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5 Podcasts in 5 Days

5 Podcasts in 5 Days: Pardon My Take

Jason Barrett

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Last year, I spent five days reviewing five different podcasts. The guinea pigs for that experiment were Bill Simmons, Clay Travis, Adrian Wojnarowski, Jonah Keri, and the Men in Blazers.

During the five day exercise, I shared my thoughts on what stood out from each broadcast, offering praise when warranted, and objective criticism where opportunities to improve existed. In sports media circles, feedback is given infrequently. Some programmers place a strong value on meeting regularly with their hosts to review the progress of their shows. Others choose to leave their talent alone and focus on their own priorities.

Since launching BSM, I’ve tried to be transparent. Having been in a programmer’s chair numerous times, I know what goes into helping a personality become their best. If my ability to hear certain things and share them with readers helps a few industry people avoid pitfalls and fine tune their presentation, then it’s well worth the time to do it.

However, one of the great problems of growing a business, is that there comes a point where not every project can be pursued. In radio we preach often about the importance of delegating, but many of us have a hard time of letting go and trusting others to execute projects that we believe deserve our attention.

I was guilty of it earlier in my career but learned over time to allow others into my circle, and for this year’s podcast project I’m doing the same. I believe informed analysis from programming people is important for helping industry professionals improve, and rather than putting the 5 podcasts in 5 days exercise out to pasture, I thought I’d give another experienced PD the opportunity to dissect a few programs and share what they learned.

Enter Gregg Henson.

Gregg is no stranger to the sports radio business. He’s held programming jobs in Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Fort Wayne. He’s also spent the better part of the past twenty five years hosting in a number of different cities including Dallas, Austin, Grand Rapids and the others I previously mentioned.

I challenged Gregg to put his programming ear to work and analyze five podcasts in five days. Not only was he up to the task, but I think you’ll find his analysis beneficial if you’re considering listening to one of these shows and are unsure if they’re worthy of your time.

The five episodes selected for reviews this year were Pardon My Take, The Big Podcast with Shaq, The Players Tribune: R2C2 by The Players Tribune, The Voice Behind The Voice, and the MMQB Podcast with Albert Breer. Each episode that was examined was produced in late July and runs about an hour in length.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s kick things off with Gregg’s in-depth review of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take!

  • TITLE: Pardon My Take (Mike Tyson)
  • DATE: July 23, 2017
  • LENGTH: 1 Hour 4 Minutes
  • CAST: Hosted by Dan Katz, better known as “Big Cat” and the anonymous “PFT commenter” who has a parody account of the same name. Contributors: Hank and Bill.
  • SPONSORS: The Challenge 30 on MTV, Upside.com, MeUndies.com
  • PRODUCTION: The production wasn’t great, but the audio quality and mic quality are very good. The show doesn’t use a music bed to indicate a commercial break, but each live read is followed by a stinger.

SHOW BREAKDOWN:

(2:17 – 4:41): Michael Phelps raced a shark and we all got duped.

(4:41 – 11:15): Kyrie Irving wants out of Cleveland and Jordan Spieth filibustered the British Open.

(11:15 – 16:03): Who’s back of the week.

(16:03 – 23:40) Mt. Rushmore of things to do at a wedding.

(25:03 – 47:37): Former Heavyweight Champion and the baddest man in the world, Mike Tyson joins the podcast to talk about his new podcast, his pet tiger, biting Holyfield’s ear and Mayweather/McGregor.

Other segments include Hurt or Injured, Talking Soccer/Cyclones/Thrones, Trouble in paradise for the Seahawks locker room, Hank hot in the street, the dancing snap chat hot dog, and the debut of a new segment, fun facts with Billy Football.

SHOW ANALYSIS:

It’s easy to see why “Pardon My Take” is such a popular podcast. The chemistry among the hosts and contributors is very enjoyable to listen to. This podcast accomplishes many of the goals that we strive to achieve in sports talk radio on a daily basis. PMT sounds like a couple of guys simply talking sports and riffing on the events of the day. That may sound generic, but it’s what audiences relate and connect to.

