Making Your Own Podcasts: Resources to Get You Started


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With all the recent talk about pod­casts, you may have won­dered how you can cre­ate your own. How can you record and dis­trib­ute via pod­cast what­ev­er valauble things you have to say? We have recent­ly come across some help­ful mate­r­i­al that seemed worth high­light­ing for you.


Pod­cast Acad­e­my

At Boston Uni­ver­si­ty, Pod­cast Acad­e­my recent­ly held a two-day sem­i­nar, led by sea­soned tech­nol­o­gy vet­er­ans, that offered a very com­pre­hen­sive overview of the craft. The top­ics cov­ered here ranged from get­ting start­ed with record­ing, edit­ing and pub­lish­ing pod­casts; to devel­op­ing a per­son­al style; to work­ing with the right equip­ment; to know­ing how to get pod­casts list­ed in search engines and also mon­e­tize them. You can review and stream all of the pre­sen­ta­tions in video from this page. Plus you can also find here copies of the PDFs used in these talks. This is an excel­lent resource for start­ing out.

Apple’s Pod­cast Recipe
Giv­en that Apple helped more than any­one to give life to pod­cast­ing, it only makes sense that they would offer some primers. You can find here a three-part sem­i­nar cre­at­ed by Apple experts, who offer their wis­dom on how to cre­ate a great-sound­ing pod­cast, pro­duce a pro­fes­sion­al show, and then pro­mote it. These pre­sen­ta­tions are also avail­able in video, and they are free. How­ev­er, you do need to reg­is­ter with Apple before you can start watch­ing the pre­sen­ta­tions.

Nuts and Bolts Primers
The mate­ri­als above don’t real­ly walk you through the actu­al tech­ni­cal mechan­ics of cre­at­ing a pod­cast, so we have added here a few primers that will real­ly give you the real nuts and bolts.

If you close­ly review all of these mate­ri­als, you should soon be ready to devel­op your first pod­cast, cre­ate a pro­fes­sion­al sound, and bring it to lis­ten­ers who will ben­e­fit from what you have to say. If you know of any oth­er great resources that should be added to this col­lec­tion, feel free to let us know.

