![\"Hosted](\"https:\/\/libsyn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grant_SMM_logo_1400.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Grant Baciocco pushed his first MP3 out onto an RSS feed on November 7, 2004. At that time he already had 13 episodes of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd, a show that he had produced a few episodes of for internet radio.<\/em><\/p>\n This is what we call a Podcasting Luminary.<\/em><\/p>\n Starting a podcast is a pretty simple. Staying committed, inspired and consistent in publishing your podcast is a whole other matter.<\/em><\/p>\n This Podcasting Luminary Series is all about sharing the voices of podcasters that have been podcasting for 5 or more years and have them impart some of their best podcasting wisdom grounded in experience.<\/em><\/p>\n Grant Baciocco happens to have tons of experience producing content, building audience, taking advantage of opportunities, getting creative AND is still<\/em> doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n Bam.<\/em><\/p>\n Let\u2019s get started with this super sonic inspiring podcasting interview.<\/em><\/p>\n The Radio Adventures of Dr Floyd was a family friendly, time travel audio drama. \u00a0I say, \u201cwas\u201d because we are no longer producing new episodes. \u00a0The episodes do\u00a0rerun at the site though and we\u2019re always hearing from new fans who have just discovered the show.<\/p>\n We did over 150 shows for Dr. Floyd and each one was a blast.<\/p>\n Since that show ended, I\u2019ve created my own family friendly content company called Saturday Morning Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n I produce several audio and video podcasts and\u00a0have two podcasts currently running. One is an audio series called Saturday Morning Theatre<\/a> which is in the same vein as Dr. Floyd and features shows like The Adventures of The Thunder Crester and The Tales of Deputy Guppy.<\/p>\n I also produce The Uncle Interloper Show<\/a>\u00a0which is a video podcast featuring the adventures of a puppet dog.<\/p>\n And every Christmas I produce the \u2019longest running holiday podcast on the web’: Grant\u2019s Advent Calendar Video Podcast.<\/p>\n Also, from 2006\u20132012, I was the host and producer of the Henson.com Podcast. \u00a0The official podcast of The Jim Henson Company. \u00a0There were over 100 episodes of\u00a0that as well.<\/p>\n The thing I love about podcasting is that you don\u2019t have to ask anyone\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n I work a lot in the entertainment industry and it\u2019s all about someone else \u2018letting\u00a0you\u2019 create art.<\/p>\n With podcasting, you don\u2019t have to get permission. \u00a0You can produce a show and put it out there.<\/p>\n No permission needed.<\/p>\n For Dr. Floyd we once got an email from Walt Disney Imagineering saying that they were all big fans of the show and they listen to it in their shop.<\/p>\n That was pretty cool.<\/p>\n Just upgraded with the times. \u00a0Better microphones, a faster computer. \u00a0Until a year ago, I still did all the audio editing in Garageband.<\/p>\n I use Logic Pro now.<\/p>\n My main reason for signing up with Libsyn was to get an app<\/a>.<\/p>\n That being said, I haven\u2019t fully\u00a0finished\u00a0setting it up yet, but that was the main reason I joined.<\/p>\n Since\u00a02004, I\u2019d just use my own hosting.<\/p>\n Recently though I\u2019ve seen the benefits to having the media hosted elsewhere and Libsyn was my choice. \u00a0Mainly because you\u00a0guys have been there from the start and even if I wasn\u2019t using you, I\u2019d always hear good things about your service.<\/p>\n For sure.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a huge fan of Facebook, but you sort of do have to have a Facebook page<\/a> for your show.<\/p>\n Back when we were doing Dr. Floyd, one of the fun things\u00a0we did was give each of the main characters a Twitter account. \u00a0Then one Christmas eve we did a whole episode of the show via Twitter. \u00a0If people were following all of\u00a0the characters, they could see them interacting with each other as they waited for Santa.<\/p>\n People love this and I always look at creative ways of using Social Media to promote the show. \u00a0Uncle Interloper has a Vine account<\/a> that has close to 4,000 followers. \u00a0Not bad for a puppet dog.