I'm a podcast fan — it's hard to beat hearing a fascinating story while you're driving or doing dishes or folding laundry or …

I wanted to see if I could create a podcast that would stand up to my favorites.

As it happens my neighborhood is full of interesting people, and I’ve always loved hearing people’s stories and learning about their projects, passions, and work. So I decided to seek out my interesting neighbors, and feature their stories.

I'm proud of the result — Northwest Philly Neighbors. Here are the episodes from Season 1:

Some favorites:

• Yvonne Haskins - Lifelong civic contributor and community builder
• John Janick - Transforming his yard and yours with native plants (to save our food supply)
• Keith Russell - Birds, community, and saving wild places in the city
• Dave Gillies - Juggler and wire walker
• Tiffany Palmer - Leader in LGBT family law, and (likely) new judge
• Alex Burns - Transporting audiences with vibrant classic theater

After season 1 the COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on in-person interviews, which were the most fun part for me. And creating a good episode takes a lot of time, which I've since put into other projects. Will there be a season 2? Time will tell...

Podcasting Skills

Podcasting turns out to require a sobering list of skills, from designing a logo to researching guests to hosting a fruitful interview to editing the audio to publicizing episodes. For your interest, here's a list:

Prepare everything

• Choose a podcast title
• Create a logo
• Find music for intro / outro
• Choose a podcast hosting provider
• Get listed on major podcast platforms
• Make a website (mobile-friendly)
• Make a business card
• Make social media account(s)
• Get audio gear (mics, recorder)
• Get audio processing/editing software

Find good guests

• Identify candidates
• Research candidates, decide why they are worth listeners’ time
• Interact (email) to invite and schedule

Do interviews

• Arrange audio-friendly location
• Plan questions
• Help guest feel comfortable
• Make sure audio gear works correctly
• Listen intently, ask followup questions for key details, let the conversation go in unexpected directions
• Sound relaxed and interested

Prepare episode materials

• Write show notes, title, summary
• Find a good photo of guest
• Write intro / outro (making sure they’ll sound like talking, not writing)
• Write social media post

Record intro / outro

• Sound relaxed, genuine, and compelling

Process audio

• Make sure volume levels are consistent and loud enough (“compression”)
• Reduce any background noise (if possible)

Edit audio

• Decide what to use and what to leave out
• Move things around
• Remove stumbles
• Add music, intro, outro

Publicize episodes

• Post to social media
• Talk it up
• Seek media coverage