Welcome to Podcasting Tech, a podcast that equips busy
Speaker:entrepreneurs engaged in podcasting with proven and cost effective
Speaker:solutions for achieving a professional sound and appearance. I'm
Speaker:Matthew Passi, your host and a fifteen year veteran in the podcasting
Speaker:space. We'll help you cut through the noise and offer guidance on software and
Speaker:hardware that can elevate the quality of your show. Tune in weekly
Speaker:for insightful interviews with tech creators, behind the scenes studio tours, and
Speaker:strategies for podcasting success. Head to
Speaker:podcastingtech.com to subscribe to this show on YouTube or your favorite
Speaker:podcast platform, and join us on this exciting journey to unlock the full
Speaker:potential of your podcast. I would
Speaker:say we have a guest who needs no introduction, but we're gonna give him one
Speaker:anyway. We are chatting with the founder and creator of School of
Speaker:Podcasting, which began all the way back in 02/2005. He's
Speaker:also the head of podcasting at PodPage, formerly of
Speaker:Libsyn. He's a good friend to most podcasters, including myself.
Speaker:He is the wonderful amazing Dave Jackson. Dave, thank you for joining us
Speaker:today. Matthew, it's always great to hang out with you. It's, always
Speaker:a good time, and, looking forward to this. I I
Speaker:usually ask everybody, how did you get into podcasting? But I have a feeling that
Speaker:story has been told six gajillion times by you on
Speaker:various podcasts, including the three gajillion that you have
Speaker:started on your own. So instead, real quickly, I
Speaker:just wanna kinda, like, take me through, you know, not
Speaker:when you started to podcast, but really when you started to work in podcast and
Speaker:really become part of the industry and what that was like for you
Speaker:as someone who, you know, just kinda jumped into the space on a whim.
Speaker:Yeah. It's kind of weird in a way. I remember the very first,
Speaker:like, event. It was in, I believe, 02/2006 in
Speaker:Ontario, California, the metropot metropolis of
Speaker:Ontario, California, which I never heard of. And we're in a Holiday
Speaker:Inn, and it was weird because all of a sudden you're like, oh, I'm not
Speaker:the only nerdy guy playing with this stuff.
Speaker:And so you start to make connections. Like, that's where I met Todd Cochran
Speaker:and a bunch of other people. And it wasn't
Speaker:until really when I got involved, like, the industry because I was
Speaker:doing the school of podcasting, and that's where it was fun. I I mean, I
Speaker:met I had Rob Walsh on the show. I had Ty Cochran. I was kinda
Speaker:like Switzerland. I could work with all the different media hosts.
Speaker:And when I, lost my teaching job,
Speaker:I was like, well, I'd like to work in podcasting. And I was like, well,
Speaker:where would I work? And I'm like, well, Libsyn's the best. So let's let's go
Speaker:there and, called up Rob and had a quick conversation.
Speaker:And so that's that's kinda where it began just when I,
Speaker:originally, when I got laid off at my teaching job, I called my then
Speaker:wife, and I said, hey. I think I'm gonna do the school of podcasting full
Speaker:time. And she went, yeah. No. You're not. And I went, what? And she's like,
Speaker:yeah. No. Sorry. Thanks. You know? And I'm like, but, honey, you're a nurse. You
Speaker:make tons of cash, and you have great health benefits. But, and so I
Speaker:that's kinda how I got into to Lipson, and it's just a
Speaker:matter of I'm curious. So I'm always,
Speaker:talking to people about new tools and different,
Speaker:strategies that they're doing. And so I think it was just a matter of like,
Speaker:podcasting is the bubble that I live in, and so there are other
Speaker:people that are you know, there's a whole there's a whole true crime thing that
Speaker:I know it's huge, but there's, like, little mini celebrities in
Speaker:there. And then, you know, the every every little genre
Speaker:has their own little bubble. I remember when I went to, I think it was
Speaker:called VidCon in Seattle, and I'd never seen cosplay.
Speaker:And if nobody tells you what cosplay is and you walk in and you're like,
Speaker:why does that guy have elf ears on? And it was Welcome to Night
Speaker:Vale. All these people were dressed like characters in Welcome to Night
Speaker:Vale. And then when I went into the big room, and it looks like a
Speaker:Metallica concert with two big giant screens, and the whole room is filled,
Speaker:and everybody was laughing at jokes that I had no idea what they
Speaker:were. They were all inside jokes. And if you listen to that podcast,
Speaker:you got them. I was sitting there scratching my head while people are rolling out
Speaker:of their seats like it's showtime at the Apollo. And that's when I went, wow.
