[PODCAST] On our second episode of season two on Mushing Radio we present Iditarod Through the Decades: The 1980s. The 1980s was a decade of change for the race.
Please listen in and tell your friends:
Mushing Radio
Iditarod Through the Decades: The 1970s
[PODCAST] On our second episode of season two on Mushing Radio we present Iditarod Through the Decades: The 1970s. In the early 1970s the organizers of a 1000 mile sled dog race found their dreams become a reality. In the early days the race took weeks and was more of a camping trip.
Please listen in and tell your friends:
Iditarod Through the Decades 1960s
[PODCAST] We hope that you will join us for our second season on Mushing Radio. This season we are telling the story of the Iditarod Through the Decades and on this episode we talk about the 1960s. The 1960s in the United States was a time of great change. It was also a time for big leaps. Not only did we step foot on the moon but here in the state of Alaska we started a dog sled race that would eventually become a race of over 1000 miles.
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Podcasting: Dog Works Radio Secrets Pt. 3
We continue our three part series on Podcasting: Dog Works Secrets. Read Part 1 and Part 2
The Numbers
Our numbers have increased steadily as time goes on. We have had over 100,000 downloads and over 400,000 profile views on just our Blogtalk page alone. Things increased multi-fold once we became a “featured” show on the platform.
Promotion
A great show is just like the 1000s of others if your listeners can not find you. Did you know that there are millions of webpages that are never viewed by anyone?
Why?
Because they are not promoted. If you look at sites that have those little visitor widgets you will often see very low numbers (some times in the low 100s).
For example it took us almost two years before we made it to the first page of Google for our dog training school, Denver Dog Works. If a potential client searches: Dog Training Denver (the most popular keywords for the industry), our page will show up.
This promotion takes the most of my time for all of our endeavors. I spend at least 15 hours a week doing this. You could say that this is my primary job. Why do I spend this amount of time on this? Because if I don’t we will be out of business.
In December 2008 we were paying almost $1500.00 a month for a small yellow page ad in the Denver phone book. That is a lot of money. We had a decision to make. Either we continued to pay that or we did something different. We took a different route and it has paid off.
Now most of our marketing budget is spent on social media and the production of our radio shows not a little 4X4 ad in a phone book that is only reaching the population of metro Denver and that is only IF they use the phone book!
I could write a book on promotion of your shows (and your business) using social media and I am far from an expert but I do know what works for us.
If you want to make your radio show successful you must look at it as a business. I would suggest setting it up as such. Yes, this means a lot of hoops to jump through with the state, the IRS and every other Big Brother out there, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
If you just want to keep you radio show as just a hobby, you should have stopped reading this post a day or so ago.
Domain Name
One of the first things you should do before you even host your fist show is to secure the domain name for your show. If you don’t know by now, many of the best domains are already taken, so I would suggest you do this even before naming your show.
I use Godaddy.com for all of my domain management.
Example: http://www.YOURSHOWNAME.com. After you secure your domain name you can forward it to your show page on BlogTalkRadio or other platform and will make it easier to promote your show.
It is a lot easier to promote your show by saying: Billsradioshow.com instead of www.blogtalkradio.com/billsradioshow
Everybody is on Facebook these days. The new pharse is “Facebook me” instead of the old school, “call me”.
I can attest that Facebook and your radio show are instantly a great partnership. In the early days of our show I would often have 100+ friend requests after each show. I accpeted so many freiends that I am now close to the 5000 friend limit that Facebook has in place.
I suggest starting a Facebook fan page in the same name of your radio show page. You can see ours here: Dog Works Radio. This is a simple place to interact with your fans and listeners as well as post previous shows. I will admit that I dont work on my Dog Works Radio Facebook page as much as I should but I will get around to it.
The nice thing about BlogTalk Radio is it allows for integration with your Facebook page and will post new shows, announcements and more right to your Wall.
