► Tell us about you and your podcast
My name is Daryl Ducharme and I call myself an entertainer by nature and a programmer by trade. I host 2 podcasts. One I've been doing for 3 and a half years is called the Seattle After Party. It's about the artists, entertainers and other creative people who make the Seattle area great. The other is The Spoilers : Wayne & Daryl which is a show I do with fellow local improviser Wayne Pishue. We discuss the movies, tv shows and pop culture that excites us. Never do we worry about spoilers (though we don't spoil much).
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
I started The Seattle After Party after I read Kevin Smith's book Tough Sh*t. He talked a bunch about podcasting. I had tried other methods of media in the past, blogging, YouTube, etc. but nothing stuck. I had the idea to start the Seattle After Party as a way to promote my improv theater CSz Seattle. In just a few episodes it grew to more than that. We added guests. However, I might not have gotten it off the ground if it hadn't been for the theater owner pushing me to start. I wanted to do it perfect but wasn't making much progress. It was probably 2 or 3 months before we finally just did an episode.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
As far as money goes, this is where my hobby funds go. It's also where my hobby time goes as well. Other people might have extra time and money that goes to whatever hobbies they have, games, cars, sports, whatever, I'm a podcaster. I make a few bucks from supporters via Patreon, but I think it only pays for the domain names. Because of this, I'm a bit of a one man show. I produce, I schedule, I edit, I promote (sort-of), I photograph and I host both of my podcasts. My degree is in audio production so editing comes easier to me than others but I still don't put in the time it requires to be as good as I'd like. I'd love to get to a point where I can pay some people to help me out. I value people's time too much to constantly ask them to work for free.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
As I mentioned earlier, I'm not making much money on this. But I do this because I need to be an entertainer. This is my way of doing it and being in control of my own destiny. Also, I get a little something from each of my podcasts. The Seattle After Party allows me to stay connected to the Seattle entertainment scene. I love this city and I love being in the midst of this community. The Spoilers : Wayne & Daryl is a great excuse to watch movies again. I watched quite a few movies growing up. Now I have a "reason" to do that again.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
Both shows are about scheduling. For the Seattle After Party I have to reach out to people and ask them to be on the show. This can take lots of time to get a person or group scheduled, but most people like to talk about their art so I haven't run into much trouble there. I figure out who to ask via previous guests and just looking around (both online and in the real world) for new voices of Seattle arts. These interviews sometimes get recorded in person or online via Google Hangouts.
The Spoilers : Wayne & Daryl gets scheduled and we plan around movie and TV show schedules. We have a pretty good idea of what we are going to talk about each show. We record each episode over Google Hangouts. Though we did just have our first episode in front of a live audience of 8 people :D
I usually edit both shows on a different night of the week than when they are recorded. My procrastination and busy schedule leads this to often be the night before it is due. Once I interviewed a pair of porn stars who are now comedians and were in town for a show the next day. I tried to edit the same night so that they could use it as part of their advertising. I fell asleep at the computer. When I woke up I decided to just slap the explicit "E" on the episode and get back to sleep as soon as it was up.
► How do you market your show?
Most marketing is done through social media. I'm really happy with the #PodernFamily and #PodGenie hashtags. A community of podcasters working together to spread the good word. A little like Listen Notes in some ways, now that I think about it.
I do my best to welcome every new follower. Luckily (but actually unfortunately), I don't have many followers so it isn't too much work.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
First, just do it. Get started as fast as possible. Waiting does not help. You can always not publish episodes that you don't like until you figure out your format. Get started. Have technical difficulties. Learn from them. Find your voice. That takes time. You'll never be Chris Hardwick without hours of mic time.
Second, unless you have the time and money it's okay to have a show less than once a week. Just keep it regular. I lose more growth when I stop having shows on a normal schedule. Burnout from trying to have weekly episodes of a scheduling & planning heavy show has created most of these "breaks."
Third, make the show you want to make instead of the show you think you should make. Podcasting has such a low barrier to entry and it is still the wild west. There's no telling what the next big thing in podcasting will be.
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
Seattle After Party:
The Spoilers: Wayne & Daryl