I’m writing this in a Tesco cafe while I wait for my MOT to be done. I know, it’s all glam in the podcast world. I’m the youngest person here by around 70 years.
The response to last week’s Fresh Air Christmas ad has been overwhelming with literallysome people saying their cockles were suitably warmed by the vivid wintery imagery.
It’s sparked talk of a Fresh Air audio Christmas Card, which sounds like it could be terrific. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Fresh Ears
Michaela – Director of Content and Head of Loud Nose Blows – and I have been on the radio. DJ Mikki did Early Breakfast on BBC Tees and I did Drive and then Breakfast on Bath FM, both in the early 2000s, so we were both a bit disappointed to have been overlooked as Zoe Ball’s replacement on Radio 2 this week. However, Richard – Director of Pressing Send on the Email – does not have such a rich broadcasting background so he’s always been gagging to get behind the mic himself. Well, this week was his chance.
The new edition of Fresh Ears is an in-depth chat with the world leaders in podcast geekiness – Dan Misener and Jonas Woost, the brains behind Bumper, a podcast growth agency that sets out to bring all your data together and continually improve the analytics in the podcast world. That’s the sort of thing we like – collaborating and learning from the best in the world, and as Fresh Air’s resident data-lover it was only fair that Richard took my place alongside Michaela. So, if you’d like a deep dive into the world of understanding podcast tactics, analytics and growth, there’s a whole podcast episode for you to explore right here. And if you just want to hear Richard’s voice on a Friday then who can blame you?
YouTube fights
In the Linkedin marketing bubble, you couldn’t move for the hot takes on Jaguar’s rebrand this week. Is it rubbish and woke and pretentious, or is this a dying British car company that needs to stop relying on middle aged men who remember how much they like the E-Type? Either way, you don’t need my opinion on this matter, or most matters to be honest.
However, in the Linkedin podcasting bubble, there’s been a lot of discussion about the long term impact of YouTube, and Spotify’s move towards video, on what was traditionally an audio channel. Those of us who come from a radio background (see above) have been reluctant to admit that podcasting should relinquish its USP of being a beautiful audio-only thing, but this has long been overtaken by the obvious fact that video is now an essential ingredient. A podcast for a brand is a content-generating machine, with an audio conversation at its heart, but with the power to be repurposed in multiple ways across all available channels from text to YouTube to social. This doesn’t take away from the core audio product, but makes it a more dynamic channel and a better, more multi-layered investment for the brand.
To many, this is an exciting evolution, but among the dyed in the wool audio community there are big fears that YouTube becoming the world’s leading podcast channel might end up destroying the medium altogether and subsuming it as just another video trend. The trope of two people talking on video with big microphones in front of them is now so mainstream that you often wonder whether the microphones are actually on or just for show. James Cridland of Podnews – probably the world’s leading podcast blogger and someone who doesn’t get enough credit for the amount of stories I nick off him for this newsletter – wrote a superb Linkedin rant on the subject this week, which I feel compelled to share, addressing a potential future when podcasting dominated by YouTube:
No programmatic ads; dependent on Google’s algorithm; run by people who don’t care about podcasting; massively increasing podcasting’s costs with video; editorial control with big tech in America; and plenty of other dumb stupid ideas.
If you want podcasting to retreat into 5% of all YouTube views, and to lose the benefit of a multi-tasking medium like an audio podcast, then go ahead.
I love an angry LinkedIn post, but I really don’t believe that it’s an either/or, especially in our branded content world. The beauty of listening to an audio show in the car or when you’re out on a run won’t go away. Oli – Head of Looking Too Young to be Served in an Off Licence – made the point that a lot of YouTube content is now a kind of video essay, designed to be consumed with or without the pictures. Stick YouTube on your phone then you can watch or listen, and no-one misses out. So maybe that’s the future – video producers being pushed to consider audio-only consumers, and audio producers being pushed to make video. So we all meet the middle, and just make great stuff. That’s fine by me.
What’s a Video Essay then?
Want to know what Oli listens to when he talks about a video essay? (See above). It’s this type of thing. Is Doctor Who Transgender Now?
This must have taken an age to write, record and then add all the video to (let’s ignore the copyright issues here by the way). But in the end, Oli just puts his phone in his pocket and listens to it. I say podcast, you say video, let’s call the whole thing off.
Martin Poyntz-Roberts has just read something.. .
