Career Podcasters Stories

Podcasting as Teaching

Classroom Principles to Engage Listeners

“If you like our show, please give us a rating on iTunes, it really helps us get the word out,” says the podcaster—whichever podcaster. Listeners have heard a variation of this line hundreds of times. Perhaps now and then they’ve […]

Career Podcasters Film, Literature, and Podcasts

November 4, 2021 by Jesse Staniforth

Move Over Public Media<br/>Now is the Golden Age of Independent Podcasting

Move Over Public Media
Now is the Golden Age of Independent Podcasting

As audio shifts from radio to podcasting, legendary public media producer Jay Allison says the human voice still matters most

Sometime back in the 80s or 90s, Jay Allison invented podcasting. His scheme was simple: there was a lot of really interesting radio airing at times he couldn’t listen, so he connected a VCR and microphone to his radio and […]

Career Podcasters Producer Spotlight

September 8, 2021 by Jesse Staniforth

No Shortcut to Insider Access

How Ear Hustle and Other People’s Problems have navigated access and consent to give listeners a fly-on-the-wall experience.

I love podcasts that give me a glimpse into a world I would have otherwise never been able to see; shows that make you feel like you’re getting special behind-the-scenes access. I’m talking about podcasts like Ear Hustle, which chronicles […]

Society and Culture Crime Film, Literature, and Podcasts Career Podcasters

July 26, 2021 by Amanda Cupido

How To Make a Compelling Companion Podcast According to Pros

Advice from Roman Mars, Bari Finkel, Christopher Johnson, Dan Taberski, Krys Marshall, and Will Malnati

Hollywood is in the middle of a long love affair with podcasts. Evidence of that can be seen in the number of podcasts being turned into TV shows, including The Shrink Next Door, Nice White Parents, and The Edge of […]

Entertainment Film, Literature, and Podcasts Career Podcasters

May 10, 2021 by Melissa Locker

How to Make a Podcast About the Future When It’s Coming So Quickly

Sometimes, it feels like a terrifying future awaits. Rose Eveleth’s Flash Forward podcast (and book and other projects) offers a different perspective.

Everything is bad. There was a Biblical-style swarm of locusts in East Africa last year. The pandemic is still going. Big Tech could be tracking our faces at every moment. Every day seems to bring a new headline about how […]

Career Podcasters News and Politics Fiction Science

April 20, 2021 by Angela Chen

What It Sounds Like When People Connect

Why Erica Heilman’s Rumble Strip Conversations Sound Like No One Else’s

Pick an episode of Erica Heilman’s independent podcast Rumble Strip. Odds are, one of the first things you’ll notice is the intimacy of the conversations. Rumble Strip is usually composed of one-on-one interviews, but even in group interviews or solo […]

Career Podcasters Society and Culture

March 9, 2021 by Jesse Staniforth

How to Navigate the Podcast to TV Pipeline According to Pros

Advice from Lee Eisenberg, Marshall Lewy, Eli Horowitz, and Aaron Mahnke

“People are always looking for IP, people are always looking for good stories,” says Lee Eisenberg, a longtime TV producer, who is turning WeCrashed into a series at Apple TV+. The evidence of that is in the steady stream of […]

Entertainment Career Podcasters Society and Culture Film, Literature, and Podcasts

March 5, 2021 by Melissa Locker

Alie Ward’s Listeners Truly Love <i>Ologies</i>

Alie Ward’s Listeners Truly Love Ologies

Ologies’ Alie Ward Explains Why You Should Build A Community on Patreon Before Even Launching Your Show

Before Alie Ward launched her podcast, Ologies, she built a community on Patreon. That decision not only helped Ward fund her incredibly fun, fact-filled show, but also helped her harness a base of science-loving supporters to turn Ologies into one […]

Science Career Podcasters

February 3, 2021 by Melissa Locker

To All the McElboys I’ve Loved Before

Why both aspiring podcasters and McElroy fans should read this new book

Editor’s note: This story is a collaboration between Timber and the Bello Collective. Timber owes a huge thank you to Bello’s Editor Galen Beebe for writing. If you enjoy this, be sure to read Galen and many other writers’ great […]

Career Podcasters Film, Literature, and Podcasts

January 26, 2021 by Galen Beebe

The Past and Present of <i>Grammar Girl</i>

The Past and Present of Grammar Girl

Mignon Fogarty's early story of building a runaway hit show into a network

The podcast landscape is rapidly evolving. You have to subscribe to at least three industry newsletters just to keep up with the latest changes to platforms, metrics, and networks. But alongside those quantifiable shifts, there is also the change in […]

Career Podcasters

November 30, 2020 by Amanda Cupido

A Voice for Writing a Voice for Podcasting

Author Joanna Penn had to find her voice all over again as a podcaster

Joanna Penn starts every episode of The Creative Penn podcast with this salutation, knowing it might alienate some listeners. And she’s okay with that. Since releasing her first episode in 2009, the prolific British author has learned the value of […]

Career Podcasters

November 30, 2020 by Pam Moore

Caroline Crampton Is the Queen of Multitasking

She's the creator of Shedunnit, a co-writer for Hot Pod, and a member of the podcasting royal family (well she should be)

If you’re reading this article, it’s likely that you’re a fan of podcasts. That means you have most likely read or heard or seen the work of Caroline Crampton, an incredibly hard-working multi-tasker who has built a career by being […]

Career Podcasters Entertainment Film, Literature, and Podcasts

November 16, 2020 by Melissa Locker

How to Bear Podcasting Burnout

Amanda Cupido talks Burnout with Kristi Lee and John Asante

Amanda Cupido is a Toronto-based podcast producer, Ryerson University instructor and author of Let’s Talk Podcasting: The Essential Guide to doing it Right. I snap a picture of my desk to send to my best friend. There are two coffee […]

Career Podcasters

October 22, 2020 by Amanda Cupido

Juleyka Lantigua-Williams is Building Podcasting’s Future

And the future is full of stories told by her company Lantigua Williams & Co.

Before she started the full-service podcast company, Lantigua Williams & Co., Juleyka Lantigua-Williams (I’ll call her Juleyka from here on to avoid confusing her name with that of her company) had a 20-year career in journalism, and telling the stories […]

Career Podcasters News and Politics Crime Health

September 29, 2020 by Joshua Dudley

Three Million Listens a Month Without a Big Name or Network

Drew Ackerman credits his consistency for the year-over-year audience growth of Sleep With Me.

Prefer to listen instead? We add new stories regularly to the podcast Timber—Stories for Podcasters. The world’s “most boring podcast” brings in three million listens per month and has been Drew Ackerman’s full-time job for the last three-and-a-half years. Sleep […]

Career Podcasters Podcast 🎧

June 30, 2020 by Amanda Cupido

JP Davidson on bootstrapping a career in podcasting

If you love podcasting, there's more than one way to make it your life

Four years, 100 episodes, and 2500 listeners; JP Davidson credits his full-time career in audio to a “bootstrap” podcast that’s now offline. Davidson is a Canadian podcast producer, studio owner, and radio journalist. He makes a living running Pop Up […]

Career Podcasters

June 30, 2020 by Amanda Cupido