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Sept. 17, 2024
Navigating Podcast Discovery: Lindsay Graham Talks The Future of Podcast Search and Dynamic Content Insertion
Podcast discovery remains a daunting task: With no single platform owning podcasting, finding new shows can be a hassle. Today's episode is packed with insights that can help you navigate these challenges.
In this episode, Mathew Passy talks to Lindsay Graham on "Overcoming Discoverability Hurdles in Podcasting." Lindsay Graham is a renowned podcast creator, producer, and host, known for popular shows like "American Scandal," "American History Tellers," and "American Criminal." He is also the founder of Thrumm, a production music library aimed at aiding narrative podcasters.
Main topics covered in the episode: Lindsay discusses the ongoing challenges of discoverability and recommendation algorithms in the fragmented podcasting ecosystem. He also shares his insights on high-end podcasting gear, desired technological advancements like dynamic content insertion, and his personal listening habits and professional insights.
Why this episode is important: If you're a podcaster grappling with discoverability issues, Lindsay's experiences and recommendations are valuable. Gain firsthand insights from someone who has successfully maneuvered through these challenges and continues to push for industry advancements.
In this episode, we cover:
- Discovery and Recommendation Algorithms: Why podcast discoverability remains challenging in a fragmented ecosystem without a single ownership platform.
- Platform Fragmentation Example: Lindsay's "American Criminal" podcast sees a 95% audience split on Spotify vs. Apple Podcasts, emphasizing the importance of tailored promotion.
- Need for Industry Maturation: The necessity for better search and recommendation systems to help listeners find new shows.
- Podcasting Gear: The high-end audio equipment Lindsay uses, like the Neumann U 87 AI microphone and Rupert Neve Designs Shelford channel.
- Desired Technological Advancements: Improvements in dynamic ad and content insertion by hosting platforms like Art 19 and Megaphone.
- Personal Background and Listening Habits: Lindsay's journey from composing music for TV and film to podcasting and his current listening habits for professional insight.
Links and resources mentioned in this episode:
- Thrum Music Library - thrumm.audio
- Listen to some of Lindsay Graham's Popular Shows:
- American Scandal
- American History Tellers
- American Elections: Wicked Game
- Business movers
- History Daily
- American Criminal
- Recommended hardware: Neumann U 87 AI Microphone -
- Hosting Platforms mentioned: Art 19
- Follow Lindsay Graham on social media:
- Threads
Don't miss out on this episode that could be the game-changer for your podcast growth strategy! Don’t forget to subscribe, connect with us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.
**As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases of podcasting gear from Amazon.com. We also participate in affiliate programs with many of the software services mentioned on our website. If you purchase something through the links we provide, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The team at Podcasting Tech only recommends products and services that we would use ourselves and that we believe will provide value to our viewers and readers.**
For additional resources and insights visit podcastingtech.com or follow us on social media:
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- LinkedIn - /mathewpassy
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Transcript
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Welcome to Podcasting Tech, a podcast that equips busy
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entrepreneurs engaged in podcasting with proven and cost-effective
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solutions for achieving a professional sound and appearance.
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I'm Mathew Passy, your host and a 15 year veteran in the podcasting
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space. We'll help you cut through the noise and offer guidance on software and
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hardware that can elevate the quality of your show. Tune in weekly
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for insightful interviews with tech creators, behind the scenes studio tours, and
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strategies for podcasting success. Head to podcastingtech.com
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to subscribe to this show on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform and join
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us on this exciting journey to unlock the full potential of your
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podcast. It is not often that I get to
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interview somebody on this show who I'm actually a little bit
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of a fan and having a little bit of a moment of nervousness.
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Today, we are chatting with Lindsay Graham. And as he said in his bio no.
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Not that Lindsey Graham. He's a podcast creator, producer,
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and a host of a bunch of very good podcasts. And the
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one that I know him best for most notably is American scandal from Wondery.
