Your Guide to the Ever-Expanding Universe of Podcasts

More than 2.6 billion podcast episodes were downloaded in 2014. Here's your user's manual.
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Bratislav Milenkovic

After a false start in the early 2000s, podcasting has exploded. More than 2.6 billion episodes were downloaded in 2014. Here's your user's manual, from hosting tips to must-subscribes.

Bratislav Milenkovic
How To Find A Memorable Guest

Hrishikesh Hirway is the host of Song Exploder, a podcast that asks musicians to break down their most popular tunes and share the stories of how they were created. A musician himself, Hirway is great at getting his guests to reveal memorable specifics. Here, he shares his thoughts on what makes a great guest. —Eric Steuer

What does the ideal guest bring to the table?

A good memory and strong self-awareness. They can remember how and why they made creative decisions, and what those decisions say about who they are and what they're trying to evoke in others.

What do you do when a guest just isn't very interesting?

I'll try to subtly find different ways to ask the same question until I get a good answer. I also edit the hell out of my episodes. My interviews usually last at least an hour, but only the best eight to 10 minutes end up in the episode.

Have you had a dream-come-true guest?

I was thrilled when Phil Elverum of the Microphones and Mount Eerie told me he had been secretly hoping to be a guest.

What's been your favorite experience with a guest?

John Roderick was the easiest interview ever, because he's a gifted raconteur: He regularly speaks extemporaneously for his own podcast, Roderick's Rendezvous. And with “The Commander Thinks Aloud,” the subject of the episode, he'd made a song that was sonically interesting as well as incredibly moving, both lyrically and musically.

Bratislav Milenkovic
Behind the Scenes of Criminal

Phoebe Judge, host of Radiotopia's true-crime podcast Criminal, opens up about one of the show's most captivating episodes:

We always have our eyes open, and we came across the story of Tommy Wall in the news. He'd been falsely accused of child molestation. It was only a couple of months after he was released from jail and cleared of all charges when his lawyer put us in touch. I thought he'd have his guard up—he'd been screwed by the press—but he let us ask incredibly personal questions.

The guy had lost his house, so we were in one that a friend helped him find while he was in jail. It had very few of his personal things; most of them were still packed away.

With so many of these interviews, I never see the person I'm talking to. To sit next to this guy in his house, to see his body that had lost so much weight since he was in jail, to see that he hadn't been outside in the sun—and to see him cry when someone sends him a text message that they're thinking of him—is pretty important. —As told to K. M. McFarland

Bratislav Milenkovic
Be a Host With the Most

Actress, comedian, and Pop My Culture cohost Vanessa Ragland knows both sides of the mic. We asked her to break down the qualities of a good podcast host:

I love it when a host has done their homework and is familiar with my work. I appreciate it when they're organized and focused and really steer the conversation. It stresses me out if they don't have a lot of talking points or are hesitant during pauses. My favorite experiences as a guest have been on comedian Elizabeth Laime's shows—she used to do a podcast called Totally Laime and now hosts Totally Mommy. She introduces each episode's guest as her cohost, which really sets a nice tone. She's a great talker and a great listener, and I always forget there's a mic about three seconds in. I've had some of the breeziest conversations with her, and I've also cried my eyes out. —As told to Eric Steuer

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