Speaker:This is a whole other bubble that I've known nothing about. So it's kind
Speaker:of interesting how you you get immersed into what you think is
Speaker:the industry, and instead, it's just a little
Speaker:small, you know, chunk of it. It it's so true.
Speaker:Even going to events, podcast movement, pod fest, where you
Speaker:tend to see the same people, a lot of the same personalities, a lot of
Speaker:the same companies. And then you go to an event or you talk to somebody
Speaker:online, you bring up all these people like, oh, yeah. You're being a podcast. You
Speaker:know? So this, this, this, and, like, nope. And they've got a whole other world
Speaker:of people in podcasting who they think are the bee's knees, who they think are
Speaker:the the leaders of the, you know, the influencers and whatnot. So it is
Speaker:interesting how large this world is and yet how
Speaker:small it can feel, for each of those different communities.
Speaker:I'm curious. Moving from
Speaker:teaching and podcasting on your own and school of
Speaker:podcasting to, you know, getting behind,
Speaker:an industry player and, you know, seeing not just
Speaker:how the sausage is made, but how everybody complains about how the sausage is
Speaker:made. Was there anything that, like, jaded you on podcasting? Was there anything
Speaker:that happened that, you know, made you change
Speaker:the way you approach your content, your your stuff?
Speaker:The the the only thing that really just makes me go, oh, it's
Speaker:one of those, is the person that more or less now they don't
Speaker:say it blatantly, but they come up to me and they basically say, what's the
Speaker:topic I can talk about where I can do the least amount of work and
Speaker:do and make the most amount of money, which I understand. Who wants to do
Speaker:a lot of work to make? But the person that's really looking for the shortcut
Speaker:and doesn't even care what the topic is. And I'm like, wait. So you have
Speaker:no passion about a topic. You're just gonna pick the one that makes the most
Speaker:money. And I'm just kinda that always makes me just kind of there's like a
Speaker:sad trombone going off in my head when that person asks the question.
Speaker:You know, it's just, in terms of, you
Speaker:know, things ways people move, it the thing I like about
Speaker:podcasting is is there are no rules. There are definitely best practices.
Speaker:So when I have a guy right now that is working,
Speaker:I'm not gonna tell you the exact name, but he's basing a show
Speaker:on his last name. And he's going to interview other
Speaker:people with the same last name and talk about famous
Speaker:people with the same last name. And I and he asked me, do you think
Speaker:this is gonna work? And I go, I gotta tell you. You
Speaker:get, like, a plus for originality because I've never heard
Speaker:anybody else do that. I go, now is this gonna work? I go, in
Speaker:theory, if somebody with that last name and they know their family,
Speaker:who I'm assuming have the same last name, I go, it
Speaker:could work. I go, but this is one of those recipes that, like, their only
Speaker:way to know if it's gonna work is to make it and then see what
Speaker:happens. You know? It's like a I've never had chocolate with my peanut butter
Speaker:before. Let's let's try this, and it may work. It may not. So
Speaker:I love to see people being really creative, especially when you
Speaker:go, this could fall flat, and yet they do it anyway. Yeah.
Speaker:An idea like that, it sounds interesting.
Speaker:Right? Terrible on paper, but interesting. And with the right host
Speaker:and with the right commitment, it probably could turn into a
Speaker:weird cultural phenomenon, right, that people are talking about. But,
Speaker:it's it's not a guarantee that just because you're niche or weird,
Speaker:it's gonna work. But, you know, those types of shows are the ones that
Speaker:tend to break through, the ones that break the mold that disrupt the
Speaker:space. And so, yeah, when somebody says, what should I
Speaker:podcast about? It's like, no. No. No. What am I passionate about? How do I
Speaker:share it? Maybe a podcast is right for you. Yeah. I just saw Sean Evans
Speaker:who does hot ones on YouTube was on, Jimmy
Speaker:Kimmel. And I'm like, that's a pretty niche show. I'm gonna
Speaker:interview people while they're basically, you know,
Speaker:throwing themselves. Yeah. Torture themselves with Hot Wing. And then I'm gonna do
Speaker:I'm gonna be a really good interviewer and ask questions that require them to think.
Speaker:That's a pretty strange premise. It is. And yet how many and how how many
Speaker:copycats have come up as a result? Right? Because it worked for one person. Yeah.
