Episode 500: Groundhog Birthday - A Podcast Launch Story

If you're new to the School of Podcasting, when Dave hits a milestone like 100, 200, 300, 400, he breaks format and tries to do something that is educational, entertaining, and slightly weird. Today being that it is both my 500th episode of the School of Podcasting, and my 51st birthday, (and the fact that last week was Groundhog's Day), I am taking my creativity and love of the movie Groundhog's Day (the story is a guy has to relive the same day over and over, rent it here) and joining it with the story of Jack Davidson and his friend Scooter as they try to launch a podcast.

We also here snippets of past shows at the start of the show.

Special thanks to Adam Curry of the No Agenda Show for loaning me their birthday jingle. Check out their awesome podcast at www.noagendashow.com

Also thanks to Steve Stewart of the No Debt, No Credit, No Problems podcast for kicking off the show, and to Kim Kracji of the onthetablepodcasts.com for being my female voice in the "podcasting commercial". I knew I could count on you both.

Look Back Memory Lane 00:38

Episode 500 Begins 2:00

We cover a story about a man named Jack Davidson. It’s his birthday, he’s gone through some life changes, and he’s thinking of starting a business. He is realizing that you only have so much time on the planet, and he wants to make a difference. His biggest fear in life is being insignificant, or leaving no legacy behind. His mind is whirling today about his future. This has been spurred on by the fact that he is turning 51 today

Morning Burger hit :4:00

Hey It's Your Birthday Version 1 5:01

Podcasting Commercial 5:34

First Jack tries using a free media host that limits your bandwidth - Bad idea

Binky and the Whiz take over the No Agenda Show 8:44

Jack purchases blue snowball microphones only to find out these don't work good in a non-silent environment and its hard to have two usb microphone plugged into one computer.

Whet Bread the Big Lie 11:55

Hey It's Your Birthday Version 2 15:15

Jack and Scooter learn that you should setup an agreement to identify who does what, and if there is any money who gets paid, etc

Hey It's Your Birthday Version 3 18:50

Jack and Scooter lose their friendship after arguing over the money with their podcast.

Jack goes solo, and tries multiple hosts, platforms, and equipment.

Jack and Scooter come to an agreement

Final Thoughts on Episode 500 23:20

What did we learn today?

Blue snowball microphones are not a great choice even though 1000 websites say so. They are not a great fit for podcasters. There are better options
Copying a company that you may be talking about on twitter is a strategy you might want to try
Be sure to have expectation regarding money and responsibilities in place if you have a co-host.
We learned that the only thing more annoying than Binky and the Whiz is hearing the same clip of Binky and the Whiz over and over is quite annoying.
We learned that the more tied Dave gets, the less he stays in character
And lastly if your your episode last longer than four hours, you should always call your doctor.