The focus of this program is remarkable. With everything going on, they are able to stay on point and keep the show moving forward. That’s a challenge for even the most seasoned radio professionals, but Dan and “PFT” do it well.

A better job can be done by the lead hosts to let us know who the contributors are and why they matter, Most of the time the guys just “appear” and I didn’t understand who they were or why they were there. A little bit of character development would help.

Where the show excels is in the form of chemistry. It’s really good. They come across as guys having a lot of fun working together, and it feels informal, which I believe is a positive. That makes the show more welcoming and not pretentious.

You will hear the hosts use profanity, which I think is funny, but some may not appreciate as much. I think their use of colorful language fits the overall attitude of the show and they speak like regular guys which softened things a little. If it bothers you, I suspect this show isn’t for you anyway.

Hank and PFT did a nice job with the Mike Tyson interview and got the former heavyweight champion to give some great opinions. Iron Mike’s candor led to some great moments, and the overall conversation was wide ranging while still hitting on all of the key points. Especially important was getting his feedback on the Mayweather-McGregor fight which is a popular topic among sports fans.

The live reads on the show are also well done. They were focused, and everybody got involved. The meundies.com spot was hilarious as the guys discussed their “d&^k game” in their new skivvies. Sponsors will be thrilled with that kind of content connection to their product. When a great personal touch is added by hosts for the clients who associate with their programs, it goes a long way. The only change I would make is to use the “stinger” at the beginning and end of the live commercial read. Another small point, I wouldn’t start the show with a sponsorship read.

“Pardon My Take” is rich in content, covers every relevant topic, and offers great opinions/takes on each discussion. I love the show’s “matter of fact” delivery, which is so much easier to listen to when guys aren’t in your face and fighting for the microphone.

The show also provides a great pace, and avoids getting bogged down, even with a huge guest like Mike Tyson. Pacing and momentum were well executed and key to the show.

CLOSING COMMENTS:

“Pardon My Take” is a really good show. The only thing missing is better production value. If they’re able to make that small adjustment, it’ll make the show very slick.

Keep in mind, this is more of a barstool show. It’s a few guys hanging out discussing the sports issues of the day in a conversational way, rather than grabbing you by the collar, screaming, and insisting you take note of where they stand on a particular issue. It avoids the typical radio dreck, and just gives you an entertaining hour of chatting about sports among friends.

Overall, if this show enhanced the production and did a better job of presenting individual segments and topics it could be a really good radio show that would find an audience. Granted, you can’t use profanity on the air, but I get the feeling that these guys could find funny ways to be “naughty” on terrestrial radio and still get the desired result.

Great podcast, entertaining, funny, focused and interesting. ”Pardon My Take” has found an audience for a reason…it’s great!

Gregg Henson has spent over twenty five years working in sports radio as a host and programmer. He’s enjoyed stints in Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, and recently joined Alpha Media in Lincoln, Nebraska as a program director and morning drive host. He can be reached on Twitter @GreggHenson or if you prefer to send him an email click here.

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5 Podcasts in 5 Days

5 Podcasts in 5 Days: Real_Sports with Jack and Abe

“Jay Soderberg offers his thoughts on BluWire’s ‘Real Sports’ podcast.”

Jason Barrett

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Editor’s note from Jason Barrett:

We’ve reached the final day of our ‘5 Podcasts in 5 Days‘ series. A big thank you to our special guest reviewer Jay Soderberg who took the time to listen to five different shows and offer his candid, direct, and unapologetic thoughts on each program. Though some of the input can sting those hosting the shows, Jay’s focus throughout this project has been to lend a few thoughts to help those creating the content improve their presentation.

As podcasting continues to grow due to its limitless offerings of unique, creative, and original content, it still remains a space without structure and a clear understanding of what does and doesn’t work. Unlike radio which uses ratings measurement to justify the effectiveness of a particular show or host, the success or ineffectiveness of a podcast can often be disguised by how a program is ranked on the Apple podcasting charts.

