When I set out to create The D Brief podcast, I wanted to borrow ideas from radio broadcasting and adapt them to the medium. I often describe our podcast by saying, "It's like a radio morning show, but it's hyper-focused on Detroit arts and entertainment." Like a radio morning show, the podcast is comprised of multiple segments, each several minutes in length. The segments are separated by production elements, which are essentially radio sweepers.

When I set out to make these production elements, I sought out the advice of my friend Jake Kaplan, the Creative Director at Entercom/Los Angeles (back then, the cluster was still owned by CBS). Jake informed me that the stuttering, flanging voiceovers from my mid-90s heyday as an imaging director had long since become passé. These days, he told me, radio stations prefer to use "audience drops" in their production elements: recordings of listeners heaping praise on the radio station. "The best variety!," "I love the morning show!," or "I always listen at work!"

Becky and I record three episodes of The D Brief podcast every Monday evening. We record at the Jacobs Media Strategies office, where I work by day. These episodes are then released on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Over the first year of the podcast, our ...

One of the biggest differences between real-time media like radio and on-demand media like podcasts is that real-time media is a zero-sum game, while on-demand media is not. I can only listen to one radio station at a time. If I'm listening to Station A, it means I'm ...

As a radio programmer, sports was always one of my biggest weaknesses. I just don't care. Outside of the Super Bowl, I never sit down to watch a game on television, let alone attend one in person. I realize that I am the odd man out here. I recognize that for the ...

Everybody needs so time off now and then. Podcasters are no different. But when you establish your podcast as a weekly show driven by current events, what do you do when it's time to take a vacation? In the year since we've launched The D Brief podcast, which focuses ...

I have always loved the idea of a large, regular cast of characters in a radio show. Years ago, when I was still early in my career, I wrote a proposal for a radio show that incorporate recurring characters. The idea was based on the television show The Simpsons. In ...

When it comes to podcasting, one of the questions I hear over and over again is, "What's the ideal length for a podcast episode?" When people ask that question, they usually expect the answer to be a specific length of time: "Ten minutes," "45 minutes," "an hour," ...

It's the first question at the forefront of every new podcaster's mind: How do I build my audience? In eight years of podcasting, the best answer I've heard is this: Tap into a pre-existing audience. Stand-up comedian Marc Maron launched his popular WTF podcast by ...

When I originally conceived of The D Brief podcast, the show contained about a dozen segments for one reason: to make the same content work on different platforms. The two platforms I had in mind were radio and a "podcatcher" app, such as Apple Podcasts. I wanted to ...

When you borrow live radio concepts and apply them to a podcast, one of the challenges you face relates to the timeliness of your podcast. For years, I've been pointing out that the shelf life of a podcast episode can have a big impact on its consumption. For example, ...