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If you have not checked it out, I implore you to do so. It is
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fantastic, and he does a great job. And he is also the founder
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of Thrum, and that is a company that is providing
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really interesting audio services to help podcasters, and we'll talk about all those
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things and many, many more. Lindsay, thank you so much for joining us here on
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the show today. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Oh, it is such a
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joy to meet you, and I was I was so glad we got to meet
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in person over at podcast movement last month. Yeah. That was
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fun. So let's start right away with Throm because that's the the big exciting
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thing that I was first drawn to you. I mean, I had known of you
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from listening to the show, but then I think I saw on pod news that
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you were launching this service, and I saw you were attached to it. So I
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got really excited. Tell me, what does Throm do, and and how did it
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get started? Sure. So Throm, at its most
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basic, is a music library for podcasts
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and other similar endeavors. It's,
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it's music for storytellers for you know, really. And, it
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springs from my own experience, making these narrative
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history, you know, shows that I do. Way back when we
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started the the first one, American History Tellers, and then soon after
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American Scandal, I mean, I guess the reason I I got
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into podcast was because I was familiar with audio through music,
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and I had this little studio, you know, in my backyard that I'm talking to
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you from. And, and so, I composed all the
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music for those shows, way back when
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because, really finding finding music that fit,
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you know, exactly what I was looking for fit for my purpose was really,
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really difficult, given the production music libraries
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that are are out there. That's not saying that that the music is bad.
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In fact, a lot of it is really good, but it's built for a different
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purpose. If you are doing short form
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video, you've got, you know, the the world's your oyster
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because all of that music is built for that.
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It is not built for a 45 minute cinematically scored,
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narrative driven storytelling experience in which is, you know,
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what's really an underscore that that, that
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is, what I'm looking for. And, so I I
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had to compose it myself. And, as I became
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busier and busier being a podcaster, I just couldn't
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continue being a composer as well.
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So, I began to think, carefully
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about how we can reuse musical
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elements, how they can be composed to a certain purpose from the very
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beginning so that they're the most adaptable, they're the most
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useful, they're the most editable, they're the fastest things, you know, piece
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of equipment I, you know, I can have in the studio, and still
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achieve the goals of of bringing emotion, and storytelling
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chops to or or utility to to the
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story. So over, I don't know, a couple
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of years, I kind of developed this system of always
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composing in the same key, of always composing in the same
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tempo, of always kind of fitting things
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into certain types of cues because I found myself looking for something
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like, well, I need something that's kind of actiony right now, or I need something
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that's kind of suspensey right now, or I need to resolve that suspense right
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now, or I need something neutral just that's underneath
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as I, you know, exposit or just talk about facts.
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And so this system was built, that everything's in the same
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key, everything's in the same tempo, and everything's organized by narrative
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function, not musical genre or something like
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that. And having done that work, I hired a
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composer and, thought, you know, maybe other
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podcasters would would enjoy this too.
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So if I'm a first time podcaster or or first time
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narrative podcast producer, what is the experience
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like when I go to thrum versus, like you said, the
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EVVY of excellent royalty free music libraries out there
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for, you know, more generic intro, outro music? Like, what what is it that I'm
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gonna be doing to get the best content from the platform?
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Well, we organize everything by album. You know, we kind of still think,
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thematically and musically. So, in in
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inside every every album is a collection of 80 to a
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120 different tracks that are all thematically or aesthetically
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grouped. So, if you were trying to
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investigate, thrum, I would I would audition a few
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albums and find one that's, like, in your ballpark. We try to name them
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evocatively to get you to get you there, like, quirky in the
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dark is a pretty clear one. That that's, you know, it it might be a
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a kind of a madcap true crime sort of adventure if you're
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especially if you're into, oh, I don't know, Murders in the Building.
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You know, there this is the album for you. Right?
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And, so if you do find an aesthetic then, what
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you'll what you'll discover is that album is very rich,
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with, every track, has
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a, a regular mix, an alternate mix, a reduced mix to
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kind of spark you know, clean it up and make it even more sparse, but
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they're all the same. They're like variations on motifs. And then
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they're all organized by these these narrative functions so
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that when you get to that moment where you need to switch moods, you could
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stay within the same album and just find the different function.
