Your Microphone Is Fine

As the head of a podcasting company, I field new podcast ideas almost daily. I'm always on the lookout for compelling pitches.

However, after sifting through thousands of these pitches, I've stumbled upon a not-so-secret secret: most podcast ideas I hear are, frankly, boring.

The podcast landscape is saturated with shows where hosts interview friends or potential clients, aiming to charm them into buying something or gaining an advantage. There's an abundance of podcasts dissecting movies, TV shows, and even Magic: The Gathering. And it seems like everyone wants to talk about how revolutionary their brand or company mission is, all in the pursuit of community building.

But here's the harsh truth: your podcast idea likely isn't as captivating as you think. These concepts are not novel; they've been explored time and again.

I launched my podcasting company on the back of a podcast that tackled Japanese grammar and used Manga/Anime to talk about it. I aired a daily 5-minute episode, diving into my area of expertise, Japanese, with a twist that appealed directly to my target audience.

The market was saturated with introductory language lessons, but nobody was delving deeper, especially not from the perspective of someone learning Japanese as a second language. Most lessons were taught by native speakers who, while fluent, hadn't navigated the learning process themselves.

What I offered was unique. And it struck a chord.

Millions of downloads and hundreds of thousands weekly listeners later, turned that into what I’m doing now…

Telling you to… reevaluate your podcast idea.

This brings us to a crossroads for aspiring podcasters. In my mind, you have two choices:

    •  Get Good

    •  Do something Unique.

If you're considering exploring a well-trodden topic like mental health, business, or Spiderman movies, you must outshine the competition. You don't need have Elon Musk hitting the Devil’s Lettuce, but remember, you ARE up against heavyweights like Uncle Elon and Daddy Rogan.

And about your microphone concerns? Let me reassure you: your microphone is perfectly adequate. What truly matters is your content, by a factor of a hundred. To support your creative endeavors, we now offer five locations across Utah where you can record your podcast for free.

-Johnny Dinkel @ Launchpod Media

Happy 4:20 Everyone, I am never going to stop letting guests write on my blog, as it really really takes some of the burden off of me. If you have something you want to tell the world, hit me up.

SP