► Tell us about you and your podcast
My name is Carly and I host a podcast with my best friend Christy. We are two twenty somethings who met a few years ago during a volunteer program in Chicago, and then fell in love with couchsurfing and homesharing on our solo travel adventures. We decided to start a podcast called Surf Memphis, where we bring on past and current strangers staying with us through couchsurfing. We talk about travel, homesharing cultural differences, and how they feel about our city as we show them around.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I love podcasts as a means of hearing human stories and realized that we had a ton of interesting people with great stories staying with us. We host people from all over the world, and show them our city and have some super intimate and fascinating conversations. So, we had the idea to share some of this intimate connection in podcast form! We began in January 2018 and have recorded six episodes so far. It took a few weeks to release our very first episode.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
We try and release biweekly. We both work with clients with developmental disabilities and have pretty flexible schedules. We work around our work life, and find time to record when guests are in town and say yes to recording with us. It is all funded by the two cohosts. We are interested in setting up a patreon page in the future.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
We don't have any sponsors yet, but would love to build those relationships. It's been a great journey so far, helping us improve our interpersonal and interview skills. We hope it leads to more career benefits in the future!
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We interview guests in person, and record at a local studio in Memphis. We write down general conversation topics and questions before each episode, but let the discussions with our guests go where they may. Our guests are people who are staying in our home through couchsurfing, so they are pretty easy to find!
► How do you market your show?
We use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. Instagram seems to be the most useful! We are on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
I would say just keep putting out content and the audience will grow. I love the podcasting community on both twitter and Reddit, they have been incredibly helpful and supportive. And keep listening and supporting indie podcasts! We are on all social media @surfmemphispod