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But because everything's in the same key and same tempo, you don't need to stay
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in the same album. Any any track across the 5,000 in the
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library, are are harmonically and rhythmically
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compatible. Excellent. Well, we encourage everyone to check that out at
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thrum. That's thrum.audio, and, of course, we'll have a
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link to it so you could see right there. I'm curious. You said you started
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as a musician, and if you're not watching the video, I implore you to go
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check it out and see some of the guitars that we have on the back
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wall behind Lindsay, including a portrait of George, Washington there.
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How did you discover that, you know, going
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from music production to narrative storytelling, like, how
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did you know that your skills
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translated or or what was it that made you say, I can compose
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music for storytelling versus just, you know, writing songs?
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Well, there I guess there are 2 questions there. You know? The first one is
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I never expected to be on this side of the mic. I never expected to
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be a voice over talent. You know, music and audio
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production, was always just a a hobby while I went
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to my 9 to 5, you know, job in marketing.
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A great accident happened, in about 2014,
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2015 in which I was fired from one of those jobs. And,
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and, I decided to try my hand at making something
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I love, also my career.
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I don't recommend this route for many people, but it
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worked out for me. I I started as a, an audiobook
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company that turned into kind of a podcast company that eventually
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I left. But one of those shows got the attention of Wondery, and then
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my career just took off from there. But how did I know
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the second question is how did I know, that I could compose
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for storytelling? I think I
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think I was doing that anyways. If you're a musician,
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or a a producer, bands are super super
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fun, and, I enjoy that a great
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deal. But you're also looking to to just find your next job.
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And a lot of that is in media production. You know, bands are by almost
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definition broke, and so they're not paying you much.
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But TV and film or documentaries or
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short short films, that's that's interesting and it's
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a it's a it's a job. So, I've been doing
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I had been doing composing for commercial and,
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and for image, for video for for a while,
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and and kind of knew how how it worked. So it wasn't
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too far a stretch really to to then say, okay, well, I've scored
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a a 10 minute industrial video. I can probably score
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a 45 minute history documentary.
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With 45 minute history documentary, for someone
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who's never done this type of work, you know, lots of podcasters are
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seeing the prospects of narrative podcasting, where they can go with
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it, how much fun they can have with it. It's definitely a growing field and
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certainly shows that are committing that kind
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of work and dedication and production to it,
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you know, are getting pretty good response out there in the podcasting space, whereas
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some of the more basic interview shows are not
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quite breaching, you know, through the noise that's out there.
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But how do you know where to
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put music or maybe even more importantly,
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where not to put music? Because I think there's often a urge
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to fill the entire thing with music,
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but I think that would honestly kind of be, you know, it
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would almost be detrimental to the project. Well, that's interesting
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because you know me from American Scandal, which has wall to wall music
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in it. There's not a point in which there's not music.
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But that does that does differ
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from American History Tellers, which is, kind of a a drier,
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more narration forward format.
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I think I think you can go either way.
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There is going to be a balance, or an aesthetic that you
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find, a a style. And,
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for history tellers, I'll I'll I'll focus on that because that's the one that that
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that has music in moderation.
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It is really, useful as punctuation.
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If you think of your your entire episode as
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maybe a a a a one paragraph short story
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in which there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and things
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happen, and and you need to punctuate those
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sentences, that's probably where the music
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goes. Is it an exclamation point? Is it a question mark? Is
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it, you know, a colon or a semicolon, or is it a, you
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know, a section break indicating a big pause?
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Music does this, really well to
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indicate the starts and ends of things.
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We know something's coming up or we know that something's ending even
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if it's even if it's inconclusive. If I
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if I, tell you something,
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that is that has incomplete information,
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you may be, as a listener, left wondering, well, well, you didn't
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tell me everything. What's what's going on here? But if I put
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a a sting underneath it or or a bit of a rise,
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of underscore and that falls away,
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that's much more purposeful. I have told you through the music
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that I know that you know or you don't have all the
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information, and I will probably get to it later.
