[Newsletter] How to be authentic on a mic, podcast resources, and more
Hi readers! This is the second issue of Sound Judgment, the Newsletter. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, please subscribe today so the next one will go to your inbox!
We’re excited to share a project we’ve had under wraps. Next Thursday, September 29, we’re launching Sound Judgment, the podcast!
On each episode, I go behind the scenes with today’s best podcast hosts. Together, we dissect a favorite episode, to learn what it takes to excel at this mysterious skill. My first guests include Stephanie Wittels Wachs, host of Last Day; John Barth, the producer who started Marketplace and developed The Moth Radio Hour; Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers, hosts of Pantsuit Politics, and Shelter in Place host Laura Joyce Davis.
Listen to the trailer, follow the show and share it with your friends!
It's what's inside that counts
Two weeks ago, after a long day at a mammoth marketing conference in Boston, I stumbled on a tiny dosa restaurant. (Think of a dosa as an Indian crepe). You could fill your dosa with anything from hot chili vegetables and ghee to Nutella. Dosas were new to me — and to the woman next to me in line. If misery loves company, mutual confusion leads to friendship. Sally was also a lonely conference attendee, so we shared dinner.
Our talk turned to podcasts. Sally lit up. “I love Crime Junkie!” she exclaimed. “Because I love Ashley Flowers, the host!” She’s listened to every episode on release day. But that wasn’t nearly enough.
So she bought a membership to Flowers’ Patreon community, for the bonus content.
I suspected something. “Did you ever do anything else because of the show?”
She laughed.
“I like to feel safe,” she said. “And I was listening to so many creepy stories.” She did the logical thing: She bought a security system advertised on the show.
Those ads? They felt like personal recommendations, because, to Sally, Ashley Flowers is a friend.
Sally’s not crazy. In fact, she’s a pretty normal podcast listener. A few years ago, the podcast network Radiotopia did some research and learned:
The number one reason why listeners return, again and again, to the same podcast is because they fall in love with the host.
To me, Sally is joyful exhibit number one.
I can’t count the number of people I’ve shared that nugget with, because I’m fascinated by the infinite ways to be a great podcast host. I believe we should study hosting, which is a myriad, complicated blend of skills, talents, and personality quirks characteristics. (I grew up on stage. Actors never stop learning their craft.)
So I gave Sally a sneak peek — a sneak listen, actually — to the Sound Judgment trailer. Which, thankfully, she also loved.
The dosas were delicious and the bond between Sally and me grew exponentially as we traded stories about the podcasts and hosts we love.
If you’re in Boston, look up Madras Dosa. So good.
Try This
I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you a great tip from each host I interview for the show. This one comes from Last Day host Stephanie Wittels Wachs.
Photo: Lemonada Media Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder Stephanie Wittels Wachs; Photo credit: Elizabeth Weinberg
How do you sound authentic on a mic? Stephanie’s one of the best. The key, she believes, is creating psychological safety. Last year, in the run-up to launching the hit podcast No One is Coming to Save Us about America’s childcare crisis. She was working with host Gloria Rivera, a veteran broadcaster. We all know that radio voice. It’s the opposite of intimate — and it’s what came out when Gloria first started recording her narration. “And I was like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, the microphone hates that!” Stephanie told her. “Let's shake that off.”
But how do you just “shake it off?” With so much cultural programming to wear a mask, it can feel almost impossible.
We need to allow ourselves to feel the emotions of the story. And like most hard things, we need a partner.
To help Gloria, Stephanie played some tape they’d gathered and said, “Can you just listen to this woman talking about how hard it is for her to juggle a newborn with a toddler with her own job? I know you've experienced some of that yourself. Close your eyes and then respond to it, however you feel.”
It was transformative.
“Gloria is so full of heart and soul and vulnerability herself,” Stephanie says. “Once she had that permission, she started crying. She started talking about her own experience having to go to war zones with little kids at home… We kept that as the first moment of the first episode.”
That exercise broke Gloria’s armor. Try this yourself, with a producer or a trusted friend.
For many more examples like this, listen to my conversation with Stephanie Wittels Wachs, co-founder of Lemonada Media, on Sound Judgment.
SJ Kudos
Every issue, we’ll give Sound Judgment Kudos to audio folks we think are making fantastic sound judgments creative choices—choices that elevate the quality of podcasts.
Our first SJ kudo goes to Talia Augustidis, a UK-based producer who’s compiled a free — and astonishing — 37-page list of jobs, grants, training and other resources for people in podcasting and radio. Thanks for your generosity, Talia!
Our second SJ kudo comes from reader Lark Corbeil of Public News Service. She nominated host Roz Brown of the weekly podcast The Yonder Report, a regional rural affairs show. Here’s what Lark has to say:
“With decades of audio devotion and skills to share from the world formerly known as radio, Roz continues to contribute…she brings voices from New Mexico and Texas to national audiences through news reporting for Public News Service, and in her (really?) spare time supports beloved community radio KGNU as active board member and interim news director. Roz is an unassuming powerhouse; her voice reaches millions through hundreds of platforms.”
Want to nominate someone for a Sound Judgment Kudo?
Fill out this teeny-tiny form! (It takes 60 seconds or less and someone will love you for it.)
Our own Sound Judgments
We’ve had a plethora of new coaching clients lately. I love working with NYU public health professor Dionna Walters. Her upcoming podcast — drawing lessons from a famous, snarky TV show — is one of the funniest and most innovative show concepts dealing with policy I’ve ever heard (minus, maybe, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Ears Edition).
I’m also enjoying coaching long-time grant funder and leading light of philanthropy, Ann Canela, and writer Jim Schneider. Ann is one of the bravest creators I know: she’s building her podcast in public. And is there a more timely show in development than Jim’s? He’s developing Parenting in Hell (best title ever), about how to raise positive kids in a negative world.
My personal best sound judgments this month: Lacing up my sneakers to canvas for a candidate I believe in. (Photo: Louis the cat at the feet of his owner, Gazala Hays, a dedicated activist fighting for civil rights. Louis declined our invitation.)
Second, asking you to write to me: I loved hearing from you! This month, tell me your dream guests for Sound Judgment, the Podcast. Our email is allies@podcastallies.com.
Epilogue
“Acting” is staring long and hard at a dartboard, then putting on a blindfold and using every molecule of your concentration, muscle memory and experience to throw. You know you won’t hit a bullseye—or if you do, it will be a total fluke and will not happen twice in a row, or twice in a weekend.… In your mind’s eye, you’ll see that bullseye every time, and every time you’ll miss it, but you never stop aiming for it. And you’ll get discouraged, but you’ll remind yourself that most folks would miss the target by a dozen feet, so that’s why they keep letting you throw. That’s acting.”
– Actor Ned Averill Snell
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