The Sound Off Podcast

Matt Cundill
The Sound Off Podcast

The Sound Off Podcast is a series of interviews and discussions about Broadcasting, podcasting and New Media. Matt Cundill is a 20 year veteran of radio and has worked on air, and as a program director. Matt has worked with podcasters since 2016 to increase their audience and the amount of time engaged on their audio. ⚡️mattcundill@getalby.com

  1. Steve Pratt: Earn It

    OCT 1

    Steve Pratt: Earn It

    You likely know Steve Pratt's name from his days as founder of Pacific Content. The company that created stories about brands set the bar for branded podcasts in the late 2010's. The company was later sold to Rogers in 2019 and just recently sold to Lower Street in the UK. Unlike our interview with (former Pacific Content Director of Audience developement) Dan Misener, we are going to ask Steve about his thoughts when it was announced Rogers would be mothballing the company he started. In this episode, we discussed Steve's career evolution from television to podcasting. He highlighted his work at YTV where he was in charge of "The Zone", CBC Radio 3, and later Pacific Content, emphasizing the importance of creating unique, audience-focused content. Steve shared insights on the challenges and successes of branded podcasts, such as Slack's "Customer Success Podcast", Charles Schwab's "Choiceology" and Red Hat's "Open Source," which avoided direct brand promotion. He also discussed the impact of AI on content creation and the need for high-quality, differentiated content. Steve's new book, "Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers" offers strategies for earning audience engagement through creative storytelling. A video and transcript of the episode can be found on the network website. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    48 min
  2. Jordan Heath-Rawlings: The Big Story, 6 Years In

    SEP 17

    Jordan Heath-Rawlings: The Big Story, 6 Years In

    Jordan Heath Rawlings, host of the Big Story Podcast, returns to discuss the evolution of daily news podcasts over the past five years. We first had Jordan on the show in 2019 after year one on the show. Since then, he noted the increased competition and the shift to virtual interviews post-pandemic. There's simply more choice with outlets having rushed into the space after the success of the The Daily and The Big Story. The Big Story has evolved into video, releasing episodes on two YouTube channels, reaching 100,000 views, despite minimal video content. Some of the original challenges of balancing geographic and subject matter diversity, aiming for a balanced news diet. The Big Story remains majority Apple-listened, with Spotify growing. Notable guests over the last year include Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Peter Mansbridge. A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    37 min
  3. Jeff Umbro: The Podglomerate Approach

    SEP 3

    Jeff Umbro: The Podglomerate Approach

    Jeff Umbro, is the founder of The Podglomerate, an award-winning podcast services firm specialized in production, marketing, and monetization of outstanding content. In this episode, we discussed his transition from book publicist to podcasting, highlighting the company's evolution since 2017. He emphasized the importance of podcast promotion, noting that cross-promos are effective but should not be the sole strategy. Jeff also shared his insights on video's role in podcasting, noting its potential for discovery and engagement. He also addressed the complexities of monetizing podcasts, including the challenges of dynamic ad insertion and the need for fair CPMs. Our conversation concludes with Jeff's plans to develop a dashboard for better data tracking and his ongoing client projects, including "Master Plan" and "A Fine Mess." Rather unintentional, but we discussed a promo swap we did back in 2019 between the Podglomerate's Storybound and Sound Off's Writing Class Radio, and what the ROI was. A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page. Jeff also has a podcast called "Podcasting Perspectives" which goes even deeper into podcasting than this one does. And yes - he does video on Spotify and YouTube. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    50 min
  4. Sharon Taylor: High Performance Podcasting

    AUG 27

    Sharon Taylor: High Performance Podcasting

    Sharon Taylor, Senior Vice President of Podcast Strategy and Product Operations at Triton, discusses her career journey from hospitality management to podcasting. She joined Omny Studio in 2016, initially on a contract basis, and later becoming CEO. Sharon highlights the evolution of Omny Studio from a radio tool to a comprehensive podcast platform, and its acquisition by Triton. She emphasizes the importance of brand safety and suitability in podcast advertising, and introduces Sounder, a tool developed by Triton to enhance contextual analysis and ad targeting. Sharon also touches on the challenges and opportunities for Canadian podcasters, noting the need for a unified approach and diverse revenue streams. We also spent some time discussing the power of mobility; she has moved on multiple occasions across numerous time zones. She's currently living in my hometown of Montreal where the food is the best in Canada. Her favourite restaurant? Nyk's Bistro on Bleury. (Not to be confused with the landmark Chez Nick's on Greene Avenue in Westmount) Take a date to Nyk's, take your mother to Nick's) Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    42 min
  5. Todd Cochrane: Podcasting in the Age of AI

    AUG 19

    Todd Cochrane: Podcasting in the Age of AI

    Blubrry's CEO Todd Cochrane is back once again this week, and this time he's got a new toy he's eager to share: The Thrive bundle, Blubrry's first major foray into AI integration for podcasters. We begin by going over what exactly the Thrive bundle offers its users, including various AI-powered tools to help podcasters with tasks like episode planning, production, social media clips, and email. For those who fear AI will run the world someday, worry not. Anyone who's used the current suite of online AI tools certainly knows they're not a replacement for human input by any means, and the Thrive bundle isn't trying to be. Todd explains that the AI tools are simply designed to streamline the podcast production workflow, giving users a jumping-off point to help create show notes, descriptions, and other metadata quickly. We do, however, touch on the valid concern that people may attempt to create fully AI-generated podcasts using voice data, or replace sections of their podcasts with AI voiceover and pretend they didn't. The Thrive bundle doesn't provide these tools to begin with, but Todd also emphasizes the importance of full disclosure to the audience whenever AI tools are integrated in any form, a sentiment we at The Sound Off Media Company fully agree with. We also discuss Blubrry's competition in the AI field, and what makes the Thrive bundle stand apart in a sea of rushed-to-market AI tools, from its price to its comprehensive toolkit. If you, like me, are growing tired of paying for 6 different AI assistants and using maybe 20% of each one, the Thrive bundle may be the option for you. We take a slightly different direction in the latter half of the episode, moving to the topic of podcast discovery. Google's AI integration for its search engine is already making it trickier to find correct information quickly (see the "put glue on your pizza" incident), and Todd believes having a rich suite of metadata and SEO skills will continue to grow ever more important as time goes on. PROTIP: One of the podcasts Todd listens to on a regular basis to stay on top of AI is The Artificial Intelligence Show. A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page. Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life. Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show: Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station. Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website. Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company. Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    35 min
4.2
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

The Sound Off Podcast is a series of interviews and discussions about Broadcasting, podcasting and New Media. Matt Cundill is a 20 year veteran of radio and has worked on air, and as a program director. Matt has worked with podcasters since 2016 to increase their audience and the amount of time engaged on their audio. ⚡️mattcundill@getalby.com

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