Blog
A recent statistic shows that only 0.6% of those online have a blog. Much fewer update it daily. I make sure I update my blog at least twice a day. I don’t just write about dogs but on a wide range of topics. I use my blog and my Facebook page to put a “face” to my shows and let my viewers/listeners know a little about who they are listening to.
I always write a post about a show as soon as it is aired with a synopsis of the show, a bio of the guests and quick link to the show itself.
On my blog you will often find me writing about: pop culture, the Iditarod, horror movies, sports, recipes, my travels, and of course dogs!
I am a twitter addict. I have updated my twitter account many times flying down the highway at 70 mph. I use twitter as my primary promotional tool for the radio shows on several different twitter accounts for maximum exposure. You can say a lot about your shows in 140 characters or less (and don’t forget to include the link to your show). If your guests have a twitter account make sure you list them in your post as well.
An example of a tweet for our show:
Listen to the Dog Works Radio Show Now: http://tinyurl.com/dogworksradio Today we interview @Micheleforto #dogs #pets
Follow us on Twitter:
Denver Dog Works | Alaska Dog Works | Team Ineka | Robert Forto | Michele Forto | Dog Works Radio
Updates
I send out at least 10 tweets or updates for each show before and after it is aired. This is the nature of social media. On twitter it is a “right this second” mentality. If you post a show reminder or update at 30 minutes before air time, there is a good chance it is forgotten before your show actually airs. I spread my updates throughout a 24 hour cycle and at least one reminder to all of my followers to listen every day using a feature in Tweetdeck to schedule tweets in the future.
Comments
Comments are an important part of any social media campaign. Please remember that only a fraction of people comment on blogs, show, etc. It is like 1 in a 100. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t see a lot of comments.
A Typical Show
A lot of you have said: take me into the studio with you. Well it is not a studio per say. It is in my office space at my home in Alaska. I keep my equipment set up all the time. It is just too time consuming to unplug everything and hook it all up days later.
We usually record our shows on Sundays. We have found this is a good day for guests as well as Michele and I. The difference in time zones are sometimes an issue. We have recorded several shows with guests spanning four different time zones. A 2 PM time slot in Minnesota is 10 AM Alaska time.
With Michele co-hosting in Denver and me in Alaska with all the equipment she often calls in as a “guest” and she does the show over Skype.
At 30 minutes before air time I do a sound check, making sure nothing goofy is going on with any settings, the cords are in their right places and everything is loaded up right. I send a tweet announcing our show will be live in 30 minutes.
At 15 minutes to show time I call into the host queue and make sure the Skype and Internet connections are good to go. I test all of the sound bytes and go over any last minute questions I have for our guest. Also at this time Michele gives one final call to our guests to make sure everything is A-Okay and goes over any last minute instructions.
At 5 minutes to show time, the guest calls in and we test the connection. We ask that if at all possible to call in on a landline. We have had issues with dropped calls and background noise with cell phones.
I prepare one last tweet saying we are live now and set it in Tweetdeck for the top of the hour.
The show begins– the intro starts and Michele and all get each other up to speed about any news–we call it Bits and Bites. At about 5 after the hour we introduce our guest and they give a bio and we start the show.
The show is very laid back and we want to make our guests as comfortable as possible. We are a low key and laid back and let the show flow. We let the guests know that it is there show and they can talk about what they want.
At about 30 minutes past we take a short break and play messages from our sponsors.
We bring the show back in and do a re-cap of the first segment and continue with our guests.
The show ends (usually) after an hour and we close the show. Michele always does a follow up call to thank our guests and to get pertinent info for our show promotion such as websites, blogs, how to buy their book, etc.
If necessary I download the show into Garageband and edit.
I then have to re-air the show and erase the old “live” one from the playlist so that the new show will be “clean”
I write a blog post, tweet links and post the links to Facebook and other social media.
After about 3 to 4 hours our one hour show is in the books and then we start to work on the next one…
The Future
While we have a lot of exciting things in the works for our radio shows one of the most exciting is the offering of shows to other guests that we will produce under our brand. While people may wonder–why would I want to be under the Dog Works brand? It is simple, we have done 90% of the work for you and with that you can concentrate on hosting a great show!
