How To Conduct Interviews That Will Attract More Podcast Listeners

 An engaging interview is often the spark that ignites podcast listener gains

Practicing and aspiring podcasters expend a lot of energy on choosing a topic, developing episodes and scripts, and then preparing the recording software and hardware. One area, however, where they often assume experience and skills not finely tuned, is in interviewing guests on the podcast.

Typical podcast host responses to prepare for interviews include:

“I’m good at talking with people.”

“I’m a good listener.”

“I’ll just ask a few questions and the guest does all the work.”

Unfortunately, interviewing guests on a podcast (or in any medium from radio to TV) is a dark art that can seem as obtuse as reading palms.

“Many podcast creators and hosts assume that the guest or guests they interview have the same goals as they do,” says podcast consultant George Witt.

Witt notes that guests typically have three objectives when they are interviewed on a podcast. First, they are selling something, usually a book or at times a lifestyle program like a diet or fitness regimen. Second, they want to demonstrate to the listeners how smart and knowledgeable they are because that often assists with the first goal. Third, they want listeners to absorb and then readily agree with whatever point of view they are espousing.

 Listening for Interest

Long-time host of Something You Should Know (either via radio or podcast) Mike Carruthers has been interviewing guests for more than 20 years.

“The toughest part of a podcast interview is keeping it interesting,” explains Carruthers in an interview we did last year. “I have a little voice in my head that keeps asking me right from the start of every interview ‘Is this really interesting?’ Or ‘Is this going on too long?’ Or ‘Is he/she really answering the question?’ I try to assume the mindset of the listener. And in my view, a listener wants every interview to get interesting – FAST. It would be easy to let people talk in the beginning about how they got interested in the topic or what is their background. But I don’t think that’s what an audience wants to hear first. They want to hear why this is interesting to them and why they should be listening. Then once they care about someone, then they might be interested in their background.”

Carruthers goes on, “that’s why I think editing is so important. I’ve done interviews where the first several minutes are edited out because the guest was just warming up. They didn’t get interesting until six or seven minutes into the interview. So in the show, that’s where the interview starts.”

“Sometimes interviews aren't as linear as we think,” says Witt. “More often than you think, podcasts will move a particularly interesting section of the interview to the front of the segment to grab the audiences’ attention.”

“That’s a smart move,” Witt adds. “That’s why carefully editing an interview is so critical.”

Witt applauds Carruthers on Something You Should Know because the veteran podcaster ask all guests to watch a short video that tells people exactly what we expect from them

“Podcasters who feel that preparing for an interview ruins the spontaneity are usually asking for trouble,” Witt explains. “For example, there are guests that after the first question the host asks are off to the races blurting out information at a machine-gun pace.

“By the time you, as the host, are ready to ask a second question, the guest has already overwhelmed you and eventually the listener with an info dump and the guest has little more to add.”

Interviewing tips

So what can a podcast host do to ensure that an interview goes smoothly and captures your listeners’ interest?

First, don’t rely on the cursory information you may possess on a guest. Do a deeper dive.

“Some of the best podcast interviews happen when a host discovers something not well known about a guest,” says George Witt. “For example, check out the People I (Mostly) Admire podcast where host economist Steve Levitt interviews actor Mayim Bialik of Big Bang Theory fame and uses his extensive research to go beyond the typical celebrity queries.”

Second, institute some kind of pre-interview procedures. Prepare questions and then possible follow-up questions ahead of time then send the questions to your guest. Many people frown on allowing guests to view your questions before the interview but since you’re recording a podcast not Meet the Press where you’re confronting some politician or bureaucrat who’s lying to cover-up the president’s lies, it’s solid strategy so your guest can be prepared or reach out to you with any concerns.

As mentioned earlier, the Something You Should Know podcast sends a link to a video that details the interview process on the podcast. You should let your guest know if you’ll edit the interview.

“My guests feel a lot more comfortable knowing I’ll be editing later,” explains Witt. “this way, a mistake can be easily fixed and that relaxes the guest.”

Third, the focus of the interview should be on the guest so try not to interrupt and use your words to keep the interview focused and moving forward. As an interviewer, practice active listening, which means to listen and then process what your guest is saying and then ask pertinent questions based on their comments.

Too many hosts simply follow a script of questions regardless of what the guest just said, often missing an opportunity for revelation. One of many reasons why The New York Times’ podcast The Daily is so popular is that host Michael Barbaro is a superb interviewer. His questions are incisive and probing and he listens well to his guests and then reacts with a follow-up query that shows understanding and a desire to know more.

Fourth, work with your interview subject to disperse information to your listeners so that there is a consistent flow that creates a compelling narrative.

“A good podcast interview is like putting together a Lego® set,” adds George Witt. “As the host, you carefully connect the pieces so that your listeners can picture the interview as a coherent whole.”

Finally, a good interviewer is not afraid of a little silence during an interview.

“A time-honored interviewing tip is to ask a question,” begins George Witt, “and if you’re met with silence initially, don’t fill that void but be patient and wait for an answer. You’d be amazed how people feel so uncomfortable with silence that they will respond in surprising and unscripted ways.”

The French philosopher Voltaire once said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”

 By 

Frank Racioppi