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In these three short videos, two Times producers and one student contest winner share tips on how to plan, script and record meaningful podcasts.
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Note: Our Fourth Annual Student Podcast Contest is open from April 8 to May 18.
Listening to podcasts is easy. Creating your own … now that’s a bit more challenging.
To support students who are interested in creating their own original podcasts, whether for our annual podcast contest or just for fun, we asked podcasters to share advice on researching, scripting, recording and editing.
In the three short videos below, you’ll learn more about creating “pillow forts” to enhance audio quality and conducting pre-interviews to find the best guests. For each video, we provide reflection questions to help students unpack the advice and apply it to their own podcasting projects.
Phoebe Lett, an Opinion Audio producer at The Times, told us that while podcast taste is highly personal, there are a few elements that can make a great podcast across all formats and genres.
Some questions to consider after watching the video:
What do you think makes a great podcast? What do you like about your favorite podcasts?
Pick one of your favorite podcasts. What is the central idea or message the show is trying to communicate? If you were to create a podcast, what is the main point you would want to communicate to listeners?
Consider the role the hosts of your favorite podcasts play. What qualities do you notice about how they use their voice and words to advance the podcast?
Alison Bruzek, a senior producer for Opinion Audio who works on “The Argument” podcast, broke down podcast preparation into a few components: finding guests, conducting research and writing a script.
Some questions to consider after watching the video:
What do you need to know about your topic before creating a podcast? What research steps could you take to become better informed about the subject? What guests could help you round out the conversation?
What is your unique speaking voice, and how can you write for it? How is your perspective about an issue specific to who you are — your identity and life experiences?
What strategies can you use to make reading from a script sound natural? How might you implement one of these tricks in your own scripting and recording process?
Daniel Wang, a winner of the 2020 podcast contest, told us that recording and editing a podcast is a lot less daunting than it seems. He gave us a step-by-step explanation of the recording process, complete with suggestions of free software to use on a variety of devices.
Some questions to consider after watching the video:
What recording equipment would you use to record a podcast? What apps or programs might you use?
Picture the environment where you would be recording. How could you create a space conducive to recording clear audio? What could your “pillow fort” look like?
How would you go about editing your podcast? What tools would you use? How could you use sound effects and music to add texture to your story?
If you want to learn more about podcasting, we encourage you to delve deeper into podcast creation through our mentor text, lesson plan and podcast writing unit.
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