Ideas & Culture Podcasts

Ideas/Issues

  • Alan Watts Pod­cast iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Alan Watts helped inter­pret and pop­u­lar­ize Asian philosophies/religions for West­ern audi­ences. These pod­casts give you access to his archived talks/public lec­tures.
  • Big Ideas iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Big Ideas offers lec­tures on a vari­ety of thought-pro­vok­ing top­ics which range across pol­i­tics, cul­ture, eco­nom­ics, art his­to­ry, sci­ence. The pro­gram is pro­duced by TVO, Canada’s largest edu­ca­tion­al broad­cast­er.
  • Bill Moy­ers Jour­nal iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Vet­er­an jour­nal­ist Bill Moy­ers returns to PBS with Bill Moy­ers Jour­nal, a week­ly pro­gram that takes a deep look at a wide range of sub­jects, includ­ing pol­i­tics, arts and cul­ture, the media, the econ­o­my, and impor­tant issues fac­ing democ­ra­cy.
  • Bri­an Lehrer Show iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A sol­id pub­lic radio broad/podcast with excel­lent inter­views with many impor­tant thinkers. Comes out WNYC in NYC.
  • CBC: The Best of Ideas iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A Cana­di­an pro­gram that explores every­thing from cul­ture and the arts to sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy.
  • Com­mon Sense with Dan Car­lin iTunesFeedWeb Site
    • A blend of audio com­men­tary and news analy­sis by one of the lead­ing thinkers among today’s polit­i­cal­ly inde­pen­dent crowd. A fis­cal­ly con­ser­v­a­tive, social­ly lib­er­al approach to solv­ing prob­lems.
  • Com­mon­wealth Club Radio Pro­gram iTunes Feed Web Site
    • The old­est radio pro­gram in the coun­try — dat­ing back to 1924 — this week­ly pro­gram fea­tures some of the most promi­nent speak­ers in the coun­try.
  • Coun­cil on For­eign Rela­tions (Video) iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Coun­cil on For­eign Rela­tions (Audio) iTunes Feed Web Site
    • You can get inside this elite body and hear some of what the world’s lead­ing politi­cians and polit­i­cal thinkers have to say.
  • Deutsche Welle
    • Inspired Minds iTunes Feed Web Site
      • A col­lec­tion of por­traits on the world’s great thinkers.
  • Enti­tled Opin­ions (About Life and Lit­er­a­ture) iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Host­ed by Robert Har­ri­son, a Stan­ford pro­fes­sor, this pod­cast is a week­ly lit­er­ary talk show that ranges broad­ly on issues relat­ed to lit­er­a­ture, ideas, and lived expe­ri­ence.
  • FORA.tv Dai­ly FORA­cast
    • Audio: iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Video: iTunes Feed Web Site
      • In French, this pod­cast, led by the well known philoso­pher Alain Finkielkraut, fea­tures a pan­el dis­cus­sion on a dif­fer­ent cul­tur­al top­ic each week.France Cul­ture: RĂ©pliques iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Get Illu­mi­nat­ed iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Boing Boing’s edi­tors inter­view cre­ative peo­ple with­in fringe cul­ture.
  • Guardian Unlim­it­ed
    • Cul­ture on Guardian Unlim­it­ed iTunes Feed
    • Media on Guardian Unlim­it­ed iTunes Feed
  • Forum with Michael Kras­ny iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Com­ing out of San Fran­cis­co, this pub­lic radio broad/podcast fea­tures excel­lent inter­views with major cul­tur­al fig­ures.
  • In Our Time iTunes Feed Web Site
    • On this BBC pro­gram, the best minds explore the big issues that form the intel­lec­tu­al agen­da of our time.
  • Leonard Lopate Show iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Com­ing out of WNYC in New York City, this pub­lic radio pod­cast offers dai­ly inter­views with a diverse col­lec­tion of great thinkers and talk­ers.
  • Morn­ing Sto­ries iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Pre­sent­ed by WGBH in Boston, this pro­gram presents “unfor­get­table sto­ries by every­day peo­ple.”
  • My His­to­ry Can Beat Up Your Pol­i­tics iTunesFeedWeb Site
    • Exact­ly what it sounds like; it puts cur­rent polit­i­cal events in a his­tor­i­cal per­spec­tive and ana­lyzes the his­to­ry to allow us to under­stand our pol­i­tics.
  • New York Pub­lic Library iTunes Web Site
    • An exten­sive col­lec­tion of cul­tur­al media pro­duced by one of the world’s great libraries.
  • NPR: Intel­li­gence Squared iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Intel­li­gence Squared U.S. brings Oxford-style debat­ing to Amer­i­ca– one motion, one mod­er­a­tor, three pan­elists for the motion and three against. Past top­ics have includ­ed reli­gion in Amer­i­ca, Hamas, and Hol­ly­wood.
