Podcircle Podcast

I'm a product of the nineties. I'm a big time Conan O'Brien fan, and I think that he is one of the underrated interviewers out there. I mean, the plethora of guests that he has on that show, actors, comedians, politicians, musicians, he's very funny and self deprecating. He also has a lot of depth, and he's not afraid to get serious and, like, dig deep on some topics. Welcome to the PodCircle podcast where we bring practical tips and insights for every podcaster.

From aspiring podcasters to experts with 100 of episodes under your belt and everywhere in between, these conversations dive into all the topics that matter most to you. Alright. So, last week we talked all about choosing the right format for you and your audience. If you haven't listened to that one, make sure you go back and catch up and that'll give you a framework for what we're talking about. But today, we are diving into, kind of, those 4 larger bucket contents that we outlined last week.

And we're gonna give you a few of our favorites. And what you'll notice is that the formats may be similar. I mean, we're gonna talk to you about a couple different interview shows. But the way that each show is geared towards its host strengths and the wildly different, like, needs of their audience is going to create diversity. It allows you to be creative within a format that exists.

And so gives you some rules, but a box to play in. And something that you'll notice is that some of our favorite podcasts do dip in and utilize different formats. As we said from last episode, you could have an interview section and a call in section as long as you're consistent. And so we're gonna kinda dive into this. So the interview format, tell us about that, Kyle.

Yeah. So the interview format works really well for people who just, like, kick into another gear when they get in a room with somebody else, set up some mics, or if they're in a Riverside call just like this, and they just slide up and have a really great conversation. And they're just they're energized by that format. So if that's you, I would really pay attention to this one right here.

Yeah. So a few of my, like, my favorite interviewers just to listen to are Brene Brown, Dax Shepard, and Oprah. They're just people who are really intentional, and I think they thread the needle between talking about their own experience and having self disclosure and being really curious about the person that they're interviewing. If you wanna go and see a master class in interviewing, I think you should go back and listen to Brene Brown's episode with president Barack Obama. She came in so prepared for that interview, and she utilized every second that she had with that man.

So I

loved it. But there are a couple of other, podcasters who I love that are kind of an interview format. I think we see this a lot. This is a pretty basic format for podcasts. But these ones go beyond your typical interview style.

So I've really, been hot, and I sent a really massive text message to Kyle about this last week. On the podcast, Your Mama's Kitchen, it is an NPR journalist, and she just starts with about things that normally these people wouldn't talk about. Like, most people wouldn't think that you would bring on Matthew Broderick to talk about his mama's kitchen. You would talk about his films and his, Broadway experience and the projects he's working on. But instead, he got into this really beautiful conversation about the diversity of his home and growing up with parents who were artists.

And it's a really great podcast in the way that she explores and gets tapped into a different part of people is really cool. I also really love the podcast Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis Dreyfus. And she, for this limited series, only interviewed women who were over 70. See, wiser than me. And so she just had really cool conversation with women that she admired and inspired, and I really love that.

So the last that I'll talk about is a podcast called Other People's Problems, and it is with a therapist. I think it's with Esther Perel. And, she doesn't really even interview. She just says, has you be a fly on the wall in a therapy session. So I don't know if this technically falls in the interview, but it's talking to people about their problems, which is great.

Yeah.

I've listened to this few episodes of that podcast, and it's fascinating. One that I'm gonna throw in here is one of my all time favorite podcasts that we've talked about before on here is Conan O'Brien needs a friend. I'm a product of the nineties. I'm a big time Conan O'Brien fan, and I think that he is one of the underrated interviewers out there. I mean, the plethora of guests that he has on that show, actors, comedians, politicians, musicians, you name it.

And he's very funny and self deprecating, but he's also he also has a lot of depth, and he's not afraid to go he's not afraid to get serious and, like, dig deep on some topics. There are several podcasters I have in mind that are really good at just posing a really great question and then just shutting up and getting out of the way Mhmm. And letting the guests speak, which I think is, I'm sure there's a master class in in how to do that somewhere.