Speaker:So you you worked for Libsyn for a really long time. You've moved on over
Speaker:to PodPage, you know, a a great company. We had Brandon
Speaker:on the show, one of the first episodes. Always been a big supporter of PodPage.
Speaker:We use that for the show. But you guys are unveiling
Speaker:new features, including one that just came out at the time that we're chatting maybe
Speaker:about a week or so ago, surveys for your
Speaker:audience. Tell us what that's about, how, you know, how it's supposed to work on
Speaker:PodPage, and and why this one, got introduced. Yeah. There are, you
Speaker:know, multiple ways you can kinda see, and that's the the point. I can kinda
Speaker:see how people like my stuff by going to, you know,
Speaker:podcastconnect.apple.com and looking at my completion rate. I can
Speaker:see some of that in Spotify. If you're on YouTube, you
Speaker:can see that on YouTube. But, you know, the easiest way
Speaker:to figure out if your audience likes what you're putting out is to, I
Speaker:don't know, ask them. And so what we
Speaker:did is Tom Webster, hall of fame person,
Speaker:Tom Webster, right, inductee, has a great book called the audience
Speaker:is listening. And Tom's been measuring podcasting
Speaker:and before that radio for decades, and he had these really
Speaker:good instead of saying, is it too short or too long,
Speaker:ask a question like, if I were to remove something from the
Speaker:podcast, what would it be? That's kinda asking if it's too long. There these little
Speaker:subtle ways of doing it. And so we reached out to Tom and said,
Speaker:wow. You have these really great questions. Can we
Speaker:use them to make a survey and pod page? To which Tom said, yeah. As
Speaker:long as you put a link to my book at the the top of the
Speaker:description of the cert not so much for the public, but for the podcaster. And
Speaker:we're, like, done. And then we added five questions in the event
Speaker:that you wanna ask something that Tom doesn't. And it's been the
Speaker:people that are using it are getting this great data
Speaker:where one of the one of our customers was doing a
Speaker:daily show. And he said the number one thing I'm hearing from my audience
Speaker:is they don't need a daily show. They're kinda getting fed with a fire
Speaker:hose. He's giving them great topics to think about,
Speaker:and they're like, can I have a little more time to think about this topic
Speaker:before you hit me with another one? And, like, I found
Speaker:out, I, I primarily hang out on
Speaker:Facebook and and Twitter, and I asked my
Speaker:audience and a considerably large amount of
Speaker:people hang out on LinkedIn. And I kinda play in
Speaker:LinkedIn, but I was like, well, guess what? That's where my audience is. Maybe I
Speaker:should go hang out there more. So the more you know about your
Speaker:audience, the better you can make your stuff. And so
Speaker:I always say if your podcast is, you know, a dinner party and
Speaker:then you find out, oh, wait a minute. You know, Jill's coming over, and she's
Speaker:vegan. And, you know, Rob's coming over, and he's, you know,
Speaker:gluten intolerant or whatever. You're gonna have to change your your meal up a
Speaker:little bit. Or, you know, in some cases, you go, well, you
Speaker:know, gluten free people, sorry. You're just not my target audience. Depending on
Speaker:whatever it is, but the more you know about your audience
Speaker:and especially what they want, the more you can give it to them. Then the
Speaker:more you give it to them, the more likely they are to tell somebody
Speaker:to go listen to your show. That the interesting you bring up
Speaker:that concept of the vegan and the gluten free, and you start to allude to,
Speaker:well, maybe you're just not my audience. I shouldn't cater to it. But it's so
Speaker:hard for new podcasters to be told to
Speaker:limit your audience. Right? Everybody wants the biggest audience
Speaker:possible, but if they try to attract everyone, they're
Speaker:gonna attract no one. How do you how do you talk to
Speaker:clients or, you know, other podcasters and tell them
Speaker:fight that urge to cater to a larger audience and
Speaker:focus on just your target audience. Right? It's okay to reject
Speaker:outside ideas even if you're, you know, sitting in only a few
Speaker:downloads per episode. Yeah. Because part of that is based on, you know, we
Speaker:want huge numbers. And if we limit our audience, well, that
Speaker:doesn't seem to make any sense. And, look, I'm guilty of this as well because
Speaker:and I always at the beginning of it, if I'm doing a show for an
Speaker:absolute beginner, I will say at the beginning of the show, this
Speaker:is for an absolute beginner because a lot of my audience has been podcasting. They're
Speaker:like, hey. I wanna grow this. I don't wanna launch it. So I always do
Speaker:that, but there's a part of me that goes, you should split this off and
Speaker:just do a show about launching instead of occasionally giving people
Speaker:an episode that they may not want. But I always try to say that,
Speaker:you know, if you've already launched, you might wanna listen to this because I know
Speaker:a lot of people don't think about how am I gonna measure my success.
