When a podcast isn’t a podcast!
Why do I work in radio and audio?
It’s a question I often get asked and yes, I'll admit, part of it has always been I love the recognition it brings. My wife often says to me "your job is so brilliant" and I often have to remind myself that is very much the case. Just like anything, it can be a job, but yes she's (always!) right - it is a brilliant job. But the main reason I came into the audio business is I love to use words and descriptions to explain what's happening and tell a story.
So I was horrified to read a recent headline from a survey in PodNews that 46% of podcast listeners said they prefer consuming them with video (source: Morning Consult). Now I appreciate there is a time and a place, and a demand, for everything but errrr and eeeek, and sorry actually no! They actually don't want a podcast, they want a video!
Podcasts have taken one of the many best bits of radio, that I believe is unique as a broadcast media, in that it allows you to be doing something else while consuming - reading the paper (back in the day!), watching TV, looking at your phone, scrolling social media - you have to give it your undivided attention! Podcasts, and the brilliant capability on BBC Sounds or Global Player to rewind radio, now allows us listeners to do what we've always done which is get on with our lives, and check back if we really missed something - TV, video and visual media has always been all about me me me! I've also spent 20 years of my 25 year radio career honing my writing skills to tell stories in the quickest and most direct way, without losing the power or importance of the event. So please don't tell me, LISTENERS want pictures - they want the best stories, told in the best way. And that's what we do at Anything but Footy.
Last week, we put together our first podcast of 2023 together for the London Legacy Development Corporation - Building Neighbourhoods - is all about a Post Occupancy Evaluation report on housing in the Olympic Park. It's actually about asking the people who live there what they think! It's all how you tell the story! Aptly, this week's latest Leadership Letters podcast that we produce for The Causeway Coaching, sees Lizzie Bentley Bowers speaking to the Global Leadership Consultant Karen Eber. She knows a thing or two about stories, with a book out later this year and her TedTalk 'How your brain responds to stories and why they're crucial for leaders'. Karen nails it when she told Lizzie "you tell a story for an audience."
So, video makers, please, do keep making your videos, but leave the podcasts to us podcasters! And check out the rest of our Anything but Footy website for more of the work Michael and I can deliver for your brand, and the stories we can tell!
by John Cushing, Feb 2023