To help make some sense of it all, we reached out to Jay, who’s served as the Head of Content for BlogTalk Radio, and a digital audio producer, imaging director, and podcast creator for the ESPN Radio network, to put his ear on five shows and let folks know what’s working and what needs some fine tuning. The five programs we chose were Mystery Crate by Dan Le Batard and Friends, The GM Shuffle with Adnan Virk and Michael Lombardi, The Most Valuable Podcast with Charlotte Wilder and Jess Smetana, Locked on Jazz with David Locke, and Real Sports from BlueWire’s Jack Settleman and Abe Granoff.

We hope you’ll find Jay’s reviews of these 5 programs to be informative, honest, and well explained. If you have further feedback you can find him on Twitter @TheRealPodVader or you can email by clicking here. Enjoy!

REAL_SPORTS WITH JACK AND ABE:

Title: NBA Draft Preview, Kyrie Irving Breaking News and the Mike Conley Trade

Date: June 20, 2019

Length: 46 minutes

Cast: Jack Settleman and Abe Granoff

Sponsors: none

Production: Produced Open, music bed at the end

Show Breakdown:

0:00 – Tease on what’s up

:21 – Open featuring a montage of sports highlights

:41 – Introducing your hosts

1:19 – Abe’s NBA draft profile from Jack (he was robbed of living the dream as a child) but Jack mentions he was as a slow 6 footer…player comp: Draymond Green or RJ Barrett…Time for Jack’s draft profile from Abe…player comp: Lonzo Ball or Jalen Brunson…

4:15 – Time to move on to thoughts on the NBA Draft…what hasn’t been said about Zion Williamson already?…Jack believe RJ Barrett is the best player in the draft…Ja Morant break down…

11:50 – Picking apart some other NBA Draft prospects: Cam Reddish (got a pick with him earlier in the day…Abe isn’t a numbers guy, he likes to make decisions on players from what he sees on the court); Brandon Clark (Jack’s favorite player, not the best, in this draft);

20:56 – Busts: Nassir Little (shot up the boards because of hype and his length but doesn’t have a college background); Jared Culver (his size and strength won’t help him in the NBA)

24:20 – Breaking down the point guards – there are other names besides Morant and Garland

28:30 – What will Boston do with their picks? They’re in the limbo area of knowing their true identity – push forward to win with their young core or tank for more young talent?…The East is going to get weaker and the Celtics need to get an established player…the guys are split on Danny Ainge…

31:57 – What they’re most excited about for the NBA Draft…wouldn’t it be fun if the Lakers/Pelicans trade didn’t go through?

34:50 – Brief bit of feedback

35:28 – Breaking news after the pod was recorded and this is being put in afterwards…The Nets are concerned with bringing in Kyrie Irving unless he can bring Durant with him…laughing at the “trolls” who sent Jack photoshopped Kyrie pics in a Nets uniform and Irving is heading to the Knicks…Abe tells him to stop…this lends more to Kyrie going back to the Celtics or back to LeBron…

38:23 – A little more feedback

38:40 – Breaking down the Mike Conley trade…the Jazz could make some noise in a down year in the West…Derrick Favors being swapped out for a superstar before the deadline???…

45:00 – hope you liked it…give us 5 stars…thanks for the listens…want to hear from you…RSPod on Instagram… this has been Real Underscore Sports

Show Analysis:

Before we start analyzing the show, a quick lesson on the Apple Podcast charts. First, they only measure activity on Apple Podcast products (iTunes, iPods, iPads, iPhones, etc). Second, the charts are some sort of algorithm measuring new subscription activity – not a real measurement of audience size. That’s why a show like Real Sports is in the top 20 shows, but doesn’t have an episode in the top 200 episodes.

