It's hard to ignore the booming popularity of podcasts, with more than 29 million episodes worldwide. About 165 million people in the country have listened to a podcast. More than a quarter of Americans listen to episodes monthly, and 22% tune in weekly. These statistics, collected from Edison, show just how the podcast industry is sweeping listeners.
To no surprise, the youth and the millennial generation make up about 65% of those listeners. It's an interesting statistic, as many news stations struggle to get that generation to tune in. According to Nielsen, "millennials consume only about 30% of the amount of news, compared to adults age 38 and older." Business insider explains, "millennials have largely abandoned traditional TV formats for digital platforms," which includes social media, apps, and podcasts.
I, a millennial, am an avid podcast listener. I find myself tuning into Crime Junkies and Girls Gotta Eat episodes every week. I also have binged miniseries such as Dirty John, presented by the Los Angeles Times. So when I sat down with my iPhone to record my podcast, I knew it was a lot more laid back than my nightly news broadcasts.
When I was in college I worked at our college radio station. I was one of three hosts of a top charts and pop culture show. I enjoyed having a fun atmosphere and easy-going feel, so I'm excited to revisit that with podcasts.
I wanted my podcast to fit with my theme of this blog, so I kept the name "Behind the Lens." I began to shape my first topic around story ideas. As a journalist, it's a topic I can easily chat about and give some insight on my experiences. Story ideas may not be the most interesting topic to every listener, but I wanted something younger or aspiring journalists could find beneficial. I also thought the topic may peak some interest, as many people do not understand how we choose what they see come across their tv screens.
Five minutes can sometimes feel like a lifetime (like on the treadmill). However, I actually needed to trim some of the 'fat' off my podcast be able to fit it in the allotted time! As we know in the world of television and radio, time limits are not forgiving. If you go too long, you will get cut off. I know, I can talk to a brick wall... So moving forward, I will be more concise. But, it was nice to have a longer platform than my usual 90 seconds for a news package.
I filmed this podcast right on my iPhone. It's amazing how good iPhone's quality has become for both the cameras and the voice memo app. We use our phones track our news packages when out on a story or in a pinch, so I figured It would suffice as I tested the waters for my first time. I also used the 'blanket trick', to block any reverb. It's a trick we use in news, to make sure we don't sound 'hallow'. We record near something that absorbs sound (aka under a blanket). It may look crazy, but it works.
I used audacity audio editor to put the podcast together, and combine the background and intro music. I found the music on Purple Planet Music. I was first introduced to auacidty while I attended college at Temple University. It has been a few years since I edited on the program. Over the pat few years it collected some virtual dust on my MacBook home screen. But once I opened It up over the past two weeks, I found myself getting back into the swing of things no problem. In my experience, I find audacity be one of the simple and user friendly editing softwares out there.
I feel like podcasting is a good skill to develop, especially as we see this medium sweeping the country. Personally, I feel like it will be a good outlet to show my personality, while using my passion for broadcasting. It would be nice to have a partner to bounce ideas off of and have more of a 'conversational' feel than I did in this first trial podcast. However, I am excited to see how the world of podcasting grows and settles into its place in the media consumption long term. Feel free to give a listen to my first podcast on stories ideas at the top of the page or on my soundcloud.
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