Welcome to the Daily Grateful, where on today's episode, I'm going to tell you how to start a podcast, because people have asked me, and I'm here to help. So, you want to be a rock and roll star? Then listen now to what I say. Just get an electric guitar, and take some time, and learn how to play.
I just heard a noise in my studio, and I have no idea what it is. Did you hear it? Did you hear a distinct, like, noise just a minute ago? I'm not going to edit it out.
I try not to edit it. I try to just break on through to the other side. Anyway, I've been asked to talk about podcasting. And, you know, I said, okay.
I have taught podcasting for the Tampa Bay Technology Center. As a matter of fact, I'm their go-to podcasting kind of guy. And when people want to start a podcast and go to the Tampa Bay Technology Center, which is a big non-profit that I'm a volunteer for, they have to talk to me. Isn't that strange?
But, you know, 35 years broadcasting, radio broadcasting experience. Now, I'm podcasting. And by the way, I was happy to get out of radio. I was really happy.
It was time. I was ready. I was glad to get out of it. But now, I have podcasting.
How do you want to podcast? First of all, what is a podcast? It's an audio file that goes out on the internet that people can listen to. You're listening to it right now.
You've probably found me on Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts, or Spotify. I'm on all of those places. Okay? Now, how did I get that?
It's not that difficult, but it's not that easy. But we'll talk a little bit about it. Today, maybe once a week, we'll talk about it. So, this is Thursday.
We will spend the next couple of Thursdays just doing a little bit of talking about podcasting. And what we're going to talk about today is equipment. What kind of equipment do you need to get started in podcasts? I'm holding in my formerly Chlordane stained hand an iPhone.
You can literally start a podcast with this thing. I don't advise it, but you can, and I know people who have. And I know a lady who's got a podcast that's been around for years. She goes into her closet with her iPhone.
She records her audio. It's like a little motivational thing. And she does that, and then she ships that audio file off to an audio editor who puts together a podcast out of it. And she's got a podcast.
And it sounds pretty good. But understand she's paying somebody a bunch of money to put this thing all together. What's the minimum that you need? I'm going to say don't use the iPhone.
I'm going to say that you need a computer. And you need a microphone. And the microphone, there's like a million choices that you can make. I'm kind of weird about microphones.
I happen to love good ones, and I have good ones. I have a real good one in here. I love it. I've got another real good one in the other room that I love.
I love this one more. But a real good microphone. Oh, there's one of those right here next to me. Let me pull it up here.
And set it on the desk there. And this is a Samsung Q2U microphone. Samsung Q2U microphone. Putting it back on the floor.
Now, down it goes. It is a dynamic microphone. And it will plug right into your computer. And you can record with it.
And it will, you know, plug right into the USB. Later on, when you get fancy, it has what's called an XLR connection to it. That you can use when you get fancy. But to start with, you can use that.
And you've got to have some software. And there's really good software that you can get for free. It's called Audacity. Now, if you're in the Apple world, there is GarageBand.
I don't like GarageBand. Never been happy with GarageBand. GarageBand is good for recording music. Audacity is good for recording audiobooks and podcasts and that sort of thing.
And it's free. You can find it on the internet for free. Take a little time and use it. You go on YouTube.
There's all kinds of videos that will teach you how to use Audacity. And then there you go. You're also going to need, technically, you're going to need perhaps some opening music. You hear my opening music.
I play it for you. And closing music. And you have to have that. And with Audacity, after you've recorded your podcast, you can stick your opening music at the beginning of it and your closing music at the end of it.
And then you edit it all together. It's not that difficult. Trust me. It is not that difficult.
I mean, it's time consuming, but it's not that difficult. And once you get a system going and your workflow going, you'll find it to be pretty easy. What if you want to have guests? Well, if you're going to use a USB microphone, like the Samsung, you can't have guests in the studio.
You can have them over Zoom. My daughter's got a podcast. A really good podcast. It's called Cassandra Explains It All.
And she has guests all the time. And she's never had a guest in her studio. It's all done through Zoom. And there's other things that you can use besides Zoom that are a little bit better.
But she uses Zoom. And she's happy with it. And she has guests on her podcast that way, with the USB microphone. I have a little bit more of a professional setup.
I've got a pretty expensive microphone. And I've got what is called, and my microphone doesn't go into my computer. As a matter of fact, my computer doesn't exist in my podcast world until I am ready to take my finished podcast and ship it up to my hosting company. And I have to do that with my computer.
I can't do that with my audio interface. I have an audio interface. In here, I'm using something called a Zoom PodTrack P8. Now, the fun thing about the Zoom PodTrack P8, it's like a little miniature radio station that you put on your desk.
It's pretty cool. Coming in the mail is another audio interface for me that's better than this one because it's got more bells and whistles as far as audio is concerned. And when that comes here, this audio interface is going up to the club. And the new audio interface is coming here.
The new audio interface is, I'll tell you about it when I get it, but it's pretty cool. Here's the other fun thing. When you do podcasts or when you do radio or when you do YouTube videos and you become something known as an influencer, people send you crap. And they send you good stuff.
Yeah, it's pretty interesting. There's an agency that does publicity for all these different brands. And over the years, many years ago, before I moved into this house, before I got divorced, they sent me a really good, expensive vacuum cleaner. A really, really good, expensive vacuum cleaner.
When I was moving out of my old home, which I didn't want to do, and I was coming here and buying this home, that was my vacuum. I'm taking it with me. And the lovely ex-missess goes, you're not taking it with me, are you? I said, yes.
She goes, no, no, no. And I didn't want to get into a pissing matchup for a vacuum cleaner. So I left it there and I bought another one for myself. I brought it here.
And my daughter was staying with me for a while. And she decided that that vacuum cleaner was so good, she dropped a one-gallon bottle of milk out of the refrigerator and literally had milk all over the kitchen floor. And she decided that my vacuum cleaner would vacuum it all up. And that was the end of that vacuum cleaner.
And I had to go out and buy another one. But I got that first one for free. Well, these people, same people, same agency, are sending me an audio interface that I've wanted for a long time. And they're sending me the newest version of it.
That's pretty cool. So these are fun things that can happen for you if you have a podcast. And you get to meet people. You can go to podcasting conventions, speak at podcasting conventions, hang out at podcasting conventions, local podcasting groups.
You can form a local podcasting group. You can do all kinds of things with your podcast. You can help a lot of people. You can bore a lot of people.
I think I'm probably boring today. I don't know. But next week, we're going to talk about what should you podcast about on next Thursday's edition of The Daily Grateful. Have a terrific day.
We'll be right back.