The team at BlueWire has done something smart to drive engagement on Snapchat and Instagram, running a raffle contest to get people to write reviews and ratings for the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Rob Walch on Libsyn will tell you ratings do not matter when it comes to positioning on the Apple Podcasts charts, but it definitely looks good to see a podcast with 7 episodes and 4211 reviews (as of this writing). Most of those reviews are 5 star because as one of the 1 star ratings put it “He bribes people with giveaways on social media and makes them give 5 stars to be eligible.” 

So who is Jack Settleman? According to his LinkedIn profile, he’s a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in 2018. He’s focused on social media marketing while at the school and is currently the Social Media Community Manager at The Action Network. He clearly knows how to work the social media marketing angle, but understanding how that game works is important to understanding the real chart position of this podcast. I couldn’t find much on Abe Granoff, but it’s clear from listening to the show, they are big fans of the NBA and college basketball.

Closing Comments:

A critical review of the show stated “These guys just basically read off scoresheets” and I’m inclined to agree. The scary secret to that comment though, is that’s exactly what most radio hosts are doing. The difference is, experienced radio hosts sound less stiff and more genuine with their takes. Jack and Abe can at times sound robotic in their delivery. The key to improving that will come from gaining more reps.

I thought this podcast was just like most other ones, lacking innovation. It was just two guys providing their takes on the news of the day. The next generation of sports talk hosts are going to come from podcasts, so I’m hopeful the younger generation of broadcasters will introduce new original ideas instead of following the pattern of what everyone else has been doing.

The disappointing part of the story is that these guys really know how to get their message out to the younger masses – as shown in their ability to generate 1 million followers on Snapchat. But if the younger generation thinks this is what great sounding podcasts should sound like though, I tremble for our future.

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5 Podcasts in 5 Days

5 Podcasts in 5 Days: Locked on Jazz

“Special guest reviewer Jay Soderberg reviews the Locked on Jazz podcast with David Locke.”

Jason Barrett

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Editor’s note from Jason Barrett:

5 Podcasts in 5 Days‘ continues with special guest reviewer Jay Soderberg spending day four to analyze the Locked on Jazz podcast by Utah Jazz voice David Locke. For those unfamiliar with Jay, he is the former the Head of Content for BlogTalk Radio, and a digital audio producer, imaging director, and podcast creator for the ESPN Radio network. He’s candid, direct, and unapologetic with his feedback, and focused on trying to help content creators produce exceptional material, even if it means having to get under their skin in the process.

As podcasting continues to grow due to its limitless offerings of unique, creative, and original content, it still remains a space without structure and a clear understanding of what does and doesn’t work. Unlike radio which uses ratings measurement to justify the effectiveness of a particular show or host, the success or ineffectiveness of a podcast can often be disguised by how a program is ranked on the Apple podcasting charts.

Since this space has turned into the audio version of the wild west, we thought it’d be beneficial to bring back 5 Podcasts in 5 Days and find out which audio shows are checking the right boxes, and which ones could use some fine tuning. The five podcasts we charged Jay with listening to and critiquing were Mystery Crate by Dan Le Batard and Friends, The GM Shuffle with Adnan Virk and Michael Lombardi, The Most Valuable Podcast with Charlotte Wilder and Jess Smetana, Locked on Jazz with David Locke, and Real Sports from BluWire’s Jack Settleman and Abe Granoff.

We hope you’ll find Jay’s reviews of these 5 programs to be informative, honest, and well explained. If you have further feedback you can find him on Twitter @TheRealPodVader or you can email by clicking here. Enjoy!

LOCKED ON JAZZ

Title: Kevin Pelton stops by to discuss the Lakers and the NBA Draft by the Numbers

Date: June 19, 2019

Length: 38 minutes

Cast: David Locke, guest: Kevin Pelton

Sponsors: Lenovo, Homie (local? BYU creators), The Store (local), Hotels.com, Shamrock Auto Group (local)

Production: minimal

Show Breakdown:

0:00 – Produced open for 10secs, 30sec pre-produced ad for Lenovo, David Locke teases what’s up on the show and then says he’s going on vacation for a bit

2:17 – Kevin Pelton interview begins…starting with 2 questions about the Anthony Davis trade…the two local Locked On hosts loved the deal but the national guys have been slamming it

8:55 – Reset – that was Kevin Pelton’s trade analysis, now getting into his Draft projections…he’s been really good at finding the 25-35 range, that’s the strength of his scenarios…highlighting some examples of guys that Pelton has projected guys in that range…how good has he been at projecting busts?

