Preparing for a Podcast about Podcasting

The reflexive genre…

Juliet: Ha. A podcast about podcasting. Sort of self-referential, eh. OK. I was a talk-show producer at a radio station in New York. I booked guests, researched topics, screened callers, kept the wheels turning. Eventually, management handed me a mike and a time slot of my own.
James: That's why I wanted to interview you. I'd like to connect the world of radio talk shows with today's podcasting scene. A lot of overlap, right?
Juliet: Oh, absolutely. In fact, that's pretty much what my show became. We started as traditional radio, then added video segments for the station website. When podcasting arrived, we repackaged the audio as a podcast. More recently, we've moved toward a full video show. The technology changed, but the fundamentals stayed remarkably similar.
James: So our podcast about podcasting is really a conversation about storytelling, interviewing, and audience engagement across different eras.
Juliet: Exactly. Whether you're broadcasting over AM radio in the 1990s or uploading a video podcast today, you're still trying to create a meaningful conversation that people want to listen in to.
James: In this interview, a key ask is, “What advice would you give a host who wants their interview podcast to go well?”
Juliet: Well, seven key points. First, research your guest thoroughly. Second, prepare questions but don't cling to them. Third, listen actively rather than waiting for your turn to speak. Fourth, establish rapport early. Fifth, guide the conversation with a clear structure. Sixth, encourage stories rather than one-word answers. Seventh, always keep the audience in mind.
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Voice-over
Research creates better questions. Guests can tell whether you've done your homework. Flexibility lets you follow unexpected insights. Active listening uncovers gems you never planned for. Rapport helps guests relax. Structure prevents rambling. Stories are memorable. And remembering the audience ensures you're asking what listeners would want to know, not just what interests you personally.

Interviewing a musician

Managing fame…

Interviewer: How did you discover your passion for music?

Musician: It all started when I was a kid. I used to sing and dance at home, and my family always encouraged me. I began writing my own songs and experimenting with different sounds. Eventually, I knew that music was my true passion.

Interviewer: What were some of the most significant obstacles you faced, and how did you overcome them?

Musician: Indeed, there were many challenge. One was gaining recognition in the highly competitive music industry. As a Latin artist, breaking into the mainstream market required persistence. I faced rejection and criticism, but I never 

gave up. I focused on creating music that resonated with my life. Additionally, surrounding myself with a supportive team. It's crucial to set clear goals and create a plan for yourself. This plan may involve acquiring new skills, networking, or seeking advice from those who have been through similar experiences. Remember that it's okay to take risks – sometimes, they lead to the most rewarding outcomes.

Interviewer: Now, as a successful musician, you have a massive influence on your fans worldwide. How do you approach the responsibility of being
a role model to so many young people?

Musician: Being a role model is a responsibility I take seriously. I try to use my platform to spread positive messages, encourage self-expression, and promote social causes. It's essential to be genuine in my actions, both on and offstage. I want my fans to know that they can be themselves, embrace their uniqueness, and chase their dreams. I often share my personal experiences, including struggles and successes, to show that everyone faces challenges, but with determination and hard work, anything is possible.

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Voice-over

A sincere artist, using his influence to inspire and lead his fans. Well-scripted PR.

Interviewing the Interviewer (2)

Spy vs spy…
Interviewer: You’ve been an interviewer for 40 years. Particularly in Japan. What’s the most important thing to keep in mind while interviewing?
Stephen: You, the interviewer, are the medium. The interviewee is the message. Your job as interviewer is to help the interviewee tell their story.
Interviewer: And as the interview progresses?
Stephen: Keep a balance of planned questions and spontaneous questions. Questions should be short. Allow the interviewee to tell a story. Keep the tone light, don’t beat a topic to death.
Interviewer: Do you prepare?
Stephen: Usually. Times I haven’t it’s gone less well. You may not use your research but it’s there to be drawn on. Plans are useless but planning is essential.
Interviewer: As an interviewer do you ever find yourself interrogating friends?
Stephen: Oh yes. They sometimes say, you aren’t conversing, you’re interrogating me. And you have to learn to the difference between interrupting and interjecting. Takes practice.

