Episode 15: Posting Times

With so much attention being spent on delivering weekly episodes, podcasting has taken its first true step toward scheduled programming. Legendary talkers and performers might disagree saying they’ve been doing it for years. Which I won’t argue with until we bring in today’s newer shapes and shades of podcast listeners.
It’s not about leaping over to iTunes to lap up a few thoughts then spit out a reaction. Podcast episodes are found everywhere but does your chosen platform make it possible for new and old listeners to add you to their schedule?
Because I come from a 40 year radio career programming runs deep into my soul. I personally can’t stand uploading an episode and letting it sit there for a week. I program the platform like an over active network.
The idea first hit me in 2013 when I realized the platform (if used right) takes listeners automatically to the next episode then the next then the next. My time spent listening numbers were racing like wild cats. Only to learn that potential advertisers still had no clue how to utilize it for their marketing benefit. For the performer the idea of monetizing was beginning to unfold but the majority of us continued to struggle how we can get new age of listeners to meet us in the middle. If you aren’t getting paid for your episodes Howard Stern calls your podcast a hobby.
Programming my 15 different podcasts has taken years of chance taking. Which podcast could survive as a weekly feature versus daily uploading? The biggest numbers always show up when I post up to five new episodes a day. One listener wrote to me and said “You’re my daily newspaper. I listen to keep up with television, a little political news, the latest books, movies, music and whatever else someone has invented. It’s never the same day twice. The variety works.”
Unplugged and Totally Uncut, The Choice and View From The Writing Instrument survive quite well with constant change. The Lyrics From Billy’s Forest and this show Pod-Crashing cannot. I’m not trying to sell anything. The other podcasts feature actors, musicians, authors and creators that need to push a product. As the programmer of the podcast I make sure they don’t come across as info-mercials. We plant the seeds without having to pressure sell the listener. There’s never a call to action in any of the conversations.
Being the Production Director for iHeart Media kept me firmly locked in on coming up with newer ways to reach listeners. Sadly the podcast industry continues to operate its commercials the same old fashioned way. If they aren’t physically produced then it’s an endorsement. Most of the talent plug in their personality and try to come up with fun ways to be entertaining but whewww not everyone’s a comedian.
Commercials are still part of the programming. When and where do you place them is just as important as when do you post your podcasts? For many years I tried to offset the posts. To try and pull off a Ted Turner by freeing the episodes at five past the hour. A few months into the attempt I realized that podcast listeners are listening in real time. It’s during their time. That moment when they happen to show up and plug in.
Posting five new episodes a day on three of my fifteen podcasts is well thought out and programmed. Episodes on Unplugged and Totally Uncut start at 7am, 10, 1pm, 4 and 10. View from the Writing Instrument are 8am, 11, 5pm, 8 then 11. The Choice starts at 9am, 12 noon, 3, 6 then 9.
Why? Well obviously it must work. It brings in the numbers. I just started posting episodes on a different podcast at 2am and 5am. The numbers aren’t really there. I’ll keep trying but will probably begin leaning in on the open areas of daylight hours Eastern Time.
My most listened to hours are 4pm eastern to 3am, which is why I started landing new material on the other show at what seems to be odd times. The most important part about programming your podcast is that it’s there the moment the listener arrives. The reason why I don’t tune into favorite episodes is because iHeart Radio doesn’t keep my list available. It’s always changing so I forget who I’ve listened to and locate newer podcasts. Which in all honesty is great programming on their behalf. It puts other talented talkers in front of those who support the system.
So what’s the moral of the story? Programming your podcast sounds a little insane and could easily come across as a phobia. But! Reaching my first million wasn’t handed to me. Every listen was earned because I took the time to take chances while trying to utilize the wisdom learned while helping to design and maintain terrestrial radio. I come from an extremely programmed background and it’s had a very good payoff.
Programming episodes to show up every hour might be a little too much and yet the information and content shared isn’t a one break per day delivery. There’s a lot of things happening around us and when you tap into that vein it means you’ve got to keep up with the managers and press agents on a mission or step aside and let someone else do the job for you.
I get it! Podcasting is about creating a niche. That’s like going to a hockey game and they’re playing basketball. Do you stay or try and find the ice? When listeners catch onto your style and how it’s delivered they begin to show up and it’s up to you to bring forward a loyal relationship.