  • NPR: Fresh Air iTunes Feed Web Site
    • The NPR favorite with Ter­ry Gross.
  • NPR: Kop­pel on the News iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Like Night­line, but bet­ter.
  • NPR Shuf­fle iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A dai­ly sam­pling of dif­fer­ent NPR pro­gram­ming.
  • NPR Talk of the Nation Opin­ion Page iTunes Web Site
  • Open Source iTunes Feed Web Site
    • This dai­ly pro­gram, host­ed by Christo­pher Lydon, uses the inter­net and inter­ac­tive tech­nol­o­gy to talk about the world. One of our favorites.
  • Par­tial­ly Exam­ined Life - iTunes — Feed — Web Site
    • A phi­los­o­phy pod­cast by some guys who were at one point set on doing phi­los­o­phy for a liv­ing but then thought bet­ter of it.
  • PBS Pod­casts iTunes Feeds
    • This gen­er­al col­lec­tion gives you access to all PBS pod­casts.
  • Phi­los­o­phy Bites iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A British pod­cast fea­tur­ing inter­views of top philoso­phers and that delves into some essen­tial philo­soph­i­cal ques­tions — what is the mean­ing of life? what is the nature of real­i­ty? what is evil?, etc.
  • Philoso­phers’ Cafe Feed Web Site
    • Com­fort­able sur­round­ings for vibrant street lev­el dis­cus­sions on burn­ing issues of the day. No for­mal phi­los­o­phy train­ing required; real life expe­ri­ence desired. Come ear­ly, stay late. Pre­sent­ed by Simon Fras­er Uni­ver­si­ty.
  • Pub­lic Radio Pod­cast Cat­a­logue Web Site
    • This web site con­tains links to feeds for over 900 pub­lic radio pro­grams avail­able via pod­cast.
  • ResearchChan­nel iTunes — Web Site
    • Based out of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton, the Research Chan­nel aggre­gates con­tent from many uni­ver­si­ties and research insti­tu­tions.
  • Salon.com Con­ver­sa­tions iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Salon has a nice col­lec­tion of audio con­ver­sa­tions with fig­ures from the high­er ech­e­lons of the pop cul­ture world. David Lynch, Pedro Almod­ó­var, Amy Sedaris, the list goes on.
  • SALT — Sem­i­nars About Long Term Think­ing iTunes Feed Web Site
    • An award win­ning month­ly speak­ing series host­ed by Stew­art Brand and orga­nized by the Long Now Foun­da­tion, which hopes to pro­vide a coun­ter­point to today’s “faster/cheaper” mind set and pro­mote “slower/better” think­ing. The pod­casts fea­tures many well known thinkers.
  • Start the Week iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A BBC pro­duc­tion, Start The Week “sets the cul­tur­al agen­da for the week ahead, with high-pro­file guests dis­cussing the ideas behind their work in the fields of art, lit­er­a­ture, film, sci­ence, his­to­ry, soci­ety and pol­i­tics.”
  • TED Talks Video iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Talks from an annu­al con­fer­ence that brings togeth­er major thinkers and doers.
  • The Chron­i­cle of High­er Edu­ca­tion: Inter­views iTunes
  • The Econ­o­mist iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Audio con­tent from one of the high­er qual­i­ty jour­nals out there.
  • The New York Review of Books iTunes Feed Web Site
    • The pod­cast from the biweek­ly book review and jour­nal of intel­lec­tu­al cur­rents.
  • The New York Times Pod­casts (Main) iTunes Web Site (see web site for indi­vid­ual feeds)
    • A fair­ly large col­lec­tion of dai­ly and week­ly pod­casts from the major US dai­ly.
  • The New York Times — TimesTalks iTunes Feed
    • Con­ver­sa­tions with peo­ple of note as well as NYTimes jour­nal­ists and edi­tors.
  • The New York­er: Com­ment (iTunes — Feed)
    • A week­ly read­ing of the magazine’s well-known “Com­ment” essay.
  • The Sound of Young Amer­i­ca iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Inter­views with impor­tant fig­ures in the world of pop cul­ture, arts, lit­er­a­ture and com­e­dy. A high­ly-regard­ed pod­cast.
  • This Amer­i­can Life iTunes Feed Web Site
    • First-per­son sto­ries and short fic­tion from the award-win­ning show host­ed by Ira Glass.
  • To the Best of Our Knowl­edge iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Inter­views with nation­al­ly and inter­na­tion­al­ly-known guests with a pas­sion for ideas.
  • Yes­ter­day is Gone iTunes Feed Web Site
    • “Yes­ter­day Is Gone” is Charles Binder’s per­son­al per­spec­tive about pol­i­tics, art, sci­ence, health, the past, the present, and what will prob­a­bly happen…now that Yes­ter­day Is Gone.

