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[meanspartan]

So my friend and I just released episode 2 of our new gaming podcast. We still have a bit of a way to go before I'd call it a "great" podcast, but we have already had good discussions and I think we are generally on the right track. We are just doing it for fun, I don't expect us to be the next Giant Bombcast or anything haha. I just want to give the small handful of listeners we do have enough reason to keep listening and if we grow a bit more, that would be fantastic.

But I am still unsure what format we should follow. Right now, I just pick 3-5 bits of news from the gaming/tech world that I think are interesting and we talk about them for 30-45 minutes, before wrapping up the show with another 10-15 minutes of what games we've been playing and how we're liking them. We absolutely don't try to be comprehensive with the news, as by the time our listeners get to our episode, they have already heard all the news there is to hear from other podcasts, websites, Gaf, etc.

So I am not sure if I should continue with this format, or perhaps move to a more free form discussion where I pick a topic of the week that we discuss at length and then maybe talk about any news we feel we really want to talk about.

I guess what I am asking is, what type of format keeps you interested in a podcast? Any suggestions would help!

EDIT: At the risk of running afoul of Gaf's self promotion rules (I swear I'm not making any money on this show, it has only cost me money haha), I'm gonna link our show for anyone that's bored and wants to offer some much needed feedback. It's called Multiple Lives, and can be found here: http://multiplelives.podomatic.com/

It's searchable on most Android Podcast apps, Stitcher, and PlayerFM. Itunes hasn't added it to the directory yet, but you can get it there by clicking the "Subscribe on Itunes" button on the lower right of our Podomatic page.

If you do listen, PLEASE give me feedback, either posting here or through a private message. Issues I am already aware of:

1. I talk a bit too fast
2. My cohost says "You Know" too much lol
3. Towards the end of both of our episodes, there is a 5-10 minute period where my cohost has a slight but noticeable echo effect. It's happened both times and I have no idea why. Trying to figure it out.

Finally, if this Edit HAS broken the rules, please let me know and I will immediately delete it.

 

[John Kowalski]

.mp3

 

[Maybesew]

.mp3

First post wins as always.

Edit:

In all seriousness, bring the only unique thing you have to the table. Your opinion. If you are just going to report the news, your podcast is DOA. Say something that makes me react, either in agreement or disagreement. Give me a reason to listen to you. Otherwise, why am I listening to you?

 

[entremet]

News sections are pretty played out. Every podcast does it.

This is general gaming, correct? Not a specific type of gaming podcast?

Topic of the week seems better. The classic 1up Yours style podcast is played out since everyone does that format.

First post wins as always.

Actually no. They totally ignored the question.

 

[Nbz]

Any gaming podcast is gonna have a mix of Games you've been playing, News and listener e-mails/interaction of some sort.

The Podcast I host is broken into 3 half hour segments where we follow the format of

1: What we've been playing
2: Listener Mail
3: Feature (Could be relevant news, discussion, industry chat etc...)

Its worked pretty well so far.

 

[meanspartan]

News sections are pretty played out. Every podcast does it.

This is general gaming, correct? Not a specific type of gaming podcast?

General gaming, although we do talk about tech as well. And we "reserve the right" to talk about other stuff when we really want to haha. We spent a few minutes on Star Wars at the end of last week's episode because of the announcement of there being 3 movies coming out in the next couple years.

 

[StatelessRich]

You should spend 30-45 minutes discussing the kinds of condiments you like or dislike. e.g. mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup.

 

[MCN]

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Damnit, you beat me to it.

 

[meanspartan]

?



Actually no. They totally ignored the question.

Eh it's all good. I laughed.

 

[entremet]

.mp3

General gaming, although we do talk about tech as well. And we "reserve the right" to talk about other stuff when we really want to haha. We spent a few minutes on Star Wars at the end of last week's episode because of the announcement of there being 3 movies coming out in the next couple years.

USGamer's flagship podcast does this. They have some member talk about geek related hobbies--sports, comics, film. It's doesn't take much time and adds some variety.

There's a lot of intersection between hobbies.

 

[meanspartan]

You should spend 30-45 minutes discussing the kinds of condiments you like or dislike. e.g. mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup.

Well I did open this week's episode with how a bad choice at 7/11 made me horribly nauseous the next morning.

 

[rothbart]

bring the only unique thing you have to the table. Your opinion. If you are just going to report the news, your podcast is DOA.

This. Even if you report the news, it's your opinion on the news that can make people choose your podcast over others. And your personalities... If people don't find your opinions or personalities interesting or entertaining, you've got a tough battle to win for listeners.

 

[Mesoian]

Giantbomb's format is pretty good.