If you love Conan O'Brien, you should listen to his episode on your mama's kitchen.

No. Really? I didn't know he was on there. Yeah. Oh, I'll definitely do that.

Okay. So the next format we're gonna talk about is host centric or a teaching format. This is for those people who can make complicated ideas simple. It's a really topic driven conversation, and you're really shining when you're 1 on 1 or alone or, you know, that kind of stuff. So here are a couple of my favorites.

I just really love how these examples are gonna vary a ton. One is a podcast called Very Presidential. It's this girl who's talking about, the scandalous sides of different presidents, And she has a a crime podcast. Her name is Ashley Flowers. She has a crime a true crime podcast, but just kinda leaned into this space randomly and does exposes on those.

I'm a parent, so good inside with doctor Becky is really great. She's teaching, and then she does sometimes mix in, some interviews and different episodes of interviews, but she's really great. And then you have a couple of clients, Kyle, who I think do this really well and, have some solo episodes that they do really well. So I wanna shout out the Fiscofeminist and Unscripted Pivots.

I'll also shout out Alex Judd, with Path For Growth. They all do this very, very well.

And that's what we do. We are a host centric or teaching format podcast.

It's true. We get on here and we run our mouths about the things that we we feel like we know a thing or 2 about. So so the next one is an audience contribution or a call in show. So this format is for those of you who have an active and engaged audience. So the aforementioned Conan O'Brien, he also he has it's the same podcast, but he also has a portion of it called Conan O'Brien Needs A Fan, where he'll have a fan call in, and he talks to them and engages with them.

And it's usually very, very funny. And it's it's a very cool way that he gets to interact with his fans and his fans with him. And everyone else gets to see this whole interaction go on. They usually find someone who is very interesting, and Conan just grills them with questions, and it usually go goes off the rails pretty quickly. But

Super fun.

Pretty fun. And I like that they, I think thought that was a very smart kind of spin on Conan O'Brien needs a friend to have Conan O'Brien needs a fan.

That's awesome. My example is actually a prime example to something we talked about a few weeks ago of converting a social media follower to a podcast listener. So the podcast that I wanna, shout out is called Petty Crimes, and I have followed this girl, a comedian, on Instagram for a while. And she has had funny, like, reels, and I followed her for a long time. Her name was Kira.

And she just randomly one time talked about our podcast and I found it when I was bored one day. And so and now I'm a listener of petty crimes. And they have listeners call in and tell them the petty crimes that people commit, and then they rate them and kind of act as the judge and jury. So one of the examples is they I know they're really funny. Like, it was a a bachelorette party, and there were, like, some infighting

Love that.

That's what I love. If you love New Girl, Jake Johnson just had a new podcast called We're Here to Help with him and another comedian where they have people call in and give them their problems, and then they offer what he's gonna say, like, the advice you would get from your drunk uncle at the bar. And it's not always good advice, it's just the advice you're you're given.

I like that a lot. Another podcast that I listen to is called Pen Pals with Rory. Mhmm. Daniel and Rory, they're both comedians. Similar, they have a call in show, and it's just like a life advice.

Like, hey, I'm I encountered this thing with my mother-in-law, or I'm going through this thing with my girlfriend. Like, here's the situation. Like, can you help me figure it out and, like, shed some light? And it's a very, like, good natured kind of thing. And so they break down all sorts of stuff.

I also just I think it's really interesting, like, maybe your whole show isn't that. So even if you're just you go on Instagram and say, hey. We're taking questions on this topic, and then you have a segment of your show where you're just responding to those questions. I even love that the audience contribution thing as just a segment of your show. Maybe it's not every every episode, but I just think it's really cool to get your listeners and your social media followers engaged in what you're talking about.

And we're about actually about to implement that for Mackenzie and I for one of our clients.

Yeah. Totally. Alright. The last one is a journalistic or investigative format. I love this format.

The people who do it best, I would say, is NPR. So if you think of an NPR podcast, that's probably what this is. And I really aspire someday if I have my druthers to do this with my life. It takes time. It takes effort, planning, and strategy.

