What Kind of Podcasts Are the Most Popular – Part Five

Story Telling and Hybrid Formats

Story Telling:  This is kind of like the NPR stories. It takes A LOT OF TIME to prepare!  Do not underestimate the time involved to do a quality program when you are trying to tell a story.  

NPR may spend weeks gathering audio commentary, conducting interview and fact finding. They may record hours and hours of interviews and audio. Then spend hours more editing quotes from the many audio files and putting them into a sequential story that gets their message across. 

Unless you have the time, ability and finances to put together a quality story that will hold your listeners attention, this is podcasting method that you may find hard to do. But if you can establish a routine that works for you – you can develop a listener base that will be loyal to you for years. 

Think about the “Serial” podcast series and how popular that became. Why? Because of the amount of time they took to gather the facts, do the interviews, double and triple check the information. It was not accomplished in just a couple of days. Those podcasters worked for many, many months putting this information together. But, when done properly, you see how successful it can be.

One drawback to this type of podcast preparation is never airing the podcast!  You may start gathering the information with the full intent of telling the story you set out to do. But the information you gather in the process may not lead down the path you thought you would follow. Until, ultimately, you decide NOT to go with the story. Then all of the work, time and money was wasted.

So before you venture down the path for this type of podcast, make sure you have the resources, time and desire to follow through.

Fictional Story Telling:  This is kind of like writing your own fictional book. But you are talking it out in audio. You can have different voice actors read the lines of various characters. If you are good at doing this sort of thing, you could find yourself with a lot of listeners. And who know, maybe a future book deal?

This is a great way to promote your book if you have already written it. It is an awesome way to generate interest in your book. You may even offer it in the podcast for sale to your listeners!

You can also develop a HYBRID podcast:  This is where you may do a combination of various formats, depending on the message you are trying to communicate. You could do the solo program on some topics. Bring in a guest to interview about the topic later. And maybe hold a panel discussion after you interview a couple of guests. So you do not have to be “stuck” in a mold. As a podcaster, you have the ability to develop your podcast anyway you want! Just remember, it is about the listeners –not you!

Whatever format you choose – just remember one thing. Do it well. That is the only way you will become successful. Quantity over quality will only you doom you to failure. It would be better to put out one MONTHLY podcast of high quality than 30 daily podcasts that nobody would want to listen to.

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Over the course of these videos and articles, I want to answer any questions you may have concerning podcasting. You can leave your questions in the comments section below. But a better way of communicating with me and making sure I am able to see your questions rapidly is by using the contact form on my website. Go to