Despite the overwhelming growth of podcasting in recent years, especially during the pandemic, many radio broadcasters are still reluctant to take the leap. I still hear a lot of comments like, ‘Why would I want to talk to a handful of people on a podcast when I talk to thousands every day on air’ or ‘Everybody has a podcast now so why should I?’ So for any of you who are still resistant to the idea, here are the three main reasons why radio broadcasters should start a podcast.
1) A podcast expands your personal brand. There are many ways on air talent can increase their brand awareness, doing a segment or show on local TV, creating a strong social media presence, making their own personality website or writing their own blogs. But, podcasting is one way to build a personalities brand using skillsets that they’ve already spent years developing. As I’ve said before, no one is better suited to podcast than a radio broadcaster. Plus, if we start or podcasts in our home studios independent from the station, then we’re building something that we own outright that will travel with us wherever we land in the future.
2) Creative freedom. With the push to tighten every on-air break in recent years, especially outside of mornings, doing a shift can often feel like broadcasting with a governor or a creative muzzle on. Conversely, podcasting can be a great outlet for that creative frustration and a great opportunity to expand on content, features, benchmarks and segments to try them out long-form. However, we still want to apply the tricks of the trade we’ve learned about teases, hooks, delivering enough relevant details to paint a picture for the listener without the fluff that will bore them and taking outs to end segments or transition to other topics. Here’s some podcast ideas from broadcasters.
3) Making money. Yes, it’s true the majority of podcasters are making little to nothing off of their podcasts. But, broadcasters start with a huge advantage, our radio megaphone that helped give us name recognition and our extensive radio training and experience. Most podcast ads are very similar to the live commercials we’ve all done on air, except for the additional creative freedom. Plus, selling ads on a podcast isn’t that different from selling radio advertising. In fact, there are a few advantages. Unlike terrestrial ratings that are an estimate based on a relatively small sample base, podcast download and listening statistics are exact. Currently, the average cpm (cost per thousand) for podcasting ads range from $15 for :10, $18 for :30 and $25 for :60s. So, once we’ve built up 10,000 listeners each sixty second spot on our podcast would be worth roughly $250. Plus, as we’re building that audience there are many podcast hosting sites that offer revenue sharing programs so we’re at least making something early. Here are the five podcast hosting sites I recommend from broadcasters.
If you’re a broadcaster who’s been podcasting for awhile what have you experienced? Or, if you still haven’t started podcasting, why are you reluctant to do so? Comment below or email me at Andy@radiostationconsultant.com.
For more podcasting info get a copy of my new From Broadcasting to Podcasting eBook.
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