What Actually Makes A Great Podcast

We mark 200 episodes by celebrating the work, not the metrics, and sharing what kept us going even when the show felt like a grind. From a documentary-style DDOS episode to deep dives that stand the test of time, we look back at our proudest moments and things we'd do differently.

Looking forward to our next episode: If you have any questions about Apple Podcasts, any tips, have you been featured, anything like that? Go ahead and send it in!

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Transcript

Jordan: 0:00

It's our 200th episode officially.

Kevin: 0:03

Whoa.

Alban: 0:07

Kevin's been prepping that for like 85 episodes.

Jordan: 0:11

Yeah. I think we've technically had more episodes, but we did a lot of like snapcasts where like we would delete the episodes after a certain amount of time. So, but this is our this is our 200th episode that still remains in the feed.

Alban: 0:26

200 episodes in the feed. That's a accomplishment.

Kevin: 0:29

Did you ever think when we started this thing, we'd get to 200?

Alban: 0:32

No, I didn't think we were gonna get to 100. I was uh proud when we got to 10. Yeah. Oh man, when we first started, Kevin kept just saying, like, we are a podcasting company, we should have a podcast. And I was like, I agree, who's gonna do it? And then all of a sudden you were like, I just hired this guy from Facebook. Name's Travis, he's gonna help us start a podcast. Let's go. And we kept going and we changed so many things over the years. It's really pretty impressive. 200 episodes is an accomplishment.

Kevin: 1:03

It is, and I'm not really one to get excited and celebrate accomplishments, but I so I have to I have to I have to like discipline myself to say that's okay to step back and enjoy the moment. Like I don't think my mindset is unhealthy because I enjoy the journey more than I do like stopping to celebrate a specific accomplishment. But there is something that's healthy that I miss in that, in that it's like to get together with the group of people who you did this accomplishment with and celebrate them and let them, you know, congratulate you and just enjoy the moments because they are milestones. Like they're just not the everyday thing. There is fun and enjoyment in the journey, and stopping for a moment to say this is a milestone moment doesn't take away from the joy of getting there or the the joy that is to come as we go to episode 300 or 400 or wherever we go. But it it is important and I have to be reminded to stop and like look at the body of work that you produced and be grateful for it and be thankful for it and congratulate the people who made that journey with you. So that being said, congratulations, Jordan. Congratulations, Alban.

Jordan: 2:05

Congratulations.

Kevin: 2:06

It's a lot of work to get here, and it feels good.

Jordan: 2:08

You know what is so interesting is actually it feels better to get to 200 episodes than it did when we got 500,000 downloads.

Alban: 2:16

Yeah.

Jordan: 2:16

Isn't that funny? I agree. I feel much more fulfilled right now than when we got 500,000 downloads.

Alban: 2:22

I think because we were there for the 200 episodes, and you can feel like how many times it was a bit tough and putting the outline together and we're going, is there really enough to talk about this week? And we know the work that went into that. And sometimes the episodes blow up and you get way more downloads, and you know, you hit the moment right, and sometimes you don't. But the 200 is like the effort that we put in. Um, also, Kevin, congratulations to you. You've probably been on the most episodes of anybody in the history of Buzzcast. Have I? I mean, it's you, it's you or I. Yeah, why do you say me over you? Oh, I don't know. I take more PTO, I think. You give me PTO, so I take it. You you don't always take all of your own PTO. Oh, PTO. I give you. I thought you were gonna say I give you PTSD. You gave me PTSD.

Jordan: 3:16

All right. So if we're looking back on the past 200 episodes, what are we most proud of?

Alban: 3:23

What am I most proud of? Man, the day that podcast stopped, I think, you know, it was just such a rough week when we had this massive DDOS attack. And at the end of it, Kevin goes, Here's our opportunity. Let's do something different. Let's do an episode about what happened. And I saw something from Travis that I never had seen from him. And he jumped in. He goes, I'm gonna do like a full documentary style episode and interviewed everybody and just work went nonstop. And at the end of the week, we had this really cool episode that we I really love. I'm I'm just proud of like sticking to it. I think in between like episode 50 and episode 100, Kevin and I probably had three or four uh conversations that started with if I'm gonna stay excited about doing this podcast, we have to change something. Yeah.