Speaker:And so it it is kinda tough, but it's it's a matter of
Speaker:not it it's about getting the right people, not a ton of
Speaker:people. Because, I I mean, I was just a
Speaker:pod fest, and I'm in a room full of podcasters. And we
Speaker:all have the same ideas and that we're all trying to grow our audience, and
Speaker:we're sharing insights and things like that. And when you have that community
Speaker:and you don't have to worry about leaving somebody out because you're all on the
Speaker:same page, that's a magical thing. And you don't wanna
Speaker:be just a good podcast. You wanna be someone's favorite.
Speaker:And I always use the analogy of, taking people
Speaker:out for pizza. I had an aunt in from out of town, so we had
Speaker:about a group of 12. And we went into this place, and my aunt
Speaker:and my niece are kitchen sink pizza. Right? Just
Speaker:whatever you got back there, throw it on there. We'll just anchovies, you know,
Speaker:whatever. And they were happiest pigs in mud because
Speaker:they got their favorite type of pizza. My brother looks at me and goes,
Speaker:hey. What do you want? I go, I usually do pepperoni. He goes, can you
Speaker:do extra cheese? And I go, yeah. Okay.
Speaker:So I didn't get my absolute favorite pizza. It was good. It was great, but
Speaker:it wasn't like, oh, this is the best pizza ever. And so our goal
Speaker:is to be someone like, the minute this comes out, they're like, oh,
Speaker:man. There's another episode for Matthew. I gotta go play this. And if
Speaker:you kind of give them what they want, that's probably not the result you're gonna
Speaker:get. And it's hard. This really is. It's it's tough to you know
Speaker:not every chapter gets highlighted. And so you you
Speaker:do your best, and it starts with knowing who your audience is, and you aim
Speaker:and you fire. And it's always funny. I'm I'm sure you've had this where you've
Speaker:worked on an episode forever. You put it out thinking it's the
Speaker:best thing, and it's gonna go viral or whatever, and it's just crickets.
Speaker:And then there are episodes I had one that I put out while I was
Speaker:at Podfest. It was kinda like, yeah. This is on point. It's not my
Speaker:best stuff, but I but and I had I got home, and people are like,
Speaker:that was a great episode. And I'm like, really? So
Speaker:but it all starts with knowing, you know, who your audience is, and
Speaker:that's where, you know, it all starts. And
Speaker:it is. It's it's hard to talk people off the I want I want in
Speaker:a you know, it's how far are we into the seven minutes? I'm gonna say
Speaker:the Rogan word. Right? When we hear Joe Rogan in this giant
Speaker:audience and I was just tell people, realize step one of
Speaker:that is be Joe Rogan. And and I I did this in my presentation. I
Speaker:said, how many people in the room are Joe Rogan? And, of course, nobody raised
Speaker:their hand. I'm like, good. So let's drop that strategy because we're just not
Speaker:gonna do it, but it is tough. And, it's
Speaker:also this is where you mentioned passion earlier.
Speaker:If you do kind of put up a little bit of of
Speaker:guardrails to stay on topic, there are times
Speaker:after a year and a half where you're like, I can't talk about this anymore.
Speaker:And so you are allowed to expand out. I remember Lee still
Speaker:Lee Silverstein had a show called the colon cancer podcast. And
Speaker:after years, he finally rebranded the title,
Speaker:and it was we have cancer because when somebody in your family has cancer,
Speaker:everybody basically is going through that together. But it is tough to stay
Speaker:on track. But if you if you have that focus,
Speaker:then you're gonna end up you know, it's it's we're we're going from a
Speaker:shotgun approach to trying to be everything to everyone to a rifle,
Speaker:which I I hate that it's such a violent example,
Speaker:but, you're you're more spot on. These were,
Speaker:Nerf rifles and Nerf rifles. So they're very, very gentle and and very,
Speaker:very safe. So going back to the survey,
Speaker:you know, podcasters are always told, you know, talk to your audience, ask them
Speaker:what they want. Right? Check with them. And, you know, Podpace has has this
Speaker:feature. It's supposed to make it a little bit easier as my camera sits here
Speaker:and and plays all sorts of funny games than me. Sorry, audience.
