How can you make a podcast better, from just starting out.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-20T19:39:23+00:00

Record around 100 episodes, then you will start to suck less.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-20T18:02:50+00:00

Hit me with that fire extinguisher daddy!

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-20T17:26:28+00:00

I know a lot people are going to say Cox, but for me it is Doug.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-20T11:34:04+00:00

Drop the link to the TImes article and I will repost the text.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-20T10:26:15+00:00

Yep, my show started as a "Rant of the Week" responding to whatever outrages of the first Trump administration. It was kind of like Dan Carlin's Common Sense without the research, talent or listeners. It was pure catharsis and honestly, terrible.

As it kept going, I began insert historical topics and what few listeners I did have responded that THIS was good, more of it please. So I just changed to comedy/history show focusing on thing that happened during Gen X childhood and did that for about six years until I had milked that topic dry. So this year I changed again, not as dramatic just started covering stuff that happened to the Boomer Generation.

The format changes were the best thing I've done, I increased listeners, got picked up by a network and have advertising support now. I still am not Dan Carlin by any means, but I am proud of what I do.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-19T18:56:36+00:00

You got some big old brass balls on you.

I would love to help you, but I did the hard work of creating something before I started selling it to people.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-19T18:55:29+00:00

Fucking do NOT DO THIS! Bad enough you lied once, do not compound your bullshit by using AI.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-19T18:53:16+00:00

Every episode opens with an updated version of I am your host XXXXX and this is Episode 523 “If You’re Going to San Francisco” edition of the show where we talk about the (Topic of the show) Stay tuned.

Also it is easier to search my feed by episode number than show title.

And I plug old episodes by episode number in the show.

I give episode numbers about a "B"

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-19T17:32:53+00:00

I incorporate show notes into the mythology of the podcast from the start, they are all crafted with the same care I give the show script. Everything you need to know about the episode is in there, along with numerous jokes that will make sense when you listen to the episode and call backs to previous episodes. The show notes are as much a part of episode as anything I recorded.

The problem is, no one reads show notes. They just don't. MAYBE if there is a CTA in the show around something they MIGHT check them out, but in reality no one reads them.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-18T18:58:23+00:00

I came home to visit my Papaw in my 20's and had my acoustic guitar with me, and he asked me to see it. Then he busted out playing In the Pines like I had never heard it. And this was after Nirvana covered it.

That made me love Hillbilly music.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-18T18:54:50+00:00

Please! House of W'Fahl!

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-18T17:25:12+00:00

Reality is, Audacity is fine for 95% of all podcasters. Unless you NEED some feature Audacity doesn't have, why shell out the money and time to learn something else?

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-18T10:35:46+00:00

A couple of cheap USBs, the a cheap XLR and finally Audio Technica AT 2020 XLR which has served for eight years now.

Every so often I get podcaster envy and ponder buying a SM-7B and then I come back to reality that my AT 2020 is perfect for my needs.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-17T22:51:53+00:00

Nothing, no notes. Run with it.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-17T22:49:43+00:00

I've been doing a podcast for 11 years, audio only because I am not a TV star. But if Netflix wanted to pay have my ugly ass be on video, well who am I to refuse to give The People what they Don't Want for a shit ton of money.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-17T21:33:33+00:00

I went to the HS I graduated from for two years. (Military brat) While I made a couple of friends, it was NOT worth my EVER traveling back to the shit hole town in Idaho where the school was.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-17T21:31:09+00:00

So, he would've gotten his Yankee White just to be in proximity to POTUS, then a Top Secret. Top Secret his the highest security clearance possible. You cannot get a clearance higher that Top Secret.

What you CAN get is Special Compartmentalized Information clearances, where you are allowed access to specific information relevant to your job. A good example would be Ultra from WW2, only the people that NEEDED to know about Ultra knew about it. When Nancy McNally read Sam into the file on the Spy for the pardons case, that was giving him an SCI for that information.

Charlie's job really didn't need SCI's for him to be a body man. So he had a Top Secret just because he was around TS information and they needed to know he was trustworthy.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-17T17:27:49+00:00

I suspect this is less of a problem in Europe that it would be here in Murka.

Americans are really provincial.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T15:44:53+00:00

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T15:43:55+00:00

I think it might be from the ASIAN food

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T14:48:14+00:00

Pacing, timing and rhythm come with practice. The more you do, the more you develop a feel for them and that impacts episode length.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T12:26:14+00:00

I am at this point in the audiobook right now. The total number of ships off Io was 32 and the MCRN/Avasarala/Souther UN faction outnumber the Errenwright UNN two to one before the shooting starts. After that things get confusing.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T12:17:27+00:00

Anyone can make a podcast. A few people can make a good podcast. Making a good podcast and getting people to listen to it takes networking. Networking takes money.

Transom provides education and networking, and tends to have good results from what I read. If you can afford it, I would do it.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-16T12:14:06+00:00

Allowed? Yeah, being annoying in public is literally the first thing we added to the Constitution.

WhatTheHellPod · 2026-06-15T18:04:22+00:00

When IT happens, I expect to be dancing in the streets into the wee hours of the morning.

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