Five more storytelling hacks to improve your podcast

Part 2 of my list of ten ways to tune up your show, right now.

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Photo by Kevin Ku on Unsplash.

Hi Storytellers —

In my last issue, I discussed the impossibility of defining excellence in podcasting, while (maddeningly, I’m sure) calling for us to reach for it anyway.

I offered five hacks for improving your podcast and promised another five in this issue.

If you haven’t yet read that issue, here are those first five. (You’ll need to return to “Five storytelling practices for improving your podcast today” for the explanations):

1. Learn suspenseful storytelling from sportswriters and athletes.

2. Use present tense, not past, to recount stories.

3. Bury your exposition the way you might bury vegetables in cheesy, delicious dishes for your toddler.

4. Kill an episode to save your show.

5. Understand your motivation and use it to keep you on track.

An interesting conversation ensued thanks to reader Andrea Morán, for whom #5 hit a nerve.

She commented, “With the teams I’ve worked with, we always ask ourselves a question related to point 5: Why you, and why now? It refers not only to motivation but also to justification — what can you bring with your voice, your sources, your research, and why is now the right time? It usually leads us to interesting answers!”

That was catnip. I asked her for the most interesting answer that’s come from her process.

“Realizing that perhaps the story has been told before but not from this exact time (and then you discover an interesting contrast between past and present),” she answered.

This made me realize that I think constantly about the element of time in my own writing and producing, but I’m rarely intentional about it.

I don’t call it out as a theme. Other than history podcasts, I rarely see anyone specifically using the construct of time as the central theme of podcast series.*

What a missed opportunity!

If your work revolves around the news, the past is more present and important than ever.

For memoirists, time is the foundation upon which most good storytelling is built.

Most narratives benefit from being told chronologically.

But where else might we consider the element of time in our work?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments:

In what way have you contrasted past and present in your work? If you teach, have you taught a lesson about this?

Please provide links so we can all read or listen.

*Several years ago, Ella Saltmarshe of the Long Time Project hosted an excellent limited series called The Long Time Academy.

Reader Andrea Morán is a narrative audio producer and university instructor in Madrid. She writes an excellent newsletter for podcasters called Punto de Escucha. I highly recommend subscribing.

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Try this in your studio

Here’s the second set of storytelling hacks that I promised. Try at least one today!

1. Introduce actual storytelling into your podcast, even if it’s a chat show.

Narrative podcasts are constructed scene by scene. But narrative producers can exercise control over an episode’s structure, language, and scoring. How do you incorporate storytelling into an interview podcast?

It’s all about helping your guests to “speak in story.”

I could — and should — write a whole column about this, but in the meantime, one tiny hack is to warm up your guests prior to the interview (with the recorder running, of course).

You may be familiar with the standard sound check question, “What did you have for breakfast?” It does nothing to relax your guest, nor does it give you any useful information.

Instead, ask “What was your first car?” Or first house or first job.

Most guests will respond with a funny or emotional story. Respond in kind and now you’ve modeled for your guest that you want and enjoy their stories.

You’ve also shared a relaxed, human moment — most likely, just what you’re looking for.

Of course, most advice comes with caveats.

After years of doing this to great effect, I encountered my first guest with whom it failed. Her first car, she said flatly, was a Toyota Camry. Two meager words escaped her mouth. That’s it. My hosts were flummoxed.

There are no guarantees in this business.

2. Solve your “angsty” startup problems.

This one’s for interview and chat show hosts. In my last issue, I mentioned that I’d received a call from a new podcast host seeking coaching. One of his problems, he said, is that the first several minutes of his conversations with guests are “an angsty start.”

Neither he nor his guest is comfortable until they’ve been talking for 30 minutes.

It’s hardly uncommon to flail at the beginning of an interview, especially when we’re nervous.

Here’s one hack that works for *some* hosts: Ask the same first question every time.

One of my favorites comes from On Being’s Krista Tippett, who for years has asked about the religious or spiritual background of her guest’s childhood. Anne Bogel, host of What Should I Read Next asks her guests to describe their “reading lives.”

Using this hack should help settle your nerves — no more casting about. (The questions above have the benefit of being what Charles Duhigg, in his bestselling book Supercommunicators, calls “deep questions” — questions that prompt people to share their values, beliefs or experiences.)

One caution: This controversial practice can quickly go astray. Do not ask all of the same questions every time. If you try this hack, make sure you’re asking a relevant, open-ended, “deep question.” The answers to both questions above also reveal something about your guest that they’re unlikely to have said elsewhere, always a plus.)

3. Make your central question or your promise to the listener clear at the outset.

Too many chat shows leave listeners and viewers in complete mystery by jumping into seemingly random conversations.

Newcomers are left guessing: What’s this show or this episode about? What will I get if I spend my valuable time with you? Who is this guest and why do they matter? What is the central question?

