Podcast Insider Tech Podcast Network

As we prepare to head to Podcast Movement in a few short weeks, we go over some tips whenever you attend podcast trade shows. While very fun, informative and invigorating, conferences can also be extremely tiring and perhaps not turn out to be what you hoped for. Tune in to hear what you should do to get the most out of any conference or trade show you attend.

News



Pocket Casts acquired from NPR, by Automatic Inc.



iOS 14.7 fixes the Apple Podcasts download bug



She Rates Dogs co-host Mat George killed in a hit and run in LA



Airplane Geeks “Editor at Large” Brad “Launchpad” Marzari killed in an airplane crash 



Morning Wire launched on Monday, a new podcast to compete in the daily news category



For car people, TheDetroitBureau.com launched a new podcast called The Headlight News





Best Practice: Trade shows



Drink lots of water. You wont' regret it.



Pick your sessions you want to go to before the show starts.



Pick an alternative just in case the one you want to see is not what you thought it was.







Most of the networking happens after-hours or in the hallways or on the show floor, not in the sessions.



Have fun but don’t drink too much.



Take notes or get business cards (if they use them) from people you meet.



Visit the booths on the show floor, you might learn something new.



Visit the small venders as well. Someday, they might be big and you may have made a good contact.



Blubrry News



Recent Blog Post: Do you really need a co-host? By Meryl Klemow.



PowerPress 8.5.7 was released this week. Mostly bug fixes for our network features.



Todd is speaking live at Podcast Movement (twice). If you are going to be there, check it out!



Mike will be speaking at Podcast Movement on the virtual track: “Why you need a website for your podcast”. Even if you can’t go to Nashville next month, check out the virtual version.





Blubrry Pro Tips

Preparing Your Guests by Kate from The Blubrry Pro team. Find the prep list on their website.



Interview

Edwin K. Morris Because You Need to Know Podcast

Twitter

LinkedIn

Pioneer Knowledge Services







Question(s) of the Week

Question: I want to stop podcasting. Do I have to pay my podcast host to keep my episodes online?

Answer: Yes, Blubrry and most other hosts will remove your episodes after you cancel your hosting plan. It’s just like the electric bill, you still have a minimum payment even if you never turn on a light that month. In podcast hosting, you have to keep the plan open to keep the files stored online. Most hosts (Blubrry included) allow you to switch to the lowest plan and ALL your back episodes will stay online.

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Got a question you’d like us to answer on the show? Drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio, text, video) and we may use it.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/). Tickets give the whole team access rather than direct emails or calls.

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.





Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email todd@blubrry.com

It's important to take care of your podcast gear, regardless of the original cost. Podcasters should take the time to clean, properly store and travel with their podcasting gear such as microphones, headphones, mixers, recorders, etc.

News



Apple info: Todd got an email from an Apple Podcasts employee with some info about what Apple is doing with PodcastsConnect.apple.com 



Netflix hires first head of podcasts



How do people find your show in the podcast apps?  This is a study by Podnews about which apps search what about your podcast.



Newsweek launches its first podcast, The Debate



Bring your podcast to Samsung devices



British Podcast Awards winners announced





Best Practice

Studio Hygiene, how to take care of your gear.





Keep it clean (dust free is best!)



If you have to set it up to do your show every time, find a good place to store your gear. A protective case, dedicated drawer or shelf, a towel or cloth cover never hurt.





Cables are fragile. Don’t roll them too many times.







If it’s in a set location, limit access to that location. Keep pets, kids, significant others and coworkers away from it if at all possible.





You can also tape down cables so they don’t move around or get caught by someone.







Double check your settings on everything before you record. Never assume that it will always hold settings and that it will always work the same way. Do a 10 second record test before you start your show to make sure you’re getting a good capture.



Power down anything you can while not in use.





Blubrry News





Let your audience do the content creation for you by David Day



2021 Mid Year Podcast Report from Troy Price



Try out our new Android app! (iOS coming soon)



PowerPress webinar replay here: https://youtu.be/iGcNR8J3cXg Next one is on July 20th at 3:30pm EST, sign up here.