Video
The wave of the future is video. I am sure you know by now the popularity of YouTube has skyrocketed in recent years. Our plans include hosting the show live with a video feed so that people can watch us in the studio. I know this sounds a little corny to some but think about it– Howard Stern soared to popularity when his show aired on E! Television. While I don’t want to be Howard, I do want to take the show to the next level and that level is video!
On-location
With the adding of video we also plan to do more on-location events, expos, seminars etc. I have toyed with this idea for some time but just haven’t jumped in with both feet yet. What I envision is hosting the show live at an event with a big screen, a twitter feed and a panel discussion on the show. We can reach a world wide audience this way and it would be an interactive experience for all.
The only limitation for this is the cost of travel with all of the delicate equipment. Until we have the budget for a “road crew”, this idea is still in the works.
The Nuts and Bolts
As I have said over the last few days, we spend a lot of time, effort and money for our shows to be as successful as possible. Each show has an important place in our business and who we are.
Yes, you can cut corners and do it for less time and money but you know what they say about the cheap way out. When was the last time you bought a pair of running shoes from the big box department store and trained and ran an marathon? Exactly…
It costs us well over $300.00 a month to produce our shows and that does not including any of our time.
We have spent well over $3,0000 on equipment and that is a modest estimate.
I spend at least 25 hours just on the show. That includes promotion (of the show and our other businesses), preparing for the show itself, follow up, editing, and guests. This does not account for any of my co-host’s time. I also spend a lot of time reading future guests books. There is nothing worse than interviewing an author and never read their book.
400,000 page views, 100,000 downloads, 4737 Facebook friends, at least 7,000 followers on Twitter, 2 daily blog posts, at least 1 show a week, at least 400 tweets and 100 Facebook posts weekly.
I could be doing a lot more but hey, I am training to be a long distance musher too!
We welcome your comments and hope you will listen to our shows. Please me know if you have any questions.
Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post
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Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows
Podcasting: Dog Works Radio Secrets Pt. 2
iTunes
The key to success of any podcast or Internet radio show is being included on iTunes.
The link to our iTunes page is Dog Works Radio on iTunes
After you have hosted a few shows you can request to be included on iTunes. There is a step by step tutorial on the BlogTalk Radio page under Support.
I would say that most of our download traffic comes from iTunes. Probably in the range of 900 or so a week.
Skype
Skype is a key component to our radio shows. We could not do the show without it. First it is the method that is used to call in and host the show but also allows us to accept callers and guests. You should note that Skype is only as good as your Internet connection and speed and this has been our biggest obstacle for our shows.
When I found my home in Alaska a deal breaker would have been if we did not have a fast Internet connection. I can remember asking my realtor this and saying that if Internet was not available, that I could not move forward on this property. While the Internet up here is broadband, it is far from speedy. You have to remember that quite a few homes up here are still without electricity and running water and have to use outhouses. This is Alaska!
For our shows we use the unlimited calling features which costs $8.99 a month. As you can see the costs to produce and host a quality show add up quickly.
Skype and BlogTalk Radio and a Hotspot connection are a perfect marriage. I have hosted shows being stuck in traffic using my iPhone as well as from events and an on-location sites and quite a few hotel rooms all over North America. The cost for a typical hotspot is $39.00-$100.00 a month from myriad providers (Sprint, AT&T, Cricket, etc.) I currently use the new hot spot feature on my iPhone for an extra $25.00 a month on my data plan.
Microphones
We use Audio Technica microphones(approximately $250.00 each–2009 price). There are the perfect double carotid mic’s that work very well for podcasts/radio shows as well as vocals for music. While these aren’t the most expensive microphones by any means, they are very rugged and hold up well to abuse. You need that when you are doing on-location remotes as well as the daily grind in a dog training center.