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to say download numbers don\u2019t matter but they do. \u00a0I look at them all the time. \u00a0At the height of Dr. Floyd\u2019s popularity we were getting 85,000 downloads a month.<\/p>\n With my new stuff I\u2019m always trying to get the numbers back up there. \u00a0Audience engagement is important as well. \u00a0It\u2019s always nice to hear from folks listening to your show.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes it can feel like you\u2019re sending this stuff out there into a void and no one is listening, so feedback is fun!<\/p>\n Well, I can honestly say it was Dr. Floyd that got me the job doing the podcast for The Jim Henson Company. \u00a0And from there I started puppeteering and have now\u00a0travelled the country (and Canada and Australia) with their Puppet Up! show.<\/p>\n I certainly wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that if it weren\u2019t for podcasting.<\/p>\n Record ten or more shows before putting out your first show. \u00a0That way you can stay ahead. \u00a0The only way to build an audience is to have a reliable release date.<\/p>\n It\u00a0can be once a week, once a month or whatever you\u2019d like, but if you want to build an audience, you need to stick to that schedule. \u00a0An easy way to do that is to have a\u00a0lot of content \u2018in the can.\u2019 \u00a0I\u2019ve always like Paul Colligan\u2019s 27 Days idea<\/a> –<\/p>\n Also, do the shows for YOU first. \u00a0I won\u2019t work on a show if it doesn\u2019t make me laugh or entertain me in some way. \u00a0It\u2019s just not worth it.<\/p>\n With Dr. Floyd we started as a show and then had merchandise (T-shirts, CD, imprinted pencils). \u00a0With the shows I\u2019m doing now, it\u2019s the same. \u00a0Starting them as shows and if they get traction I\u2019ll slowly add merchandise.<\/p>\n One of the best ways to generate revenue I\u2019ve found is to make a CD and get it onto iTunes.<\/p>\n We did this with each \u2018season\u2019 of Dr. Floyd and we are still making money from it.<\/p>\n We put each season of 13 episodes onto a CD with some bonus materials and then signed up with CDBaby.com and got them up onto iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc..<\/p>\n Even though our shows are available for free on the net, people still buy, stream, download them. \u00a0For $49, it\u2019s totally worth it.<\/p>\n And if you don\u2019t have a show like ours, make a \u2018best of\u2019 CD of some of the best stuff from your shows and do the same thing. \u00a0Just another outlet for people to find your content.<\/p>\n I have not done this for my current shows, but we did do it for Dr. Floyd.<\/p>\n All of our current shows were free but if they wanted the whole back catalogue, they had to become an Imagination Nation Ranger for $19.99 a year.<\/p>\n We never got one complaint about it and we had over 100 sign ups the first day. \u00a0In addition to the archive access, they got a CD copy of one of the seasons of our show and a Glow In The Dark, secret Decoder Ring they could use to decode secret messages at the end of every show. \u00a0I don\u2019t think anyone saw it as a rip-off.<\/p>\n
\nWhat is your podcast about?<\/h3>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/libsyn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/deputyguppy-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Fun, Fame or Profit? Why are you doing the show?<\/h3>\nWhat is your most memorable feedback from a listener?<\/h3>\n
What has changed the most in your recording setup since you started?<\/h3>\n
What tools on Libsyn have you found most helpful in building your brand\/podcast?<\/h3>\n
Have you found that social media has expanded your listener base\/reach? (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, etc)<\/h3>\n
![\"the](\"https:\/\/libsyn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/uncleinterloper-300x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Do download numbers matter matter to you? or is audience engagement key?<\/h3>\nHow has or has podcasting helped create opportunities for you?<\/h3>\n
What advise would you give a new podcaster so that they keep going!<\/h3>\n
Did you start off podcasting and that lead into a business or did you see podcasting as a necessary support for an existing business?<\/h3>\n
What piece of advice would give others looking to generate revenue from podcasting whether directly or indirectly?<\/h3>\n
If you charge for access to your podcasts or premium, how did your audience react when you started doing this? How did you handle this?<\/h3>\n
\n