Can A Podcast Host Excel At Interviews, Narration & Managing A Panel?

 In my opinion, the best podcast at describing, defining, and sharpening podcast hosting skills is Sound Judgment with Elaine Appleton Grant.

Recent episodes span the skill set of hosting, from anchoring a history show to navigating the tricky art of memoirs. 

For a podcast host, there are three types of podcasts that require disparate skills. It's like being a tennis player. Some can serve at lightning speed. Others can hit blistering ground strokes from beyond the baseline. Still others can volley like Baryshnikov in sneakers.  

 How many players can do all three? Serena, Roger, Rafa, Novak, and a select few. It's an elite club because it's so difficult to be so adept at such disparate skills.

The same is true for podcast hosting.  

 Podcast hosts deal with three types of hosting. You can certainly define more categories, but essentially most podcasts fall into one of these category types. Today, we'll review those three types and point out some of the best people in podcasting at these three show types.

 First, there is the interview podcast. This format dominates podcasting, and can attract a sizable audience. You know -- Joe Rogan, Jordan Harbinger, Matt Gilhooly, KiKi Anderson, Adam Grant and others. On these shows, guests come on the podcast and the host interviews them.

Hosts that excel at interviews listen well because a good listener assesses the direction of the interview, forms strong follow-up questions and truly engages with the subject.

They ask questions that spotlight the guest's expertise, keep the interview focused on the guest, not the host, and ask follow-up questions that result from the guest's previous comments.

Some of the best podcast hosts as interviewer include Matt Gilhooly -- The Host of The Lift Shift podcast, Elaine Appleton Grant, the Host of Sound Judgment, and Audie Cornish, The Host of CNN's The Assignment With Audie Cornish. 

Then we have the hosts of narrative podcasts. This format typically has the host as a narrator of the episodes. It's a massive undertaking because the host talks continuously, and must sustain his emotional and tonal modulation throughout the show. Andrew Hickey of the History Of Rock Music In 500 Songs podcast excels at long-form narration. Hickey and Dan Carlin from Hardcore History can captivate people for more than two hours on an episode. 

One of the best at creating a narrative mood is Aaron Mahnke of the Lore podcast. I've listened to an episode of Lore and been afraid to get out of my car at night. To be clear, Aaron Mahnke doesn't have one of those voices that alone can scare the heck out of you. But he doesn't need to. Mahnke is a world builder by being a word builder. He uses all the tools to gradually draw you into his macabre world of sonic darkness. As a listener, you don't even know you're knee-deep in it until it's too late.

On the Everything Everywhere podcast, host Gary Arndt has a frictionless, fluid delivery that enables the narrative to seamlessly lodge into your brain. He is the master of subtle intonations.

Then we have Monica Reinagel, host of The Nutrition Diva podcast. Reinagel has been doing this podcasting gig for a long time and just gets better and better. Host Reinagel has the voice of an angel, and actually she's also a successful opera singer. Therefore, words flow from her like a Puccini opera. Even though Reinagel may sound angelic, but when it comes to exploding nutritional myths and combating anti-science dribble, she's ruthless. 

Of course, Karina Longworth of You Must Remember This may possess the most distinctive style of narration with her breathless, elongated descriptive style-isms. 

Finally, we have the hosts who have several co-hosts on the show, and they have to manage the conversational flow. These hosts manage podcasts with three, four or even more co-hosts or guests on the show. These hosts are like traffic cops on the show, ensuring the other co-hosts are not talking over one another, interrupting one another, curtailing conversation, or worse, diverting the show into the boring, bizarre, or offensive.

One of the best are Joel Anderson, Stefan Fatsis, and Josh Levin from Hang Up And Listen sports podcast from Slate. Another is David Plotz from Slate's Political Gabfest where Plotz's two co-hosts are the human think tank John Dickerson and the voluble and judicious Emily Bazelon. 

In both Slate podcasts, co-hosts build on each other's comments and insights, stitching together a coherent narrative that provides structure to recent events in politics and sports. Plotz is an especially effective "devil's advocate" and seems to relish that role.

On NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, co-hosts Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris - plus a rotating crew of guests -- somehow manage to maintain structure and coherence amid a flurry of different voices. There is a cultivated sense of respect and restraint here, as if the show was sacrificing showmanship and inflated controversy in favor of insight, coherent criticism, and creative collaboration. 

Then we have David Greene who is the center in KCRW's Left Right & Center political podcast. Greene has a dual role here and handles both roles with adroit skill and precision. Green acts as the political center between the Right's Sarah Isgar and the Left's Mo Elleithee. Eschewing the Fox News style of ginned-up controversy and manufactured grievance, this podcast prides itself on civilized debate, and Greene is in charge of keeping that promise.

Finally, we have the podcast hosts who can do it all. They're the Roger Federer of podcasting because they excel at conducting interviews, possess superb narrative skills, and can play podcast sheriff when there are multiple co-hosts.

Three hosts come to mind as versatile enough to do it all. Roman Mars of 99% Invisible Willa Paskin of Decoder Ring, and Sean Rameswaram of Today, Explained. All three are superb interviewers; All three can craft a compelling narrative, and all three can manage and master a panel format on their podcast. 

In this article, we've only scratched the surface of the panoply of podcast host skills. We haven't talked about how skillful some hosts are at host-read ads and that's critical because that talent pays the bills.

Or, how podcast hosts can keep their shows "edgy" without getting trapped in the quicksand of homophobia, racism, and misogyny. That's a delicate balancing act that has sent too many podcasters flying off their audio trapeze.

Finally, if you think that podcast host excellence is confined to the high-priced, high-profile podcasts, you're wrong. Indie podcasts are overcrowded with hosts of uncommon skill. 

Here are just a few of them: Amanda B. -- 6 Degrees Of Cats; Rita Richa -- Bippity Boppity Business; Jennica Sadhwani -- Multispective; Jenn Trepeck -- Salad With A Side Of Fries; Evan Stern -- Vanishing Postcards; Em -- Verbal Diorama, Lindsey Epperly -- Who Made You The Boss; Hala Taha -- Young And Profiting.