13:43 – Reset, again with a tease of what’s coming up…but today’s show is brought to you by Homie (host read ad) also brought to you by The Store at 60 and 200 South and 20th East

16:43 – Kevin, who’s top 10 in his numbers and who’s top 10 generally accepted?

23:47 – Distracted by computer noises…teasing what’s coming up but I can’t stand this throw to commercial “…that and more when we’re back on the Locked On Podcast Network.”

24:15 – Hotels.com (pre-produced), Shamrock Auto Group (host read), Locked On NBA Net on Draft night

26:50 – Why is there not a big difference between 19 and 22 year olds?

29:29 – Who’s Fred Van Fleet or Monte Morris this year? Not sure there’s anyone Kevin feels that strongly about this year but here are some guys Kevin likes more than others.

34:54 – Guys who will go in top 20 that Kevin’s numbers just don’t see it.

36:31 – Go follow Kevin @kpelton…going on vacation

37:00 – Promo for Locked on Cougars, reminder that your smart speaker can play your podcasts (but it’s cut off before Dave finishes the explanation)

Show Analysis:

When I was first introduced to podcasting at ESPN 15 years ago, I remember thinking the brilliance of it was that you no longer needed to have your peanut butter mixed with your chocolate. Meaning – I can have my football without having to listen to the baseball or the basketball or the hockey. David Locke has taken that one step further with his Locked On network, making podcasts for individual teams, mainly in the NBA and NFL. David is the voice of the Utah Jazz and has a professional radio background and it’s apparent listening to his show.

David has multiple resets with his guest (which for a podcast listener can become a little annoying), teasing upcoming content before commercial breaks and then extremely professional reads on those ad deliveries. David has worked on this network for quite some time and the mix between the pre-produced ads from Megaphone and the local ads (which I’m assuming David has acquired on his own) gives the podcast a strong local feel (literally naming the streets to find The Store).

While this does sound like a re-purposed local radio show, it’s hard to complain about that lack of innovation because the focus is on one local team. That said, David did have a national guest on to talk about the NBA Draft and never asked a specific question regarding the Utah Jazz. To be fair, David’s interview did center mostly on later round options in the draft (the Jazz had the 23rd pick and a couple of second round choices). And to really hit the minutiae, he never tells us Kevin Pelton is from ESPN.

There are a lot of assumptions being made and for a regular listener, that’s probably great. For a brand new listener though, they might feel lost. Every new piece of content is an opportunity for a new listener.

Speaking of formatics, I HATE hearing these phrases around commercial breaks on the radio and especially on a podcast – “we’ll be right back” “and we’re back” “we’re going to take a break” “the break is all done”. You and especially the podcast listener never left! A majority of podcast listeners don’t even hit the fast forward button available to them to skip the ads so why give them a warning flag that a commercial is coming up?

I’m a big proponent of the tease before a commercial break. Give the audience that cliff hanger. They can’t wait to hear Kevin’s deep draft gems. Just leave it at that. “In a moment, Kevin’s going to tell us his deep draft gems” – lay out. Commercials. “Kevin, what do your numbers say about the potential Superstars around pick number 23?”

Closing Comments:

As a frequent podcast listener, the difficulties David faces with a network like this is finding clones of himself. While David is a professional broadcaster, there are others in his network that could use some polishing. Having worked on the business side of the podcast industry, I know how difficult it can be to find a sales team that will focus on local businesses to feature in a local podcast. Many podcasters carry that load upon themselves while most podcast sales agents (like Megaphone or Midroll) will focus on a national type sponsor. For a podcaster with no previous media experience, you can see how difficult a task that would be to undertake.

