HOW TO PODCAST August 2020: Making a podcast with a global cast
This post is from the HOW TO PODCAST newsletter
On the 27th of July we launched the first episode of Kill Switch, a new podcast produced by Volume, Access Now, and the #KeepItOn coalition.
What makes this podcast different from previous Volume shows is its diverse international cast. The #KeepItOn coalition consists of over 200 organizations from all around the world — fighting against government-mandated internet shutdowns from Sudan to Pakistan.
Each episode of Kill Switch features a roster of guests from this coalition. In the first episode, we talk to Oliver Spencer from Free Expression Myanmar, Berhan Taye from Access Now about her home country Ethiopia, Mishi Choudhary from SAFLC in India, and Hija Kamran from Media Matters for Democracy in Pakistan. The casts for the second to sixth episodes are just as internationally diverse — from journalists in Liberia to digital security experts in Venezuala!
But creating these rosters, and weaving together the stories from the guests into cohesive narratives, takes some doing. Especially if you are working towards a tight deadline! Here is what we’ve learned so far:
Be extremely organized
Connecting, organizing, and recording four guests per episode from different countries and time-zones is an administrative and logistical nightmare.
You need to have a detailed spreadsheets or project planning tool where you track the progress of each episode’s guest. We used TeamGantt, for example. But a Excell sheet or Trello board would also work well.
You need to have columns for guest contact details, their biographic information, and time-zones. You also need to note down whether they’ve replied to your invitation, scheduled a recording and have been sent the interview questions. This process of tracking each guest will be carried over to the editing process as well, as you might have to edit the interviews as they come in.
All of this will help you make sure everyone in your team knows what is going on and that there is no confusion about things like time-zones (which is bound to happen!) for interviews.
Work with overlapping schedules
Because we are doing six episodes of Kill Switch with four guests each — we need to make sure that we contact everyone in time. And because we are dealing with such a large cast from around the world, and people from places where internet connection is being interfered with, you are sure to have some participants who don’t readily reply to emails!
This means that we already started recording guests — and editing their interviews — for episode two and three while episode one was still in production, and interviews for episode four and five are being planned while episode two is in production. Again here, it is important the keep the first point we mentioned in mind!
Be disciplined with your recording times
The cast for each episode includes interesting people from fascinating organizations. Student activists living in refugee camps, startup founders from ‘Silicon Mountain’ in Cameroon and security specialists fighting against hackers based in Berlin. How do you fit the stories of four guests like these into a tight 35 minute podcast (including the great story-telling from the host!)? You don’t.
You have to be prudish with the time allotted to each interviewee in the show. A good way to do this is to make sure that your interviews are getting right to the point. Where Volume shows like Alibi have the benefit of delving deep into each character, their backgrounds, and their motives, Kill Switch needs to quickly introduce each guest and help them get the most value out of their 10 to 15 minutes of ‘air time’. It is not only about editing the interviews afterwards, it’s also about conducting the interview with targeted questions.
New Shows
Kill Switch
Kill Switch is a podcast series that explores the alarming rise of anti-democratic internet shutdowns and related digital rights violations across the world.
The series will follow inter-related stories looking at unique facets of internet shutdowns and digital rights violations. It will focus on the perspectives of different role-players from a variety of locations.
➡️Read more
➡️Spotify
➡️Apple podcasts
➡️Google podcasts
Access
Access is a 4-part podcast series that looks at the impact of Intellectual Property (IP), specifically patents on accessing health care, in the context of COVID-19. Each week, we will be joined by local and global experts to discuss and make sense of global developments that affect us locally in South Africa. Access is brought to you by the Health Justice Initiative, hosted by Fatima Hassan and produced by Volume.
➡️Read more
➡️Spotify
➡️Apple podcasts
➡️Google podcasts
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