How To Tell A Story From NPR’s Former VP Of Programming

This week on Audience we chatted with Eric Nuzum, an expert who started NPR’s podcasting efforts back in 2005. Eric help found some of NPR’s most successful shows, has published three best-selling books, and co-founded a podcast production company called Magnificent Noise.

Recently, he found time to write and publish his fourth book, Make Noise: A Creator’s Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling. The words of wisdom and exercises on being a better storyteller lead Craig to his position to sit down with Eric to pick his brain. Throughout this interview, they focused on how to conduct a more engaging interview, why DIY podcast networks succeed, the similarities between hobby podcasters and big budget productions, and where podcast advertising is headed in the midst of COVID-19.

Listen to the full episode now for Eric’s expert insights on all things podcasting.

How Can Interviewers Create A Good Story?

With Eric’s experience being the interviewer, interviewee, and producing interview-style podcasts, there’s no better person to ask about how interviews create good stories.

He points out, when compared to monologue episodes, interviews help people who aren’t accustomed to telling their own story. Rather than the pressure to grab the mic and figure out their own way forward, the interviewer leads the guest to the questions the audience wants to learn about. But the tough part is the communal lift involved in getting the good story. There’s more than one stakeholder involved in shaping the narrative so it’s everyone’s job to keep the interview’s focus on the information that’s most useful to the audience.

Another key to getting a good story is the interview needs to feel natural, organic, and authentic. Podcaster’s most common hangup is trying to emulate someone else as their interview persona. While trying to mimic another person, you’re pretending to be an interviewer instead of actually engaging with the guest. Eric’s tip is to get out of that mindset and get back to being genuinely curious about the person you’re talking to. An organic, give-and-take conversation will help create a more riveting story arc.

Eric’s biggest interview tip: don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. It leads to inauthentic sound bites and a guest who can’t wait to end the conversation.

For podcasters without extensive media backgrounds, make creative decisions is difficult. What’s your advice to people who are intimidated or frustrated by this part of producing a podcast?

To promote his most newest book, Eric is often on the road talking about podcasting. From boardrooms to coffee shops, how to tackle the big creative decisions plagues every podcaster no matter their experience level.

Eric found both corporate conglomerates and podcast hobbyists struggle with the same frustrations. With so many decisions to make, combined an abundance of available options, every person he’s encountered is looking for the same information. This should be encouraging for beginners because it means having a big budget or a room full of media professionals doesn’t guarantee a hit podcast.

Since podcasting is a relatively new industry, it’s still considered the wild west of content channels. This is great in terms of the limitless ways new hosts can enter medium but also a curse as more options can...