Katie's Making a TikTok Every Day
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This newsletter goes out after noon, so rest assured, there shan’t be any tricks up our sleeves. Besides, in case you missed last week’s newsletter, I do have COVID, and COVID does not just disappear, so we appreciate you bearing with us.
Here’s what we’re reading this week:
I will certainly not be voicing any time soon, but here are some tips on how to make pickups sound like you actually got it right the first time.
A curious back-and-forth: Alban Brooke, head of marketing at Buzzsprout, tweets about a marketing strategy he learned about at Podcast Movement last year. NPR, he says, built a bot that would check if their shows were in Apple’s top charts, and if they had fallen out, it would turn on Facebook ads until the shows end up back in the top charts.
Sounds smart, right?
But Ashley Carman commented on what a few Vocal Fry producers had said internally: she was highly skeptical that a Facebook banner ad would actually generate new listeners. She then followed up with a comment from NPR:
NPR does not use automated marketing.
Were any of us at Podcast Movement? No. Are we able to independently verify any of this? Absolutely not. But will we continue to do the bare minimum by keeping our eyes on Twitter and/or hopefully a forthcoming article that explains this strange discrepancy? That we can do.
Carman also wrote about the Ambie Awards trying to legitimize podcast awards. There are so many podcast awards out there. Who will come out on top? Is there a way to get podcast award ceremonies to fight to the death? Maybe it’s a Netflix show, like Is It Cake? but for podcasts.
I watched all of Bridgerton season 2 this week. Here’s Alanis Morrisette singing with the orchestral version they use in the show.
Also, there’s a new Harry Styles song. An ode to the post-pandemic future? On first watch/listen it’s giving great gowns, beautiful gowns, but I’m still thrilled by the prospect of the full album coming later this month.
Lower Street, a podcast production company out of London, UK, is hiring a few remote-eligible roles, including an audio engineer, executive producer, producer, and production manager. You can even get in touch about a general inquiry if you think you’d like to work with them but don’t see your dream role advertised.
LinkedIn is hiring a news editor for Canada.
I’m willing to bet that if you write short sentences.
And space them out.
And leave room for a mic drop moment.
You’d land an interview.
And it just might change your life.
A very cool job for someone who maybe has more marketing agency experience than podcast experience — JAR Audio is hiring a project lead for a part-time role. It’s fully remote and has a salary range of $60,000-$70,000.
Spotify is hiring a permanent, remote associate fact checker for Parcast Studios.
CBC is hiring a permanent, full-time producer for The National. Apply by EOD April 5.
CBC is hiring a temporary, full-time associate producer for Island Morning in Charlottetown, PEI. Apply by EOD April 5.
CBC Ottawa is hiring a temporary, full-time evening reporter. Apply by EOD April 8.
CBC Music is hiring a full-time associate producer for classical music for a one-year contract position. Apply by EOD April 11.
CBC Radio is hiring a permanent, full-time executive producer for As It Happens. Apply by EOD April 12.
CBC Edmonton is hiring a permanent, full-time afternoon assignment producer. Apply by EOD April 14.
CBC Ottawa News at 6 is hiring a full-time, contract host for their supper hour program. Apply by EOD April 14.
The Globe and Mail is hiring a producer for its daily news podcast, The Decibel. I do a lot of work with this top-notch team as a freelancer, and will shout from the rooftops how wonderful they are to work with!
In non-podcast jobs, the Globe and Mail is also hiring a reporter for their Ottawa bureau for a 12-month contract.
Apologies for not actually linking to these internships last week. Here they are again, with links you can click on:
An internship that pays a living wage and comes with the opportunity for freelance or full-time work after? Yes please! Cossette is hiring interns for a 12-week creative advertising internship program for Black and/or Indigenous high school or post-secondary grads. It runs from June 8 to August 31 and pays $1,875 bi-weekly. They’re hiring five people in Toronto and one in Vancouver. Apply by April 8. FYI: we produce a podcast for Cossette!
I gasped when I saw that CBC Edmonton has a paid summer internship program — aside from the Joan Donaldson Scholarship, I thought all CBC internships were unpaid. But CBC Edmonton pays $18/hour! And in Edmonton, that is more or less a living wage! The program runs from June 6 to September 2 and you have until EOD April 8 to apply.
Pandemic University is hosting a panel on how freelance labour groups can help you navigate contracts, conflicts, and advocating for yourself. It’s presented with the Freelance Solidarity Project and the Canadian Freelance Guild, and will take place on Thursday, April 21 at 4 p.m. ET. Hosted by Omar Mouallem, the panel features Ann Friedman, Chris Randle, and Don Genova.
I was so excited to hear that my friend Nicole Edwards would be co-hosting a new podcast with Taylor Owen for TVO. Screen Time, which has four episodes out so far, is all about how children interact with technology, and how parents can help their kids navigate the digital world. You might be thinking: I don’t have kids, so why should I listen? Great question! I don’t have kids, either, but I do teach Grade 5 students once a week, and I’ve been blown away by how tech-literate they are. Especially when we were doing online classes, I had students show me entire websites they had coded themselves! What the heck!!! Anyway. This anecdote is kind of irrelevant, but the actual point is — we can look at how the youngest generation interacts with tech as a bit of a sneak peak for where the future of tech is headed. Screen Time is an accessible and enjoyable examination of how we interact with technology, and features delicate, thoughtful sound design, and very charming children. I am obviously biased, but Nicole’s warmth and curiosity as a person comes through in her hosting. Recommended for anyone who likes to keep their finger on the pulse of technology and/or child development.
Can podcasters use TikTok and Reels to promote podcasts?
It's a question we've been asking ourselves this week. We're doing a bit of an A/B test to see if we can hack the al gore rhythm — determining what kind of content works best, which hashtags perform well, investigating where the podcast community is hanging out on social— and we'll keep you posted on what we find in a future newsletter.
In the meantime, here's what we've been up to on Instagram Reels and TikTok.
This week on Building Good, David Oliver joins to talk about carbon offsets: do they really work?
We did a round up of podcasts to listen to while you’re sick at home. Because three of us are sick at home.
We want to hear from you! What are you looking for in your podcast news? Let us know on Twitter, Instagram, or by email at info@vocalfrystudios.com.
Thanks to Emily Latimer for editing this newsletter, and to Katie Jensen for designing it.
We’ll see you again on April 8. Until then, here’s an update from the beautiful cat who came to visit me while I was quarantining at my mother’s house.