Write up about Todd’s panel with Rob Walch at Radio Inc.



Mike will be speaking at Podcast Movement on the virtual track: Why podcasters need a website for their podcast. Even if you can’t go to Nashville next month, check out the virtual version.

Is RSS going away? From the New Media Show this week.





Blubrry Pro Tips

What to do next? Giving your listeners specific actions to take after listening to your podcast, most importantly sending them to your website.



Interview: Meet the Team

Jeff Levine, Marketing Manager 



Question(s) of the Week 

Question: David asks, “There was a typo in the post title of my latest episode. I just fixed it on WordPress. How long does a change like that typically take to filter out to the podcast apps?”

Answer: It depends on the app. As with everything RSS based, it will refresh on the app or directory the next time that app or directory (or your listener) pulls the feed. Sometimes things like that can take longer than a new episode. If it doesn’t change in a reasonable time (day or so), It will the next time you publish an episode.

This goes for any publishing platform, not just WordPress / PowerPress.

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Got a question you’d like us to answer on the show? Drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio, text, video) and we may use it.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

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The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/).

Happy National Blueberry Day! Here at Blubrry Podcasting, we love to shed light on any 'holidays' related to our beloved fruit. Often times if people have trouble pronouncing or spelling our name, we tell them it's like the fruit, but without the ee's is all. Anyways, we have lots of podcasting news and topics, including a new segment on the show - pro tips from our Pro-Production team. Catch Toby and Shawn's interview this episode.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.



Industry News



Apple is still having issues with their latest release



Apple seems to have changed things again as far as show notes. Now links work in the description tag (simple ones). And the good news is, this matches Spotify and Google. The doubling thing is still an issue in some views in AP.



Zoom bought an AI company working on real-time translation



Audacity 3.0 looks like spyware 😳



Insightful Twitter thread that popped up this week about rates for podcast jobs and how much a professionally produced podcast costs



Really simple tool to see how ‘loud’ your podcast is (in LUFS)



Best Practice

How to find a co-host





Someone you already know



Another podcaster that is in the same niche



Professional colleague.





Blubrry News



It’s National Blubrry Blueberry day!



Make sure to check out PodcastInsider.com in between shows. We have articles and news going on there several times a week.



Follow us on social. @blubrry in most places and @blubrry_podcasting on Instagram.



Podcast Movement is less than a month away.

PowerPress webinar replay here: https://youtu.be/iGcNR8J3cXg Next one is on July 20th at 3:30pm EST, sign up here.

Newsletter went out this week. Read it here.





Blubrry Pro Tips:

Why Your Recording Environment is Critical by Toby



Interview

Shawn Thorpe - Support team



Question(s) of the Week 

Question: I want to do simple editing of my podcast recordings.  Nothing too deep, but I want to be able to clip the ends, add in the intro and do the basic stuff. What do you suggest for editing audio?

Answer: There are a couple of good ‘free’ ways to edit audio.  If you are on a Mac, Garage Band is good enough for simple edits. Audacity is good but a little hard to learn. We use Adobe Audition, which is a subscription software, and our Blubrry Pro team also uses Audition; Shawn uses Reaper. There are others at various costs and learning curves.

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Got a question you’d like us to answer on the show? Drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio, text, video) and we may use it.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting.

https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

This week a bit of a soap box. There is more to podcasting than ad revenue? There seems to be a push for more ad tech, more ways to track and attribute you across apps and a push for more ads. What is this doing to the indie podcaster that isn’t in this for the money? They are in it for fun, the craft, the community and just as a hobby.

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The best place for support with any Blubrry products/services is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/). Tickets gives the whole team access rather than direct emails or calls.