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There's all sorts of ways to manipulate, your story using
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music, but if it's interspersed, it's
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mostly and probably primarily as punctuation and signposting
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to to the audience. This is what's happening now, and I'm
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on I'm in control of it. That's
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interesting. You know, I'm you say this, and I'm gonna have to
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go back and relisten. I don't think I realized there's music throughout all of American
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scandal. I really thought that you know, I've always heard the
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music as a place for transition, right, or a
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place to, you know, accentuate a point or more
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importantly, a place to give the listener a
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chance to really absorb what you just said. Right? You said something really
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important. Here's a little of the music so that you really have to think about
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it now. Right? You're not just waiting for the next thing to be said or
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moving out to the next thought, but, I I mean, I guess that means the
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music is so effective that I don't even realize it's going on the entire time.
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Well, you've pointed out the the functional music, you know, the stuff that
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that is there to be listened to, that the the ins and outs, the beginnings
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and the ends, the conspicuous pauses.
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Probably what you're not hearing, at least consciously,
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is all the, manipulative music,
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the tonal stuff. Now American Scandal has a lot of
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very drony, dark music underneath it. It
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doesn't it's not doing a lot, you know, rhythmically or harmonically or
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melonically. It's just there as a as a vapor in the
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room. And, but it's setting a
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mood, and I I would I would be very interested for you to
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listen to your next American Scandal episode, you know,
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critically. And then and let me know what you think the
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music is doing, because it should be
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changing tensions, shifting moods,
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making you feel tense or relaxed.
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It I mean, it is there to manipulate you. I I
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can probably say with 95% certainty, I've
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never listened feeling relaxed. I'm always feeling
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tense or anger or something at the
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the amount of atrocities that have been committed in
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history and frankly, some of
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the amazing changes to society that have been made by people
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who are just trying to cover something up. I mean, it seems like almost most
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of these stories, right, there's an incident, and that's
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bad, but the cover up and the deception
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and, you know, the the lengths to which people will go to cover their
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own asses is what really creates the scandal.
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But, yes, I'm definitely gonna listen with a very different, ear next time and and
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pay attention to that. And, obviously, I'm fanboyning all over
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American Scandal. If you haven't listened truly, you have to check it out. There are
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just some amazing stories. It's a great education. It
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really will open your eyes up to the way the world works, unfortunately.
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Do you have, like, a signature
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in the music? You know, is there something that
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people will hear and immediately say, ah, that's a that's
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a Lindsey Graham. That's an airship thing. Is there something you always like to you
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know, almost like, filmmakers like to throw on, like, a Wilhelm scream in there.
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Right? Right. Yeah. No. I don't think we
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have, you know, an inside joke like that or
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or or, you know, an inside anything. I mean, I do think
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we have an anesthetic, and that that
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stems from, you know, originally, it was all me doing all the
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stuff. And so I only have my own taste to go by. But over
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the years, we've we've developed a a a process and a
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method. You know, the shows that the shows were successful.
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So, we we tried not to break
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what was what we tried not to fix what wasn't broken.
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And, and so, yeah, there's there's definitely some form
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formulas to to how we work. And I think if you listen to if you
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listen to American Criminal, which I don't host, but my
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my my company produces, and you listen to American
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Scandal, there will be probably a lot of
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similarities in in the the the infrastructure
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underneath. But, no. Nothing like a
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Wilhelm scream. I do I I will tell you I
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hate downbeats. I hate heavy downbeats.
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So if if you're ending a section or you're making a point,
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I hate ending on a bum, like
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12341. That's just so
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obvious to me. I would much rather end on something that
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just whiffs away into the atmosphere, a 123 and.
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I do notice that a lot of the things linger and
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not in a bad way, but just they're there and they slowly fade away until
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the next start be you know, the next piece begins or, you know, you move
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on to the next the the next portion of the show.
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I'm curious, what year were you approached by Wondery, and
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what was it like to go from, you know, a
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marketing person with a musical background to a, I'm
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gonna, you know, kinda try this podcasting thing to,
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you know, being approached and ultimately, I
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guess acquired might might not be the right word, but, you know, ultimately
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partnering with what is one of the most successful
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content production brands in the space today?