That’s an advantage the Locked On Network has with David at the helm. He’s on to something good, delivering the type of niche content sports fans are looking for. The podcast is also offered daily during the NBA season, giving fans the chance to enjoy the content they want on their own schedule. If local stations aren’t careful, he’ll steal their audience and then their sponsors.

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5 Podcasts in 5 Days

5 Podcasts in 5 Days: Most Valuable Podcast

“Jay Soderberg offers his assessment of the Most Valuable Podcast”

Jason Barrett

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on

Editor’s note from Jason Barrett:

The third day of ‘5 Podcasts in 5 Days‘ with special guest reviewer Jay Soderberg has arrived. Jay is the former the Head of Content for BlogTalk Radio, and a digital audio producer, imaging director, and podcast creator for the ESPN Radio network. He’s candid, direct, and unapologetic with his feedback, and focused on trying to help content creators produce exceptional material, even if it means having to get under their skin in the process.

As podcasting has continued to grow due to its limitless offerings of unique, creative, and original content, it still remains a space without structure and a clear understanding of what does and doesn’t work. Unlike radio which uses ratings measurement to justify the effectiveness of a particular show or host, the success or ineffectiveness of a podcast can often be disguised by how a program is ranked on the Apple podcasting charts.

Since this space has turned into the audio version of the wild west, we thought it’d be beneficial to bring back 5 Podcasts in 5 Days and find out which audio shows are checking the right boxes, and which ones could use some fine tuning. The five podcasts we charged Jay with listening to and critiquing were Mystery Crate by Dan Le Batard and Friends, The GM Shuffle with Adnan Virk and Michael Lombardi, The Most Valuable Podcast with Charlotte Wilder and Jess Smetana, Locked on Jazz with David Locke, and Real Sports from BluWire’s Jack Settleman and Abe Granoff.

We hope you’ll find Jay’s reviews of these 5 programs to be informative, honest, and well explained. If you have further feedback you can find him on Twitter @TheRealPodVader or you can email by clicking here. Enjoy!

Title: It’s the perfect time for Anthony Davis to shave his unibrow and rebrand

Date: June 20, 2019

Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes

Cast: Christine Wilder and Jess Smetana, Brandon (the Producer)

Sponsors: none

Production: a music bed to start and end the show

Show Breakdown:

0:00 – Revisiting a trip to Boston for the NHL Finals…more in a bit, but first, the NBA Finals which feel like they finished a long time ago and now free agency is top in the news cycle…Woj Bomb in the middle of Finals that Kawhi won’t resign with the Raptors and he hasn’t even accepted the trophy yet…torn ACL’s are the worst…Did you understand what was happening at the end of that Game with the technical foul?…revisiting last week’s conversation on all sports fans are a**holes, according to tweet, Canadians find Toronto is the a**hole of Canada…

8:25 – Don’t like the uniforms that say “North” – not even the most northern NBA city…Taking pride in local teams like the Portland (Maine) Red Claws…

12:27 – Should we do more NBA free agency stuff since we just talked about the NBA??? Anthony Davis got traded…Jess wouldn’t be a great GM because she likes to be frugal…Would you want to play with LeBron? No, because he’ll make you play in Space Jam 2 and it won’t be as great as the first one…Davis now has the perfect opportunity to look the best he’s ever looked and shave the unibrow…

17:34 – An idea for an app – Kyrie Irving and James Harden ghosting their teams…ghosting is so easy in any relationship, but you really should just say something so that the other person doesn’t hang on…the app will get all the relevant info on the relationship and send the let down information for you…Kyrie could use this with Danny Ainge…

22:00 – Sorry to Charlotte who watched a sucky blowout in Game 7 of the NHL Finals (pretty clear Charlotte is a Bruins fan)…

23:50 – Brandon the Producer jumps in as he doesn’t like mosquitos and Jess just got bit by one…back to the NHL…What would you eat if you just lost the NHL Finals?…Anheuser Busch headquartered in St. Louis?