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Voice-over
The interviewee tells stories of his successes and sketches of when things went wrong. An admirable synopsis of interviewing.

Interviewing a film celebrity

James Lipton and George Clooney on Inside the Actors Studio

Radio interview techniques in film…

James Lipton: You have acted in many films.

George Clooney: Over 60, yes.

James Lipton: And as producer or director.

George Clooney: 30 times.

James Lipton: Do you work for money?

George Clooney: I work because I want to enjoy what I do. The money and fame doesn’t matter. I choose films I want to make and will make a statement; ones that will leave a legacy.

James Lipton: Have you ever felt rejected?

George Clooney: Actors feel badly rejected when they don’t get a role. They’re selling a product - themselves. If they get rejected, that’s personal.

James Lipton: What do you consider your best film?

George Clooney: One that I feel was worthwhile doing was Good Night and Good Luck. My father was a news anchorman and I majored in journalism at college so I had a special interest in doing the story of TV journalist Ed Murrow and his battle to discredit Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist hysteria in 1953.

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Voice-over

James Lipton is famous for reading his questions off index cards and then staring at the interviewee. Although his Inside the Actors Studio celebrity interviews are filmed, this technique would also work well as a radio interview. Or as a podcast.

Some of his interview question techniques:

Get the background out of the way with a statement: “You are… You have…”

Use research to praise: “Do you work for money?” Obviously not.

Use something surprising to probe for an uncomfortable insight: “Have you ever felt rejected?”

End on a high note: “…your best film?”

And then turn the show over to the student questions.

…

Interviewer interviews interviewer

Improvising with music, improvising with words…

O: So what are you really interested in?

W: People. I like people. I like to talk.

O: Talk about what?

W: I'm a generalist. Any topic. I like to shape talk. Jazz musicians improvise with music. I like to improvise with words. Play with different juxtapositions. I even feel confident that it’s something I can do. But what do YOU like to talk about?

O. Same. Everything. I do general. But sometimes I wonder if I don't focus enough.

W: The gamut is good. You become a person with broad interests. Doesn’t that make you feel good?

O: Do you have this feeling that we are actually interviewing each other on the same subject?

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Voice-over

Usually interviews run a Q-A-Q-A-Q-A pattern. This one is a little different. It’s closer to Q-AQ-AQ-AQ. They are interviewing each other.

Second, the questions lead to self-introspection and self-divulgence.

A third feature is that the interviewers are mutually supportive and make each feel good about themselves. This develops into a comfortable conversation. It also leads to greater self-confidence.

And on to a successful exchange.

A sense of place

Madalena has lived in this town all her life.

...

wh5: Where were you born?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where did you grow up?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where did you go to high school?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where did you first work?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where did you get married?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where did you live after that?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where do you live now?
Madalena: Here.
wh5: Where do you want to live in the future?
Madalena: Here.

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Voice-over

A conversation that could have occurred with Martha Stalios who lived 98 years in the same neighborhood (see story)

Some interviews don’t start up or go anywhere. This one is notable for having the same answer to every question. There again, each question is notable for probing the same parameter (where) and ranging over time (when). More variety could have been elicited by focusing on one question and exploring that. For example:

Where did you first work?
What did you do there?
Who was your first boss?
Why did you choose that work?
When did you leave?
How long did you work there?
How much was your salary?
Why did you leave?

...

One more thing

Larry and Bill discuss conducting.

...

Bill: I think interview film directors can learn something from Hollywood.

Larry: Hollywood?

Bill: Interviews are pretty boring if they are talking heads. Smart editing, archive footage, text inserted, this all helps move the story along.

Larry: It’s not always about stories.

Bill: Well, you as an interviewer, and the conductor of an orchestra, you’re both trying to control unruly sounds.

Larry: Right.

Bill: So I’m just saying, sometimes you have to control what happens at the beginning, and in the middle, and how it all finishes.