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Yeah. Well, I, in a, in a one word, it was fantastic.
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So, you know, I never really knew what I was gonna
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do when I grew up. I I much of
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my school career was just, doing what was
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expected of me next. I got my MBA
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for almost petty reasons because a a coworker of mine announced
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that they were going in to get theirs. And I was like, oh, I'll be
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damned if you're gonna get one and I'm not going to.
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And so, you know, I I I I I have no good internal
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personal reasons for for do doing these things, for making
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some career choices, other than, you know, you need
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the money to pay the rent. Right? And I think that's probably
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true for a great portion of of people out there. So,
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podcasting was this opportunity to
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kind of assemble many of the things that I I knew I liked
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doing, and put them in one place. You know, I I
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do have a, you know, a a business mind. I
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like spreadsheets and and I like running my company.
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I also like podcasts. I like audio. I I love music.
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I like storytelling. So this is just getting better and better the more things I
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get to to, you know, cobble together here. So it was transformative,
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and is. I'm the happiest, most content I've ever been in my
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life right now, and I hope next year is even better, you know? And I
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I know I know that that's a place of privilege,
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but, it's it's it's great great to be here.
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I, love that you say it that way. When I was
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consulting with people, I was always asked, you know, what makes for a successful podcast
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or, you know, why should I do this or or, you know, how do you
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know a show is gonna be good? And one of the things that
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I found was that most of the shows who found any level
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of success, right, whether they were, you know, Kelsey Brothers
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being acquired by Amazon or, you know, this guy being acquired
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by Spotify, or even just the person who, you know, does it and
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then finds that there's a few 1,000 people in their niche
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who love what they do and now gravitate to them,
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is that the person doing it, they
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are having fun. Like, they would wake up
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and wanna do this podcast even if nobody listened.
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And obviously, that's not a great business model, but it
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sounds like storytelling, narrative, music, right, this whole
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combination is just fun and
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joyful with a lot of work. Right? I'm not downplaying the fact that you
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guys put a lot of effort into this, but, you know, the fact that you
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love doing it probably makes it easier to be successful at it.
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Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the the big ingredients. I mean, I
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couldn't do it as a job if it weren't successful. I mean, you've got a
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horrible catch 22 there. You know,
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I'm, I put in the work because I have the time and I have the
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time because it is successful and, you know, where the chicken and the egg
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is in that sentence, I don't, I don't really know. But,
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yeah, I, I think I am one of the lucky ones. Look,
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also, I don't really enjoy doing all the accounting
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every month or, you know, being the only IT person in
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my company, you know, etcetera, etcetera. There are things that
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you need to do, wheels that need to be greased and cogs that need to
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need to be cleaned so that this machine keeps going.
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But, Yeah. I mean, I I think I think I
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love it. And, it's it's not something I
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really ever dreamt of or or saw on the horizon, but,
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once it came close to me, man, I was I was really grabbing
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for it. Oh, I love that. And, yeah, I mean, obviously, that that's a
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cash 22, but I'm thinking one of my old clients was a guy. He's a
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chess teacher, and he enjoys teaching chess. He
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was teaching a couple of students here and there, and this was back
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in 2016 ish. So podcasting was, you know, gaining
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some traction, but wasn't a a huge deal the way it is today. And he
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approached me. He's like, you know, I really love listening to these podcasts over here
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in the finance space, but nobody's doing anything like this for chess. And I just
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love talking about chess, so I'm gonna do it. And he he did
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it, and he wasn't making a lot of money off of it.