So if this is your gym, it it takes a lot of work, and you're probably operating in a season format or a serial format. So a few of my favorites are Dolly Parton's America, if you've heard that. It is a beautiful podcast where this guy was connected to Dolly Parton. I believe his dad was her doctor at Vanderbilt, and he just kinda got to know her. And he goes and does, like, an expose on her life, and it is just really incredible journalism and a really fascinating listen.

You you don't even have to love Dolly Parton. I know you will love Dolly Parton after you listen to this. This American Life and Visibilia, The Daily from New York Times, like, these are some examples of crime done well expertise.

Those are all really well produced. Like, when I I when I hear that those types of podcasts or you describe them, I just think there's a lot of production. There's a lot of planning. There's a lot of, obviously, like you said, journalism, a lot of field interviews, and all of these things have to be storyboard boarded and come together. And then there's music interwoven.

So that's I I look at that, and I think that's a lot of production. And there's a lot that takes to make a podcast like that sound beautiful or or whatever its intended purpose is. Or if it's

Yeah.

You know, if it's in the in in the true crime, like, scary or suspenseful. So

Yeah. You're definitely not a solopreneur if you're doing that.

Definitely not. Like, there are large teams Mhmm. Of people behind that. So they're like TV shows for your ears.

Yes.

They're incredible. It's incredible how they produce them. Okay. So just recapping those 4 and closing here. The interview format, number 1, and number 2 is the host centric slash teaching format.

Number 3 is the audience contribution or call in show, and the last one was a journalistic or investigative format. So those are the kind of the 4 buckets that most podcast formats tend to fall into, and I would say whichever one lights you up the most and also, you know, kind of appeals to your your goals, your stated goals, and your mission for your podcast and what's most palatable for your audience, that's probably the one to go for. So the ones that for for our clients are typically interview format and host centric slash teaching. So those first two formats are very, very popular in the business space. And then a lot of times, you know, your call in shows will be more entertainment and Yep.

As well as the last one, the journalistic and investigative format. Am I saying that right? Investigative? Investigative? I feel like I fancy it up when I say investigative.

It's because you live in, the UK right now. You're just getting fancy.

I'm not even gonna try try my British accent right now because it's it is not good.

Before you move, you will have to give it to us, your best British accent. So get practicing.

Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Alrighty, folks. So we're gonna wrap this one up.

Just a quick plug for the podcast starter kit that we offer to you guys. It's a free resource. You can find it at podcircle.com/start. That is if you are curious about podcasting, thinking about starting a podcast, maybe you already have a podcast, and you're still in that the inception, and you're you're kinda just trying to figure it all out a little bit. There's, gosh, I don't know, 6 or 7 different PDFs in there that are gonna point you in the right direction.

I even think if you're an established podcaster, there's a few resources in there, like our content calendar and then our Riverside guest email template that you can send to guests so they don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you wanna invite a guest to join your podcast via Riverside. There's just a whole lot in there. Go check it out. It's free. Again, it's at podcircle.com/start.

Last thing is our strategy sessions that Mackenzie and I host. These are 1 or 2 hour sessions that we really just help podcasters, kinda 2 types, that are just getting started and they wanna get started on the right foot. And they're trying to answer a lot of these questions, like how long should my show be? What kind of what kind of show format? Who is my ideal listener?

How do I get in front of them? Where? Like, all of those kind of questions are the kind of questions that we that we dive into in those strategy sessions so that you can go into your podcast with a lot of clarity. And, honestly, just just start strong knowing what your goal for the whole thing is. And that goal is gonna inform every part of the production of your podcast.

So there's a link for that in the show notes for those strategy sessions. It'll take you to a Calendly page. It's if you want to, you can sign up for a free 20 minute consultation with me, and we can see if one of those sessions might be a good fit for you and your podcast. So that's all for me. Do you have anything else, Mickenzie?

That's all. We'll see you next week, friends.