Amanda’s Listening Journal

What format was most compelling for you to listen to?

Thinking back to all my favorite podcasts, apart from two, they are all the interview format so, I would have to say that is the most compelling format to me. 

I love the Interview format because I love getting to know people and learning a subject from them, in which they are an expert.

I’ve also always been fascinated with human behavior and personality types, which is why I started off my university career focusing on psychology. However, my favorite class turned out to be studying deviant behavior and doing case studies on famous criminals, studying modus operandi and criminal profiling, which is when I changed my major to Criminology.

So, the two podcasts that I listen to that aren’t in the interview format would be the non-fictional storytelling, or a true crime podcasts.

What kinds of production choices — music, effects, segments — do you like, and which turn you off?

Some things that turn me off a podcast are poor audio quality, loss of meaningful conversation, poor ad placement, long introductions and a lot of music and effects.

Maybe I am getting old and cranky at the ripe old age of 31, but my favorite podcasts are very simple. Ones with a short sound clip or quick music clip at the beginning, and that’s it! The rest is just a back and a fourth conversation with a guest without interruption.

If the content is good, I don’t even care about the podcast length. Podcasts like Joe Rogan and Lex Friedman do this well. They go on past an hour, and because they are so engaging and I listen to them as I do other tasks, half the time I don’t even notice an hour has flown by and I’m left wanting more. So, I don’t think podcast length is a factor to me.

Something I dislike is poor audio quality. Usually, I’m pretty patient with podcasters, especially if they are newer or it’s a one off. However, if issues continue long term such as, not being able to hear the speaker, volume levels all over the place or a mic that squeaks, I will give up and find something else to listen to in the same genre.  

I also dislike when the host also gets too off topic and starts chatting with the guest instead of continuing with meaningful content and questions. I don’t mind some chit chat, but at the end of the day I am listening to a podcast to learn.

I think ad placement and introduction length is important too. I understand some podcasters must have them as a source of income and to allow them to keep creating podcasts, but I find it really distracting when they are in the middle of a segment/ question and break for an ad. If they must do ads, I would much rather it be done quickly at the beginning of a podcast. Similarly, I think introductions should be short too, otherwise they lose me before the content even begins. I think it’s important to grab someone’s attention quickly!

What conventions seem to emerge in podcasts related to your discipline or that you want to emulate?

So far, I’ve only seen interview type podcasts related to my discipline and seeing as that’s the format I already enjoy the most, it’s what I am drawn to.

Although it would also be fun to create a podcast where you review specific items, topic or mediums that already exist. Essentially like a movie or restaurant critique in podcast form, and on your topic of choice.

What podcast couldn’t you find to listen to — and do you want to make it? What might that look like?

I’m embarrassingly new(ish) to exploring podcasting, so I haven’t seen this yet and honestly it might already exist, but I would be interested to see if there are podcasts styled the same way Marque Brown’s podcast are, in relation to learning technologies. Marques dives into tech news, and reviews new and old technology from cell phones to electric cars.

Moreover, right now I’m just hoping to learn the basics of creating a podcast in case I ever want to make one in the future (whether for work or personal reasons), and to support others in my current role at TRU.