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

After many schedule, title, host and content changes over the years, we are happy to celebrate episode 250 of Podcast Insider, a podcast from Blubrry Podcasting team members. After a quick pat on the back we dive right into some podcaster news along with a podcast best practice on formatting show notes and blogs and excerpts.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News



Podcast Insider makes it to 250 episodes!



Amazon has purchased Art19 



Amazon also buys the Smartless podcast for $80 million!



Edison Research creates a template for audience surveys



Blue Wire Podcast Studios under construction at Wynn Las Vegas



According to James Cridland over at Podnews.net, HTML is back in Apple Podcasts. We confirm after looking at last week's Podcast Insider episode inside Apple Podcasts.



The 16th Annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards nominations open now!





Best Practice

Formatting show notes/blog posts/excerpts





1st off, don’t worry too much about it. MOST listeners using apps, see you have an episode and hit play. Then they put it back in their pocket.



Using simple formatting is good. But do it in your publishing tool (WordPress Post, Blubrry Publisher Episode or whatever you are using). Do not cut and paste formatted text in from a word processor.



Links may or may not show up in the apps (Apple just added them back after a month or so).



How we do this show in PowerPress





In WordPress settings > Reading set Syndication feeds contain: Full Text.



In the post editor, enable the “excerpt” box (screen options in the classic editor or in the sidebar of the block editor).



Put your fully formatted show notes in the main blog post area. Format within WordPress and not in a word processor.



Put a shorter unformatted (text only no links) description in the Excerpt box.



Publish the show as normal. See: https://youtu.be/54YX1gW9Lso







Again, write your show notes for Google. Produce your audio for your audience and send them back to your site for more information.





Blubrry News



Avoid podcaster burnout by Troy Price 



Focus on Features - Blubrry Player



Podcast of the month, Kim Krajci and her show Toastmasters 101.



PowerPress webinar replay here: https://youtu.be/iGcNR8J3cXg. The next one is on July 20th at 3:30pm EST. Sign up here.



Interview

Meet the Team - Chau Pham, Marketing Intern



Question(s) of the Week

Question: I read somewhere that podcasts need to be either 20 or 40 minutes long because the average commute is 20 minutes. Is this true?

Answer: Maybe on the average commute.

Overall, no, your show should be as long as it takes for you to convey your story. No longer or no shorter. The great thing about podcasting is you have as much or as little time as you want to get your content in. If you have 10 minutes worth of interesting content, then do 10 minutes. If you have 3 hours, do 3 hours. Listeners can pause and resume whenever they want in most apps. Do not try to stretch 20 minutes of content into 30 minutes. Conversely, do not try to do 30 minutes of content in 20 as you will go too fast or miss something you wanted to have in that episode. In other words, podcasts can be as long or short as you, the podcaster, wants them to be.

A friend of mine says “Podcasts are never too long,

Podcast studios need adjustments and tuning up every once in a while, and definitely at least once every 15 months, which is what we did at the Blubrry studio. Todd made his first trip back to the Columbus office and not only fixed all of the mistakes MacKenzie made moving microphones, but gave it a nice cleaning.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

No live recording this week.



News:



Mark Cuban will virtual keynote at Podcast Movement 2021



New from Facebook: podcasts and live audio chatrooms



Mobile media usage to grow slowly in 2021



Podcasting winners and losers during pandemic



Podcast Choice Awards nominations open on July 1st





Best Practice:

Stay positive and upbeat on your show. Be excited to be there.



Blubrry News:



The PowerPress webinar will be June 29th at 3:30pm EST. Sign up here.



Blog Post: 3 keys to develop your podcast content, by Kim Krajci.



Affiliate payments going out this week



Follow us on Social! We are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Follow our Instagram at blubrry_podcasting to keep up with the most recent news, updates, podcast tips and trends as well as giveaways. We would love to connect with more members of the Blubrry family on social media and give you a shoutout. Also, once a month, we have the Podcaster of the Month to highlight one of our customers and their podcast. Let us know if you are interested in being a Podcaster of the Month.





