TL;DR: looking for tips and honest feedback on my idea for starting a podcast.
Hi all,
I’d really like to have a go at doing a podcast, partly out of curiosity and interest in it, having never done one before, and also because podcasts are something I really enjoy listening to and they’re quite popular generally.
I’m really interested in French (I used to have a blog on French language and culture and present a local radio show), and am thinking about doing a podcast on French culture.
One of the reasons I’m leaning much more towards a podcast than a blog is because I think a podcast is much more versatile than a blog (can do a lot more in each episode in terms of features, guests etc) than in a blog post, and the costs of running a podcast compared to a website for hosting a blog are arguably lower.
I haven’t quite fully developed my ideas for what to include on the podcast or how it’ll work so I just wanted to ask here for some input.
My thoughts are releasing a monthly hour-long/90 minute-long podcast (which would give me time to produce what I hope would be a high quality episode), rather than doing, say, weekly ones.
In terms of features, I’ve been thinking of doing something along these lines (very open to adapting these features and, if the podcast ever gets up and running, adding new ones or chopping and changing):
- A book review of a recent French book I’ve read: summary, why I recommend it, where you could buy/read it
- French vocabulary feature: Word of the month (I’d pick a new word/expression, say it in French, translate it into English and explain what it means, where it came from and how to use it)
- French news feature: a summary of the latest big news stories from France and/or French-speaking countries, potentially as part of a discussion with a friend who works as an academic in French culture and also very interested in French culture
- Music feature: reviewing a French music group or singer (either contemporary or from a different decade). The main issue I can see with this is copyright - I don’t think I’d be able to play any music on the podcast - and so I’d have to talk about the singer/group and song and wouldn’t be able to use their music, which seems a shame. I really like the idea of this feature, but don’t know how realistic it would be.
The ‘USP’ of the podcast would be its focus on French language and culture, as the French—related podcasts I’ve seen are purely language-based. However, I’m not unsure whether this makes it too niche?
My aim eventually would be to have guests (native French speakers and non-native French speakers) on the podcast and have a feature where I’d interview them - in English - about their interest in France and French culture.
I’ve thought about this now for a couple of months, but am really new to podcasts and have only been involved in them as a listener and fan rather than a podcast-producer. My main worry is my idea is too niche or boring and/or this is an unrealistic idea. What are your thoughts? Please be as honest as you like - this might seem like a very shaky idea! It’s very early days but I’d love it to eventually work out and would love some input/help.