Personal intros, what have you been playing, news, community outreach, end.

Try to keep it under an hour until you find your niche.

 

[meanspartan]

I really would love to get feedback for the show (it is still rough and needs work, not gonna lie) to improve it, but didn't post an episode link because I don't want to cross Gaf's rules on self promotion.

If anyone wants to give us some feedback, PM me and I'll send a link. And if even that isn't ok to do per Gaf rules, please let me know and I'll edit this post.

 

[HIGH DEF JEFF]

1. Whats the name of your podcast? Lets hear it.

2. What are you doing or trying to do thats different from every video game podcast?

So many game podcasts adhere to the tired 1UP Yours "whatcha been playing", News format. If you listen to more than one of these you see that everyone is talking about the same thing.

Speciality podcasts where you talk about a game, or series of games is a lot more appealing but would take much more time to produce, especially if you took the effort to include a music bed.

-EDIT-
Forgot the most important part...
If you stick with your news, playlist format then thats talk about the news and playlist. You guys dont have the luxury that Giant Bomb has where they can insufferably talk about F1 Racing for 10 minutes and get away with it. No one knows you..so stay in topic and keep the shows VERY brief.

 

[meanspartan]

1. Whats the name of your podcast? Lets hear it.

2. What are you doing or trying to do thats different from every video game podcast?

So many game podcasts adhere to the tired 1UP Yours "whatcha been playing", News format. If you listen to more than one of these you see that everyone is talking about the same thing.

Speciality podcasts where you talk about a game, or series of games is a lot more appealing but would take much more time to produce, especially if you took the effort to include a music bed.

1. I'd love to answer that but as I said above, I'm hesitant to catch a ban for self promotion lol.

2. I can't honestly sit here and tell you we are some innovative new podcast. We are just a couple of friends who like to shoot the shit about games and news that interests us, and so decided to start recording said conversations (and yes, adding structure so it makes sense as a podcast).

 

[FriedConsole]

Here are some tips:

1) Not have any agenda. The Force will be your guide to pointed discussions.
2) Take any opportunity to make obvious sexual innuendos because those are always funny.
3) Tell shaggy dog stories about you going to a restaurant and eating some food yesterday.
4) Have the "are games art" discussion because it never gets old.
5) Just describe games as "awesome" or "shit" but provide not explanation on why. Mystery is good. Don't worry about being able to articulate anything.
6) Take the opportunity to purposely play bad games so you can make new curse words like "shit abortion" and "fucktacular".
7) One person needs to constantly yell "no spoilers" when somebody else talks about a game.
8) Don't wait for somebody to finish a sentence. Just talk over them. Three people talking at the same time is like having 3X the awesome podcast.
9) Talk about why you didn't have time play any games. I didn't listen to a gaming podcast to hear about games.
10) Tell an inside joke and then take the time to explain it. They are just as funny when it is explained out.
11) Compare what season and episode you guys are on with Breaking Bad.
12) Have one guy that is really loud and the other guy should be barely audible.
13) Breath heavily into the microphone. If you aren't a heavy breather just have some snacks.
14) Get outraged about something that doesn't matter.
15) Talk about how awesome it was that Christmas to get that videogame as a kid and then how you played it for hours straight.
16) If somebody makes a funny joke. Just keep iterating on it until it is painfully unfunny.
17) Be way too cool for everything.

You will be on top of the iTunes chart if you follow all these.

 

[meanspartan]

-EDIT-
Forgot the most important part...
If you stick with your news, playlist format then thats talk about the news and playlist. You guys dont have the luxury that Giant Bomb has where they can insufferably talk about F1 Racing for 10 minutes and get away with it. No one knows you..so stay in topic and keep the shows VERY brief.

I'm actually NOT a fan of GiantBomb because I can't stand their "time to games" lol. I do love their end of year Game of the Year series though.

On our show, we get to the news within a few short minutes. I don't just hop right in because that would feel kind of awkward.

 

[ThatsMytrunks]

I do a show with some friends, our format is this:

- Challenges (we each do a thing suggested by one another, as well as from the community)
- Talk on what we're playing, reviewing what we're playing
- Quick talk on news, with quick discussion on each point
- Questions from the community

 

[Visualante2]

I always like guests. I love the personal interview approach of A Life Well Wasted.

 

[HIGH DEF JEFF]

I do a show with some friends, our format is this:

- Challenges (we each do a thing suggested by one another, as well as from the community)
- Talk on what we're playing, reviewing what we're playing
- Quick talk on news, with quick discussion on each point
- Questions from the community

That first one is different, never heard that on a show before. Sounds cool.

 

[meanspartan]

I always like guests. I love the personal interview approach of A Life Well Wasted.

