While radio news is on its way out, a new form is entering: News Podcasts. The same format, scripting and methods, just online now.

Sounds and Capturing what we Hear

In chapter eight of The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video, the author, Tom Schroeppel takes a look at sound: how it works, how it’s captured, how it can be utilized in a story and so much more.

Sound is created by vibrations moving through the air that the thin membrane in our ear, our eardrum, picks up. It’s picked up by microphones with a similar tool to our eardrum called a diaphragm which turns that sound into an electrical current– allowing us to upload a sound to our computer and use it in our projects.

Microphones can pick up these sounds in so many different ways. Omnidirectional mics pick up sounds from all directions, while “Cardioid” mics pick up sounds primarily from one main point, and supercardioid, pick up sounds only in one direction. All of these mics have different applications.

Then mics come in different formats. Lavalier mics attach to a person’s clothes and pick up their voice. Handheld mics are more versatile, from being used as a mic held by a journalist during a standup, to being used on a boompole while filming a tv show. Shotgun mics pick up sound in one direction, making them good for recording distant sounds or anything in a controlled environment.

Different types of sounds, recorded by different types of microphones, can be used in very different situations. We can add wild or foley effects to a story, audio recorded after the video is, to strengthen the sound they produce. There’s also voice included in many, if not all journalistic pieces. The interviews and standups we do are considered syncsound, because they’re synced with our video. Our voiceovers include no visuals showing someone speaking, just the sound. Presence or ambiance is the low noise heard in the background of our audio that tells us where we are. Essentially the nat sound often included in a package to set the scene.

Most importantly, we need to keep our viewers and our message in mind. The audio always needs to be crafted toward them– to integrate them into the story.

Podcasting

Podcasting really only got its start in the past 10 or so years. Outlets like NPR and the New York Times have been taking advantage of the format, from NPR’s News Now to NYT’s The Daily. Creating a news podcast isn’t just for these big outlets though, us individual journalists can get in on the fun too.

Scripting a Podcast

When it comes to scripting really anything, particularly a podcast, there are really 3 main methods for doing so. On thepodcasthost.com, Colin Gray outlines these 3 ways: The word-for-word script, the detailed episode and the flexible bullet points.

The word-for-word podcast is exactly as it sounds: you write your script exactly as you want to recite it in the podcast. It’s how most news scripts are written in the first place. For one, this method ensures you hit every point you want, it keeps things concise, and is good for people who may not be confident expanding on topics on their own. It can sound rehearsed, which may not be what you’re going for, but in news our goal is to sound like an expert, so on the same hand, it could work to our benefit.

A detailed episode outline uses 5-10 main bullet points, with 5 or so sub-bullet points under each main point to expand upon the topic. It’s a good middle ground between a completely scripted episode and a completely ad-libbed one. It allows for a much more conversational tone, while still keeping you on track.

The flexible bullet point script utilizes just a few bullet points, or section headers as the article calls them, to jog your memory of a topic, but the episode will primarily consist of adlibbing based on your own knowledge. It’s very possible you could miss important points or end up on a tangent with this method, but it is the easiest to prepare and most conversational sounding.

Each of these methods have their own place in podcasts, used by different people for different topics, different formats and different tones.

The Invisible Script

The whole point of an invisible script is to make the script… well… invisible to your audience. It is used to give the impression of adlibbing, while helping the podcaster to get across their vital points in an effortless way. Kevin Anderson covers the idea of the invisible script on thepodcasthost.com. It consists of mostly bullet points with some fully written-out sections, like sponsorships or big ideas.

He recommends beginning with mapping out the episode, from the welcome to the introduction of your topic, maybe a sponsorship, bringing on a guest and the closing. While writing, keep in mind your style of writing. It should be conversational and sound like how you actually speak, otherwise it will come off as clunky and unnatural.

A conversational and natural script can help your audience to trust and feel comfortable with you as a host, meaning more streams for your show.

Starting the Show

The opening of your show may be the single most important thing you script. It comes with a few names: a tagline, a hook, a slogan. In this other article on thepodcasthost.com, Kevin Anderson talks about how to make the beginning of your episode stand out.

Some shows have an intro that’s included at the beginning of every episode to remind you what you’re watching, what it may provide you, and who you’re hearing. Take my earlier example, NPR News Now. Their intro to every show is read in the same exact voice: “This is NPR News Now *page flip sound* The latest news, every hour.” There are even more simple examples. Kevin references the podcast Steal The Show, whose introduction is literally: “Welcome to Steal the Show With Michael Port. This is Michael.” NPR’s intro is what’s considered a two-step intro that tells you either who’s talking or what the show is and what it will do for you. There’s also what’s called the bio format, which gives you background on the host, typically when it’s a more well-known name.

