By Gini Dietrich
On Sunday, I spent a little more than an hour recording a podcast with Shel Holtz on Skype.
Because his regular For Immediate Release co-host, Neville Hobson, was in Boston with clients, he needed someone to fill his spot.
And I was more than happy to help. FIR, after all, is probably the most popular and well-done podcast in the PR industry.
It was a really great experience, both because it’s Shel and he’s wickedly smart (and cynical and has a dry sense of humor, both traits I love), and because the show is extremely well organized.
I thought I’d share a look behind-the scenes at the popular PR podcast.
The FIR Format
About 10 days in advance, I received an email from Shel that described how the run of show would work.
I was to choose two news items that I could talk about for two minutes each and two others that would prompt discussion between the two of us.
Then, he invited me to Rizzoma, the Google Wave reiteration. (I had never used it, but it’s a really good collaboration tool.)
In there, he had the following:
- Ident – Gini
- Welcome (recorded)
- Intro – Shel
- Steve Rubel is hosting a new podcast
- Quick News (2-minute reports; include URLs)
- Gini
- Shel
- Gini
- Shel
- Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop
- News That Fits (longer reports—four to five minutes—with discussion; include URLs) (Shel to intro)
- Gini
- Michael Netzley’s Asia Report
- News That Fits
- Shel
- Listener comments
- News That Fits
- Gini
- Igloo Software
- Dan York’s Tech Report
- The last week on the FIR Podcast Network – Shel
- News That Fits
- Shel
- Outro
- Music – Gini
The Technical Podcast Needs
Of course, I listen to FIR so I knew the lay of the podcast land, but having it outlined like this made it extremely easy to co-host the show.
From a technical standpoint, we were on Skype and both recorded our tracks.
I use a Zoom H4N recorder and I wear my Bose noise canceling headphones so I’m not distracted by noises (such as Jack Bauer barking at the neighbors walking by our house).
We shared a Dropbox folder and I just dropped my recorded files in there.
Shel did all of the post-production and FIR 806 magically appeared less than 24 hours later.
FIR 806
The show, itself, covers a lot of ground.
We discussed:
- How Converse worked with brand loyalists to support a young woman with stomach cancer
- The Rockets social media manager who was fired for tweeting an emoji of a horse with a gun to its head (they were playing the Mavericks)
- No more “chikin” at Johns Hopkins University
- The FTC, disclosure, and native advertising
- The Bud Light #UpForWhatever campaign and crisis communications (and Melissa Agnes’s response)
- What virtual reality means for journalism (this is super cool!)
- The health and wellness advice Walmart provided its employees after they were laid off
- PR needs more SEO, which is what I blogged about yesterday with content marketing and answering questions
There also were tips from Dan York on Soundcloud and Internet (which I don’t recommend you looking at unless you’re ready to be frustrated).
And I love what Rachel Miller is doing around the birth of Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
Behind-the-Scenes
So there you have it!
The behind-the-scenes look at how a podcast comes together.
I may recommend we follow a similar organized format for Inside PR (though we record only 15 minutes, not an hour, every week) to Joe Thornley and Martin Waxman.
I hope you’ll take a listen and let us know what you think.
Shel is so great. Not surprising he made it so easy for you!
Your “Inside PR” podcast with Joe and Martin is a MUST listen for me every week. Very informative, and you have remembered the key trait of an effective podcast – brevity.
I have been on the podcast train almost since it first left the station, and it was rare for early podcasts in almost any topic to last more than 30 minutes. Now podcasters equate quantity with quality, and the Castro app on my phone is filled with individual podcasts lasting 75 to 120 minutes every week.
Very few podcasters have the organization skills, storytelling ability, journalistic chops and charisma to sustain a compelling, informative, entertaining podcast lasting longer than an hour. Plus people just don’t have that much time to spare.
“Inside PR” is informative, funny and engaging. Plus I always remember the main story topics and have plenty of material to ponder when it’s over, yet the podcast almost never lasts more than 20 minutes.
Well done!
PaulKelly Well, isn’t this a nice comment to read as I’m running through the airport? Thank you!
Eleanor Pierce Wait til you listen to it. There is a part in there when we are talking about the Medium story that made me laugh out loud. He’s very opinionated and I LOVE it!
Did you guys pause for time-coding the segments? Or did the normal flow break up the episode to make relatively easy work of stitching everything together when he got your end of the recording?
Topgold The normal flow broke it up well, I think. He did say he was noting time codes on his end so perhaps that’s how he handled it.
Thank you for linking to my blog on our new Princess. I enjoyed listening to the show yesterday, have a great week, Rachel
ukrachelmiller I love it! You have super fun ideas (and a great accent)!
ukrachelmiller I *loved loved loved* the princess blog! I don’t know which part of it I loved the most! Well, yes I do – the other little babies born on or around the day. It’s nice to see a whole post of positive for once! 🙂
I enjoyed this post. I don’t listen to podcasts as much as I used to but it’s still a fascinating way to share info …. my friend Chris Russell from RunRunLive has let me play in the podcast playground – reading a few things I have written and actually getting to do an interview. He reminds me of you, Gini, in the sense that he has taken the time to teach me some basics and by doing so enhanced my skill set. He also has an awesome dog. #LotsOfSimilarities
Ohhh, I love behind the scenes look. This is really interesting!
I’ve been listening to FIR for years and am looking forward to listening to this week’s episode with you although I may get confused and think I’m listening to an FIR/Inside PR merger. 🙂
Topgold No pausing, Bernie. My digital recorder shows times and if I know I’ll need to make an edit, I write it down.When I edit, I just find that matching time in Audition and make the edit.