Well I doubt we'll ever have enough pull to get anyone major on. But I am considering having a friend who used to do a moderately successful gaming podcast (over 1000 downloads a week, to me anyway that's big lol) on sometimes as a recurring host.

 

[meanspartan]

I do a show with some friends, our format is this:

- Challenges (we each do a thing suggested by one another, as well as from the community)
- Talk on what we're playing, reviewing what we're playing
- Quick talk on news, with quick discussion on each point
- Questions from the community

Where do you get questions from? We have a facebook page with almost 200 likes (more than we actually have listeners, bizarrely enough), but it's damn hard to get people to contribute questions or comments.

I edited the OP with our show's info. It's called "Multiple Lives".

What's your show's name? I'd love to listen to it to get some ideas.

EDIT: Ah nvm it's linked haha

 

[Gestault]

So long as you're definitely getting regularly released content out there, don't be afraid to wing it at first and work out what interests listeners and doesn't make you pull your own hair out. Don't be afraid of having a few "bad" episodes so long as it means consistent output. While post-recording edits can be a great tool, try to get as close to a "live radio show" presentation as you can, meaning less work before you can post the episode. Buy a damned pop-filter, they're cheap and make your audio significantly better.

It sounds like you have a sense of it already, but a good basic outline is to have:

I. Intro
II. Recently Played
III. News Reactions
IV. Listener Questions/Community Segment
V. Close

With the right chemistry between your hosts, something as vanilla as this can feel interesting. Keep playing new things, and research topics you know will be coming up. Fair or not, an audience feeling like they know more than you is a recipe for fall-off. Make your personality and opinion matter as much as news. People can get news on its own faster than they can listen to your podcast; few will be there for a dry news-hour. If you can visit gaming-related events, do it. Even shitty local things are good for reaction segments.

 

[SlickVic]

I'm actually NOT a fan of GiantBomb because I can't stand their "time to games" lol. I do love their end of year Game of the Year series though.

On our show, we get to the news within a few short minutes. I don't just hop right in because that would feel kind of awkward.

That's fine, though I will say the off topic talk is what really sells the Bombcast to me. I can read gaming news and opinions on games on GAF or anywhere else on the Internet. What sells a good podcast (at least to me) is the personalities. That's the reason I've been listening to the Bombcast for so many years, and the extra curricular talk helps define each member as something more than just another game journalist talking about the weekly hot topics in gaming. It's what makes me come back each week personally.

 

[meanspartan]

So long as you're definitely getting regularly released content out there, don't be afraid to wing it at first and work out what interests listeners and doesn't make you pull your own hair out. Don't be afraid of having a few "bad" episodes so long as it means consistent output. While post-recording edits can be a great tool, try to get as close to a "live radio show" presentation as you can, meaning less work before you can post the episode. Buy a damned pop-filter, they're cheap and make your audio significantly better.

It sounds like you have a sense of it already, but a good basic outline is to have:

I. Intro
II. Recently Played
III. News Reactions
IV. Listener Questions/Community Segment
V. Close

With the right chemistry between your hosts, something as vanilla as this can feel interesting. Keep playing new things, and research topics you know will be coming up. Fair or not, an audience feeling like they know more than you is a recipe for fall-off. Make your personality and opinion matter as much as news. People can get news on its own faster than they can listen to your podcast; few will be there for a dry news-hour. If you can visit gaming-related events, do it. Even shitty local things are good for reaction segments.

Ya this has been my number one goal for the early weeks. I was somewhat amused at how annoyed I'd get when my regular podcasts would fail to release an episode on time, so I didn't want our fledgling listener base to have to deal with that. I mean obviously, life happens and I can't promise we will be perfect about always releasing on time, but we aim to have an episode out every Tuesday.

Thanks for the other suggestions as well! I do try and stay on top of being informed for what we talk about, the night before an episode I make a loose outline of what I want to talk about with links to articles/editorials and send them over to my cohost. Trying to avoid saying anything too stupid....

 

[meanspartan]

That's fine, though I will say the off topic talk is what really sells the Bombcast to me. I can read gaming news and opinions on games on GAF or anywhere else on the Internet. What sells a good podcast (at least to me) is the personalities. That's the reason I've been listening to the Bombcast for so many years, and the extra curricular talk helps define each member as something more than just another game journalist talking about the weekly hot topics in gaming. It's what makes me come back each week personally.

I suppose my fear is that I am not Jeff Gerrstmann haha. If I spend too long just talking about random shit, I don't think people will listen for very long. At least not until we find a groove and a stable audience who likes us anyway.