27:45 – Gary Woodland wins the US Open…didn’t realize it ends on Father’s Day every year…don’t assume because Charlotte is a woman she doesn’t know what she’s talking about with sports…they spoke this outcome into existence in a previous show…shout out to Gary…also, who still names their kids Gary?…he’s also never drank a warm beverage, does soup count?…

32:07 – Let’s talk about the World Cup…our girl Julie Ertz scored a goal vs Chile…the bad tweet from someplace, CBS?, that Zach Ertz left training camp to watch his wife in the world cup – hello, she has a name…we’re beyond this now and Julie Ertz has way more Instagram followers than Zach (but he has more Twitter followers), but Instagram is the way more used platform (well, we’ll discuss that in a moment…)…can everyone just follow us on Instagram?…

37:26 – Do we have any personal news because all it says on the little Google Doc is personal news and nothing below it…

39:27 – We have to cancel something…LaVar Ball…people forgot that he’s been canceled already and he’s still saying stupid things…need to cancel OJ Simpson again because now he’s on Twitter…

44:18 – Some Agro Facts this week…well, basically we’ve found really good brands of dried seaweed

47:29 – Underrated… this week it’s sour cream, the unsung hero of Taco Tuesday

49:53 – Future Wedding to each other…this came up from a viral tweet about going to a wedding with me and still liking me after…

51:32 – The Patriot of the Week…viral video of guy at a baseball game who caught foul ball and chugged a beer

55:36 – Shout out to Summer of #20WineTeen…how do you spell that out?

59:30 – Unofficial Official Mike Trout Fan Club…thanks to everyone pointing out what we should be paying attention to…he’s been really good at the baseball and his W-A-R has been really good…he pet a dog named Moo Moo…

1:02:12 – What is that noise (that the audience can’t hear)? The phone in the podcast room is ringing…

1:03:00 – Mike Trout had a really good transportation tweet…

1:03:58 – Time to go (because they said so and there’s the music bed)…give us high ratings and boost our Instagram

Show Analysis:

When creating a podcast it’s important to know who your target audience is. This podcast is clearly targeted towards millennial sports fans, is internet driven (lots of social media talk), and uses swear words. There isn’t a problem with that at all, but even millennial’s like to hear some cool sounding production elements.

In listening to the show, it’s clear that Jess and Charlotte do some form of prep for their show – because you can hear their transitions from topic to topic. They also mention the “Google Doc” in this episode.

So why don’t they have production elements for their regular segments? If the producer doesn’t have time to create them, why not ask the audience for some help? It’s a great way to forge an everlasting bond with your audience and frankly, sometimes you get some really great work for free.

One thing I struggle with when listening to podcasts that tend to be more on the jovial side is when they tackle subjects that are more serious. In this episode for instance, sexism in sports. I agree that Julie Ertz and any woman playing professional sports should be given the respect of being called by their name, but it’s hard to take Jess and Charlotte seriously when they’re talking about wanting to marry the guy who catches the foul ball and chugs his beer or oogling over Mike Trout petting a puppy. It’s just a little awkward.

Also, I’m assuming there were inside jokes or previous jokes when talking about Mike Trout “being good at the baseball” and his “W-A-R was really good”, but a first time listener may hear that and stereotype it as “another female sports show”. It’s a delicate line to balance and begging for more Instagram followers doesn’t help.

Closing Comments:

While this is definitely not “old guy, stuffy sports program”, there’s still a lack of innovation for a sports podcast. It sounds similar to most other sports radio products with the exception being the show features two women and they’re talking to a younger audience. The sourcing of social media is clever to help drive engagement from an audience that is using the internet to listen to the show, but adding some production would really help this show sing.

I do think there is great potential here with a few tweaks that could help drive how sports radio evolves for future generations. There needs to be a little more effort than just sitting down in a studio for an hour with microphones recording a conversation. It’s a good start, but it can be taken to the next level with a few adjustments.

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