One of the great things about having
a podcast and with this more advanced technology nowadays is that you
have this low barrier to entry where it is so much easier to,
you know, grab yourself a mic, do it online in remote locations,
and do it together, you know, with a co-host. But to be frank,
you don't need one. If you want one, that's great, but you
really don't need one. You're listening to Podcast Insider,
hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett
from the Blueberry Team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks
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here at Blueberry Podcasting, welcome. Let's dive in. This is Todd Cochran, CEO o and
co-founder of Blueberry Podcasting. And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing
specialist here at Blueberry. This. Week we're going to be talking about
having a co-host for your podcast, something we're both very familiar
with after years of podcasting. Perfect example is this show, you know, we've been doing this on and
off in varying degrees, uh, with varying hosts for a very long time. But can you give me your, your perspective of the amount of
people that have co-hosts now compared to when podcasting was just starting? Oh, I think it was, you know, I think there was a pretty
even mix in the early days, but the challenge was really, you know, hugely technical to have a co-host
unless they were in the same room. We didn't have all these great tools
like Weeb now where we can be, you know, literally in different countries. Mm-hmm. . Producing a high quality show. So a lot of the co-host situations
were husbands and wives, or, you know, there were, uh, someone that lived
close to them in those early days, but as the tools have
improved, matter of fact, that's one of the reasons
why I was primarily a solo
show from the beginning was my geolocation being in Hawaii, and then not available to record
until late at night. So for me, uh, having co-hosts wasn't
even really an option. Uh, whereas a little bit
later on when we started, when I started this show with, uh,
Rob Greenley, you know, I would, uh, literally be 6:00 AM uh, Hawaii standard time to record
that episode with him as a co-host because of, you know, the
time zone challenges. So I think that, uh, you know, compared to now
and then it's definitely much, much easier to have a
co-host and maintain quality. Yeah, the, the technology has
really changed quite a bit, and also a lot of the
time with up a podcast, I just expect that there's
probably gonna be two or so people, or if it's an interview show, you know, there's gonna be the main host and
then whoever is going to be the guest. I, I find myself gravitating towards
shows with more than one person, um, just for that conversation flow, the
format, I just tend to enjoy it more. But in general, one of the great things about having
a podcast and with this more advanced technology nowadays is that you
have this low barrier to entry where it is so much easier to,
you know, grab yourself a mic, do it online in remote locations,
and do it together, you know, with a co-host. But to be frank,
you don't need one. If you want one, that's great, but you
really don't need one. And you know, I think
too, you know, if you, you're the originator of the show idea
and you're looking for a co-host and you gotta find someone that kind
of share the same experiences you wanna be, you know,
hopefully your friends, you know. So I think having co-host offers its, uh, own unique initial challenges to getting
started. And the biggest challenge, I think, really, I think the most
co-hosts that we find over time is really the schedule, finding a
schedule that you both can, uh, agree to for years that, you
know, that Saturday morning show, uh, the reason I was able to do it
is because it was so early in Hawaii. Then when I moved to Michigan, then all of a sudden I went from a
6:00 AM start to a 12 noon start, and it really threw a, a wrench in the monkey works
because it took up two, three hours of my Saturday midday, and
it just wasn't sustainable long term. So that's one of the reasons why
we made the change to the show, to record it when we do now. So I think navigating
all that is part of it, but I think also at the same
time, I think on many, many shows, people kind of divvy up duties. You know, maybe one person's a recorder
producer, maybe someone else does the, the show prep, the content
collaboration, that type of stuff. So you have more hands and
and eyes on the product. But I think also some shows are, you know, it's still like a solo show where one
person does most of the production work and the, the other guest just shows up, or the other co-host just shows
up and is there for the episode. Yeah, there's definitely
gotta be a conversation about
responsibilities there to delegate who's gonna be responsible
for what on a regular basis, and set your mental and
emotional expectations . We, yeah, we have personally seen it,
you know, as a podcast hosting provider. People come to us in the
middle of their drama and try to get things figured out, and we just kind of have to go with
the account settings. That's what, that's the only thing
we have to go off of. And there's been, you know, all kinds of things that have
happened where someone says, oh, I forgot my password, and you're
trying to reset it, and, you know, where they're actually trying to
hijack the account. So, uh, you know, we have some internal policies on, you
know, who gets the reset password and, and you know, that type of
thing. Uh, so I think it's, uh, something that you have to, again, you don't wanna be in a situation where
all of a sudden it's war and you know, you're in a fight for life to save
the show that is legally yours. Yeah. And you know, the podcast content can go so
much farther nowadays where people have social media accounts
associated to this, you know, imagery, a lot of the time people will be viewing
video whether or not they have an actual, like, video show, or they're just using that for
TikTok or Instagram or something. But there's a lot that goes into it, and
it can be a lot of fun, but, you know, just decide who wants to
be in charge. . Mm-hmm. , that's the
key. And I, you know, I think it, uh, can be very rewarding for
those that are, you know, has a dynamic co-host. And,
you know, sometimes, uh, I think if you think about some of
the best TV that I've ever seen, it's where you have two individuals
that have diametrical opposing views, but yet are just
absolutely fantastic on the air. And I think if you find that duo,
uh, depending on the type of content, you know, because, you
know, let's be honest, if you're gonna be doing a sports show, do you both wanna be the fan
of the same team? ? I mean, yeah, you can, that's the thing.