Interview:

Meet the Team -  Dave Clements

Dave’s podcast, Playing Games with Strangers 



Question(s) of the Week 

Question: From Facebook: Anyone podcast while they travel with a co-host in a different location? What software do you use?

Answer: Riverside.fm, Zoom (meeting software), Skype (with call recorder), or Streamyard. Bring a decent mic with you when you travel. Also, don’t forget the headphones! Todd uses an ATR2100 USB microphone and Mike uses an SM58 with a Zoom H5 recorder as an audio interface. Those work with the above software to record.

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Be sure to follow or subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting. https://www.podcasthelpdesk.com

What are show notes anyway?

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

The best place for support with any Blubrry product/service is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/). Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

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Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.





Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email todd@blubrry.com



Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email mike@blubrry.com



Send us your podcast sticker and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.



Our mailing address is:

Blubrry – MacKenzie

150 E. Campus View Blvd. #180

Columbus, Ohio 43235

Paying for podcasts, while uncommon is now also available directly through Apple Podcasts. The latest Apple update released channels and subscriptions for podcasts this week and we're anxious to see how many podcasters and listeners choose to dip their foot into the deep end.

Thanks for joining us on this episode of Podcast Insider. Looking to be a guest on the show? Let us know.

Recorded live from two well-separated and socially distanced podcast studios in northern and southern Michigan; here’s Podcast Insider.

Live Facebook recording.

News:



Anchor is making RSS optional



Apple Podcasts channels and subscriptions are LIVE



Luminary launches channel on Apple Podcasts



People’s Choice Podcast Awards (the original podcast awards) nominations open in 2 weeks



International Women’s Podcast Awards is looking for nominations



Call Her Daddy is going exclusive on Spotify, who paid $60 million



EU changes to copyright guidelines



Podcasting is open to ridicule





Best Practice:

Should you have separate social media accounts for your podcast? Pros and cons



Blubrry News:



Blubrry Developer Resources



Get more listeners with a podcast website! by Troy Price



No PowerPress update this week... BUT, it’s not too early to sign up for the next PowerPress webinar. Mike will take you through installing, setting up and using PowerPress. Plus, he will show you any new things added recently. Webinar on Tues. June 29th at 3:30pm EST. Sign up here.



Question(s) of the Week 

Question: Hi Blubrry! How are you going to be supporting the Apple Podcasts paid subscriptions? I don’t see anything about it on your site.

Answer: Subscriptions in Apple Podcasts are 100% on Apple. Your website and your podcast host (no matter who it is) has nothing to do with this. Think of it like YouTube (sort of). You don’t upload or do anything outside of YouTube to publish a video, it’s 100% on their platform. This is Apple’s version of this and its audio and/or video. The difference is people have to have a paid subscription to listen or watch your content on that system.

Short answer is no, we will not be doing anything for Apple Subscriptions (or Spotify or Patreon or any other closed system). It’s a different distribution method, technically, not a traditional podcast. All other podcasts work mostly like they used to. Apple pulls them in via RSS and people can listen and “FOLLOW” (instead of subscribe) just like before.

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If you have a question you would like us to answer on the show, drop an email to mike@blubrry.com (audio or text or even video if you want) and we may use it on the show.

Be sure to follow or subscribe to the companion show to this one, Podcast Help Desk where Mike goes a little deeper into the geeky and techy side of podcasting. This week I will be talking about the results of my show notes test and talking about show notes in general.

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The best place for support with any Blubrry product/service is our ticket system (https://blubrry.com/support/). Sending a ticket gives the whole team access to the question rather than direct emails or direct phone calls.

______________

Promo code INSIDER for a free month at Blubrry.com

Coming at you this week from Blubrry Studios in northern and southern Michigan. Produced by the Blubrry Pro-Production team.





Schedule a one-on-one with Todd (hosting customers only). Email todd@blubrry.com



Schedule a tech checkup with Mike (hosting customers only). Email mike@blubrry.com



Send us your podcast sticker and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) and we will send you a Blubrry care package.