Podcast 360 Episode 2
Podcast 360 Episode 2 - Getting to know James Cridland of Podnews
Host: Donald Albright
Donald Albright: Welcome to Podcast 360, where we provide a 360-degree view of podcasting and the people shaping the industry. Today, we have James Cridland, editor of Podnews, with us. Before we dive in, James, let's start with two truths and a lie. At the end, I'll take a guess on which one is the lie.
James Cridland: Sure thing. First, Sir Paul McCartney walked past my desk once and smiled at me. Second, I released the first streaming radio app in the world in 2005. And third, I was the first radio presenter in the UK to read out an email address.
Donald Albright: You are a skilled professional at this game. I'm going to have to go with the one that's the coolest one. I think Paul McCartney walked by your desk and smiled at you. Don't tell me yet. I may change my answer before the end, but I'm going with that one for now.
James Cridland: You're going with that one as they lie?
Donald Albright: I'm going with that one as the lie, and we'll see. You know, you may reveal something in this interview that changes my mind. So we'll see at the end of the show how successful I am at detecting the truth in the lies.
Q&A Session
Donald Albright: Great, let's get into it. I'll ask you three questions, and you have 60 seconds to answer each. After that, you can choose one topic to dive deeper into.
From a bird's eye view, is there anything unusual a podcaster can do to get noticed?
James Cridland: Absolutely. Don't be like everyone else. Differentiate your show, make it newsworthy, and avoid generic titles like "Real Talk." It's crucial to stand out and offer something unique.
What is something you'd like to see more of in the podcast world?
James Cridland: More collaboration and sharing of insights. Podcasting is still a small industry, and working together can enhance inclusivity, improve discoverability, and encourage the development of new ideas and apps.
Dealing with podcasters and networks, what are your pet peeves or pleasures when dealing with them?
James Cridland: Pet peeves include the lack of accompanying photographs with podcast announcements and poor marketing that doesn't explain it's a podcast. Podcasters should enhance visibility with visuals and clear communication.
Deeper Dive
Donald Albright: Thanks for those insights, James. Now, you get to choose one topic to dive deeper into.
James Cridland: Well, they were all excellent questions. I’m going to choose to talk more about something I’d like to see more of in the podcast world.
It's interesting having a look at the new podcast namespace, some of the new ideas that podcasters are coming out with and seeing what it will take for some of those to become a little bit more mainstream for people like Apple and Spotify to take notice of, transcripts being a really obvious one, Is there a way that we can make it easier for people to find shows, and make it easier for people to consume those shows?
Maybe they need the captions, as quite a lot of us need the captions when we're watching shows on Netflix, but even just the very basics of who is in this show.
If you're using a new podcast app, you can actually see this show has Donald Albright and James Cridland on it, and I can click through and find out more information. All of these new features are really good, but they do need podcasters to be working on them.
They are new podcast hosts, obviously. And I guess from my point of view, I worry about the fact that about 60% of all of the consumption of podcasts is in two different places. It's on either Apple or on Spotify. And I worry about that a little bit because I'm there thinking, how can we make podcasting more open? How can we make sure that we're giving more developers more opportunities to make great podcast apps?
And so that's one of the things that I think I'm kind of working out. Whether it's important to say wherever you get your podcasts or whether it's incumbent on us as podcasters to actually say, I would like you listening on this specific app or whatever it happens to be. I don't know what your views are on that and whether I can ask you the same question back.
Donald Albright: I literally just had this conversation with my team about 15 minutes ago and we're trying to message a new show and like, yeah, where do you direct them? And what's funny is that if we're running an ad in our show, they're already listening to a podcast, right? And you’re telling them, it’s available on... It's like they're already listening on some platform. So it's already available, and they know how to find it.
So I think we have to take a smarter approach with how we communicate to our listeners, whether they're already listeners or we’re trying to bring them in. That should be a different message. I think you have to pay attention to all those smaller details, and like I said, expand on that world because you're right. We want consumption taking place in a number of different places. It balances it out and It creates more opportunity. That was a great one to expand on, and I'm sure there's a lot more conversation to be had around that.
James Cridland: Indeed, I just find all of that really interesting. And I think at the moment we leave far too much to Apple and Spotify to promote us- we can grab the steering wheel in this industry.
Donald Albright: This was a great experience, as always, talking to you. I learned so much and hopefully our listeners learned a lot about you and about Podnews and your journey. Your great answers to these questions will help all podcasters whether new or seasoned, as all of this is still a new industry, no matter how you look at it.
Donald Albright: Thank you, James, for sharing your valuable insights. Before we wrap up, I initially guessed that Sir Paul McCartney walking past your desk was the lie. However, I've changed my answer to the third one – being the first radio presenter in the UK to read out an email address.
James Cridland: Well the lie was actually… listen to the podcast to find out!
Donald Albright: Thanks again, James, and stay tuned for next week when you'll be in the host chair. Until then, keep podcasting!
You can follow Donald Albright (host) - @dalbright03, @tenderfoot.tv and James Cridland, founder of Podnews (guest) - @podnewsnet
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Podcast 360.
Shaping the podcast industry!
Executive Producers: Brittany Temple and Adell Coleman
Editor: Brittany Temple
Brought to you by DCP and The Podcast Academy
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