 

[DizzyCaffeine]

That's fine, though I will say the off topic talk is what really sells the Bombcast to me. I can read gaming news and opinions on games on GAF or anywhere else on the Internet. What sells a good podcast (at least to me) is the personalities. That's the reason I've been listening to the Bombcast for so many years, and the extra curricular talk helps define each member as something more than just another game journalist talking about the weekly hot topics in gaming. It's what makes me come back each week personally.

So much this. I can get gaming news and impressions from so many places, so don't just do that...but if I find the personalities interesting, I'll keep listening. You liking Mario Kart isn't interesting in and of itself, for example, but if I find YOU interesting, I'll want to hear about your opinions on games.

 

[ender1986]

Listening to it now... I dunno, it's two guys talking about video games. There's nothing wrong with that, but the stuff you're saying isn't even that interesting, it's you guys spouting off how you mostly agree with the majority opinion. It's boring to hear another guy rip on EA for releasing broken games or rip on Evolve for having pre-release DLC.

 

[meanspartan]

Listening to it now... I dunno, it's two guys talking about video games. There's nothing wrong with that, but the stuff you're saying isn't even that interesting, it's you guys spouting off how you mostly agree with the majority opinion. It's boring to hear another guy rip on EA for releasing broken games or rip on Evolve for having pre-release DLC.

Fair enough. Thanks for giving it a listen at least, I appreciate it. Suppose we got some work to do to find a way to make it more interesting.

 

[PassiveObserver]

Hate podcasts that start with a long boring news section. Pick a topic or specific game to talk about, and dive right into it. That's why I mainly prefer retro-oriented podcasts. Current stuff gets outdated within a couple of weeks and there's no reason to go back to em.

 

[Goldenroad]

Bring some unique insight that I can't get from other game podcasts. Ie. Don't regurgitate news that I can get from other places. Don't just talk about the same games that everyone else is discussing (I don't need another impression of Bloodborne next week). Don't be snarky...you kind of have to earn that. Be positive and again, bring some insight that is unique to you and your friend.

 

[meanspartan]

Bring some unique insight that I can't get from other game podcasts. Ie. Don't regurgitate news that I can get from other places. Don't just talk about the same games that everyone else is discussing (I don't need another impression of Bloodborne next week). Don't be snarky...you kind of have to earn that. Be positive and again, bring some insight that is unique to you and your friend.

Thanks! Gonna need to figure out what insight I can offer I suppose.

 

[BrassDragon]

I prefer podcasts where the hosts don't necessarily agree on everything. When you talk about news or releases, take some time beforehand to find out where your opinions clash or where there is friction.

Take a devil's advocate position or consider the minority voice if you don't feel strongly about something. Or pivot the discussion (e.g. "So enough ripping into Ubisoft/EA/Capcom, can you name three things they did right?")

Nobody has to 'win' a debate but the talk is more interesting if opinions bounce off each other.

 

[Goldenroad]

Thanks! Gonna need to figure out what insight I can offer I suppose.

That is going to be the tough part, but if you can figure it out, you could have something. Best of luck to you both.

 

[meanspartan]

I prefer podcasts where the hosts don't necessarily agree on everything. When you talk about news or releases, take some time beforehand to find out where your opinions clash or where there is friction.

Take a devil's advocate position or consider the minority voice if you don't feel strongly about something. Or pivot the discussion (e.g. "So enough ripping into Ubisoft/EA/Capcom, can you name three things they did right?")

Nobody has to 'win' a debate but the talk is more interesting if opinions bounce off each other.

It's funny, we usually disagree a ton but just havent happened to the first two weeks. Our next episode will discuss Nintendo's move into mobile though, which he has long thought a good idea and I well....havent to say the least. Guess we'll be able to follow your advice soon enough!

 

[meanspartan]

Hate podcasts that start with a long boring news section. Pick a topic or specific game to talk about, and dive right into it. That's why I mainly prefer retro-oriented podcasts. Current stuff gets outdated within a couple of weeks and there's no reason to go back to em.

We are trying to make it so that we only pick news topics interesting to us. For instance this week there's plenty of big news, but I doubt on Tuesday we'll talk all that much about Battlefront (an announcement of an announcement doesn't have much to discuss) but we'll spend a good chunk of time on Nintendo.

 

[meanspartan]

Just got episode 3 out, in which I tried to keep some of your suggestions in mind:

http://multiplelives.podomatic.com/entry/2015-03-23T18_07_16-07_00

We still have a way to go in finding our voice and making this a solid show, but I really do appreciate your suggestions and will try to further incorporate them in the coming weeks. Thanks guys!

And by all means, keep the suggestions coming. Feedback from those who listen to an episode would be nice as well.