At Blubrry, we take great pride in celebrating our podcasting community’s unique stories and achievements each month in our Podcaster of the Month feature. However, this August, we’re turning the spotlight inward to recognize one of our own. Our very own VP of Customer Relations, loyal team member, and longtime podcaster Mike Dell has been chosen as Blubrry’s Podcaster of the Month. This honor highlights his exceptional contributions to the podcasting world and serves as a testament to the incredible talent within our team.
Blubrry’s mission has always been to amplify the voices of our customers, helping them share their stories with the world. It’s also important to look inward and acknowledge the remarkable stories within our own ranks. Dell, a customer favorite for a good reason, embodies the spirit of podcasting excellence, blending a skill for storytelling with an unwavering commitment to supporting our Blubrry family.
Your Podcast Mike Dell’s World is your first (or a derivative thereof) and has been around just about as long as podcasting itself. In the show, you talk about tech, beagles, and life in general. What can you tell us about your audience?
At this point, Mike Dell’s World is listened to mostly by family and friends. I tend to talk about stuff going on around Northern Michigan, so I get some listeners from the area or people wanting to visit Traverse City. It’s not a big audience, but it’s a loyal one!
You’re also the host of Blubrry’s official podcast, Podcast Insider, along with MacKenzie Bennet and Todd Cochrane, which recently celebrated its 400th episode. What is your key to consistency and longevity?
Having help with show prep, post-production and other people to bounce off of on the show. We plan it out a month in advance, so we have plenty of time to get the content we want to put out ready. With our Blubrry Pro Production team in place, it’s like we are writers and talent, but we do not have to do all the production stuff. It’s a nice change from being an Indy podcaster.
Tell us about your latest podcast endeavor, Auto History Podcast!
That one has been slow to start but will be in full production soon. It’s a collaboration with Mike Wilkerson from the 2 Guys Talking network. We cover a particular car make or model and do a deep dive into its history.
Audio or video podcasting? You do both for the Auto History Podcast. What tips do you have for audio podcasters who would like to do video, and video-first creators who would like to have a podcast? (Sure, we can plug our products here, but there are other insights you can share, too?)
Video podcasting has been a “thing” since podcasting started. It’s never been super popular until lately. There has been a loose definition of “video podcast,” including YouTube, in recent years. I prefer audio (I have a face for radio, not TV), but video podcasting is something I’m playing with a bit. Along with the video channel on YouTube, we are also doing a true RSS-based video podcast. So you can get the video version on podcast apps that support video.
You have been podcasting since April of 2005. You’ve seen a lot of changes! In the overall industry, what innovation have you witnessed that you feel has had the greatest impact on podcasting?
I started podcasting before Apple got into it by adding it to iTunes. In the old days, yes nearly 20 years ago, we had to do a lot more manual work to get a podcast out. Listeners had to be a bit geeky to listen to them. You used to have to download the mp3s to your computer on slow internet connections and then transfer them to an mp3 player (anyone have any of those now?). It was a bit of education to get listeners and podcasters on board. Now, everyone has the internet in their pocket. Phones are the majority of how people listen now. Much easier to open an app, put your earbuds in and hit play.
Working with podcasters at Blubrry has changed over the years. Being that everyone involved had to be techy in the beginning, most podcasters were geeks. Now, just about anyone can podcast. All they need is a phone. They can record, edit and publish all from the smartphone (although I don’t recommend it). The tech level of podcasters has gone down a bit (which is a good thing, really).
As a member of the Blubrry Podcasting Team for most of your time in podcasting, what Blubrry innovation do you feel has had the greatest impact?
Our PowerPress plugin for WordPress allows people to do their podcasts on their own platform, and we get out of their way. They own it. We do the stuff we are good at (hosting, distribution, stats, and other features). They do what they are good at (creating great content). The goal of PowerPress, and everything else we do here at Blubrry, is to make the tech disappear after a bit of setup.
What are some of the exciting trends in podcasting that you’re looking forward to?
I’m seeing a lot of younger people getting into podcasting. When I go to conferences, I see a lot more people in their 20s or 30s, which wasn’t the case a few years ago. There are still plenty of all ages, but it’s really good to see younger people getting into listening and creating podcasts.
Podcasting 2.0 is another project that almost feels like the beginning of podcasting all over again. The project mainly adds features to RSS-based podcasting, many of which Blubrry has implemented and supported. RSS was very stagnant for a long time, with nothing new added since it started. With Podcasting 2.0’s new (ish) namespace, we can have some cool features that were not possible before. (Check it out at podcastindex.org)
What are some of the troubling trends you’re concerned about?
The dilution of what can be called a podcast. I know the listeners/viewers don’t care, but when someone only has a YouTube channel (which is cool on its own) but calls it a “Podcast”, it just bugs me. Not that I get to define the word podcast.
The beauty of podcasting to me is that I can listen on my own schedule. I don’t have to “tune in” or “watch.” I can be driving down the road, on an airplane or mowing the lawn, and still listen to content that I want to listen to, WHEN I want to listen. Again, I have nothing against YouTube (it’s my main TV these days) but it’s not as flexible as audio.
Can you give us an overview of your podcast preparation plans and how you set aside time to podcast?
For my personal shows, I squeeze it in when I can. I do almost no show-prep for Mike Dell’s World. I just turn on the mic and it happens. Which most people can tell :). It’s not a great example of how to do a podcast. But that is the great part! No Rules!
As for the Auto History Podcast, I do the research on the history of whatever car we are talking about. It takes a couple of hours. Then I send that to my co-host and he adds stuff he knows or finds about it. We batch-record two or three episodes.
In Podcast Insider, MacKenzie and I come up with topics that we have on a production calendar. We split up the duty of researching and preparing a show doc. The show doc is mostly bullet points about the subject. It’s much more structured than my other shows.
Your podcasting experiences are playfully diverse and vast. Are there any new avenues of podcasting you’re looking at exploring down the road?
Yes, I am the king of Podfade! I have started and killed more shows than NBC does in a few years.
I like to experiment. I’ve done daily shows, including a daily weather show for Traverse City available on Alexa briefings. I’ve also done history shows, Tech shows, and even a political show.
I’m thinking about (but likely will think better of it) doing a nearly daily video show about the day’s news, recording live every morning before work. But that takes a lot of time commitment so we will see. I figure, if I do that, I can use our Vid2Pod to make the audio-side simple, record live on YouTube and that’s it. Easy peasy.
Here is the list of shows I’ve done, as I remember it. There are likely more that I forgot.
- Benzoid Report (Which turned into Mike Dell’s World)
- Geek of the North
- Aviation History Today (a daily show)
- Aviation History this week (after I decided a daily show was too much)
- Strange Today (another daily)
- Fast Food History
- What’s Up With That?
- Podcast Help Desk
- Traverse City Weather Brief
- Traverse City Podcast