This is basic info that sounds obvious, but it’s a surprisingly common — and fatal — error.

4. Introduce conflict early.

Recently, I audited a multi-part radio show segment as part of a host coaching session.

The first segment was a feature story about a successful program that provides summer meals to students. The second segment, a full twelve minutes in, introduced the problem: Florida opts out of federal funding for another significant anti-hunger program.

Simply swapping the two segments, while preserving some of the feature’s hot tape for the lead, would make this package far more timely and relevant.

Always address the audience’s implied question, “Why does this matter now?”

Our stakes need to come early — and they need to be high enough for audiences to care.

5. Practice listening for great tape.

Train yourself by dissecting podcast episodes you like.

Jot down your favorite clips. Where has the creator placed them in the story?

Pay close attention to why you respond to them. They’re likely making you feel something, revealing something about a character, or surprising you with new information.

What work is this clip doing?

The more you practice your listening skills, the more quickly you’ll intuitively recognize great selects (good clips) during interviews and edits.

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Sound Judgment Kudos

In most issues, I give Sound Judgment Kudos to storytellers who are making sound judgments choices that improve our craft or serve others.

My first Sound Judgment Kudo goes to Jeremy Enns for publishing his third annual Podcast Marketing Trends 2025 Report. In 2023, Jeremy started surveying podcasters on how they were marketing their shows.

The point: to gather real-world data on which strategies are actually effective. The project has gotten bigger, deeper, and more useful every year since.

You’ll find growth-rate benchmarks, plus new information on video podcasting and — close to my heart — strategy and creative practices of the creators he surveyed. It’s free and ungated.

My second Sound Judgment Kudo goes to AIR, for opening up its New Voices in Public Radio program. This is a fantastic training opportunity if you have mid-level experience as a reporter, host, producer, or editor in public media newsrooms or podcasting.

Up to sixteen people will be chosen for this eight-week cohort, in which you’ll receive mentorship and guidance from public radio professionals.

It’s hands-on — you’ll workshop your own story pitch and have a chance to pitch to a panel of NPR and member station decision makers.

The program is open to anyone who works in or wants to work in public media. The application deadline is July 9, so don’t waste time!

My third Sound Judgment goes to Naomi Mellor, Event Director Jennie Becker, and the International Women’s Podcast Awards for another great awards show on June 17.

From the get-go, the IWPA has done things differently. Its entry fees are low and scholarships (what Mellor, a Brit, calls “bursary”) are widely available, overcoming an endemic industry problem — entry fees so high that independents often can’t afford to enter.

The IWPA’s categories are also untraditional. With categories like “Changing the World One Moment at a Time,” and “Moment of Comedy Gold,” they intend to honor shows for their creative impact. See the winners of this year’s IWPA here.

My own Sound Judgment

Last year, I served as a judge of the Signal Awards, another program that recognizes the best podcasts being made today. I enjoyed the experience so much that I signed up to do it again this year!

I’m particularly excited that the organization has added some new categories this year: Best Host categories in News and Politics, Culture, and Documentary, more opportunities for fiction podcast creators, and additional categories for video, thought leadership, and local news podcasters.

(Can you figure out which categories I’m most thrilled about?)

Today is the final deadline to enter. If you’ve been on the fence, enter now — it’s well worth the investment.

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What I’m loving lately

Yes, I know this is long. But I’m dying to see your recommendations for beautifully crafted podcasts and writing. So here are two of my recent favorites:

“Atop Stone Mountain on the Longest Day of the Year.” I first discovered writer Thomas Lake’s work when he worked for CNN. He recently moved to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, where he wrote this stunning essay about an ordinary event: viewing the sunset.

I can’t stop thinking about how simple (and unlikely to succeed in the hands of a less-skilled writer) this narrative seems, but how ingenious and beautiful it is.

The link above goes to Lake’s LinkedIn post, a photo of the article in the printed newspaper.

If you’re an Atlanta Journal Constitution subscriber, read it behind the paywall here.

Brian Reed’s Question Everything two-parter about an unprecedented raid on the editorial offices of a tiny midwestern newspaper, the Marion County Record in Kansas. Everyone who cares about freedom of the press should listen.

Plus, it’s quite a yarn from Reed, a longtime This American Life producer and host of Serial Productions’ S-Town.

What are you reading or listening to? Share in the comments!

As always, it is a joy to be with you.

Elaine

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Epilogue

“It was strange how time worked. How one night could seem to last forever, and how a lifetime could pass in the blink of an eye. The mountain was very old and had seen an incalculable number of sunsets and some astronomical multitude of people just passing through. Some of those people had left their mark.”

— “Atop Stone Mountain on the Longest Day of the Year,” Thomas Lake, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 21, 2025

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