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And but he loved it. He just got to talk to more and more
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people from the chess world, and then, you know, putting in that passion, putting in
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that time, having the patience. A a few years later, he
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was being approached by some of the biggest companies in
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chess. He was talking to these grandmasters and worldmasters in
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chess. His show became this
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this place where people
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wanted to be. Right? It was like it was like validating. Right? You're
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not you're not a superstar in chess unless you unless you've spoken to this guy
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and appeared on his show, and it just came out of his passion
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for it. So it yes. It takes work, and it's you
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know, success obviously breeds more success, but, you know,
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advice to those out there thinking about a podcast, if you
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don't love what you're doing, if you don't wake up and wanna do
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it, it's probably gonna be a bigger struggle. What what about what other
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advice would you give to someone, especially someone who's thinking about going down this
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more narrative, you know,
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produced podcast role Right. Road as opposed to just the, I'm just
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gonna talk to the folks in my industry like I get to do. Yeah.
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Well, it's a lot more work, obviously, the you know, on on the production
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side, you know, you you have to do many more
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things, because you're making a different product. I mean, we call it a podcast,
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but, it is really different from what we're doing right now
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to what I will go back to doing in a few minutes.
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It's it's the difference between, you know,
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reality TV and, a feature film,
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or it can be. So be prepared for the work. But,
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I think if if you
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if you have a passion for a for a subject
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and you have a passion for teaching, because that's really kind of what
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we're doing here. There are also investigative
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document documentary, narratives too.
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So you could either be a documentarian or you could be a a
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journalist by nature. You have a subject that you love and
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can't stop thinking about. And
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and then probably, you have to assess whether you
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are a storyteller. I don't
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know if it's nature or nurture, frankly. I think
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it's probably both. But, I would I
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would wonder when I'm at a party and I start telling a
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story, do people pay attention? Do they
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follow? Do they laugh? Do they, you know, gasp?
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When do you enjoy telling that story? Is, are the, is the audience
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reaction the one you want? And do you get it often?
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Because I, I think if, if you realize that you have
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that ability to tell a story at a cocktail party and be engaging,
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you probably have some native native ability to figure
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out what the the longer story is and and
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use those, those innate skills and hone
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them so that you can craft a story that,
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the twists and turns and keeps your audience on the hook.
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Love it. Love it. As a reminder, we are chatting
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with Lindsey Graham. He's the founder of thrum, and that is the
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platform for, production music library for podcasters
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and documentarians and those who really wanna tell a
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story. And he is also a podcast creator, producer,
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and a host of very, very good shows and, many
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well known ones including American Scandal, which we've talked about, History
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Daily, Business Movers, American History Tellers. One that I
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saw on your list that I'm gonna be checking out, 18/65 that I'm excited to
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check out. And so we'll have a we'll have a link
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to his link tree so you can find all this great stuff. We'll have a
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link to thrum, so you can go check out that platform, and
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also maybe check out airship.fm. That's the production company that,
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you founded. But, before we let you go, Lindsay, we have
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a couple of questions we like to ask everybody. And given
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your place in the podcasting world, I'd be very curious to
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hear, some of these answers. So first is, is
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there a place or is there something within the podcasting
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world that you would like to see improved?
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That can be hardware, software, it could be from
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the production side, from the listening side, like, is there just something that you think,
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gosh, I wish we could change this and make podcasting better for
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everybody? Oh, I'm sure there is.
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It it is probably, it is
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probably still discovery. You know, there's not a
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great search or or
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recommendation algorithm out there that that is,
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that works for everyone. You know, one of the
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great things about podcasting is it's this, you know, open ecosystem,
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and no single platform owns podcasting. But that also means
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that there's it's fragmented and hard to find. And, you
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know, I as an example, my podcast,
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American Criminal, which was launched just this year,
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had a little bit of of promotion or or, you know,
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in in Spotify. And, what
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was once about 5050 Apple Spotify is now, like, 95%
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Spotify in terms of audience breakdown. I
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can't get Apple users to find this show.
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But by example, Spotify, users found the show and
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enjoyed it because a lot more came along for the ride. So I know
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that there are people using Apple Podcasts that would like this show if they could
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just find it. And, that's that's
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really frustrating, especially when I have metrics that can demonstrate
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that this show could have a bigger audience if the platforms
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had an ability to really find the people who are looking for it.
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I'll make sure to put the Apple link to that show in particular
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so that people can find it. I know. Any because I wanna check that out.