Books & Writ­ing

  • Ama­zon Book Clips iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Lets you keep tabs on best­selling and up-and-com­ing authors.
  • Barnes & Noble: Meet the Writ­ers iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A wide range of writ­ers dis­cuss their favorite books, influ­ences, and the rea­sons they write.
  • C‑Span — After Words iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Inter­views with impor­tant authors of recent­ly pub­lished hard­back non-fic­tion.
  • Gar­ri­son Keil­lor’s The Writer’s Almanac iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Each day Keil­lor reads a short poem or two and recounts what hap­pened on this day in his­to­ry.
  • Gram­mar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Bet­ter Writ­ing iTunes Feed Web Site
    • I think the title says it all.
  • Guardian Unlim­it­ed — Books iTunes Feed Web Site
  • NPR Books iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A col­lec­tion of NPR author inter­views and book reviews.
  • NPR Sto­ry of the Day iTunes Feed Web Site
  • Poet­ry Foun­da­tion iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A dai­ly pod­cast fea­tur­ing high-qual­i­ty record­ings of poems, inter­views with poets, and poet­ry doc­u­men­taries.
  • Ran­dom House Pod­cast iTunes Web Site
    • Lets lis­ten­ers check out excerpts from new book releas­es.
  • Shake­speare-upon-iPod iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A series of 9 dis­cus­sions on, and read­ings from, Shake­speare.
  • Simon Says iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A week­ly pod­cast on the books and audio books from Simon & Schus­ter.
  • Slate Audio Book Club iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Crit­ics dis­cuss impor­tant and pop­u­lar books.
  • The New York Times Book Review iTunes Feed Web Site
    • This fledg­ling pod­cast fea­tures the edi­tor of the NYT Book Review speak­ing about new­ly reviewed books.
  • The New York­er: Fic­tion iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Each month, a New York­er fic­tion writer choos­es a sto­ry from the magazine’s archives for a New York­er Out Loud pod­cast.
  • The Poet­ic Voice iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Houghton Mif­flin presents a month­ly poet­ry pod­cast.
  • The Wash­ing­ton Post Book Review iTunes Feed Web Site
  • The Writer’s Block iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Aired on KQED in San Fran­cis­co, this week­ly read­ing series fea­tur­ing writ­ers and per­form­ers of all stripes read­ing the lat­est short fic­tion, non-fic­tion, the­ater and poet­ry.
  • Times Online Book Pod­casts iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Book pod­casts from anoth­er British dai­ly.
  • Word for Word iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Pre­sent­ed by Amer­i­can Pub­lic Media, this pod­cast reviews the best of the nation’s recent speech­es.
  • World Book Club iTunes Feed Web Site
    • World Book Club invites the globe’s great authors to dis­cuss their best known nov­el. This month­ly pro­gramme, pre­sent­ed by Har­ri­ett Gilbert, includes ques­tions by World Ser­vice lis­ten­ers.

Film

  • BBC: Mark Ker­mod­e’s Film Reviews iTunes Feed Web Site
    • From the BBC, this pod­cast takes a no-punch­es-pulled look at UK cin­e­ma.
  • The Treat­ment iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Film crit­ic Elvis Mitchell turns the tables and gives the “treat­ment” to some of the most influ­en­tial and inno­v­a­tive forces cre­at­ing movies and pop­u­lar art and enter­tain­ment.

Muse­ums

  • Art Insti­tute of Chica­go Muse­cast iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Expe­ri­ence the Art Insti­tute of Chicago’s muse­um through the words of artists, cura­tors, musi­cians, and edu­ca­tors.
  • Met­ro­pol­i­tain Muse­um of Art iTunes Feed Web Site
    • A sol­id col­lec­tion of pod­casts from Amer­i­ca’s finest art muse­um. Includes read­ing by well known actors.
  • MoMa iTunes Feed Web Site
    • The Muse­um of Mod­ern Art gives you pod­casts that let you hear artists and cura­tors dis­cuss mod­ern and con­tem­po­rary art.
  • MoMA Think Mod­ern Lec­tures iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Offers record­ings of artists, crit­ics, schol­ars and writ­ers shar­ing their knowl­edge of the muse­um’s art col­lec­tions as well as their views on comtem­po­rary art issues.
  • Nation­al Muse­ums Liv­er­pool Feed Web Site
  • Philadel­phia Muse­um of Art iTunes Web Site
    • The muse­um offers mul­ti­ple pod­casts. They’re all cen­tral­ized in iTunes, or you can find the indi­vid­ual rss feeds on the muse­um web site.
  • SFMOMA iTunes Site
    • A notably strong col­lec­tion of muse­um pod­casts.
  • Smith­son­ian Muse­ums
  • The Nation­al Gallery Pod­cast iTunes Feed Web Site
    • Pod­casts from the Nation­al Gallery art muse­um in Lon­don.

Sundry

  • Car Talk iTunes Feed Web Site
    • An NPR clas­sic.
  • The New York­er Car­toons iTunes Feed.
    • Catch ani­mat­ed ver­sions of The New York­er’s famous car­toons.

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Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.