Speaker:But sometimes people put that stuff out there and they get crickets. How do you
Speaker:how how would you advise someone
Speaker:to get their audience to respond, to engage,
Speaker:to interact with them? Because,
Speaker:otherwise, they're gonna feel even lonelier and frustrated and probably wanna give
Speaker:up. Yeah. This is, if we go back to the old
Speaker:Rush song, if you choose not to decide, you've still made a choice.
Speaker:So if you're trying to get feedback and you don't get
Speaker:any, you've actually just got a ton of feedback. It's not very
Speaker:good feedback, but your audience is letting you know,
Speaker:I'm not really feeling connected to you. And so
Speaker:everybody likes to benefit. And so you
Speaker:kind of you know, if if I got zero responses, I might come back and
Speaker:say, hey. You know, two weeks ago, I asked you to fill out a survey,
Speaker:and I've got a whole lot of nothing. And so I just wanna remind
Speaker:you that the reason I'm doing this survey is I'm doing this show for
Speaker:you. I mean, I love this topic, but I'm doing this show for you.
Speaker:And the more I know what you're looking for, the
Speaker:more I can go find that content and bring it to you.
Speaker:And then it won't just be me and you because I always talk to one
Speaker:person. It won't be just me and you sitting here talking
Speaker:about this this, topic. We can have a whole community
Speaker:of people. My goal is to grow this and have a community, maybe a Facebook
Speaker:group or a heartbeat group where we can all talk about this, but it's gonna
Speaker:start with making sure that I know what you want. So
Speaker:I would really deeply appreciate it if you could just simply
Speaker:go to mywebsite.com, whatever that is, slash survey,
Speaker:and fill this out. And, I'll be you know, if you wanna put
Speaker:your name in, I'll even give you a shout out, whatever it is, but everybody
Speaker:likes to benefit. And so it's like when people do this with
Speaker:emails, they'll be like, oh, just go sign up for my new you know, you
Speaker:can sign up for the newsletter. Okay. For for what? Because
Speaker:I didn't wake up today going, oh, I hope I can find a newsletter to
Speaker:sign up for. You know? Please fill my inbox with more stuff.
Speaker:Yes. So you've gotta give something to them. And so,
Speaker:you know, there's not now the survey at PodPage, you can give
Speaker:them a, you know, PDF or something like that. You can give them a little
Speaker:incentive to do it. But if the incentive is, hey. This show is
Speaker:gonna be better based on your feedback. So it's just one of
Speaker:those things, but it is it's one of those things. It is soul crushing
Speaker:when you put it out there, and there's just crickets. And you're like, well,
Speaker:that's my worst nightmare come to to live, and that's when you're just like, well,
Speaker:at least I know where I'm starting at, and I can only go up from
Speaker:here. I I love the way you frame that that
Speaker:and, you know, I always talked about this with my clients in the past. And
Speaker:and even today, when I talk to podcasters about their marketing efforts, it's not
Speaker:about what the audience can do for me. It's about what you can do for
Speaker:the audience. What value are you providing them? And so the way you
Speaker:frame that, I think was great. And, you know,
Speaker:I think if if everybody approached all of their content creation in that
Speaker:same way with here's what I'm giving you
Speaker:if you happen to listen. Here's what I'm giving you if you subscribe.
Speaker:You'll definitely see better results in the long run
Speaker:if you're giving them something that they want. If you're giving them crap, I mean,
Speaker:right, nobody needs crap. And you're kinda coming up alongside
Speaker:them. Instead of you being the leader, you're you're kinda coming
Speaker:alongside of them and go like, hey, guys. Let's let's go ahead and and come
Speaker:up with the best content. We're gonna grow this community together. I just happen to
Speaker:be the person behind the microphone. And so it's it's
Speaker:tricky, and, you know, this is where, you know, we
Speaker:mentioned the survey. This is one of the things I do at when I go
Speaker:to an event like Podfest or Podcast Movement. A lot of me is just
Speaker:listening to seeing what people are talking about and what they're getting
Speaker:stuck on and things like that. And so that's where if you're not
Speaker:getting any engagement, you know, head out to a Facebook
Speaker:group or Reddit or wherever you're going, and you can actually see what people are
Speaker:stuck on. And, you know, that's really
Speaker:kind of the bottom line of what people want is, you know, I
Speaker:have a problem. How can I solve it? Or it's you know, you
Speaker:might be talking I I I see, not a lot, but
Speaker:there are podcasts about rare diseases. And
Speaker:those people, you know, you're not gonna get a ton. You're not gonna
Speaker:get thousands and thousands depending, I guess, on the disease. But
Speaker:when somebody else I know there's one. It's something something
Speaker:spondylitis, and the group themselves call
Speaker:it spondy. It's like a nickname. And the
Speaker:fact when they and it's a horrible disease. You're in pain all the
Speaker:time. And so Jason Sacco does a a show
Speaker:on spondylosis, whatever the beginning of that is.