Kevin: 4:14

Which I think we don't talk about enough, but that is a healthy conversation for podcast hosts to have with each other, like on a regular basis. Yeah. I think oftentimes if you have two or more hosts, neither one of you want to be the first to say that. First to say, like, this is getting a little bit, I don't know, whatever adjective you would put in there. Boring, hard to show up for, my energy and excitement are waning. However, you open that conversation. And so maybe you don't wait for one person to have to break that tension of that ice. Maybe that's just something you kind of put on your calendar. Maybe the beginning of the year is a good time to do it or the end of the year or something. But just say, hey, look, let's just get together and have this conversation. Even if we're both not feeling this way at all. Like we can just say that. But every year and in the first two weeks of January or something, we're gonna, you know, get together, have a cup of coffee, and we're gonna say, Hey, are you feeling tired or burnt out or less excited? And if so, what changes can we make to address that?

Alban: 5:09

Because we want to keep podcasting, right? Yeah, how do we make it better and better as time goes on? I I really actually that might be the thing I'm most proud of is knowing how many times it started to feel like a grind. And then I'd go, Kevin, I'm you know, these last few have not been fun for me. And you go, okay. Well, what if we try this? And then you came back a few episodes later and you're going, okay, maybe I'll uh let Tom step in for me for a few months. Oh, no, no, no, no. This is our show. We got to keep it going. How do we make it more fun? And kind of returning back to that idea. Um, really, I feel like it was that 50 to 100 range that we had quite a few conversations around that. Yeah. Jordan, at what point did you take over producing the show? Do you remember?

Jordan: 5:54

I don't. Everything's like such a blur. It's been so busy.

Kevin: 5:58

Like all good relationships. It's just one big blur.

Jordan: 6:00

Yeah, it's just, it's just one big happy blur. Um, I want to say that I stepped in around like episode 70.

Kevin: 6:07

Yeah. That that sounds right.

Jordan: 6:09

Yeah, I feel like that's about where I was at.

Kevin: 6:11

And a lot has changed. I mean, I haven't in a very long time, I have not gone back and listened to some of our early episodes. Maybe that would be a fun thing to do on my next car trip or something is to queue up some early episodes.

Alban: 6:22

Yeah.

Kevin: 6:23

I mean, I'm sure I would cringe. I'm like, it doesn't I'm thinking about doing that now. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's probably very painful to do.

Alban: 6:31

Oh, we should do that. We should go maybe for our next episode, we should just play some clips from the very first ones. And just hear, like, how much better or worse are we at podcasting now?

Kevin: 6:44

Yeah, very possible or worse. Who knows?

Alban: 6:46

So, Jordan, it looks to me, you're right. Uh, we had you on, you filled in on episode 72.

Jordan: 6:52

Okay.

Alban: 6:52

And that was when Kevin and I were secretly auditioning people to take over the podcast to join us. So uh we had you on here, we had a few others, and then shortly thereafter, we went, hey Jordan, you want to apply for this job? And the rest is history.

Jordan: 7:08

Yeah, I think um for me, I wasn't very good when I first came in at being um flexible on things. Like sometimes I came in and I had my like in my head what the episode is gonna look like. And then you guys would be like, all right, let's let's play, like, let's do something crazy. Let's experiment with this. And I was just like, ah. And I feel like I've been able to like let loose. I'm more open to the experimentation. I'm realizing the fun of experimenting with your podcast. And if things like fail spectacularly, then like that's a good thing in some cases. And so I think that's like what I'm most proud of with this is just looking back on how many different iterations of this podcast like we've gone through. There's been so many just odd little things that we've tested out, and sometimes it works out amazing, and sometimes it really doesn't. And I actually think that that is part of like the magic of this podcast.

Kevin: 8:01

Those are great moments. I love the experimenting too. I love the uh we jump off the outline sometimes, and some of our greatest moments come when we do that. Some of our worst moments too, but but usually people don't ever hear those because Jordan does such a good job of killing the bad and keeping the good. So we really appreciate that. I think it's easy when I'm thinking back about the things that I'm most proud of from this podcast. It's easy for me to jump to the special episodes that we did. Uh of course, the day the podcast died is just so different than a typical episode. So that jumps out as a as something that would stand out. What Jordan just did when we came back from podcast movement, that was a standout episode. Again, because it's so different. But I don't know that it's the stuff that I'm most proud of. I think it's just the stuff that jumps out at me because it's not our typical show. And so I think if I were going to really try to find the best answer I could of what we're most proud of, I think on the regular, it's great for us to get together and talk about what's happening at Buzzbrat, what's happening in podcasting in general, uh-huh, and talking about topics that help podcasters improve their shows. I think that's all great, and I think that's what the show should continue to be. But every once in a while, we've gone deep on a topic. The 25 Creative Podcast Marketing Ideas. Alban, I think, was the originator of this idea, but it required all of us to do work before we got behind the mic. And that's not something that we typically do a lot of. Jordan does some work getting an outline together. Alban does a little bit of research usually by looking at that outline, and I kind of come in fresh, and that's just how we do the show. Right? You get some off-the-cuff stuff, you get a little bit of research, and then you have Jordan who has the full understanding, and that's how we work together. But once in a while we start doing these deep dives into topics, and I think those produce probably the greatest value for people who are listening to the show because they want to improve as podcasters. And so I'm really proud of episodes like that. And like looking forward, I would get excited about adding more episodes like that. Not every episode, but just adding more of those throughout the year. So I think we did one within the last year, maybe two. Like maybe for our uh 26, we aim to maybe have, I don't know, four to six episodes like that.

