By Adam Wakefield

So, you are a budding podcaster who wants to start producing your own show, but where do you start?

The production process

Andile Masuku, executive producer and presenter of the African Tech Round-up podcast, sums his advice up in three words: “create, create, create”.   

“Let me break it down a little more. First, find your niche. Second, buy a mic. Third, watch basic sound production tutorials on YouTube to learn how to record and edit yourself. Fourth, tape yourself. Next, edit, then publish, and repeat steps four to six till it feels as natural as breathing,” he says.

An insight into the process Masuku follows reveals that it takes him eight to 12 hours to script, record, edit and mix depending on whether he has a co-host or not.

“There are other things I'm not taking into account like the interviews I might need to record for the show, and of course all the publishing chores that go with putting a podcast out,” he explains

These “chores” include tagging and uploading audio, writing the accompanying blog and newsletter, and authoring social media posts.

“For one of our longer episodes with lots of features, two and a half working days gets it done,” he says.

Rasmus Bitsch, managing editor of Sound Africa, a documentary podcast, advises new podcasters to focus on the basics - sound quality and content.

“You don’t need to have access to a high-end studio to make a podcast, but get a decent microphone and google how to use it,” Bitsch says.

“Sound is your only medium, so it needs to be good enough not to annoy people and get in the way of what you are trying to say. Aside from that, content is king, and you need to provide a product people want.”

Just talking into the microphone is not enough and you need to have something to say. If you do have something to say, Birch advises recording a pilot episode and sending it to an “honest” friend for feedback before publishing.

“Lastly, do it, try it out. You never know if you have a voice if you don’t try,” he says.

The time Bitsch puts into each of the episode of Sound Africa depends on the story, but with his podcast being in a documentary format, he puts in around two weeks of research, two weeks to record and two weeks of editing.

“It also depends on other projects getting in the way, as we all have bills to pay and podcasting isn’t exactly a gold mine in South Africa, yet.”

Ryan Hogarth, who hosts the Digital Influence podcast on CliffCentral.com, was taking three to four hours to record and put together his show before linking up with CliffCentral, which has all the necessary infrastructure in place.

In terms of episode length, Hogarth says the jury is still out on how long an episode should be.

“My theory is short – my podcast is 15 minutes – with the idea that a typical journey in a car is around 20 minutes long which would allow someone to listen to a complete cast in one drive,” Hogarth says.

“Unless your content is of a high production value and a superb story, I don't think a cast should be longer than 30 minutes.”

Challenges of podcasting in South Africa

The market is awash with all forms of content, and when it comes to being successful in South Africa, Masuku believes that generating revenue and data are not the most pressing challenges for the medium locally.

“Don't get me wrong. I'm not enjoying the fact podcasting is not considered a mainstream medium worthy of commercial ad Rands or Dollars, and I understand that the inhibitive cost of data means that digital content isn't being as widely consumed as it should,” he says.

“Here's the thing. Africa has too many content producers who are only willing to create content when there is commercial incentive. People seem to be waiting for somebody to pay them to create stuff.”

Masuku feels the future will inevitably yield cheaper data and more widespread Internet use. The digital content audiences will grow and the commercial ad money follow with it.

Bitsch believes the low Internet reach, prohibitive data costs, and lack of Wifi access is stunting the growth of podcasting in South Africa.

“There isn’t much of a podcasting culture, and podcasting is yet to really take off in South Africa. I think the strong tradition for radio in South Africa is ultimately beneficial because people can easily segue into appreciating podcasts, but, at the same time, we need to foster a culture of audio documentaries,” he says.

“The market will diversify. In the way that for some people TV is no longer the preferred format of video content anymore, so too will traditional radio be replaced by digital formats like podcasting.”

However, there needs to be a certain level of professionalisation in the field before podcasting really can take of in South Africa and elsewhere across the continent, with Bitsch describing it as a “chicken versus egg” scenario.

That being said, Bitsch believes “we’re well on our way though, and things are heading in the right direction”.

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