In this episode we hear about a podcaster who is interviewing his basketball heroes, I have a tool to allow you to take live phone calls, and we have an interview with Paul Vogelzang of the Mommycast who back in 2004 received a six figure sponsorship deal for their Mommycast podcast.

 Because of My Podcast – I’m Interviewing My Favorite Athletes [2:00]

Adam does a podcast about the Michel Jordan era of basketball at inallairness.com and because of his podcast he has been able to interview players and coaches (and he’s only on episode 30). He lives in Australia but podcasting allows him to connect to the world.

Member Spotlight [4:00]

 Tema Frank is a member of the School of Podcasting. Her podcast takes marketing and adds a niche effect by focusing on Canadian companies. You can find it at frankonlinemarketing.com

Tema Frank has over three decades’ experience in marketing and corporate communications. She started using the Internet for e-mail in 1991 and put up her first website in 1995. She’s been immersed in the web world ever since.

Blog Talk Radio Killer – Call In Studio [5:50]

It has been well documented that I do not like Blog Talk Radio. The ONE THING that Blog Talk Radio has done well is their phone interface.  Well I found a system that you can use to have people call in. You can also manage your callers via a web based interface. You can have a call screener if you want.

It costs $6 a month for a local number and $12 a month for a toll free number. It is .03 cents a minute (local) and .06 a minute for toll free. They give you $10 to start, and you need to purchase a number to have a call in number. I did this and have almost $4 left to pay for people to call in.

You can allow people to call in and leave voicemail (even if they don’t leave a message it’s .03 for the call). If you don’t want to receive voicemail you can send the caller to a busy signal.

To add money to your account the smallest increment is $25. I plan on using this on my live Saturday morning call in show.

Keep in mind, recording your podcast live adds a level of complexity that increases the learning curve. Also keep in mind that people may call you live only to screem “Bobba Boo-ey!” and hang up.

Mommycast Interview – The First Big Ad in Podcasting [22:34]

Today we talk with Paul Vogelzang of the Mommy Cast. Paul relates the story of how they decided to review the movie March of the Penguins, and that lead to being contacted by the studio. That lead to them interviewing the actor Morgan Freeman. That lead to their podcast being mentioned in major newspapers. That lead to receiving a six figure sponsorship from Dixie.

The advertising contacts lasted for five years. This proves that advertising in a podcast works when you have the right product with the right audience (as Dixie resigned numerous times over five years)

Paul mentions how he always wanted sponsors that shared the values of the host.

When the checks arrived they took their time to start doing research on subjects and focusing on the content of their show. They also upgraded their equipment to provide the best quality podcast. They also branched out into video.

The bonus of having a large fortune 100 company sponsoring the podcast is they used their PR machine to promote the podcast. Paul was working full time during the peak of their success working on publicity and making sure their message was getting out.

Mommycast is currently on hiatus as their children are grown, and their sponsors are looking for younger moms and children, and as Paul put it, “It was time to move on.”

 The one thing that Paul would change is possibly have a better understanding how Twitter worked.

Podcast Questions[48:45]

Getting Audio Into Your Computer?

Thank you for the review of the Seismic mixers, Dave.

I currently use an ATR2100 mic plugged into my computer. Would you recommend the Seismic Audio Slider 4 to a podcaster who has never used a mixer before and who records podcasts over Skype or Google+ Hangout on Air with a co-host and guest or interviewees?

Since the Seismic mixers don’t connect to a computer, how does one go about recording audio on them? Do you have to use a digital audio recorder? If so, how do you set things up so that sound from the mic goes into the computer for Skype/G+ HOA and sound from both the computer and the mic go into the digital recorder? - Geoffrey Allan Plauché prometheus-unbound.org/

If you don’t have a co-host in your room, you don’t NEED a mixer. They are nice to have as you can enhance your voice by adding bass and treble. To get any mixer into your computer or audio recorder, you can use this cable.

If you’re just doing skype recordings, you don’t need a mixer. If you’re just recording solo you don’t NEED a mixer. I do recommend using a portable recorder to record your podcast. If you are using the Audio Technica ATR2100 microphone you can use this cable to plug into the headphone jack of the microphone, and go into the line in of the recorder (or your computer). The bonus of the ATR2100 is it is also USB (so you don’t need a mixer if it is just a solo podcast).

Start a Podcast in Six Weeks

The next “start a podcast in six weeks” class starts 9/13/2013. We meet every Saturday for six weeks (it is recorded if you have to miss a session) from Noon to 2 PM (EST). For more information go to www.howtopodcast.com