Josh Wasserman (creator & listener)

Interview on podcast
1. How often do you listen to podcast?
Listen to podcasts on long trips (car trips, plane rides), so not often; only when in
transit
2. Which podcasts do you listen to?
Fresh air with Terry Gross (Mom recommended), Serial (friends recommended),
sports podcast if likes the radio host
3. Have you subscribed to any podcasts?
No
4. How do you listen to podcast? (phone, laptop, etc.)
Download on phone, sometimes laptop
5. How do you find out about different podcasts?
Word-of-mouth; sometimes search on iTunes to seek new ones but wont
subscribe to any
Have a lot of random ones downloaded on phone (e.g. BBC soccer podcast)
6. Why do you listen to podcast? Do you listen to podcasts for leisure?
Sometimes prefers podcast to music, also podcast is very informational a cool
way to spend time
intellectually engaging and fun; personally interested in sports podcasts
**intellectual engagement
**information and entertainment equally important (listen for both leisure and
learning)
7. What benefits do you believe listening to podcast could provide?
Information; would rather watch TV if its just for pure entertainment
8. What do you look for in a podcast? [Answer: X qualities]
A specific episode/topic of interest
(e.g. sports podcast that talks about his favorite team) - why hes not subscribed
to any; pick and choose based on topics
9. How important are the [X qualities] to you and why?
Fairly important
10. Do you ever suggest/share podcast to your friends/family? How? (on social media?)
Yes, share with family to discuss mutual interest
Listened together with friends on a roadtrip and discussed it afterwards similar
to watching TV with friends
Dont share on social media but would recommend in person or via text msg
but still would look into something if posted on social media (check out if
viral)
11. How would you improve the podcast you listen to?

Josh Wasserman (creator & listener)

Be detailed without having to explain too much; Adjust tone based on audience
Sports podcast: tough to improve; make it similar to radio show
12. Tell us about your podcast
-

Currently run a sports analytics company; created own podcast to talk about
players value and to host fantasy football
Have to be engaging so people dont just wait for you to say a name
Keep things very concise. If too long, people will lose attention; sometimes
people have it in the background, so dont pick up every single word
o If you want ppl to pick up every word, then you have to be more energetic
Ideal time length: 30-40 minutes
People listened to the podcast for information so had to be straight-forward and
easy to understand without droning on; had a script for all podcasts
Discontinued due to lack of time

13. How did you capture audience for your podcast?

Existing audience (people who knew about the company already)
Promoted social media, esp. Twitter (if personal, wouldnt share on social media)
14. What was most challenging when hosting your own podcast?
Hard to balance entertainment and information (presenting in a funny and
engaging way)
15. Since when did you start listening to podcast? Has anything changed over the years?
Have you done anything differently?
A year ago; interests have not changed, but listen to podcast more often than
before
16. How likely are you to try radio archive?
Very! Its exactly what hes interested in interview podcasts are what he finds
the most interesting!!
Interested in cinema, comedy, sports, history, theater (Studs Turkel)
17. Are you in the humanities? WCAS? SoC? SESP? McCormick? Medill?Beinen?
Statistics (WCAS)
18. How have podcasts played a role in your social life? academic life?
Social life: sometimes discuss with friends, but not many podcast junkies
Academic life: No, but radio archive can maybe help with school
19. What differentiates podcast junkies from non-listeners?
Time
20. What comes to your mind for the following: interactive podcast, interviews, oral history
Interactive podcast: links popping up as references are made (e.g. podcast
talking about Breaking Bad - if a certain episode is referenced, then a youtube
clip is made available); not just passive listening; engage further

Josh Wasserman (creator & listener)

Interviews: dialogue, questions, revelation, discovery (his favorite b/c like to hear
what people have to say)
Oral history: passing down stories for generations
21. Which kind of interaction would you expect to have on the website? what kind of level
engagement do you want to have?
Background information so ppl can connect them with ideas being discussed
22. What do you think of creating your own podcast and sharing it on Studs Turkel
website?
Creating own podcast sounds interesting
23. How can we best promote to college students?
Have interviews that catch ppls attention and advertise this heavily (Muhammad
Ali, Maya Angelou, etc.)
Hosting a live show will be effective
Record the live show so people can later listen to how the interview was
conducted and to what people asked during the show (*interaction)