Great History made Locally

HistBites is the brainchild of Nicky Gottlieb and Becky Brown, volunteer directors for Winchester Heritage Open Days. They do appear on the occasional podcast, but mostly our hosts are fellow volunteers drawn from the local community and University. We all share a passion for heritage and history!

Our podcast offers everyone who visits, lives, works and studies in Hampshire the opportunity to discover some of the county's best, and occasionally unknown heritage and history. In every episode we talk to experts and enthusiasts, inviting them to share known history, hidden heritage and fascinating untold tales.
 

In 2020 the founders of Winchester Heritage Open Days wanted a way to offer everyone the opportunity to delve into the past year round, and decided that podcasting was the way to go!

With the help of a team of volunteers, drawn from the local community we spent the first three months learning how to podcast and recording our first season. Our very first episode was released four months after our first meeting, and that episode remains to this day a favourite for listeners as it tells the story of how Hampshire HistBites came about.

From a core team of just 4 volunteers there are now 10 to 16 volunteers working on the podcasts every season. Some of our students have since graduated and got jobs, but they are still helping us when we can. Podcasting can become addictive especially when like us you have so many fascinating stories to discover and share!
 

We have 4 seasons per year, and each season has between 10 to 12 episodes. They are released weekly, although during the Heritage Open Days festival we also have bonus episodes. There are short breaks of up to 4 weeks between seasons and we try to use that time to catch up on recordings and editing.

Everyone who works behinds the scenes is a volunteer with a dedicated role, and they commit anything from a couple of hours per week to 3 days. They are all amazing, and this podcast wouldn't happen without them or all of our fabulous guests.

Costs which are unavoidable such a BuzzzSprout and Descript subscriptions are currently met by our charitable Trust - Hampshire History Trust, but we are hoping to find long term sponsorship.
 

We'd love to have to season sponsors or a year round sponsor for Hampshire HistBites. Not only are our downloads above average for every episode, but some episodes are in the top 10% for downloads and they are also broadcast on Winchester Radio, an award winning community radio station.

Our podcasting volunteers have developed friendships and new skills, and for the younger volunteers it has certainly given them a great addition to their CVs. We are also though having so much fun podcasting, and we have learnt so much about Hampshire.

The production of HistBites has created a community in its own right as well as being an incredible resource for the wider community.
 

We mostly use Zoom for the interviews because our podcast began in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, but we hope to return to in person interviews soon. At which point we will be purchasing recording hardware.

Each episode is a real team effort with different volunteers taking on the different tasks from research and interviewing, to editing using Descript, to QA checks, to creating transcripts, show notes and social media. The team meets fortnightly to track progress on production, and to plan for future seasons.
 

Our show is available across all podcasting platforms. Most of our listeners tune in via the BuzzSprout embed player on our website and in our social media, but Apple and Spotify are also favourite apps.

We market across Twitter and Instagram, and also use Facebook. Some episodes come with a wealth of photographs which are fabulous for promoting, and others we use audio teasers and image quotes.

Telling friends and using blogs is also a great way to get the message out, and we encourage our guests to promote on their social media too.
 

We originally began with the grand idea of releasing an episode every week but then we realised after a hectic first season we need downtime hence now the 4 seasons per year. So our advice is think carefully about how much time is involved, and don't over reach. Breaks are great and you may even want to publish less frequently.

We have guidance, recording and participation agreements for all of our guests, and produce transcripts and show notes for every episode. We also keep a checklist for every element of a podcast that is available online for the team so they can track progress, and every podcast has a coordinator as well as host. Every new volunteer that joins the team is given an 'Essential Accessories' guide which sets out our podcast production process.

BuzzSprout, Descript and Heritage Digital all produce great videos and blogs on podcasting, and we will take time out to constantly review and learn.
 

Our Amazing Team - https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/team-page
Instagram @HistBites
Podcast HQ - https://histbites.buzzsprout.com/
The Blog - https://www.winchesterheritageopendays.org/hampshire-histbites-episodes
Twitter @HistBites