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A couple of months ago, I was looking for guests our podcast and I asked a colleague of mine, Mike Pegg, if he knew any great podcasters.
“Yes,” he said. “One one of them works in my team! Talk to Angela!”
That’s how I learned about Angela Yu’s and her cousin Annie’s podcast Hearts in Taiwan. I never had much interest in deep topics about Taiwan, so I decided to listen to an episode or two first before inviting A&A to our show.
And boy did I get hooked on their podcast!
On the show, Angela and Annie talk about what it’s like to be Taiwanese, Chinese and Asian American. Even though I don’t identify with any of those, their episodes resonated with me on some deeper level. I think it’s the rawness and vulnerability that Angela and Annie allow themselves in their podcast that really hooked me onto it.
I shared the podcast with Arnab and he had exact same reaction. So we invited Annie and Angela to sit down with us for a conversation about running a podcast that touches some sensitive topics, such as identity and race. It was an interesting discussion where I was walking a fine line asking questions that could get me cancelled on all platforms.
It turned out great.
In this episode we also tried out our Czech Police approach to help us stay on track and it worked out just fine. So we’re doing the Czech Police thing in all our episodes from now on.
Takeaways
Content
You have to be honest about your journey. If you’re not fully open with yourself and the audience, then what are you doing this for? (Listen to the segment on telling personal stories and being vulnerable).
Be brave. Don’t let fear silence the conversation by treating touchy topics with due sensitivity.
Aspire to model other podcasts in the beginning. You’ll get more original over time by mixing and matching best things you heard on other shows.
Growth
Giveaways help build an engaged audience. Giveaways, like books and merch, encourage your listeners to reach out to you and share your podcast with their networks.
Giveaways also help drive reviews if you ask a review to be an entry ticket to participate in a giveaway. It’s hard to imagine anyone sending you a screenshot of a less-than-a-5-star review!
Social media helps growth. Engagement with your posts and account on Instagram helps people discover your podcast.
Regular schedule is a best practice for growth but don’t kill yourself if you can’t make it happen. Releasing something is always better than burning out and stopping to podcast altogether.
Process
Retrospectives help improve your podcast. Arnab and I do a bi-weekly retrospective where we look at how we did in the previous recording. This helps us grow as hosts and producers. And we also make content out of those in the form of metasodes!
Meta-advice
Working with family on a podcast can improve relationships. Annie and Angela are cousins. They said that the podcast improved their connection with each other and with their parents. Awww.
Where to find Hearts in Taiwan
Hearts in Taiwan — podcast website
Instagram @heartsintaiwan
Facebook: heartsintaiwan
Show notes
Gear
Audio-Technica AT2020 — Angela’s mic.
Blue Yeti — a great starter mic for podcasters. In this recording it’s used by Annie and Arnab.
Software
Riverside.fm — a tool for recording audio and video podcasts.
SquadCast.fm — a tool for recording audio and video podcasts.
Zencastr — another recording tool similar to SquadCast and Riverside.
Audacity — a free digital audio workstation suitable for beginners.
Descript — a tool that can help you edit audio similar to editing text in a word processor.
Podcastpage — podcast website creation service.
Buzzsprout — a podcast hosting service.
Affinity Designer — a Photoshop equivalent (but much cheaper!)
Adobe Premiere — one of the best video editing tools.
iMovie — basic free video editor from Apple.
Podcasts
Hearts in Taiwan episode mentions:
Random mentions
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Get in touch
We’d love to hear from you! Arnab is a Twitter guy and I’m on Instagram. Use the method that works best for you!
Email: hello@metacastpodcast.com (both of us get it)
Arnab’s Twitter: @or9ob
Ilya’s Instagram: @podcasthacks
You can also leave comments on this substack post. Don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already!
Bye for now.