Five Podcast Mistakes To Avoid

 The most common miscues made by new podcasters

Most podcasts aren’t born successful, brimming with caffeinated buzz, recommended by influencers and pulling healthy listener numbers right away. In most cases, podcasts grow by beta testing formats, ideas, tempo, narration and even hosts.

For example, comedian Paula Poundstone started her first podcast as Live At The Poundstone Institute and after several months then retooled with her highly successful Nobody Listens To Paula Poundstone podcast. Showing keen analytic skills, the Poundstone team decided to keep what works – her interaction with co-host Adam Felber – and her comedic tour into various careers coated with improvisational humor and actual learning.

Even an established NPR game show like Ask Me Another tinkered with its format two years ago, cutting in half the number of contestants and expanding the celebrity guest interviews.

As famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, “Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be."

Photo by Tommy Lopez from Pexels

Podcasters make mistakes or simply discover that changes need to be made.

Here, we will review some common changes podcasts – and podcasters – make to improve their shows.

Too Much Happy Talk

Like a lot of enthusiastic podcast listeners, I make my listening decisions based on feedback from other listeners. A month ago, I tried a podcast about TV shows, broadcast and streaming. I listened to three episodes that ran about 40 minutes. For the first 25 minutes of each episodes, the three enthusiastic and appropriately witty co-hosts discussed their previous weekend leisure activities, theories of bar-hopping while social distancing and, for some reason, a spirited back-and-forth on the right water temperature to wash your clothes. That prologue to the actual discussions of TV news took 75 percent of the podcast each time.

Certainly, developing an intimacy with your listening audience often means revealing personal details and letting the audience know and feel comfortable with you. But most listeners are there to listen to the advertised topic, which in the case of these three episodes, was Marcella Season Three, the NBC Fall Lineup and HBO Max.

Those are indeed fascinating topics and require much of time and care than the co-hosts allotted after the 10-minute discussion of their brewery tour last weekend.

So, co-hosts – or just a host – should develop a rapport with an audience, but the topic should always be center stage.

The caveat to that advice is when the podcast itself revolves around the personality of the host and that charisma superseded any exchange of information, of which there still can be a considerable amount. Joe Rogan is an example. But most beginning – and more experienced – podcasters don’t attract several million ears every episode.

Poor Sound Quality

Here’s the internet equivalent to poor sound quality on a podcast. Numerous studies have shown that most internet users will wait only 1.2 seconds for a website to load. If the circle spins and little or no content is displayed, they’re gone and the website has lost a view and possibly a read.

Similar research on podcasts reveals not surprisingly that poor sound quality is one of the most common reasons that listeners will drop a podcast. This lack of sound quality is especially critical for new podcasters because podcasts have a lower barrier for entry – both financially and technically – so there is greater temptation to take a shortcut not available to film or TV producers.

While the obvious response to poor sound quality is to buy better equipment, podcast consultant Danny Catalano observes, “Better equipment means nothing if you don’t know how to use the mic properly or your software package.”

Catalano recommends numerous trial runs before going live to work out any audio bugs before your first episode.

Doing the same type of podcast better than everyone else

Let’s suppose your passion drives you to podcast about a topic that has been as overexposed as the Kardashians. If you choose a topic that has ample coverage, success can still be yours. You’ll need excellent hosting skills, a slick podcast format and strong production values. After all, sports teams like the Dallas Cowboys, Manchester United and Real Madrid spark thousands of podcasts hosted by face-painting fans that attract many listeners who are like-minded fans.

While taking on densely-covered topics in your podcast is courageous, the odds of success approximate those of a 100-1 horse at the Kentucky Derby.

“If your passion is the Golden State Warriors and you want to do a podcast on the team,” begins Catalano, “and you want to attract an audience larger than your circle of friends who are also fans, you really have to deliver a podcast of such quality to distinguish your podcast from the thousands of others covering the same topic.”

Catalano recounts the story of a new podcaster who loved the Denver Broncos and produced a podcast in which he covers a different season in Broncos history.

“On any given episode, the podcast covers a season like 1964 where the team stumbled to a 2-11 record with a quarterback, Mickey Slaughter, who threw three touchdown passes with 11 interceptions,” Catalano says. “It’s a different view on a familiar topic.”

Don’t underestimate the art of storytelling

While it’s obvious that true-crime podcasts live and die on the quality of their narration and storytelling chops, non-fiction podcasts also rely on highly skilled and deftly crafted narration and storytelling.

One recent example is the Michael Lewis podcast Against The Rules, which just kicked off its third season. Lewis is a successful author – Moneyball, The Big Short, The Blind Side – and in the first episode of his second season, Lewis carefully orchestrates the drama, unspooling a story of a woman who is mired in credit card debt and hinting strongly that later revelations in the podcast could man her redemption. Sure enough, toward the end of the 45-minute podcast, Lewis unveils the curtain on how Katie Hyland discovered Tally, a fintech company that helps people achieve their financial goals, and was able to eliminate that onerous debt.

During the podcast, Lewis introduces us to Jason Brown and details how his mother’s struggles with money sent him to a quest for financial independence. Toward the end of the podcast, Lewis’s storytelling weaves the tales of both Hyland and Brown together as his company helps Hyland on the road to financial stability. In its simplicity, it’s a masterstroke of compelling narration, captivating storytelling and spot-on pacing.

“So many podcasts are in a rush to tell their story,” podcast consultant Catalano observes. “Compelling podcasts, whether they cost thousands of dollars to produce or a few hundred, all need to set the stage, introduce characters the listener cares about and then unfold the drama like a carefully controlled explosion.”

Catalano insists that podcasts about unsolved murders or about a company rebranding demand the same tools that a novelist or playwright uses to grab attention.

Decide upon the goals of your podcast before you start

Marc Maron began his podcast in his garage. Science Vs began its popular podcast on the other side of the world in Australia. These podcasts may have begun with modest expectations but both creators also hoped for a wider appeal and strong listener numbers, which they achieved.

On the flip side of the coin is Skip Jones who does a podcast for his comic book buddies about comic books they love. The goal is not to have a million listeners – or a thousand – or 500 hundred. The podcast discusses what a group of friends gathers for – comic books they love. It’s a small but loyal following, and Jones wants to keep it that way.

“Starting a podcast requires a lot more thinking upfront than most people believe,” says Catalano. “Is your new podcast for a group of friends? Or is it for your town? Or maybe a farm report? Or a family genealogy podcast? By making that critical decision before you utter a word into a microphone, you will ensure a more pleasant, productive and ultimately successful podcast.”


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Success in podcasting ultimately isn’t about who has the most listeners or the most ad dollars or paid subscribers. Instead, success can be measured by comparing expectations to outcomes.