I, Podcast

02/18/23 • 39 min

You may have thought about everything that goes into enticing someone to press play, but have you ever thought about the design decisions that have led up to the play button itself? There is a whole world of cooperation between people, far apart and personally unbeknownst to each other, that allows your podcast episode to reach your listener. This podcast industry is a marketplace that performs miracles almost every moment of every day.
Today, you and I are going to take a journey. I am going to walk you through the day in the life of a podcast episode -- from ideation to listener. There are three major segments all acting in concert with each other to form what I see as the reference model to the current layout of what we CALL the Podcast Industry. These three smaller industries consist of Production, Distribution, and Consumption. If these three smaller industries did not act in coordination with each other, podcasting would not exist.

Podcast Industry Reference Model

I've created a Podcast Industry Reference Model [PDF] to help conceptualize it as you follow along with this podcast.

NES Design Master: Leonard E. Read

Today's Master is Leonard E. Read. Mr. Read (who lived from 1898--1983) established the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946 and served as FEE's president for 37 years. He was a strong defender of American liberty with a specific focus on individual freedom and private property rights. This is what led him to author 29 books and hundreds of essays.

However, his powerful yet simple essay titled, I, Pencil: My Family Tree, published back in 1958, is his most famous work. For over 60 years hundreds of thousands of Americans of all ages have read (or heard) this simple and beautiful explanation of the miracle of the “invisible hand” by following the production of an ordinary pencil.

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) Downloads

Notable Quotes

"Leave all creative energies uninhibited."

-- Leonard E. Read

"[Markets are a] configuration of creative human energies. [Thousands] of tiny know-hows, configuring naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire. And in the absence of any human masterminding."

-- Leonard E. Read

"We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."

-- GK Chesterton

Podcast Industry Reference Model

I've created a Podcast Industry Reference Model [PDF] to help conceptualize it as you follow along with this podcast.

NES Design Master: Leonard E. Read

Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) Downloads

Notable Quotes

"Leave all creative energies uninhibited."

-- Leonard E. Read

"We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders."

-- GK Chesterton

Previous Episode

Podcasts are Bespoke by Design

When considering the creation of a new podcast there are generally two options available to you: Copy an existing format, or create your own special format. But how do you create a format that is unique enough to be different but not too unique that it scares listeners away? The answer is in understanding what existing formats are in your niche and how bespoke design thinking can make you stand out.

Notable Quotes

"The concept is to create something that no other podcast has anywhere in your niche. That means you need to know who is in your niche."

-- Kyle M. Bondo

Podcast Mentions

Here's to Joe Saul-Sehy and The Stacking Benjamins Show which takes talking about money while in your Mom's basement and shows you how being different then everyone else in your space works.

Next Episode

Dawn of the Podcast Designer

Podcast design is an act of communication. However, a common mistake made by most podcasters is thinking of ourselves as only audio communicators. We’re fortunate to speak the audio language fluently, but we need to be able to translate that thinking into visual and performance mediums as well. In other words, we need to be bilingual but not in the way you would expect.

Notable Quotes

"Think about the way the same two lines can be spoken, but have very different meanings: 1. [EXCITED] Let’s Eat Grandpa!! 2. [SOFT] Let’s Eat, Grandpa. The first way makes it sound like your Grandpa IS the meal -- while the second way is an invitation for your Grandpa to join you for a nice meal. The same spoken words just performed very differently. This is what I mean about being bilingual."
-- Kyle M. Bondo