Rockin’ Libsyn Podcasts: Emil Amok’s Takeout
This series is all about 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’s with Emil from Emil Amok’s Takeout
When did you start podcasting?
I first learned about podcasting in 2000.
There were no iPods. There was just Real Player… and it was a real disaster. I actually covered the 2000 GOP and Democratic conventions. I went back into traditional radio and TV work and toyed with the idea of podcasting as it evolved through all the stages: iTunes, iPhone, the purple icon.
Then finally, I began “Emil Amok”s Takeout” just in February of this year as part of the blog I do for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund blog.
Why did you start podcasting?
It was about time. Everyone seemed to be doing it, and it was just time.
I’ve hosted and produced radio and TV shows in big markets and was always hung up by my broadcaster’s perspective.
That’s where you think the podcast audience is just too small to bother with. But then I realized what podcasting was about. Narrow, not broad. When podcasting made sense to me…it made sense to podcast.
What’s your show about?
It’s in the title, “Emil Amok’s Takeout.”
I’m a veteran journalist and commentator, and my niche is the Asian American population, 21 million and growing. So I talk about the news they need to know.
But you don’t have to be Asian American to listen. We’re all in this America together, so it’s interviewing and my commentary rolled into a weekly podcast.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
I like portability, so even though I have a Heil PR40 and a Mackie mixer, I I prefer to use my iPhone and PC laptop.
Sometimes, I’ll use the iRig mic. I try to record ‘as live’ to reduce editing, but sometimes I’ll just record the elements and edit it all into a package. That way, I’ll get to use the better Heil microphone.
I usually record interviews using RINGR, which I find is easier than Skype.
I edit on Audacity.
Then I use the iPhone again with the Boss Jock app to mix music with the intros and outros of the different elements.
I then edit the elements together in Audacity and send it on to Libsyn.
For field interviews, I use a Zoom H5, but if I need something smaller, in a pinch my Sony UX533 is fine too.
I do everything in mono, mp3.
I edit on an old Toshiba laptop. That and the iPhone are the key pieces.
How have you promoted your podcast?
I use social media, but just posts, no ads…yet. I’m still working on this part. But I get good ideas from the FEED.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
I wish I had just started. I believed in the digital democracy, but I got hung up on the numbers of broadcasting. I was an elitist.
Once I stripped myself of that, I could appreciate podcasting for what it is: intimate, personalized communication that can work as part of a broader strategy, or be its own reward.
I’ve worked radio and TV all over the country. But my first jobs were the all-night radio jobs while in college in the Boston area, and then Houston.
Podcasting reminds me of all those things I felt when I began in my broadcasting.
There’s a purity in being free of the need to generate the big audience and just talk to a listener. To me, that’s what podcasting is about, and why I do it.
If you are in any way interested in news, commentary, or analysis on many things through the lens of an Asian American, then it’s time for you to subscribe to Emil Amok’s Takeout!
Wanna connect with Emil on social media? You can via Facebook or Twitter.
If you’ve been wanting another way to get your ideas out into the world, why not a podcast? We’d love to host your media!
And if you feel that, it’s the ‘getting started part’ that’s challenging, we offer a monthly Podcasting QuickStart which you can find here!
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!
