Thoughts on One Year of Podcasting

[mdattilo]

On May 16th, I will have been doing "Matt's Today in History" (www.mattstodayinhistory.com) for one year. That's 189 episodes of 5-10 minute podcasts. While I certainly don't like to preach, I would like to share a little of what I've learned:

1. Podcasters are cool people. I have received an incredible amount of help and advice from my fellow podcasters and I know I've asked some incredibly stupid questions. All of them have been answered with kindness and patience.

2. Most listeners give a ****. With about three exceptions, every e-mail I have received from listeners (the number is well over 50 a week) has been positive, even when they disagree or criticize some aspect of the podcast. They want to make my show better.

3. Podcasting is work. I enjoy it more than my day job, but there are days I have zero desire to get in front of my mic. If you're new to this, be aware that the new coolness will wear off. Or maybe not.

I guess that's it. I'm curious to hear what those of you who have been doing this for a while would add to this list. Thanks for your time.

[gatobrit]

Matt,
As a regular listener to your show please accept my congratulations on reaching the one-year milestone!

I have been podcasting on a weekly basis since last August. I agree with you that it is a lot of fun, more fun than my day job, and it is also work. I tend to record on Sunday afternoon - maybe this isn't the best time since I tend to be in mellow mode by that time.

Although I got into podcasting on a tight budget, $10 a month for Libsyn (bless 'em!), and $40 for a headset microphone, the technical holy grail is, for me, for better sound quality and I have wasted some additional $'s on mixers and microphones without any noticable improvement in sound quality. Recording sound is a lot more complicated than it first appears and, for me at least, it isn't intuitive.

Having said that - I love doing a show each week and I wouldn't miss it for the world.





John

[SteveRunner]

Matt:

Congratulations: I'm also a loyal listener to your show and really appreciate all the effort you put into it.

I know what you mean when you say that it's alot of work. I do my show weekly, so I haven't come close to "burning out", but the pre and post production can be incredibly time consuming (I've estimated that I likely spend about 2 hours each day working on my own podcast).

At any rate, congratulations on the 1 yr. anniverary of MTIH; this is one podcaster/listener who is looking forward to another year of your great show!

- Steve

[roadrageradio]

Road Rage reached its first birthday three weeks ago (#53).

For the anniversary show, we did a "year in review", which was a lot of fun to pull together, but it also gave me a chance to reflect on the changes in my life, the world, and this incredible thing that is podcasting.

Ninety percent of success is showing up. To all who have showed up for a year, congratulations! The rest is easy.

[tokies]

Congratulations

[Soccer Shout]

Yeah, well done Matt. I discovered it about a month ago and listen regularly.

Let's all have a party to celebrate. Is Indiana convenient to everyone? Can anyone recommend a place to stay?

[fogarty]

Congratulations! I just subscribed to your show too. I hadn't heard of it before, and it sounds really interesting! I love to learn new things, even if they are about old things :-)

You are so right that it is hard work. We've been podcasting for about six months, and getting a show out weekly since March, and I seriously can't imaging keeping up this pace without a co-host who can just take over every once in a while. I don't see us ever transitioning into a live show, because one appeal of what we do is that everything is really clearly explained, but with all the effort post-production takes, I can sure understand why people just go live.

Anyway, congratulations again and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to listening.

Mignon

[EclecticMix]

Amazing to get that much email, that's great. I've been podcasting for almost a year and so far have received five emails. Of course, I feel that these emails are very special, but to have that many certainly shows that you are doing a great job.

Cheers -

george