Speaker:And he was talking about how just having somebody else that's going
Speaker:through the same crap you are is a huge
Speaker:benefit because you don't feel alone. And so when you can
Speaker:go out and see what people are talking about and then talk about it on
Speaker:the show, you know, that's one of those on paper, this should
Speaker:resonate. Yeah. I've I I remember when I was
Speaker:hosting call spots, talking to a lot of people who were doing shows about very
Speaker:rare diseases or, you know, very niche causes. And
Speaker:more than being informational, it was community. It
Speaker:was, right, just having somebody else who
Speaker:understands what you're going through talking about it. And, you
Speaker:know, 20 or 30 listeners doesn't sound like a lot to most of
Speaker:us, but in a group like this, you know,
Speaker:rare disease group where they are all fighting the same thing,
Speaker:the 20 or 30 of them able to get together,
Speaker:pool their resources, you know, write to different
Speaker:agencies and whatnot to get more funding or go out. Like, it made
Speaker:a difference. And that was all possible because, you know, one person
Speaker:who was going through this decided to open up the microphone and and
Speaker:share some some value with people. You know, we we can talk
Speaker:to Dave Jackson for probably days in a row, probably some amazing
Speaker:World Guinness marathon on podcasting. But if you've heard
Speaker:him before, he's not quite that 100% that we love to get from him, so
Speaker:we're not gonna keep him for too long. But, as a reminder, it's Dave
Speaker:Jackson from the Famous School Podcasting, head of podcasting at PodPage,
Speaker:which we encourage you to check out both of those properties. Before we let
Speaker:you go, Dave, there are questions we like to ask everybody. First one is if
Speaker:there's something in podcasting that you would like to see
Speaker:improved, what would it be? And that can be, you
Speaker:know, production, distribution, consumption.
Speaker:Right? Like, doesn't have to be from the creating a podcast. Just
Speaker:something that you're like, god. I wish we did this better. Well,
Speaker:I'm I've been someone involved at least paying attention to
Speaker:the podcasting two point o space, And that was not that
Speaker:it doesn't have momentum now, but I I feel, in my opinion, that
Speaker:we lost a little bit because there was this whole streaming Bitcoin thing. And it
Speaker:was getting easier and easier, still far from being easy, but
Speaker:it was getting there. And we tried to
Speaker:do things decentralized. We ended up, unfortunately,
Speaker:centralized on a company and nothing against this company, but there was the
Speaker:problem is if you have a lot of of Bitcoin going back and
Speaker:forth, you can kinda get the attention of the government because they're
Speaker:like, wait. Are you laundering money over there? And so
Speaker:that company was like, yeah. We will help anybody, unless you're in
Speaker:The US. And so that's kind of taken a seat back. And I
Speaker:feel like the one girl in Willy Wonka is like, I
Speaker:want it now, daddy. You know? And they are working on
Speaker:an a a different approach, but that's one that's
Speaker:that I'm kinda like, oh, we were we were really getting some steam going
Speaker:there. So there's that. And I I mentioned it earlier. I think the other thing
Speaker:that we just kinda need is a little more creativity. I I
Speaker:don't, in in the and it's just, you know, old curmudgeon of me. In the
Speaker:early days, there were some really weird shows. I remember one
Speaker:guy, as he was, shall we say, doing his business,
Speaker:in the first of the morning. It was called the daily download, and he
Speaker:was he was on his throne, shall we say, recording a podcast. Very
Speaker:weird. There was a show called Yeast
Speaker:Radio hosted by, Madge Weinstein,
Speaker:and Madge Weinstein had this wicked New Jersey accent.
Speaker:And and and back in the day, this is again, like, 02/2005,
Speaker:just swore like a sailor, like nobody's busy. Like, really outrageous.