Larry: Right again. BME. Know what you mean. Garrot the garrulous.

Bill: What do you do when someone grabs the mike and won’t let go? And they keep saying, “Oh and one more thing.”

Larry: Conductors have their baton. An interviewer has that cut dead question ready.

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Voiceover

A well-structured story generally has a beginning, a middle and end (BME). An interview may also have these components. It is however, more difficult to get the BME balance right in a live interview. Indeed, too much concern with structure can lose you those revealing remarks that make your audience suspend their breathing. Conducting an interview: having that instinct for knowing when to listen, knowing when to break in.

...

Then and now (2)

The interviewer moves on from history to design, views and extensions.

Interviewer: Was this a deliberate get-back-nature approach to holidays?

GKN: I thought it good for the family to experience a simple life, a taste of pioneering that early settlers must have faced, if you will. And the lack of any services like electricity drove the project in this direction and didn’t offer any temptations. There was no other choice.

Interviewer: (still shot #2, 3 of GKN cabin) The design has a simple clear profile. It seems to be well-sited, overlooking the water.

GKN: (shot of back timber wall) The back wall, facing south, the cold side is a timber wall, no windows. (shot of glass front and side doors) The west and north sides were sliding glass doors to catch the sun. The morning sun was late to strike (zoom shot of view past jetty down lake towards Mourea) but the view down the lake of the sunsets has been great. Sitting four to five feet up, perched on concrete piles, gave a view of the hot water beach on the peninsula and also allowed boat storage under the house.

Interviewer: (Shot of interviewer) The views are impressive. Can you tell us something about them?

GKN: (insert footage including narration shot 071228 on lake shore panning from Hot Beach to Ohau Channel, past islands, to kayaker entering Hot Stream).

Interviewer: (Shot of interviewer indicating extension) But this one room cabin didn’t stay this way. It has grown.

GKN: (Shot of GKN explaining the first extension.) Needs changed. As the family grew, more rooms were required, so in 1976 the 1^st extension was added. (brief still shot of first extension) This involved the verandah being closed in to become a bedroom, the extension included a bathroom and boatshed being put on the end.

Interviewer: (shot of interviewer) I imagine many people have visited over the years.

GKN: (Shot of GKN in front of cabin) That was the main reason for building it. I saw it as a social place where people could drop by and talk, stay and relax. A whole swag of families stopped by over Christmas and New Year. (still shot of N’s, F’s, & S-Ss) For example, one year, the Fenwicks moored at the jetty and slept on board their launch, the Daph-Ann, and the Somerset-Smiths camped in tents on the lawn. So that was three couples and ten children having a communal holiday. You might say that was a common pattern in New Zealand holidays in the 1960s.

Interviewer: (Shot of interviewer) But it has been extended even more?

GKN: (Shot of GKN in gallery/conservatory) Too right it has. There was the addition in 19— of the main bedroom, the closing in of the deck to make a gallery/sunroom/conservatory, effectively creating sleeping areas for around a dozen people.

Interviewer: (shot looking down lake across jetty) And what have been the most recent developments?

GKN: About 2001, we extended the jetty, it’s a jetty shared with the neighbor, (Shot of GKN standing next door in boat launching area) there haven been easements added to the title so that a sharing of facilities with the property next door, particularly for boat launching, are preserved. (Shot of GKN showing handrail) And most recently there have been small additions like the installation of handrails up steps to assist entry and exit for more elderly guests.

Interviewer: Do you feel there has been a change in what New Zealanders expect in holiday accommodation and facilities?

GKN: Today’s equivalent of a boatshed is this. (pan round GBN’s boatshed with living space and kitchen). It’s gone beyond the original concept, it’s evolved to adapt to a different set of needs. (Outside on lawn, tilt to show house behind) And up on the hill behind is a full-fledged permanent accommodation. People live out here nowadays and commute to jobs in town. So there has been an evolution in the buildings here to adapt to a different set of needs.

...