What I Do to Prepare For My Podcast
I’ve hosted “The Boundless & Ballin’ Podcast” for nearly two years and have learned a lot in that span when it comes to engaging topics, interviews, and content creation as a whole.
But how exactly does the magic happen? Here’s a bit behind the curtain into how I prep for my podcast.
Social Media
For all of its pitfalls, social media can actually be useful when it comes to finding content to discuss. A decent amount of my segments sprout from something that was said on Twitter or Instagram, and I use the pod to give my views on the matter. Of course, I also use social platforms to obtain my news and information about current events (sports and otherwise), and reacting to something that Woj or Shams tweeted about is great material for the show.
Watching Games/Highlights
The first segment of my podcast is always a game recap, which includes notable performances from the last week or two. Since I used to juggle podcast creation with the everyday responsibilities of high school (and because many games were unavailable for one reason or another), I found myself watching highlights of highly-touted contests to compose content for the opening bit.
One of my favorite types of highlights to watch is “Fantastic Finishes”, courtesy of the NBA’s YouTube channel. It’s always exciting to watch the down-to-the-wire games, and it’s even more fun to retell them on my podcast (my experience as a play-by-play guy comes in handy here). Tuning into NBA highlights is a major part of my preparation, and summarizing two-and-a-half-hour games into a few minutes is a nice touch.
Articles & Rumor Threads
Going back to social media, I often gain ideas from articles promoted on Twitter. If I read something that is interesting enough for other people to hear, I’ll include it in a segment or make it the focal point of one. Another frequent landing spot in my preparation is threads from HoopsHype or HoopsRumors. Trade season is around 75–80% of the NBA year, so reports from the aforementioned websites are always useful in developing a segment and/or vetting information from Twitter. Additionally, the fact that those sites include every bit of information in one storyline thread — even if the latest update was a few months ago — allows me to make sense of how a rumor came to be and why the situation is what it is.
Books
Lastly, I began using material from books I read to come up with interesting, often never-before-heard topics for my podcast. The first instance of this was in Season 1, Episode 2, when I used Stephen R. Covey’s advice about communication to advance an idea about sports debates. Though I’ll admit I haven’t relied on books as much since then, I do believe that discussing what you’ve read and applying it to communication in any medium can be very advantageous and lead to great discussions beyond your work.
How Long Does Preparation Take?
Since I pride my podcast on being a week’s worth of NBA news in under 20 minutes, preparation typically begins 2–5 days before I record and lasts anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes per day. Sometimes, if I’m in a pinch and have to prepare an episode the night or two nights before, I can put segments together in 45 minutes to an hour. It all comes down to the flow I’m in and how quickly I can make an engaging podcast, with episodes lasting anywhere from five to 15 minutes.
How I Prepare for Interviews
Aside from my solo podcast episodes, I frequently interview my friends, most of whom are student-athletes. The preparation for that usually occurs 3–5 days before recording and I’ll come up with five or more questions for each segment. The interviews run around 20–30 minutes and are either a standalone episode or the main piece of a larger one. I enjoy hearing other people’s stories, and The Boundless & Ballin’ Podcast has given me a way to hear them and share them with others.
Overall, the resources I use and prep time I take allow me to create great, engaging content in an efficient manner. This has led to nearly 60 episodes that have aimed to inform and enlighten everyone about the current events in the NBA and the stories of people who deserve to be heard.
Season 4 will be the final one of “The Boundless & Ballin’ Podcast,” beginning July 1 and ending August 24. Check out the pod on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, and have a look at its Anchor site.
