This article was written by Daniel Kuney, a Broadway general manager, marathoner and tech enthusiast. He is also the founder of the QNY Tech podcast.
After years of saying I was going to do it, I launched the QNY Tech podcast in November, a weekly round table analysis on the latest tech news. I’d been listening to podcasts for nearly a decade and figured I knew the key components needed to make a great show.
What I didn’t anticipate was the vast chasm that stands between recognizing great content and actually producing great content. Put another way, it’s really easy to recognize a great football play; it’s far less easy, and requires years of practice and a lot of natural skill, to actually execute that play.
After recording ten episodes, I realized that I needed a better plan for creating a product I’m happy with. So, I broke down the areas that I want to focus on into three stages. This may all seem painfully obvious if you’ve been down this road, but it wasn’t obvious to me ten episodes ago when I first hit the record button.
Stage #1 – Content is King
When I first started, I spent a lot of time thinking about the technical components of the show and what pieces of equipment I needed to buy. But, I could have purchased the best mics on the market and it wouldn’t have made a difference; I wasn’t producing great content.
When I look back on the episodes I’m most happy with they all have the same element: guests that just click, have the right chemistry and offer compelling commentary. In other words, it’s the people not the technology that make podcasts great.
“It’s the people not the technology that make podcasts great.” – Daniel Kuney
However, it’s this very element that has proven to be the most difficult. I could go out and buy new mics tomorrow, but what I can’t do is buy guests. When asking people to appear on my show, I’m asking them to give up a portion of their day to satisfy my hobby. It’s a huge ask and it can take weeks of back and forth emails to land one guest.
So my focus over the next few months will be building up a core group of maybe seven to ten commentators who can rotate in and out of the show, so that I always have a panel of three or four guests. This is an enormous undertaking, one that I completely underestimated at the start. Another post on this site, 5 Tips for Getting a Guest on Your Podcast, has been an enormously helpful resource in this regard.
Over time, I plan to create an experience that my guests find valuable and worthy of their time. I’m hoping this will take another two or there months, but I’m going to give myself as long as a year. If, after a year, I haven’t gotten there, I’m not likely to proceed with Stages Two and Three.
Stage #2 – Easy on the Ears
At the moment, I’m recording via Skype and my guests are mostly using iPhone headphones as microphones. I’m also not asking them to record their own side of the conversation, which would allow me to mix together the cleanest possible audio. I just want to make the barrier to appearing on my show as minimal as possible.
I’m not totally ignoring audio quality and I am making tweaks each week to improve the recording. I bought a decent USB mic
Once Stage One is complete, however, I want to use Stage Two to make a bigger investment in the show and focus on the audio. This will involve purchasing microphones for my guests, a mixing board and also taking some Lynda.com classes to better understand Logic, compression and other software skills that I don’t yet have.
I also want to transition the show to recording in-person, rather than over Skype. The reason here is two-fold. One, given my skill set, and that of my guests, it will be easier to achieve the audio quality I’m looking for if I can mix the show live and record directly onto one computer.
In addition, I think there could be a worthwhile social component for everyone if we were in the same room together, drinking coffee and noshing on bagels before the recording. As a runner, I much prefer running with a group rather than by myself. Recording via Skype makes some things easier, but it’s not the most socially fulfilling way to engage with people.
Stage #3 – If a Podcast Falls in a Forest
I’m already doing the bare minimum to promote my podcast by having a Twitter and Facebook page for the show, but I’m not really going out of my way to drum up listeners. That’s partially because I’m not quite ready for the world at large to hear the show. But once Stage One and Two are complete I’m going to want to make sure people are listening.
I’ll continue with these free avenues, but I wouldn’t mind spending some money on advertising or working with a press or social media firm.
Ultimately though, it’s going be about word of mouth and that’s a long game. If I’ve done my job with Stage One and Two, Stage Three will be mostly about sticking to a weekly schedule, continuing to produce great content and trying to grow the audience one retweet at a time.
During Stage Three I’ll also consider trying to earn back some of the money I have invested in the show. Note that I didn’t say monetize. I started the show as a hobby and as a way to participate in the tech community. But, as far as hobbies go, it can be expensive. Just three months in, I’ve already spent about $300 on equipment, software, server space and graphics. After Stage Two I expect that number to be closer to $1,500.
So if people are listening, and finding value from the show, I will consider adding a Patreon link or soliciting advertising. But again, I want to make sure that I’m producing a show on a regular basis that I’m proud of, before I think about earning back some of my investment.
Final Thoughts
There’s been a giant learning curve for me in starting a podcast, much bigger than I ever anticipated. The real goal here is to connect, have fun, participate in the community and add value to the conversation.
Three months in, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not there yet. But I’m going to give myself about a year to get there. If I can, I’m going to just take some time to enjoy having this great hobby to look forward to every week. Could there be a Stage Four and Five? Maybe!
In the meantime, I hope you’ll consider checking out the show at www.qnynews.com/tech or reaching out to me on twitter @danielkuney.
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