Pop filters
The pop filter ($12.00 each) for your microphones are necessary equipment for your podcast/radio show. The pop filter is a foam screen that covers the microphone so your listeners don’t hear that familiar popping sound on their end when you say words that, well, pop…
Sock mounts
A shock mount ($45.00-$100.00 each) is a necessary piece of equipment for your microphone. The shock mount will alleviate the vibrations and jolts that your microphone will be subjected to as you move it around. Think of a shock mount as a cradle for your mic.
Boom
A boom ($99.00 each) for your microphone is what all the professionals use. If you use a microphone on your desk and you are prone to smack down with your fists or move things around, the sensitive microphones will pick it up.
Headphones
I use Bose Quiet Comfort 2 headphones ($350.00) for my radio work at home and Bose in-ear head-phones ($99.00) for the show when I am away. Some will say that Bose’s noise canceling feature does not work well for audio recordings such as a podcast/radio show, I have found it works to my benefit because I suffer from some deafness in my left ear from my rock band days.
A regular pair of headphones will work but it is up to you on what you want to hear as you host your show.
The Board
For our radio shows we use an Alesis 8 channel multi-mix USB mixing board ($180.00). This rock solid board is a must have for a professional podcast/radio show. It allows for 8 different inputs (microphones and other devices). I did find that it takes quite a bit of technical know-how to get it to work properly on a Mac system as it could not find the appropriate drivers.
There are various cords that will need to be used depending on the configuration that you use. There are at least eight different types in my set up.
Computer Hardware
In December 2009 I bought a MacBook Pro for the purposes of producing the best show that I could. I got a heck of a deal at Micro Center on my 15” MacBook Pro with a savings of over $900.00 because it was a return and did not have any operating system or software installed. I paid just over $600.00 for this laptop. A new one will set you back at least $1500.00. When I am at my home studio I use my Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is the greatest computer that the folks at Apple ever released. Not only are they a cheap $599.00 but they pack a punch. Note that the 599 price tag does not include a monitor, keyboard or mouse. These will set you back a pretty penny if you want to use Apple hardware.
My MacBook and Mac Mini are set up with the exact same configurations in terms of hosting my show. It makes for seamless integration for switching equipment on the go.
Software
I will admit it. I am a Mac guy. I have sipped the Apple Juice enough where I doubt I will ever go back to a PC.
The software that we use for the production of our show is Garage Band 11 (approximately $99.00 from Apple). This is about as good as you can get for a guy that used to play in a rock band and have goals of a multi-year world tour.
Garage Band allows you to record on multiple tracks. Has superior editing tools. You can add sound bites, recordings and other items that will make your podcast/radio show top notch.
A podcast/radio show is only as good as its editing. While there are ways to host a show live using Skype and the BlogTalk Radio platform, there currently is not an easy way to do this using Garage Band. In order to do so you have to record the show then cut and past each ‘voice’ into Garage Band. I have found that we just record the show live on BlogTalk Radio and then download it into Garageband to edit it and then re-load the show to the platform. These steps are very time consuming but with the nature of the Internet you will have to do this from time to time.
Voice-Work
We have hired one of the best voice talents that we could find to record dynamic show introductions and commercial spots. This makes the show more professional than the nerdy kid in the basement using pirated songs from his iTunes library. Not only is that illegal but most platforms will shut the podcast down if they find out about it.
Our commercial spots are from our sponsors. While it does not cost 1000s of dollars to host our show, costs do add up. We spend a lot of time and energy on the production of our shows and we are thankful for the sponsors.
If you would like to find out more about sponsorship for either one of our shows and reach 1000s of listeners a week, let me know.
Cost: about $30.00-$45.00 per minute of voice work plus other costs vary for production to include music, effects, etc.
Tomorrow: Secrets of Dog Works Radio Part 3
Robert Forto | Team Ineka | Alaska Dog Works | Mushing Radio | Dog Works Radio | Denver Dog Works | Daily Post
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Robert Forto is a musher training for his first Iditarod under the Team Ineka banner and the host of the popular radio shows, Mush! You Huskies and Dog Works Radio Shows