Alban: 10:07

Yeah, I I really like the episodes where we go deep on a topic. The way I know whether or not I really am proud of an episode is whether or not I link to it later on. And so I find opportunities to share with people. Uh, because asking someone who doesn't listen to your podcast to go listen to an hour-long episode, that's a big commitment. So if I'm sharing it, it's because I think, oh, there's a lot in here of this right on topic for you. Uh, when we used to do, we had a period where we just kind of read the news and we talked about the news. There were uh some epic Spotify rants in there, but there were, you know, there's a lot of stuff that probably is not super evergreen. And I don't think I would go back and listen to those except to find, you know, silly moments or funny moments. I like that we're doing more of these evergreen episodes now.

Jordan: 10:56

Um, another thing that I think that we could be really proud of in the last like 200 episodes is just like how strong of a community we have in podcasters. And that really shows up a lot when we finally get to see listeners in person. Like it's one thing to hear from people on fan mail, but like running it people in real life is huge. And one of the things that we've really had the privilege of doing is hosting these like meetups.

Alban: 11:24

Yeah. Uh, we get 50 people from Buzzprout to show up to a meetup, and at least 10 of them will say, I listen to BuzzCast all the time and I love it. D brought us all a bottle of what's the name of the this wine?

Jordan: 11:38

19 Crimes. And I love this so much. This is what's so great about meeting listeners in person, is they remember these small little things. There was this tiny interaction we had during the cover art episode where I mentioned how 19 crimes wine bottles talk to you. Yeah, you hold your phone up to them and they'll talk to you. It's like this like AR thing. It was a funny bit, and she brought us all 19 crimes uh wine bottles as a gift.

Kevin: 12:05

And and I remember you talking about that, and I wanted to see one of these bottles, and I had never done it. Yeah. And so when Dee brought us the bottle, we got to do it together at the meetup, and it was so cool.

Jordan: 12:13

Yeah, the meetups are so much fun. So now that we're we've talked about the things that we're really proud of and really enjoy about the podcast, do we have anything that looking back on 200 episodes that we would do differently if we were to start over again?

Alban: 12:26

Um, well, one of the lessons I've learned and that I would take if we groundhog day this whole podcast again and start it from the beginning, uh, would be focusing on what is fun and what's really enjoyable in the podcast. You can't really fake the enthusiasm to an extent that's actually entertaining for your listeners. And anytime that the format or the topics or whatever kind of fades, I don't enjoy it as much. And I think it comes through. So I would say figure out what's fun in the podcast and really focus on that. Um, that does still mean I still show up. You still show up even when it's not perfect, but constantly bringing it back to not what is not what is like good advice and what everybody tells you to do. And it's uh, oh, I'm actually trying to hit these keywords. You know, the optimizations are good, but you can kind of over-optimize it to a point that you're not doing what you originally wanted to do. So every time we go back to fun, I think we do quite a bit better.

Jordan: 13:27

Yeah, I think that that is completely supported by what our listeners react to the most. So, for example, we actually got a Famo message from Sarah Rosette from Wish I'd Known Then podcast. And she said, congrats on 200 episodes. And she gave us some of her favorite episodes, which I think are the ones where we had a lot of fun. And then she also mentioned some fun moments. So um, I'm gonna read these. So, some of her favorite BuzzCast episodes, Buzz Sprout Subscriptions episode was a total game changer for her podcast. Creative podcast marketing ideas, practical and inspiring, which also is one of our favorite episodes we've ever done.

Alban: 14:05

Agreed.

Jordan: 14:06

And then the something special about podcasting episode.

Alban: 14:09

Yeah, I'm smiling. That was one of my favorites too. That's a good one.

