PodMov Daily: Wednesday, February 9

Episode 586: Your Midweek Update

Latif Nasser’s 10 New Tricks for Finding Stories

Latif Nasser, Radiolab’s co-host and Director of Research, is back with more “surefire ways to find good true stories.” His 2018 collection is one of Transom’s most popular features. This new list focuses on creative ways to use online search tools, but not the tools you’d expect. Free Zoom lectures, here we come.

While Nasser encourages podcasters to look through dissertation databases, he also seeks out tension, conflict, and drama. If he’s interested in a topic like archaeology, for example, he’ll search every database he can think of combining ‘archaeology’ with “ambulance-chase-y” terms like ‘lawsuit,’ ‘scandal,’ ‘crisis,’ and ‘fired.’

A decade ago, a professor told Nasser something he’s thought about every day since: “It’s not that 99.99% of the most interesting questions in the world haven’t been answered, it’s that 99.99% of the most interesting questions in the world haven’t even been asked yet.” Here’s how to go out and find your own.

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Corporate or Indie, Growth Alone Isn’t a Mission

Recent developments with Spotify have made one thing clear to Ashley Carman: “Company growth isn’t a mission.” Employees are being asked to sacrifice a lot for the CEO’s “mission” to reach 1 billion users, which simply doesn’t motivate creativity. Believe it or not, there’s a lesson here for individual podcasters.

When monetization becomes the main focus, sustaining excitement about the show itself is much harder. As Carman points out about growth, “It’s an understood reality of being part of a corporate machine, but it’s not a beating heart mission that inspires.” A podcast’s identity depends on a beating heart, whatever that may look like.

Organizations like Spotify and NPR are fiercely competing for audiences and revenue. While those goals are important, they give employees nothing meaningful to work toward. If this sounds the mood in your closet studio after your third monetization webinar this week, try reconnecting with the reason you started.

SGrecast: Optimize Audio Reach and Revenue at Scale

SGrecast is an enterprise solution for podcast hosting, monetization, and live stream repurposing. It’s the easiest way to turn live content into podcast episodes and start earning. Revenue streams are flexible: Dynamically insert your directly sold ads, or programmatic ads from SGrecast.

Roles and permissions enable SGrecast to scale to any sized organization, while the full API lets your development team integrate the tool into other applications. From quick airchecks to secure archives, SGrecast is ideal for broadcasters to optimize reach and revenue — all without lifting a finger.

Right from the dashboard, SGrecast users can manage multiple feeds, track performance analytics, and visually insert dynamic ads into episodes and archives. Ready to make the most of your organization’s audio? Schedule a demo with StreamGuys to see the magic in action.

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Here's what else is going on:

• Track record: The latest round of Evolutions sessions is out, featuring experts like Sharon Taylor (Triton Digital) and A.J. Feliciano (The Roost Podcast Network). This week’s PM update also reveals the eight veteran podcasters to be inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame next month. Cheers!

• Hot ticket: This evening at 5:00 CT, Hana Baba and Leila Day (The Stoop) will give a virtual talk, “You have a topic, but what's the story?” They’ll share their podcast episode development process from concept to completion. Free registration courtesy of the VPM + ICA Community Media Center.

• Stepping out: Tomorrow “The Elusive Art of Podcast Production” will stream live from London. Leadership from women’s+ audio groups The Skylark Collective and Kasama Collective will discuss the power of process for impactful shows. Begins at 11:00 am CT/5:00 pm GMT. Free registration.

• Action scene: Podchaser’s new rising ranker, The Podchaser 25, lists the “hottest up-and-coming podcasts” in the US each month. Positions are based on “reach and influence” as determined by an internal company metric. The list will come out mid-month with database details for each show.