What Makes a Good Podcast?

Growing up in a technology rich world provides many useful tools for life, but comes with its fair share of downsides. Brandon Kondritz dove deep into a world without technology and experienced a world without distractions. As difficult as it was, the experience was far more fortuitous than Brandon could’ve imagined.

He said his biggest struggle was music, because he spent of his day filling this silence with music. For most college students this is a regular practice; I’m curious to see how this would affect my peers and I. One of the most notable differences he observed was his focus during class-time. He recalled how much more attentive and engaged he was to the information being shared in the classroom. This might not come as a surprise to most.

Unlike Brandon Kondritz, Jack Ohly spent lots of time researching the technology of keyboards to answer his life-long question: “Why couldn’t the keys just be in alphabetical order?” To me (and I’m sure many others), this answer seemed obvious. Nonetheless, I was intrigued to hear more about his story. He goes on to share the history behind the type writer; which was the telegraph. At one point, the keyboard was designed after a piano; in which, the white keys were letters ordered alphabetically and the black keys were numbers. This rudimentary design lasted until someone designed a more efficient keyboard; the one we use today.

I was not surprised by the discoveries made by Brandon Kondritz; however, I was curious to know impact of abstaining from technology in such a technology-driven world (especially as a college student). On the other hand, I clicked on the link titled “All Good Things,” with very little idea or expectation. Although, I can say I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a brief history lesson on keyboards.

I found that Brandon Kondritz made good use of transitions in his podcast. Not to say that Jack Ohly didn’t, but I felt a lack of professional quality in the audio recording. Brandon and Jack showed exemplary skills when mixing audio tracks, I honestly couldn’t believe they were college students.

After listening to both podcasts, they’ve given me plenty of inspiration on techniques to use when I begin to record my own podcast. I’ve already decided to try and interview the owner of Barts Records in Chestertown. I want to utilize similar techniques that Brandon used when overlaying background audio and dialogue. Additionally I enjoyed the captivating introduction that he began with. Both of these strategies I believe will help engage my audience and provide structure to the podcast.