You can be a fan of the same team, but you can't have the exact same opinion. You can't just be barking at each
other. The, you know, in agreement. No one wants to hear that . So I think that, uh, varied conversations, opinions are always good in picking a
co-host. And, you know, even Rob and I, we, we sometimes we agree
to disagree on things, and I have my view and he has his
view, and we, you know, we kind of, uh, we kind of put it out there. Same
with this team, you know, we, uh, we have our own opinions
and ideas and, um, and each of those are valid.
And I think that it's good to, to have those types of, uh, inputs
because it just makes the content richer. Some of your favorite shows that
people feel engaged and feel like they're part of this community
is because of the fun banter and relationship that the hosts have
with one another. You know, they, they feel like it's their
little online family, and you can't always, you
know, just hope for the best. You have to make sure that you're
setting yourself up for success there. And a lot of the time you just
have to, you know, have that, that natural chemistry with someone.
If this is not your actual job, if you're not getting paid to smile
and say that you're, you know, doing this with your colleague,
whether you like it or not, you know, that happens. But for the
most part, with the podcast, I don't think you're gonna be
doing this if you don't want to. It's so easy to start on your
own and do outside of, you know, any major production that
we want you to be passionate and having fun with it. So a lot of
the time that's able to shine through. And, you know, I, I like my solo show, but it's also designed to be a
solo show, my co-hosted show. I like it because it's designed
to be a co-hosted show with a, with an occasional guest. One
thing too that I will mention is, is some of the most downloaded
episodes are highly, you know, the have the highest download
numbers is not when we have a guest. It's when just the two co-hosts
banter between their each other. Um, so I think that if you're gonna
do a, a podcast where you're, there's just two of you and you're
occasionally bringing in a guest, um, you might end up being very surprised
that really the audience comes to hear you and that maybe not necessarily your
guest unless they're like a, a superstar. Hey, that's a very good
point. It's, you know, they're really there for
you a lot of the time. It's fun to see that in the stats . It's one of those situations where, you
know, we have a guest town and think, oh, this is gonna be greatly
followed. And, you know, you kinda look at the numbers
next week, Andre like, well, that wasn't so interesting. Mm-hmm. . But again, you know, each show is
different and the dynamic's different, and the content's different. So, uh, you
know, you're mileage of area, I think. Yeah. And when I started doing
the Power Press podcast years ago, it was me, and then I
would get a guest and I, I, I enjoy this on, um, on a
different level of, you know, knowing what's gonna be happening and
that I'm gonna have a good conversation. Because when you have a guest,
depending on how well you know them, if you have any background history, you
know, it could, it can kind of go off, off in a different direction,
then you might have expected. And that is in a good way and
a bad way, but it just, um, this feels more reliable in the way that we're getting content out. Not that
I didn't enjoy doing that before, but I feel like I have a
better understanding of,
you know, the schedule, the, the feel, the tone of the show, um, as opposed to new people coming
in every week. And I think that's, I definitely see that as a benefit. Well, I, I think we've covered the pros and cons
of having a co-host and the advantages of, uh, you know, of, you
know, all options. I think. I think so. So how's your show doing with your
co-host? That's what we wanna know. What's happening with yours?
What's, what's been something weird, what's been a negative,
what's been a positive? If you've had any feedback for us,
definitely drop us an email and, uh, and provide us feedback on how it's
worked out with you having a co-host, or the reason not to have a co-host. Thanks for joining us. Come back
next week and in the meantime, head to podcast insider.com for
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