Welcome to the Streamlined Podcaster, a podcast
that shows you how to put the right systems in
place so you can stop spinning your wheels, focus
on making great content and see your show grow.
Because there's nothing worse than putting a
ton of effort into your show to see very few
benefits and even fewer downloads. My name is
Joe Casabona and I know you're strapped for time.
So let's get into it. I have been thinking a
lot about podcast formats lately. You know, for
a long time it was, oh, it's always host, co
-host or it's interviews. Most people who come
to me want to start an interview podcast. There
is a number of people or there are a number of
people who consider starting a solo show. I do
a mix of both. This show is all solo episodes.
Take note of that, people who are going to eventually
pitch me to be on this show. But my other show,
The Streamline Solopreneur, is a mix of solo
episodes, interviews. And so I've been thinking
a lot about podcast format lately because podcasting
is changing fundamentally, unavoidably. We've
seen it in the news with like Wondery downsizing
or shutting down and other story driven podcasts,
right? Like these highly produced fictional podcasts
that are shutting down. Serial, which is one
of the podcasts that has really catapulted podcasting
like into the first wave of the mainstream, I
would say. is, you know, publishes like fewer
episodes further between since they've been acquired
by the New York Times. The New York Times still
puts out a bunch of podcasts, but they are news
based podcasts. And so. I've been trying to think
about. In an age where our tools, AI take a shot,
you know, the AI in 2025 drinking game. Our tools.
have enabled us more than ever to be able to
focus on creating really good content. But there
is, and I should say I'm not qualified to talk
about this. I've never done an audio drama. I
have talked to very few people who have done
an audio drama, but is the audio drama format
the right one for a podcast. Audiobooks are a
thing. In fact, Spotify is like doubling down
on audiobooks, right? They just added a new tier
where you can buy more hours for audiobooks.
I can't imagine that they would have done that
if the first introduction of audiobooks to their
audience was failing. So is it like, you know,
Our audio drama is like a short run podcast,
which is perfectly fine, right? Like TV shows
don't go on forever. So, like, do podcasts have
to go on forever? I would say no. I think that
people think it's like you got to do it weekly,
you got to show up, but you don't necessarily
have to. You do a 10 episode audio drama and
you've told a story for a fixed budget. And great.
Good job. That's evergreen content. But I also
think that, like, most people, if you're listening
to this, you're probably thinking, oh, I have
an interview podcast. That seems like the easiest
type of content to create, right? Which it's
not. Sorry to break it to you. There's a lot
of work that goes into doing a good interview.
A good interview. In a previous episode, I talked
about, like, don't make your guest provide questions
to you. That is your job as the host. But, like,
similarly, do research, right? Don't just, like,
don't just say we're going to have a casual conversation.
Control the story, right? I have a document with
all of my interviews and I go over it with my
guests before we record and... We don't strictly
stick to the script, try saying that ten times
fast, but we do have a thread that we try to
pull on and get back to. And I have been a little
more heavy -handed in my edits lately to trim
out some of the extra stuff, especially when
I interview friends and we kind of go off tangent.
I used to keep those in, I used to call them
side quests, but I have to evolve, right? You
know, I always think about the movie The Grand
Hotel. Came out in like 1932. It's like, I think
it's like Universal Pictures, like first great
film. It's just people talking in a hotel, as
far as I'm like, I'm not like a cinephile. I
like movies, but I'm not, you know, I'm sorry
if I'm like offending you by saying that. But
my point is like, A good movie in 1932 was basically
just like synchronized video and audio. That
movie is boring today. Mediums evolve. And so
like, back when I first started podcasting, the
fact that I had a decent conversation with great
audio was all I needed to do because most podcasts
sounded terrible. or we're meandering, or like
we're about Apple. I feel like most podcasts
were about Apple. And so like, you know, we need
to evolve. And so what is like, what does a good
podcast look like in 2025? I think if you're
going to do a good interview, that could be good,
right? But I'm starting to wonder if like the
host, co -host format the best format. And I
think it's because of the banter. It's easier
to form a relationship, even if it's a parasocial
relationship, with a host when they're doing
more than just what I'm doing right now, which
is talk at you, right? Because I'm not doing
like an audio vlog. I'm not telling you about
my day. I'm trying to stay focused on the topic.
Which is, is host -co -host the best format?
And so it's maybe harder for you to form a bond
with me. Let me know. I mean, right at streamlinedfeedback
.com and be like, no, you're wrong about that.
