come a long way - but not far enough. Somehow we turned to the mentality of “We are audio. We need to own podcasting!” Yikes. That might be worse.

The reality is; us radio people are spoiled. Spoiled ROTTEN.

“No, Brad, I’m underpaid and engineering still hasn’t fixed the microphone processing I asked for last month. Don’t even get me started on sales.”

I hear you. But in podcasting, you’re the engineer, the personality, the sales team, the PR team, the boss, the intern - It’s all on you. From all the radio people I’ve helped segue into podcasting, this realization usually hits the hardest. Radio ain’t so bad, and that equipment I get to use every day costs a fortune! Thankfully, the modern world of podcasting has handled this for you in most cases.

Radio person.. meet technology!

Instead of being mad at engineering, you can be upset at the podcast hosting platform you chose! Don’t worry, there will ALWAYS be someone to blame. I kidddd.

Engineering is now the podcast hosting platform, your guest booker is Twitter, and your sales team is half cyborg half community. Over the course of “The Segue” I will hit all of these things individually, but I want you to know, while you’re indeed more on your own than you’ve ever been, the community of podcasters to help you is large, mostly kind, and doesn’t care about your ratings. Which brings me to my next point…

Collaborate and listen

Unlike radio, you’re not competing with anyone. Podcast listening is very different. There is unlimited shelf space. In the broadcast industry it’s always terms of war: destroy, maneuver, win! Don’t get me wrong. I kind of love it. There’s something primal about it. But another primal thing we talk less about is community. Not even cave people traveled into the woods alone. 

In podcasting you could promote and be promoted by a show on the exact same topic as yours. Imagine a world in which Ryan Seacrest and Carson Daly were promoting each other’s talent shows! That’s the podcast world. Entire networks are created of a shared topic. Lifelong friendships are born of personalities who would NEVER be friendly in the radio war machine.

I encourage you to reach out to people. Guest on each other’s shows. Create camaraderie (yay! A Podcast war term!)

Three action items for you

1. Go to The Podosphere and look at podcast hosts. What features do YOU find important? I’m curious. 

2. Reach out to one other podcaster. Begin unlearning the competition of radio. There is no podcaster across the street trying to steal your bed music.

3. Message me with one thing you’ll do to move forward in your podcasting process

- Bradley

Let’s always be improving The Segue

When you’re ready, I would love to hear from you. Reply to this email to tell me what’s working, what isn’t, what you need more of from The Segue. Ideally this becomes a highly collaborative space for us as we make The Segue between radio and podcasting.

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Beyond The Segue…

If you’d like to see what I’m doing when I’m not writing for you, here are some other projects in the podcast and radio space I am working on…

🪐 The Podosphere is something I built with my co-founder (and podcast expert) Harry Duran. It’s the most comprehensive podcast company directory in the galaxy! If you feel inclined, create your free account and make your PodStack™ - allowing you to share the tools you use with the world.

🛰️ Airspeed Studio is software made for syndicated radio shows. If you deal with syndicated radio shows (or have one!) this software is designed to be an operations hub between the show and its affiliates. I’ve been working on this in the trenches for a couple years as an executive producer and it’s finally ready to share.