Reflections on one year of podcasting
I knew nothing about audio. Random intros change everything.
The Rhythm Changes podcast turned one year old on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. Here are the three biggest things I'm taking away from this first year of podcasting.
1) I knew nothing about audio
When I started, I didn't have any of the skills that you need to make a podcast sound good. None. I learned only by doing.
There's no better way to reflect on that than this guided tour of four brutally-honest audio clips.
This first one – recorded over a year ago – is from episode 2, featuring Ilhan Saferali:
Next – about three months in – from episode 6, featuring David Blake:
Then – about six months in – from episode 20, featuring Jonathan Baylis:
And now – recorded this week – from my trailer for Jazz Office Hours, a new podcast that Cory Weeds and I will launch this year:
Just want to keep improving, that's all.
2) Outlasting my influences
When I started the podcast, I looked up to and learned from all the other Vancouver/BC music interview podcasts I could find.
There was Pacific Sound Radio, The JPod, Make a Scene Canada, ArtsNW, The FM Podcast, Resonant Rest, BandChat with Royal Oak, The Quadcast Podcast...
None of those podcasts are active now. Though some will return, most are on what looks like indefinite hiatus.
I didn't think it would only take one year.
Some interesting updates from the future: In late 2022 I became a partner in a newly-relaunched Pacific Sound Radio. I guess I really missed that show!
3) Pretty much every guest says the same thing after recording ends
They say, "Wow, I feel like I rambled a lot..." or, "Sorry I talked so much..."
And I always say, "No! That's what this is for – it's about you!"
This fascinates me. I think it's because we don't get many chances to put our cares away and talk at length about what we love to do, for even just the 30-minutes' runtime of my show.
If that's what the Rhythm Changes Podcast is about, I'm grateful for it.
Bonus bullet points of random, more nerdy reflections
- What my acquaintances most often ask me as a small-talk question these days is, "So how's the podcast?" The brand of doing this podcast seems to have stuck with me more than other things – to a much larger degree than the podcast's small listenership would suggest. I'm ambivalent about this, grateful for the attention it earns while also wondering if it's doing a disservice to the website.
- There's ten times more enthusiasm available to your speaking voice than you'd think. Every episode along the way, I thought I had energy. I did not and have kept finding more.
- My publicist-pitched episodes are weak. I don't take guests cold from publicists anymore; doing articles on them works better. You can probably look and figure out which past episodes those are, if curious.
- You don't need lots of listeners to get sponsors. You just need to show the sponsor how you're an alternative to the grind of promotional work to some extent.
- I have an episode finished, recorded over 5 months ago, and the album's not out yet. [This episode is out now, detectives – go find it...]
- I'll never say my favourite episode(s). But feel free to ask me anything else!
