I am going to try something new with Signal Tower.
Wednesday night I was interviewing Justin Jackson, host of the awesome Product People podcast. He’s had some incredible guests: David Heinemeier Hansson, Patrick McKenzie and even my friend Samuel Hulick.
I wanted to have him as a guest for purely selfish reasons. I wanted to learn everything he knew about how to run a podcast. How did he get his first guests? What contracts does he sign with sponsors? Needless to say, I was grilling him.
Justin had some interesting things to say, but there is one idea, in particular, that has been rolling around in my head for the last few days—podcasting seasons.
A season—or perhaps issue is a better word—would force me to produce the interviews in batches instead of doing them one at a time. It seems so simple. How could it improve the publication?
One thing has always bugged me about producing Signal Tower—my inability to ship interviews on a regular basis. I work full-time and have a ton of other interests and projects. As a result, my shows are seldom spaced evenly.
The good news is that Signal Tower isn’t news. The value of these interviews don’t degrade over time. Batching interviews would allow me to ship one interview per week.
In addition to a regular schedule, I think it may benefit sponsorships. Every minute chasing sponsors is a minute sacrificed working on the publication. In that manner it is just like the startup that has to spend time wooing investors instead of working on their product. Batching the shows would mean I only need to sell sponsorship for a season. It’s better for the sponsors too, because they will know what interviews are going to be published in advance.
Finally, I think there may be a growth element to the podcasting seasons concept. Regular weekly content and the suspense of an upcoming season would provide good momentum.
Don’t get me wrong. Signal Tower is different than a traditional podcast, but there is a lot of crossover. There are a few remaining questions, but it just might work.
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