This series is all about showcasing Libsyn podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Jill and Alison from Olympic Fever
When did you start podcasting?
Jill: We started podcasting at the end of September 2017. It took us about 4–6 weeks before that to figure out some basics–because neither of us has a background in audio.
We podcast once a week, and when the Olympics are on, we podcast daily.
Why did you start podcasting?
Jill: Well, it was because we wanted people to talk about the Olympics with.
Alison: Because our families were sick of us going on and on and on, and look at us a little cross-eyed.
What’s the name of your show about and what is it about?
Jill: Olympic Fever is a podcast for fans of the Olympics. The Olympics may happen for a couple of weeks every couple of years, but the stories keep going on. Athletes are still training, and organizers are still organizing, so we do an interview-based show to get different stories and different reflections on what the Games mean. We also cover topics related to the Paralympics.
Alison: Sports you haven’t necessarily watched. People you haven’t thought about. We’ve talked to officials and announcers and people who’ve helped organize, so all the stories behind what you see on TV.
Jill: We’re for fans, but we’re also for people who just want to learn how to watch the sports better, so even if you tune into the Olympics once every 2 years, we’ve got shows for you to explain how does modern pentathlon work or why synchronized swimming is so hard (synchro is no joke!)
###What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
Jill: Alison and I live in different cities and have to talk remotely, so we use Skype. I record everything. I use ecamm to record our calls. We like to record in video whenever possible so we can see each other. When that’s not possible, we do do telephone calls, and–let’s just be an inspiration to anyone who doesn’t have an audio production background and is worried about looking stupid–when we do audio calls, it’s been on speakerphone with 2 or 3 recorders around it. BUT! I got a new cable that will allow me to record them through the Internet, so hopefully our quality will sound better (we’ve definitely been a show that’s focused on content and try to sound as good as possible and continue to learn more about sound engineering). I also have an ongoing battle with living in a noisy apartment on a noisy street with noisy neighbors, so I’m also learning how to get rid of as much background noise as possible.
Alison: And i definitely hate when we can’t see each other because we trip over each other and it sounds unnatural, and we have a lot of pauses. The visual makes a big difference.
Jill: Mic-wise, I’ve got an Audio-Technica ATR2100 USB. Alison’s got a high-quality headset mic that’s also USB-based. They work for now. For editing, I use Audacity. We’re building up a WordPress website right now and will use the Libsyn plugins there.
How have you promoted your podcast?
Jill: We split up social media duties–I take care of Twitter.
Alison: I do Instagram and Facebook. And we have a dedicated Facebook Group, as well as a Facebook page.
Jill: Yes, once we built up a dedicated following, we started up a Facebook Group so our listeners could talk to each other. They’re really cool, so we wanted to promote that interaction. We use Hootsuite for scheduling social media posts. I’ll also post the show around on various podcasting groups and on appropriate Reddit subgroups. And, of course, Libsyn’s “Promote the TAR out of Yourself Friday” Twitter thread!
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
Jill: Oh, boy.
Alison: Oy. You know what? I’m almost glad we didn’t know what we were getting into because we would never have done it. We would’ve been so overwhelmed and afraid. We sort of jumped in the deep end having no idea what we were doing, which was probably the best thing.
Jill: We started out saying that we wanted a show that was pretty organized and would have set topics and themes every week. We started out putting the stories together ourselves and trying to do a lot of research, but it soon turned into interviews because that’s a little easier for us [time-wise], but it still gives us that air of authenticity. What’s been amazing is the response from the people we’ve talked to.
Alison: I’m always surprised when people say yes.
Jill: I know. They’ve been fabulous!
Alison: They’ve been great! Oh my god!
Jill: We’ve had so many opportunities–we went rowing with an Olympian! We’ve gotten to talk to some of our favorite people. One of my favorite stories is when we discovered that India had a luger who’d done 5 or 6 Olympics, and a few weeks later, we were Skyping with him!
Alison: And he was great!
Jill: He told us all about how luge works. It’s been so great to learn so much about these sports we love watching and just didn’t know about. And we have fun!
Alison: We do have fun!
Jill: Our shows drop every Thursday – hope you take a listen! Thank you!
Alison: Thank you!
Calling all you Olympic fans! If you are Olympics obsessed the only cure is to listen and subscribe to Olympic Fever. You’ll stay in the know and keep all the energy to continue the fun, inspiration and energy.
Is your family over your enthusiasm and passion about that one thing and all they want is for you to talk about something different, then why not start a podcast? We have awesome hosting plans and if you need a bit more help with the how to podcast side of things we have a free monthly webinar every first Wednesday of the month!