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Every listener is a good listener. I don't mind at all. But, you know, I
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just know that I'm leaving listeners on the table on the Apple side of the
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equation. So, if there were some better,
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you know, and I don't think it's a single system, you know, like like YouTube's
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algorithm or something. I think it just takes a a
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maturation of the industry still that people say, hey,
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I I I need a new podcast, and, it's it's a lot easier
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to find, than than it is currently.
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I like that. Is there any piece
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of tech that is on your wish list?
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And by that, I mean, you know, something out there that you have always wanted
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that you wanna buy or maybe something that hasn't even been
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created that you would like to see made that would make your studio
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more enjoyable? And I say this knowing that you have a fantastic studio, and if
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you wanna just tell us about some of the basic equipment you're using for the
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podcast, we'd love it. Oh, sure. And this is stupid, stupid
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gear stuff, and a lot of it is, like, 10 times more expensive than it
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needs to be. So with that caveat,
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so over here, we'll we'll run down my signal chain.
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I start with a Neumann U 87 AI. So
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the the utmost broadcast NPR standard of microphones.
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I previously used a a AKG's,
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c 44 c 14 c 414.
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And that was fine. But, you know, I I got the Neumann, and I I
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stayed with it. That goes into a
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Rupert Neve Designs Shelford channel. That's
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my preamp, and EQ and compressor. And then
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that goes into an RME Fireface
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UCX 2. That's my, kind of multichannel,
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audio interface. And I like that because I've got, the
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remote, the USB remote, and it's got a lot of functionality, on
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it. That goes into my home built
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PC, and
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that, goes into Reaper,
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Kakkos' Reaper. That's my DAW of choice.
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And we do everything in Reaper. All my employees work
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in Reaper. It's it's lightweight, inexpensive, and really powerful.
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I I had a few, contractors I worked with who love and swore by
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Reaper, so I could definitely appreciate that. So is there anything out
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there that you would like to see made
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or, something out there that you don't have that you wanna pick
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up? I was thinking about this actually
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earlier this morning, and it's interesting. It's it's on the it's on the
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hosting side. I wish more,
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podcast hosts, and currently I use Art 19 and
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Megaphone. There are many, many others, and I don't have experience with
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them all. But I wish their dynamic insertion
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for ads, promos, and content were a was a little
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more robust. What what I mean by that is right now,
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oftentimes, I can insert I can
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mark insertion points for things that are promos or
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ads. And and sometimes the ads have
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differentiation of pre roll or mid roll or post roll.
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And sometimes the promo promo can be promo only or
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like bottom of the funnel, you know, sort of,
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if nothing else is in there. I would like a many
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many many more, opportunities to mark
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things so that, I can dynamically change
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my content as it's appropriate for for me, for
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marketing. The one thing I really don't wanna do is,
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what has been asked of me recently, go back to an old
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episode and change the the introduction to
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mention the new American History Tellers book.
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Right? And I I I'll be fine to do that, and it makes sense. I
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want the book to sell, but I don't want to change
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the episode audio to stuff in this
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marketing thing into what is, you know, the
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program. I would love instead to dynamically insert
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it,
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and let it be known that it's content. It's not a promo. It's not ad.
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You know, it's it's not a pre roll. It's not a post roll. I could
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should make it anything I want. I would love to, have,
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upload 4 different files that are is my colopen, my
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intro, act 1, act 2, and act 3, and my,
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outro and my credits, where that's 7 files, and have
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them dynamically assembled so that I could, eventually swap
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out any one of them. So,
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you know, and, you know, all all sorts of things I could do
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with, with dynamic content, you know,
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especially if I was more current events, that makes it even more
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important because maybe I can address things based on geolocation
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or, you know, time of day that a listener is listening
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to something. There's just a fascinating array of
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opportunities if hosting companies allow me more power in
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dynamic insertion. You are
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speaking my language. I would love,
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love to be able to truth, I'd love to develop it,
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but even use a platform that allowed you to
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have more geolocal and,
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like, time dynamic insertion. Right? I think that would open
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up huge opportunities in lots of different
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areas, and I could probably talk to you about that for another 33 minutes,
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but maybe I'll take that offline with you another day. But I oh, I love
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that answer. That's a great answer. Thank you. The last one, this is probably
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gonna be the hardest question you are asked, is
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is there a podcast out there right now that you are listening to
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that no matter what you're doing, when the new episode drops, you stop and you
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turn to it, like a favorite podcast that, just has
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your attention? The answer is no.
