What do I need to do?

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• Research how to prepare a podcast?

  • What do the experts advise?​

  • What have I not considered?

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• Research similar style shows for how they are organised

  • what works​?

  • what could be better?

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• Plan timings

  • how many records​?

  • how long chatting between songs?

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Research - How to plan my podcast?

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https://www.voices.com/blog/planning-your-podcast/  

This blog discusses how you can set up and plan your own podcast. It included examples of scripted podcasts and freestyle versions. It made me consider what do I think will work best for me? In my tester podcast I was completely freestyle and just went with the flow, while I quite liked this (I love talking!), I worry that some of what I said was a bit rubbish. I don't think a script would work for me either as I think I would sound like a news reader and that would lose part of the charm - I want to sound like I'm chatting and engaging with my audience. Looking at the different options shown, I think a semi - flexible script would work for me, I want to make the music my guide, so something like bullet points of possible topics that each song inspires in me. That gives me options to talk about depending on what I feel works best on the day, but makes sure its interesting and relevant.

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https://www.podcastinsights.com/start-a-podcast/

This was another good resource as it had several ideas that I had not considered. The first was Intro and Outro music.  Adding this to my podcast will help frame the episode as well as making the episodes  more part of a set and a brand. I am going to look at  creating my own or using some of the royalty free music options. I think creating my own will be the  best if I can as it will be both unique and personal to me and the show. I think it can become my show's jingle and can also be added to social media advertising too. If I make it catchy enough, it will help crate the identity of the podcast and stick in people's mind to remind them of the show.

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Another good tip I learnt here was  to start with a teaser - I was planning to do this by starting with this week's theme and what was coming up. However I had not remembered to drop in a teaser to the NEXT show to tempt listeners with what is coming up soon.

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Research similar style shows for how they are organised

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p086k8c7 

I listened to some of the Zoe Ball Podcasts as she is one of the most popular presenters in the country. I liked her chatty style, she sounded happy and interested and like she was really enjoying herself. This reminded me to make sure I sound like I am enjoying myself when I record the show, I think the audience will be able to tell very quickly if I'm bored, or nervous and it will make them disinterested, as why should they care if I don't?

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I did not like just talking though, and I realised that I much prefer listening to her on the radio when there are records too. I like my plan to segment my podcast by songs, so it is almost a mixture of a podcast and a radio show as i think this will give me the best of both worlds.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qswc

This is actually a radio show, ( Keep Dancing with Motsi Mabuse on radio 2) but i loved the way it mixed fantastic music and stories of why these songs mattered to her. This style really worked and gave me confidence that my plans to do similar can work too as long a I am as engaging as she is. I liked the way Motsi sometimes explained why the song was important BEFORE naming the song, this built up anticipation of what could the song be and was a good technique to tease the listener with.

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Plan Timings and running order

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• Intro Music.    

• Welcome.    

• Teaser to upcoming show(this week's theme).                      (TOTAL 2 minutes)       

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• Play Song 1

• What this song means to me                                                    (TOTAL 5 minutes)

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• Play Song 2

• What this song means to me                         

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• Play Song

• What this song means to me

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• Play Song

• What this song means to me

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• Teaser for next week's show

• Shout out to mention us on Social Media / how to get in touch.   (TOTAL 2 Minutes)

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• Play Song

• What this song means to me

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• Play Song

• What this song means to me

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• Thank-you and goodbye

• Outro Music                                                                                      (TOTAL  2 Minutes)

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Total running time is approximately 36 minutes. Research shows that most podcasts are listened too in the car when commuting and the average journey is approximately 38 minutes. This fits in nicely with that time scale.

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Song and song discussion segments are 5 minute blocks. The average length of a record is 3 minutes 30 seconds, leaving 1 minute 30 second for chat. If a record is particularly long (most are between 2-5 minutes OR I want to tell a slightly longer story, then only 5 song segments will be in a show (not 6 as above). It will be important to keep a stop watch near when recording to be aware of timings at all points.