Jordan: 14:12

Yeah. All right. So the fun moments. Um, this was really fun to read through. And I have to be honest, one of these I don't actually even remember because we've had so many episodes. Um, but the fun moments that are memorable for her, uh, my real life escape room luggage recovery story from when I vacationed in LA with my family. I had to bust my luggage out of the hostel.

Alban: 14:36

Right.

Jordan: 14:37

Um, Alban's sock research journey, which I have to also say is one of my favorite things from the entire history of this podcast.

Kevin: 14:45

200 episodes here. That's I've got an indicate.

Alban: 14:48

I have a there's a new top contender in the comments. So maybe we'll have to do a follow-up episode on that.

Jordan: 14:54

We just go ahead and start a new like sock cast, like a little spin-off. Um, this is the one that I don't remember. The fun with flags mention. And she said, no joke, there have been times when I'm editing an episode, and I think I hope this is at least as entertaining as fun with flags.

Kevin: 15:10

Fun with flags is the name of the podcast from the Big Bang.

Alban: 15:13

Kevin was saying that Sheldon does. As long as you have one person who says, I can't live without this podcast, you're doing well.

Jordan: 15:18

Okay, okay. Yeah, I completely forgot about that. And then, of course, any Spotify rant. I love that the rants are part of what our listeners love so much.

Kevin: 15:29

Yeah, and I think we did good all through this year because we said we want we need to like do less Spotify rants.

Jordan: 15:35

Yeah, we did really good.

Kevin: 15:36

I think we've done pretty good. So now we're back on. We're allowed to, we are now we get to do a couple. We're gonna lift up lift the Spotify embargo.

Alban: 15:44

We could do a YouTube rant. I feel like there could be a nice YouTube rant in there somewhere.

Kevin: 15:48

Oh yeah. Uh let me answer this question, Jordan. You asked if there's anything you would do differently. Alban gave his answer. I would give my answer. And it I mean, there's there's only one thing. Only one thing that I regret that I would do differently, and that is I let you guys talk me out of all the fun buzz boost sounds that I used to play through the Rodcaster every time a boost came in, and we'd go, we need a bigger boost. And I'd have all those sounds queued up as we'd read our fan mail that came in through Boostigrams. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You guys hated them.

Alban: 16:16

Don't put this on you, plural. I did not hate them. I was a huge fan of them. I love them. I was gonna say, this is I love listening to them on podcasting 2.0. I love the sound effects. I am fully in favor of not only sound effects, but reading our uh Apple Podcast reviews.

Jordan: 16:35

Oh my gosh.

Alban: 16:39

I say bring them back. New Year's resolution, more sound effects.

Jordan: 16:42

Oh my gosh. I yeah, this is starting to turn into like I regret Jordan talking us out of doing obnoxious sound bites and reading reviews on our own podcast. I think.

Alban: 16:55

Well, maybe the listeners could let us know, but uh wow, I I did not realize that was why we stopped doing it, Kevin. We got to bring those back.

Jordan: 17:01

It was me. I'm sorry.

Alban: 17:03

Oh, yeah. Kevin would commission a bunch of buzzboost sounds. Like he was getting people at Fiverr to create, we're gonna need a bigger boost sound effects.

Kevin: 17:15

Yeah. Well, Adam and Dave published a few to the GitHub, so I was able to pull a few, but then we wanted our own. So yeah, we had a few of our own, maybe. Oh man, that's so good. And Jordan was like, I'm not doing this show anymore if you can't.

Jordan: 17:32

Okay, fine. Sorry. I've been a buzzkill.

Kevin: 17:35

Oh, that's a good one.

Jordan: 17:37

All right. Well, it's been fun 200 episodes. Our next big main episode next week is gonna be about all things Apple Podcasts. So if you have any questions about Apple Podcasts, um, any tips, have you been featured in Apple Podcasts, anything like that? Go ahead and tap the text show link in the show notes to send it in. And as always, thanks for listening and keep podcasting.

Kevin: 18:04

Can we can we get an Apple Podcast team member to come on the show?

Alban: 18:08

I would love it. Maybe we can reach out and see if uh somebody will come over. That'd be great.

Kevin: 18:12

Can we just make the request live right now?

Alban: 18:14

This is a formal request to Apple. We'd love for somebody from your team to come be on Buzzcast. Please, uh, you know where to reach us.

Kevin: 18:24

Alban being all secretive with his email address.

Alban: 18:27

You never guess that it's Alban at BuzzBroud. Kevin at BuzzBrowd. Jordan. Wow, these are there's a theme here. Yeah. Yeah. All right.