Project Purpose
I started this podcast to develop different communication skills than I have in my traditional studies. I thought that starting a podcast would help me grow in unique ways, developing speaking and interviewing skills. I also wanted to work on marketing myself and growing my personal audience and network, along with building my portfolio. Finally, I wanted to challenge myself and see progress made in a new endeavor over the course of a semester.
The Project
The Trey Burgess Podcast (buzzsprout.com) All of the podcast episodes can be accessed through this link!
Here is one episode where I featured a guest on my podcast. This episode was one of the best performing during the semester.
Challenges encountered in completing the project
I severely underestimated the work and time commitment necessary to plan, produce, record, edit, and publish a podcast episode every week. I had never used professional recording equipment before, and I also never had used any recording software before. Some of my biggest hurdles were just getting the podcast off the ground, deciding what services to use, and figuring out how to use the equipment available to me to create a product that I was proud of. One hurdle every week was finding enough content to fill an episode, and working on transitions to move from one idea to another in a natural way. An additional hurdle that I am still working on is recording video along with the podcast audio, to publish on YouTube as well as other podcast listing services. I found that recording video along with the audio adds an additional layer of technical challenges, while also requiring me to focus not only on how I sound but how I look. The final hurdle that I faced throughout the semester was building a dedicated following. I thought it would be easier to quickly build a small audience, and I had to adjust my expectations and goals when it came to how many people were tuning in to my podcast every week.
Project Processes
I recorded my Podcast weekly in the BYU-Idaho University Communications building. This gave me access to professional recording equipment that boosted my podcast quality. I recorded the audio using Adobe Audition. For editing and sound mastery, I used Podcastle AI. This service was what I used to add music to the beginning and end of my Podcast, remove background noise, and master audio levels to keep the volume consistent throughout each episode. I used Buzzsprout to host the domain of my podcast website and publish the episodes to multiple streaming services including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Podcasts.
Overview of Experiences
I succeeded in starting a podcast and posted an episode every week from when I started my project up until the current time. Through seven episodes, my podcast has been downloaded 173 times across different streaming services. It has also received numerous reviews on both Apple and Spotify. My highest-streamed episode has 53 downloads. My initial goal was to have an episode with 100 downloads by this deadline. Even though I did not reach this goal, I am proud of my progress in growing my podcast, and my downloads became more consistent as more episodes were published. I also was able to have a guest on one episode and was proud of the content of that episode along with the opportunity to conduct an interview as a podcast host. Throughout the semester, I received feedback from many people who listened to my podcast and had suggestions on how I could improve. I feel like the content of my episodes has improved with each passing week, and that I have grown as a podcast producer and speaker.
Insights and Takeaways
From this project, I have gained an appreciation for the work that goes into producing audio or visual productions of any kind. I have learned how to prepare to speak on a subject engagingly. I have improved my skills as a speaker and interviewer. I have also learned valuable lessons about how difficult it can be to build a following. I now know that any communication project takes consistency and effort to craft a product to engage an audience and build a loyal base of followers. I have gained a love for podcasting and am excited to continue to develop my skills and publish more podcast episodes. I also have more ideas for different content and other podcasts for different audiences.