A deep dive into science, education, engineering, math, medicine and other topics at a level anyone can understand.

I have been podcasting since 2004. I have hosted 8 podcasts, produced another 2, guested on half a dozen, and now consult on 3 more. I love podcasting. I love everything about it, but mostly how it can give a voice to anyone to share what they love with the world.

Professionally I have a B.S. in Applied Physics, and nearing an M.S. in Space Engineering. I've spent the last decade working as a Range Systems Engineer at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, where I develop hardware solutions to handle video, communications, telemetry, command and control and radar systems between test vehicles and the control room.

My Science background and profession have given me great insight for hosting a science based show as well as a lot of technical knowledge for the behind the scenes work. I absolutely love science communication, and enjoy using my platform to teach people about subjects they may not fully understand, or for some reason feel like they can't understand because it's too complex. Nothing is too complex, you just have to have the right explanation, and I strive to be that for as many people as possible.
 

I podcast because I love it. I tell people I have been podcasting since 2004, but at the time, I had no idea what I was doing or what it was called. I did a one hour "radio show" I called it at the time that was live streamed on an old platform called SetNine, and was also available for download at a website a ran. It was horrible, and I am glad there is no evidence of its existence today, but I learned a lot from it. There were a lot of other shows along the way that lead to A Dash of Science, and every one of them has taught me a great deal which I feel like has lead to this being a great show. Most importantly though it takes something I already love doing and gives it a platform, a format and an audience.

This podcast started initially in 2017, but it has faced two hiatuses, a short term one of a few months and a long one of about 2 years, which just ended recently. It took maybe 2 months to launch my first episode, but my show is highly dependent on guests, which can take a lot of time to plan and work with.
 

Funding is easy. You do not need expensive equipment or paid services to podcast. There are literally people that podcast with their phones. Don't get me wrong, it's not the best quality, but there is a very low entry barrier to podcasting especially now days with the number of free services available. I started with a $50 mic and a $30 audio interface using Audacity, and built up from there.

I started off releasing an episode once a week, and while I love to do that, it just doesn't work with my schedule currently, so now I do a monthly show. Finding time to podcast with your day job is hard enough, but add in schooling, kids, a partner and other obligations, it can be difficult. The key is setting aside the time you need, and treating it like you do your day job. Anything you don't let take you away from your day job, don't let take you away from your dedicated podcasting time.

I'd like to say I spend nothing on my podcast, but I guess that isn't exactly true. I pay $120 a year for hosting, which allows me to create and host as many sites as I want. I would do this even if I didn't have a podcast so that is why I don't really count it towards the cost.

Otherwise, I host myself. I edit myself with free software, I market myself through other podcasts, and free speaking events. You do not have to spend money to do well, to grow or be successful, you just might have to spend money if you want to do it fast.
 

Podcasting for me is about communicating science. It is something I love. You have to find a reason to podcast that is internal. If you only have external factors motivating you, when those things are gone or fail, so too does your motivation. My revenue has varried over the years. I think the most I ever made in a single month was about $750, and often times I make 0, but that is because I don't care about monetization. When I was younger and didn't have a good job, I used direct donations to fund the little cost I had in podcasting. Now I don't need to make money at this, I have a good paying day job that pays for this and many other hobbies. When I DO look for hobbies I have the flexibility to go to people I already have a relationship with, goods I use and like and think my listeners will like too. I cold email companies of products I like. I say hey, look, I love your products and I want to help you sell them. What can we do? Sometimes they do direct ads, and sometimes they do affiliate links/codes. Either are ok for me. The thing is, I really think you have to back items you sell. You should use them and believe in them. Your listeners trust you, so don't betray that trust.
 

Currently I have a combination of Mic's I use depending on what is going on. I have Blue Blackout Spark SL XLR Mic, a Blue Spark XLR Miv, two Blue en-Core 100's and an ATX 2020 XLR. I use a PreSonus FireStudio Moble Audio Interface, and use both PreSonus Studio One as well as Audacity depending on the complexity of my mix for a particular episode. I still host myself on my own site, using WordPress and a podcasting plugin called Seriously Simple Podcasting which has only gotten better over time. I Like having complete control over my content.

Working with guests can be hard and frustrating. I actively contact people from academia, scientists, and proffesionals in select fields. Sometimes I look for experts in a field I want to talk about, sometimes I have friends who are also scientists in other fields. But what I also do a lot of is read articles in STEM related magazines, which will usually talk about someone related to some topic and is an expert on that subject so I will reach out to them. I have fantastic response rates to cold emailing people, but part of that is because these people WANT to talk about what they are doing. Ask a scientist about their research and be prepared to spend a few hours listening!

I'd love to be able to interview my guests in person, but unfortunately it's rarely easy to do. So mostly I do remote. I have used probably everything there is out there. Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, zencastr. Honestly it is all about doing whatever works best for your guest. My preferred method has actually been to invite them to my Podcast's Discord Server, and utilize that along with OBS studio . But I remember a long time ago, before a lot of these things were around, in order to record remotely you had to each record on your end and then one person would sent their audio file to the other who would then have to match up the audio. That is how we did it for a very long time. We are spoiled with technology today!
 

I market my show by putting content out on social media. You HAVE to be everywhere. In fact, if I was going to pay ONE person to do something with my podcast, it would be to manage my social media presence. It is THAT important. Successful podcasts usually have one major thing in common. They don't just focus on their show, they focus on EVERYTHING. They build an entire community. I also try and do sticker giveaways at conventions. I went to TwitchCon in 2017, which was the first year they started having podcasts presenting things, and I just handed out show swag EVERYWHERE. I probably increased listeners by 10% that weekend. I did the same thing at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) in 2019. They just started dedicating some booths to podcasters that year too, and same thing. I handed out swag everywhere and shook hands. These conventions can be costly, and honestly a lot of podcast ones out there ( I won't name them) I feel like are pretty preditory and scammy, but we are getting better as a community.
 

You have to find a way to get your dopamine fix from some internal validation metric. If you only look for external sources like how many listeners you have, or how many emails you get from fans, you are going to lose your motivation fast. At the same time you need external motivational sources too. When you don't it is too easy to convince yourself it's ok to not do things you know you need to do. This is how podfade starts. We don't want that. We want podcasts to be successful! So that's my mantra for everyone to repeat. Internal Validation, External Modivation.
 

Honestly I am all over the internet. If you want to learn about me professionally you can check out my LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-birkinbine-3248a03/. For just podcast stuff you can check out my creator page at https://www.podchaser.com/creators/christopher-birkinbine-107tM3cmzo, lastly if you are just more interested in learning more about me personally, than my personal site is cbirkinbine.info If you want to chat with me directly, probably easiest to do so on Twitter at @physicistChris