This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Dan from Porch Night
When did you start podcasting?
We are fairly new. We did our first show in August, 2013.
Why did you start podcasting?
I worked in radio when I was younger. I got my first job at a radio station when I was 13 and I worked in the business until I was 24. I am 39 now, so it has been a really long time since I was on the air.
From time to time, I really missed radio. One day I was thinking about getting back on the air, and the thought hit me that doing a podcast might be a fun way to fulfill that creative side of me. I just wasn’t sure what to podcast about.
One day I was talking to my buddy Jack, and asked him if he would be interested in doing a podcast with me. He immediately said yes, and we brainstormed for a few minutes, and came up with the Porch Night name and concept
What’s your show about?
Porch Night is two guys talking about whatever is on our mind.
We cover new and different topics every week. We might talk about something that is going on in our life; we might play a game, or talk about pop culture.
Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it is serious, but we try to always make it interesting. Below are some examples of recent topics:
On episode 14, Jack told me that he lost 70 pound over the last 7 or 8 months. I see Jack all the time, and to be honest I didn’t really see the change. He looked a little thinner, but he pretty much looked the same.
On the show we called the lady that helped Jack get started with his weight loss plan. We talked about all of the changes he has made in his life, and exactly what he did to lose the weight. On our Facebook page, we have a before and after picture, and his transformation is absolutely incredible. I don’t know how I couldn’t have noticed the change.
On episode 8, we talked about these people that I found on YouTube that do what is called a Vlog. Basically they record their life every day, and post a video on YouTube showing what they did during that day.
I follow this guy Roman Atwood, and I am absolutely fascinated by what this guy is up to everyday. I think it is really interesting. I decided to introduce Jack to the Vlog to see if I could get him interested in watching these videos.
On the show, we played one of Roman Atwood’s recent Vlogs. Jack didn’t really understand why I would be interested in watching a video of somebody elses life. He was not impressed at all. I kept trying to convince him that these Roman Atwood Vlogs are the greatest thing on the internet. But, I didn’t have much luck winning him over….I am still working on him.
On episode 4 we played a game where before the show I asked my father if he knew what a few different slang words meant. On the show I had Jack guess if my dad was going to know the words or not, and we played back the clips of my father’s responses. It was really funny.
So, you can see we cover a large range of topics. I keep the show moving pretty fast.
We generally will cover two to three topics in a show, and we keep the show to twenty minutes.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
I use a Yamaha MG124C mixer. I have an iPad with the Soundboard app to play any audio clips, or any music we are using on the show. We have had some trouble getting good audio quality for phone calls on the show.
We just started using the iRig with Episode 14, and that is working great. The iRig connects my iPhone to the board. The caller hears the output from the board, and their audio feeds directly into the board.
I record the show on a PC using Audacity.
How have you promoted your podcast?
We really haven’t done a lot in the way of promotion. We really need to do more. Most of the promotion that we have done so far has been word-of-mouth and on Facebook.
We post new episodes each Thursday, and we put out a Facebook status update with a link to the show each week.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
To come up with a good label to describe each show on iTunes. I was naming the show, for example, “Porch Night Episode 10” and writing a description of what the show is about on our website.
When somebody sees just “Porch Night Episode 10” in iTunes, they have no idea what that means, and don’t know what the show is about.
I just started labeling the shows with the main topic of the show, for example, “Weight Loss – Porch Night 14” Doing that should help us get more downloads from people that are interested in the particular topics.
If you want to connect with Porch Night you can follow them on Facebook or you can simply subscribe!
If you’ve been itching to share your voice and have a friend that’s willing to step into podcasting with you, we have your back! Host your podcast with us!