Polishing your Presentation Skills

Podcasting skills overlap a lot with the presentation skills we develop as we go through school and life. In another article on thepodcasthost.com Robert Cudmore outlines 7 skills that you need to perfect as you begin podcasting.

First, Robert covers the importance of sounding structured but not scripted– formal but friendly. This goes back to the words you use in your script and writing how you speak. Then, as you’re reciting, it’s important to keep in mind your presentation. Do you sound comfortable? Are you breathing normally? Keeping yourself comfortable and natural is going to make your audience feel a lot more comfortable with you as a host.

A lot of us are also terrified of public speaking, which can cause some of the discomfort and difficulty breathing as outlined in the first skill. When it comes to this kind of anxiety, there’s usually a few issues that drive our concern. Things like: What if I sound stupid? Why does my voice sound weird? What will others think? A lot of these questions go away with confidence that we build as we create more episodes. Practice is super important, and Robert even recommends reading your script to a stuffed toy or a photo to help you feel comfortable.

There are also exercises you can do ahead of your recording to warm yourself up. Try humming or singing, relaxing and massaging your jaw, taking deep breaths, fixing your posture and staying hydrated. All of these will help your presentation sound more clean and your voice more clear.

Interviewing is something a lot of journalists are already familiar with, so it could make for a good addition to your podcast, especially if you know how to do them well. You should always prepare ahead of an interview, find out information about the subject and your topic. It’s also good to ask open-ended questions and follow-ups. Much like the rest of podcasting, being comfortable and making your subject comfortable will lead to better results.

Much like all other formats of news– consider your audience as your write, present and edit. Understand what they want to know, maybe even ask them yourself. Find out where they listen, both the platform and geographically. It can help you tailor your content to your specific crowd.

Also consider different narrative techniques. You can follow the heroes journey, the mountain format, starting in medias res– all methods have different applications.

And finally, connect with your audience. In your interview, on social media, during your call to action at the end of an episode, always keep your audience in mind.

How do we do it?

So how does one actually make a podcast? Robert Cudmore created a list of products and programs on thepodcasthost.com to help anyone make a professional-sounding show.

The tools include things that will improve your workflow, save you time, and help you grow. He mentions AI tools to help you organize your podcast plan, good microphones, planners recording tools, or entire apps for making podcasts.

One of the most interesting tools he mentioned was something called Edit Point. It’s an iPhone app that allows you to upload audio, like a long interview, and easily notate it from your phone. You can mark points like glitches or places where you need to add a beat. This could also be great for journalists to mark good quotes for use in a news podcast– or even just a package or article. Robert says you could even just upload the audio, go for a walk, and notate from there.

Who’s doing it well?

NPR News Now

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500005/npr-news-now

NPR’s News Now is an hourly news podcast. A new episode is posted at the top of every hour summarizing the latest headlines in only 5 minutes. Something I love about this podcast is how concise it is. In only 5 minutes they can squeeze in around 5 stories including readers, sots, packages and wraps. The hosts change, though they all have good news voices– very clear and calm, yet still engaging. We also get packages from other reporters, so we aren’t just listening to one voice the whole time.

Crooked’s What a Day

https://crooked.com/podcast/how-dark-money-is-funding-the-midterms/

This is a pretty unique news podcast. It uses humor and sarcasm while presenting real stories, which is Crooked News’s whole thing. Take for example this line about Trump halting the livestreaming of a firing squad execution of a mass shooter:

“Sorry Secretary of War/little boy Pete Hegseth, you’re gonna have to cancel that execution party I know you were so looking forward to.”

Now, it’s certainly not traditional journalism, they take a pretty obvious anti-MAGA, left-wing stance with their scripts– but I like that it provides actual news, just while adding little remarks like this one. They also have short interviews with people, often fellow journalists, for example, Thursday’s was with a journalist who writes for a new Guardian newsletter called “How We Win,” it’s an opinion newsletter that considers ideas that could “defeat Trumpism” and “Save U.S. Democracy.” The episode actually opens with a sot from that journalist, talking about the main topic of the episode, dark money, and how it’s impacting the upcoming midterm elections.

NYT’s The Daily

https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily

This is one of my favorite news podcasts because it brings in New York Times journalists for interviews to analyze the different stories of the day. The episodes drop at 6 a.m. every morning and go in depth on just one topic for 30 minutes– often presenting like a very long reporter package. Take Thursday’s show for example, they were digging in on how the Republican party is trying to recover votes for the midterm elections as polls show democrats leading– and to talk about the right’s tactics, they bring on 3 reporters from their political desk to speak about it, because they’re the experts after reporting on it for so long. I think this format is a great way to help people really understand these complex issues, like elections.

Giving it a Try

So now I’m working on producing my own podcast. It’s named after this blog and follows a similar theme: assessing journalism in the current climate. My first episode: Politics and Journalism. Here’s a look at my plans for that so far.