I'm happy to hear that. But with a host -co -host
format, there's more opportunity to get personal,
to do... side quests, quote unquote, without
it seeming distracting because it is part of
the lore of the show. And I have a few examples
here, right? You know, there's a show I really
like called Upgrade. It's with Jason Snell and
Mike Hurley. It's from Relay. Relay .fm is the
website. And they have banter, but they stay
generally focused. Mike is on another show, which
is I should say that upgrade is technology, mostly
Apple News. Connected, Mike is also on, also
primarily tech slash Apple News. And he is on
it with Federico Vettici and Stephen Hackett.
And they are less focused. There's a lot of they
say there's a lot of japs, right? There's a lot
of tomfoolery and horsing around. But that's
like part of the lore of the show. You listen
for that because they are all experts in this
field, but it's fun. It's a fun version of what
they're doing. It's a fun spin on what they're
doing. Now, all of those guys are long time podcasters.
They've been at it for a while. But let's look
at a more recent trend, right? Which I think
probably happened with The Office Ladies, which
is like a rewatch podcast or maybe West Wing
Weekly. But there are three rewatch podcasts
that I listen to. Well, two I listen to. One,
I'll tell you why in a minute. But of some of
my favorite shows, right? So one is Fake Doctors
Real Friends with Zach Braff and Donald Faison.
the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast and How
We Made Your Mother. The two I listened to are
the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast and How
We Made Your Mother. I stopped listening pretty
quickly to Fake Doctors Real Friends. Now this
like predates both of those shows by a while.
So like it came out, I think it was pandemic
era. I admittedly haven't listened to it in a
while. But I gave it the old college try and
I just like couldn't do it. Even though Scrubs
is one of my favorite shows. Now I just checked
and as I'm recording this three days ago they
put out an episode called Our Last Hurrah. And
before that it was basically like Real Friends
classics. I scrolled back it looks like they
did make it through the entire series. And that
includes the spinoff right Scrubs Med School.
But I stopped watching somewhere in season one.
Because the show quickly got off the rails and
they were focused more on the lives of Zach Braff
and Donald Faison than on the actual show. And
that's fine if that's how you're going to bill
it. Now they cursed a lot. And while I curse
a lot in my real life, I try not to curse a lot
on podcasts, especially because I like to listen
to podcasts in the car with my kids. That's neither
here nor there. But... The banter went from banter
to tangents that distracted. If we look at the
Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast and How We
Made Your Mother, let's look at How We Made Your
Mother first. I think this is the most focused
show of all of them. Just by virtue of it being
two people. Maybe sometimes three when they bring
on a guest, which they don't do every episode.
It's focused. They walk through the episode.
They talk a bit about it. I don't know if there's
an outline. It seems really casual, but I think
they created a mission for the show and they
are sticking pretty strictly to that mission,
at least in this first few months of the show.
Now, the Lonely Island Seth Meyers podcast, there's
a lot of banter. There's a lot of inside jokes,
but it's kind of... It's part of the lore of
the show, like I was saying with Connected. You
know, they got an inside joke and they call their
listeners the Quaid army. And, you know, you
say Quaid army and they respond righteous kill.
And there's a whole bunch of nonsense. But ultimately,
the show is mostly about their time at SNL and
they're walking through all of their shorts,
like the digital shorts that they did. They'll
sometimes... diverge and talk about current projects
and things like that, but I listen to get a behind
the scenes look at what it was like working at
SNL, what it was like creating digital shorts,
and an inside look at their creative process.
And I get that, right? I'm listening to How We
Made Your Mother because that show told such
an incredible story, regardless of how you feel
about the last season. So told such an incredible
story which with such continuity That I want
to know how it happened and like how they put
it all together and that's what I was curious
about with fake doctors real friends, but it
quickly turned into like The thing I remember
most about listening to that show was them talking
about going to Cabo and like Johnny C. McGinley,
who played Dr. Cox, trying to get them back on
track. And so like, I would love, maybe they
changed this, maybe they got feedback and they
course corrected. I'll have to listen again.
But that's how they lost me. And so I'm telling
you all this because I think a host -co -host
format could be really good. The banter is really
important, but don't let the banter distract
from the mission of the show. Don't let your
show turn into a bunch of inside jokes with a
friend at the risk of alienating the audience.
A little bit of banter is good. A show that's
mostly banter and not core content is a show
killer. So that's what I'm thinking. I'd love
to hear your thoughts on this. Let me know over
at streamlinedfeedback .com. What kind of show
do you have? Interview? Host, co -host? Are you
thinking about starting a show? Do you like solo
episodes? Again, that's over at streamlinedfeedback
.com. Thanks so much for listening. And until
next time, I hope you find some space in your
week.