Speaker:And you're like, woah. You could do that on the radio. And then I found
Speaker:out later that Maj was a dude, and it was an actor. The whole thing
Speaker:was just an an act, and it was hilarious at the time. So
Speaker:there are times when, you know, there are and there's
Speaker:nothing wrong with the typical solo show and an interview show and things like that,
Speaker:but I kinda like can we kinda mix it up? Throw something in there
Speaker:so that you can't be copied? I just inducted George
Speaker:Robb into the, the hall of fame, and the one thing you can't
Speaker:do is copy George Robb. There's only one of him, and
Speaker:he's, so sometimes I'm like, I I'd like to see a little
Speaker:more creativity in being different, and that's hard. I mean,
Speaker:that's one of the hardest things about podcasting. When you go, well, how is your
Speaker:show gonna be different than everybody else's? And people go,
Speaker:and it is. It's your background and your thoughts and your perspectives that are gonna
Speaker:make it different, but sometimes I miss the really super creative
Speaker:stuff. Well, I suppose today, it's a lot harder for that super creative stuff to
Speaker:break through with the the deluge of new shows that are constantly coming out, you
Speaker:know, with the barriers to entry being lowered even more so.
Speaker:So, but, yeah, you know, be creative, be fun,
Speaker:and, be determined. Don't give up. We, we could use your your good
Speaker:shows. What about tech? Is there anything on your wish list, hardware,
Speaker:software, something that is out there that you wanna buy that you haven't
Speaker:yet or something that you're like, god, I wish somebody would make this. Yes. I
Speaker:love the PodTrak p four. Okay?
Speaker:It it is the Swiss army knife, and it came out years
Speaker:ago. It's about a hundred and $50 now. And if we
Speaker:went back to, you know, 2,010, this would have been a couple thousand dollars or
Speaker:maybe a thousand dollars. But, anyway, I have I actually emailed
Speaker:Zoom this week, and I'm like, any chance a 32 bit float
Speaker:version of this is coming in the future? And they didn't say no,
Speaker:but they didn't say yes. And but they do have the new h
Speaker:one XLR. Or the h six essential,
Speaker:that's 32 bit float with all the same features as the p four. So
Speaker:it does because the thing that's nice about the p four is it's a recorder
Speaker:and an interface at the same time. Yes.
Speaker:Okay. Well, that's beautiful. Because I saw where the h one is two
Speaker:microphones in, only one headphone out, which is that's kinda
Speaker:like, but if you're a solo person, it works. But it I heard
Speaker:it does record and be an interface at the same time. So if the h
Speaker:six does that, I might have to check into that. But,
Speaker:I I love my p go ahead. Yeah. PH six does that.
Speaker:Obviously, it's not gonna be a hundred and $50. Right. And you also
Speaker:are stuck with just the one headphone jack. Yeah. So you just buy a quick,
Speaker:you know, headphone jack, headphone, headphone amplifier, and
Speaker:you're good. Oh, don't worry. Zoom makes one that they'll happily
Speaker:sell you. Yes. Exactly. So that's that's the piece of gear.
Speaker:And, look, that doesn't mean that the p four is bad. It's just
Speaker:everything and the the big magic phrase is 32 bit float because it's kinda hard
Speaker:to record bad audio with that. And I'm like, oh, if we could only marry
Speaker:32 bit float into a p four, life would be
Speaker:so fulfilling. So Well, if anybody wants to buy Dave a cup
Speaker:of coffee, AKA Zoom h six essential, I'm sure he would be grateful for it.
Speaker:And, of course, this is gonna be the hardest question because of what you do
Speaker:and how long you've been doing it. But are there any podcasts in your life
Speaker:that you cannot live without the shows that regardless of what else you're
Speaker:listening to, they drop a new episode you're gonna stop, or you just you're
Speaker:never gonna let one of their episodes get by you that week. There there are
Speaker:probably two. One is I I mentioned him earlier. George Robb does a show called
Speaker:the Geologic podcast, and it's just it is the epitome of I
Speaker:don't know what I'm gonna get. So as much as you should be consistent with
Speaker:your content, George is consistently funny,
Speaker:but he he's it's the basis of that show
Speaker:is science. It's a lot of sciency kind of
Speaker:animals that morph into this or do this and that. And he also has a
Speaker:segment called the religious moron of the week because George is a skeptic
Speaker:or atheist. Take your pick on whatever verbiage you wanna use there. So I always
Speaker:joke and say, why listen to make sure I'm not the religious moron of the
Speaker:week because I'm not a skeptic, but but it's just entertaining. And it's one of
Speaker:those I wonder because I've been listening to George since
Speaker:02/2006, maybe 02/2005. And I always wonder
Speaker:if I hadn't been listening this long and found him today if I would still
Speaker:feel that way, but I definitely feel like I know him. And then the other
Speaker:one is no agenda with, Adam Curry and John C.