I read the following lines in a recent Podnews email: My Mate Bought a Toaster is the latest podcast to join the Audio Always Originals network, as the well-loved show announces a new partnership deal with the Media City-based production company.
First up, I don’t really know what that means. And secondly, I hadn’t heard My Mate Bought a Toaster. I looked at the title and being a grumpy cynic (quelle surprise!) mumbled under my breath something along the lines of ‘god, not another dull self-congratulatory bore fest’. But hey. I am a persistent bugger, and consume a lot. So, brief synopsis of the show: Comedian Tom Price (fairly funny and listenable) looks at his guest’s Amazon purchase history. Nice concept.
Before I go any further, shout out to Neil, the boss. I hope he’s not offended by the following lines. The episode I started with was with Phil Wang. I am a big fan of Phil Wang.
‘Bath, beautiful place. Gave me a very unrealistic beauty standard for British towns. I thought everything was going to look like Bath. And then I went to Swindon.’
This sets the tone for the show. It’s a fun listen, plenty of stories and fairly amusing. It is, obviously, just a vehicle to find out more about a guest. In this episode we discover the love of cutting nails in a perfect way with clippers. So that’s all good. If you’re after a quick of fun to distract you on a journey, this is good. Check out the list of guests and you’ll be sure to find someone you like.
Jayne Morgan recommends..
There is a glorious moment in this series where Diana – who moonlights from her day job in finance recording and putting online real female erotic fantasies – schools a sceptical young man about whether you need pictures for something to turn you on. She demonstrates to him quite conclusively (and audibly) that you don’t.
Forget the star-studded cast (Diana is played by Demi Moore with cameo roles from the likes of Lena Dunham, Melanie Griffiths and Gwendoline Christie – #Hollywood mates in your phone) and the sex, this podcast is really a blow (ooo-er) for the power of quality audio that will have producers all over globe punching the air. Jokes aside, there is actually something in that. Because, in the show, the website that Diana is recording her fantasies for – Have a Good Wood (I’m not sure why a website all about women’s sexuality has ‘wood’ in the title, but there it is) – is a very successful side hustle, with downloads on the rise (fnar). And Dirty Diana very much is quality audio.
There are real characters, an engaging storyline, proper acting (why does poor old Claes Bang always end up playing crap men – Bad Sisters/The Outlaws), stellar production values and real substance that makes you think about women’s sexuality, the dynamics of relationships and the nature of desire. As Diana navigates her double life (no one knows about her audio-erotic sideline), her failing marriage (ironically, she and her husband are not getting it on), her straight-laced, judgemental friends, her machismo-drunk work colleagues and her nightmare of a mother, things get properly interesting. It’s terrific and it’s innovative. Because Dirty Diana is not just a chance for Demi to strut her stuff, it’s also a commercial podcast designed to bring to life Dipsea which is, guess what, a brand that makes spicy audiobooks created and made for women. So it’s not just good audio, it’s genius commercial audio. Result. And I’m not ashamed to admit it, you don’t need pictures. But then we knew that.
What we’ve been listening to this week
Holding Space with things and feeling power with things
Oli HoLTYtbSiaOL doesn’t just listen to video essays. He’s also a master at spotting things that will inspire us all. He’s a fan of language and words when they are perfectly chosen, as we all are, and so the whole Fresh Air team have been blown away by this interview clip from the junkets for the upcoming movie of Wicked. The film itself is apparently very good, but not as good as the clip. Sometimes it’s important to see inspiring things written down too, so here’s what they actually say:
Interviewer: I’ve seen this week people are taking the lyrics of Defying Gravity and really holding space in that and feeling power in that.
Person 1: I didn’t know that that was happening
Interviewer: I’ve seen it, yeah
Person 1: That’s really powerful. That’s what I wanted.
Person 2: Yeah
Person 1: I didn’t know that was happening
Let that sink in people. Let that sink in.
What we’ve been doing this week
Michaela DoCaHoLNB had a full day of zoom calls yesterday. Back to back. One minute her head was in planning mode, then pitching, then dealing with the minutiae of a complex creative project, then running a brainstorm with the full Fresh Air team. It was non-stop. By the end of the day, she was exhausted and feeling like she was coming down with an illness. She looked beaten down by the intensity of the day and was almost certainly going to be going to bed early.
Then she went to the cinema to look at Paul Mescal’s muscles. This morning she was really perky.
