‘At the Wall Street Journal we thought the world was ending…there is still time’. Now at WNYC, since she arrived, they have launched a dozen new podcast shows and have 34m downloads a month, Paul Szuchman, spots talent and finds ands nurture new shows.
Everyone, including businesses and advertisers have found the power of audio to connect with audiences. What everyone who wants to start a podcast needs to know includes;
Insist on a story, their newest show is ‘Nancy’, this is a show about LGBT issues. They created the Nancy story by putting the two presenters at the centre of this show and the human experience of their journey. Another example of their content is ‘Sooo Many White Guys’ a show where women and people of colour are the centre of the world.
Find the exception, ‘what this means, is that there is no news in an every day occurrence but in the exception, in podcasting this can make magic’. Their show ‘There Goes the Neighbourhood’, is a podcast about the people in a specific neighbourhood and experiences of gentrifying a neighbourhood. This can create powerful stories and WNYC can really get to the bottom of an issue – namely the impact this has on the neighbourhood.
Get out of the way, ‘Two Dope Queens’ is a perfect example of letting the content speaking for it’s self. Raw feeling and personality come through by leaving podcasts to speak for themselves, there is editing but in a sympathetic way. ‘The US of Anxiety’ a show about what is motivating people to support Donald Trump is letting people speak out which is important.
Have chutzpah, being a journalist has made Paula an advocate of this type of journalism, by this she means lean in and have conversations that are uncomfortable. In their stable of talent at WNYC they pride themselves on having podcasters which deal with issues, ask awkward questions and push the boundaries.
But how does she find people like this? She has an ‘open the door’ competition, runs a podcast festival, looks at the talent around her, keeps her brain available for the thing she’s really passionate about and this makes for a fulfilling career and the success at WNYC.
And finally she wants to make podcasting part of the culture.