Speaker:Dvorak just because I keep hearing news that should be
Speaker:on the news, but it's not. And they just their whole
Speaker:part is they just kinda pick apart the news. Like, they'll you'll hear, like,
Speaker:well, bird flu is up two percent from and, like, okay. But what
Speaker:numbers is that? Like, if I went from, you know, two people
Speaker:to four people, that's a, you know, whatever percent. Never do math live, by
Speaker:the way. But they'll say, well, wait a minute. They're not giving us the numbers.
Speaker:They're giving us the percentage, and they just kinda dig through stuff.
Speaker:Plus, they have clips of news articles from
Speaker:forever. And so when somebody will say, well, we're gonna do this new
Speaker:thing, and they'll be like, wait a minute. Didn't he say the direct opposite,
Speaker:like, eight months ago? And they'll be like, yep. Here's the clip. So it's kind
Speaker:of fun. They deconstruct it, the media, and,
Speaker:sometimes it stops you from if you just watch the news, they just want you
Speaker:afraid and scared twenty four seven. You know? Do you swallow
Speaker:saliva over a long period of time? You know? Story at eleven.
Speaker:This kinda thing. We're like, wait. What? So those are probably two off the top
Speaker:of my head that, you know, there are others, new media show. I listen to,
Speaker:like, I listen to your show. I listen to, like, so many shows about podcasting,
Speaker:but, I think maybe that's why I like those shows because they're not about
Speaker:podcasting. It's like, oh, here's a break, and it's entertaining. Yeah.
Speaker:I'm I'm the same way. My my two shows that I won't let go by,
Speaker:I listen to Start Here, the ABC Daily News podcast. And,
Speaker:these days, it's been Conan O'Brien. He's a friend. I I just
Speaker:I just find myself loving the interaction and and, you
Speaker:know, needing a laugh, and and they tend to provide a a good one every
Speaker:time I listen. So, yeah, I'm terrible about listening to
Speaker:podcasts about podcasting. Yeah. Well and Conan's a good interviewer once he
Speaker:gets to the interview. Drives me nuts. I'm not a like, you because you
Speaker:know them, you're probably listening for the witty banter at the beginning where he
Speaker:just makes fun of his staff. And I'm like, buddy, he's interviewing Paul
Speaker:McCartney. Get to, you know, whoever. It's funny. I will listen to
Speaker:the witty banter and skip the interview sometimes. I have no idea who the person
Speaker:is. Yeah. I'm the same way with Marc Maron. I used to listen for the
Speaker:interviews, and now I listen for the witty banter, except his witty banter
Speaker:is we're all gonna die. And I'm kind of not listening to that as he
Speaker:really is, like, worried that the world is coming to an end, and I'm like,
Speaker:this is not really what I was looking for. Yeah. It's, it it
Speaker:could be exhausting. Yeah. But but, anyway, it's, it's been a
Speaker:pleasure as always chatting with Dave Jackson from the infamous school of
Speaker:podcasting. If you were thinking about starting a show or need help with
Speaker:yours, you will not find a kinder,
Speaker:gentler, more experienced person in the space to help
Speaker:you out with. And, of course, set a podcasting a pod page, which we
Speaker:already include a link to pod page in our show notes every week, because that's
Speaker:what we use for our website. Can't say enough good things about that platform
Speaker:and the team over there. New features coming around all the
Speaker:time now, it seems like. I feel like every few weeks I'm seeing you guys
Speaker:pop up something new. So, just a great platform to use. Dave
Speaker:Jackson, always good to see you. Always good to hear from you. Always good to
Speaker:chat with you. Thanks for coming on. Matthew, always great to hang out with you,
Speaker:man. Thank you so much. Thanks for joining us today on
Speaker:Podcasting Tech. There are links to all the hardware and
Speaker:software that help power our guest content and podcasting
Speaker:tech available in the show notes and on our website at
Speaker:podcastingtech.com. You can also subscribe to the show on your
Speaker:favorite platform, connect with us on social media, and even leave a rating and review
Speaker:while you're there. Thanks, and we'll see you next time on Podcasting
Speaker:Tech.