If you’re a regular listener to the Shaping Opinion Podcast, you’ve noticed by now an unusual number of “Encore” episodes. We’re in the middle of a major show hiatus, but it’s not because we’re taking a break from the podcast.
We’re revisiting every aspect of the podcast and actively working to make a number of adjustments to it. I’ll explain in more detail once we return from this process. But for context, you need to know why we’re doing this.
Est. 2018
We started the Shaping Opinion podcast in March 2018 when podcasting was just hitting its stride as a popular new sensation. The big commercial companies had started to pay attention, but at that time, independent podcast producers like us dominated. There were well less than 500,000 podcasts in the world, and almost all of them were audio in nature.
In short, it wasn’t as hard then to make a dent as it is now. As a result, we experienced some immediate interest in what we were offering, and steady audience growth over the years. In the process, we released roughly 300 original episodes that have won us awards, attracted listeners from all over the world, but mostly in the U.S., and a few listeners who you might even consider celebrities.
My favorite feedback, though, has been from individual guests. Almost every guest has been glad he or she participated. Consistently, they have told me they enjoyed the interview experience. They have appreciated that we do our homework and don’t just ask the “typical” questions. It’s a conversation that they themselves have tended to see as a break from the grind of doing the same-old media interviews.
All Things to All People?
If you were to ask me, though, what was the focus of the Shaping Opinion podcast, my answer would have been much different in 2018 than it is now. Back then, I envisioned it being a true-crime type of podcast only focusing on big, historic PR events. I found out pretty quickly you can’t do a weekly podcast on that. So, we expanded our focus.
The tagline, which was fitting, was, “We talk about people, events and things that shape the way we think.” And we did, broadly speaking.
In the process, we found ourselves talking about such a range of topics week after week, that our audience would come and go by topic. If we interviewed NFL Hall of Famer Larry Czonka one week, we may have gotten thousands and thousands of new listeners who are football fans. But they went away the next week when we interviewed someone else who had nothing to do with sports.
This pattern has repeated itself throughout the life of the podcast.
Your Podcast Listening Habits are Changing
At the same time, the podcasting landscape has changed. Major commercial enterprises have entered the podcasting space and have dominated it while further growing it into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Along with that, they made the video format almost a requirement. Ironically, independent podcasts have continued to drive the industry’s growth as well. There are now well over one million podcasts available for free to the growing world of podcast listeners.
Those listeners have so many options, they seek clarity. They want to know where your podcast fits, what it offers. They no longer will experiment with new podcasts and give unknown, independent podcasts the time of day unless properly motivated. They (you) are deluged with listening options.
Today’s podcast listener, unlike the listener of 2018, wants to know up front where we fit in the larger mosaic of podcasts. They want clarity.
And that is where we started in the Fall of 2023 as we conducted an analysis of what the Shaping Opinion Podcast must be, and what it should be going forward.
We’re well along in this process now. I think in the end, you’ll be happy with the end result, but you will also be surprised at some of the changes we have planned. In the end, we’re going to be more forward-looking, more true to what you’d expect from a podcast called “Shaping Opinion,” and just as focused on interviewing interesting guests in deep-dive conversations on issues that matter to you now.
Something we’ve understood all along, but haven’t quite made our mission will be our mantra going forward. When you shape opinion, you shape the person. When you shape the person, you shape the world.
This newsletter itself is one way to reinforce our new focus and to stay close to you, our podcast family.