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I knew it was gonna be a hard one. I will expand I will expound.
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As you might imagine with with, 3 weekly,
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shows, a a a 3, one
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daily show, and then managing and producing about 3 others,
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I'm listening to a lot of audio a lot of the time.
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When when I clock out, at the end of the day, the last thing I
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wanna do is listen to something. So I drive
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home, with the radio off and just the
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sound of my own wheels driving me crazy. That's, that's
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kind of all I want. Now there are certain shows that
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that, when I, have an opportunity, a vacation along, you
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know, a road trip or something like that, I will get back into,
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Revisionist history has always been a favorite of mine.
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Malcolm Gladwell, just has a, a
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way about him, a humor and, a curiosity that I find
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really compelling. Smartless does, does it
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for pure entertainment. I really enjoy it.
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I I've listened to Smartless a lot for their ads because I
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get a lot of the same copy and, and I just wanna
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check-in on, you know, how they're doing it,
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and compared to maybe even take notes on how I can, you
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know, do the next ad. So
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there's 2 that I listen to, you know, recreationally, but I'm
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really not a a large or intrepid
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podcast consumer. I I understand that
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feeling when I was heavy into the production company and editing
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audio all day. When I finally was able to shut down the computer and not
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have to work anymore, I would just throw the headphones and be like, ah, I'm
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done with this and put on a screen. Right? Like, give me something other than,
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you know, audio to listen to so I I can understand and appreciate that,
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and I like I like hearing that you listen to shows for
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the research on how to do the commercials. I think that's a that's
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a unique perspective that I think other people could learn from because,
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you know, yes, the the audience might groan at the thought of commercials,
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but, man, when shows do them right and they could be entertaining
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and they can be useful and engaging and
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fun, I mean, that really is gonna go a long way to support your venture,
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your project, and your passion. So, you know, don't
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just don't just do it to get it done, but, you know, take the time
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to think about it, and it will really help your ability to keep supporting the
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project that you're working on. Lindsey Graham,
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this has been an absolute joy. As a reminder to everybody, he's the founder
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of thrum.audio, thrum.audio.
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It's a musical library for narrative documentary
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podcasters who wanna really turn up their game on how
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they add audio and music to their productions, and he
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is the host and creator of several chart
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topping shows, notably, obviously, American Scandal,
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which I've already said I've listened to many, American History Tellers,
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History Daily, a few others, American Criminal out
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there, and a few more that we'll try and have links to all of them
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here in the show notes and implore you to check them out. You will
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love Lindsay's dulcet tones, in your ears when you're listening to these
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shows. It is a real pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank
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you, Matthew. Thanks for joining us today on
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Podcasting Tech. There are links to all the hardware and software
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that help power our guest content and podcasting tech
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available in the show notes and on our website at podcastingtech.com.
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You can also subscribe to the show on your favorite platform, connect with us on
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social media, and even leave a rating and review while you're there. Thanks,
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and we'll see you next time on Podcasting Tech.
Lindsay Graham
Founder
Lindsay Graham is a podcast creator, producer, and host known for compelling narratives and in-depth exploration of pivotal moments in American and world history. His chart-topping shows American Scandal, American History Tellers and History Daily reach millions every month, using immersive sound design, a rich original score, and meticulous research to bring moving, character-driven stories that demonstrate “history is human.”
The Fort Worth Star Telegram said Lindsay “became his generation's David McCullough” with his talent for making a rigorous study of history captivating and approachable to wide audiences. His podcasts are also frequently used in classrooms across the country, and to spark conversations between parents and children to better understand the complex world they’re living in.
Lindsay leads his production company Airship from Dallas, TX, where he lives with his wife and daughter.