Over the past six years I’ve written a lot about radio personalities podcasting, including my From Broadcasting to Podcasting eBook. I’m happy to say that over that time a lot more on-air personalities have embraced podcasting, although I would still like to see more audio video podcasts featuring original content that feeds into or builds on and extends on-air content. But at least we’re moving in the right direction. Recently, I’ve been very encouraged by a new group of radio people asking me if they should start a podcast, radio CEOs and GMs. Here are a couple of the reasons why I always say yes when they ask that question, and I’ll end with a quick word of warning.

Starting a podcast is a great way for upper management to lead by example. There are very few radio groups who are creating the volume of digital content necessary to compete for the digital dollars that could replace and exceed any lost terrestrial revenue. The FASTEST way to get all the on-air personalities and anyone else in the organization with an aptitude for it to start creating more digital content is for the person at the top of the company to take the initiative to create some themselves. After all, if the boss who clearly has a ton of things on their plate can make the time to do it then there’s no excuse left for anyone else to continue refusing to podcast.

To get attention today it’s critical that the people within our organization establish themselves as thought leaders within our community. When the leader of an organization actively shares their thought leadership it helps brand the entire company as local experts worth contacting and ultimately working with. Historically, there are plenty of successful CEOs who stayed behind the scenes, but those days are likely gone in radio. With as small as our staffs are now a much better approach is for our company leaders to step up and be the faces of our companies. Starting an audio/video podcast and being a guest on other industry podcasts is an efficient and effective way to do that. Using platforms like Riverside help with that efficiency and make it simple to create a professional looking podcast.

Commit and don’t expect much in the beginning. There’s no point in doing one or two episodes of a podcast. If we’re going to podcast we have to commit to doing it. That being said, it doesn’t have to be weekly in the beginning. We can build up to that starting with a bi-weekly or monthly podcast until we can carve out the time to do it weekly. But, don’t expect to come out of the gate strong with tons of views, impressions, subscriptions and downloads. ALL podcasts start from zero and it takes time to build it up and it takes a LOT of reps to get good at it, even for seasons broadcasters. So, commit and stick with it and you’ll find your lane. It’s a misconception that podcasts can’t be monetized easily or until they’re getting massive amounts of downloads, impression or views, especially radio podcasts who can use airtime that has an established value to promote them while tagging a sponsor.

What do you think? Have you started podcasting and what have your experiences been? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.

Pic designed by RawPixel for Envato Elements.