How to pitch a podcast in a pandemic

​

​

Has the senior audio class of 2021 we were tasked with developing an idea for a pitch for a podcast, designed to form part of the long-term media offerings of the School of JMS. So in order for us to fully prepare and get to know what an podcast is, what it sounds, what should be put inside, who can be the host, as the class we came with the idea of producing” How to pitch a podcast in a pandemic” which would act as back story to RJR (Rhodes Journal Review) which is a was the school of JMS review magazine. To which was aimed at heightening the contribution of journalist in democracy and development. The Review takes a strongly interventionist stance, setting agendas and promoting debates on critical media issues for journalists. So HTPPP (How to Pitch a Podcast in Pandemic) acts as a behind the scenes of what a podcast is and what goes in the production of a podcast. So as the audio arch class we were tasked with doing relevant research on African podcasting, conducting interviews, producing pilot episodes, and capturing the birth of a podcast as it unfolds week by week.

​

However, for many of us the idea was not clear at first has you could hear from the confusion in the first episode of HTPPP mostly because of the fact that for many of us we did not understand what a behind the podcast episode was. So, the lectures introduced us to Alex Blumberg podcast startup which followed Alex trials and tribulations of starting this podcast network. That gave us a little idea of what we must do for the first episode. Secondly what were tasked to go on a search for African storytelling, which we conduct interview with people and also gave feedback on podcast in Africa that we listened to. The deadline for the submissions of the recorded material was on every Wednesday evening. When creating something new like this sort of a podcast we never limited our project among each other as in decision we took involved people commenting on the idea, even coming out with the name for the Africa Media Review was done through multiple talks with people and also among each other. So, we never limited our project to just us. However, we did encounter some problems with regards to time management, as everything seemed to be happening fast and we had to submit on Wednesday. That was a problem to some, as they would submit late especially the last days of the podcast series. There was also a problem with setting up the interviews, and in the beginning, we were helped a lot with setting up the interviews, however in closing stages we had to do get in contact with them ourselves, setup time with and even search for them as me and Zisanda had to do with finding our potential interviews. However, we all managed and has Jeanne kept on reminding us that this is our project so we should take leadership in, as some of us were shy speaking in public. So whenever the editors of each episode were going to produce an episode they would take charge in chairing the meeting and informing the group about their progress with the episodes. So that was sometimes difficult.

​

My contribution to the group was firstly me and Noxolo Mnyathi we responsible for collecting, producing and co-hosting the first episode of our podcast series. I also conducted an interview with Jayne Morgan a podcaster and enabler for the second episode where the main topic was in search of African story telling. I also contributed in the submission for each episodes as we were expected to give feedback and our opinion on African podcast that were supposed to listen to found to be interesting.  We also did an interview whereby I focus was on the coverage of the 2021 local elections and were me and Zisanda were tasked, to conduct interviews with media editors and journalist, and get their opinion and comment. I also co-host the first pilot episodes of the Africa media review (AMR) with Sibusisiwe Kumbaca. In addition to promoting the website me and Noxolo we tasked to creating the Audiogram for the podcast. 

​

For us to fully understand what AMR was going to be about, we had to get familiar with RJR publication.  So, in producing and polling together content, the 3rd episode of HTPP was crucial, has we had to fully be aware of what RJR was, their design, what they were aiming to do, how they pursued story and how they do what they do. The review when it was still around consisted of professional editors, practitioners in the field and in media, academics, and researchers, and one could argue that was the criteria that was chosen for us in doing the stories that we were tasked to do. So, in our pitch we had to keep in mind that the anchor should be a professional preferable one of the editors of RJR or someone who is familiar with the magazine. The stories had to be of relevance and also be topic that bring into light and that will facilitate debates in Society. In our pitch each person from our group was tasked with presenting the interview they did and provide feedback on what they took from the interview.

​

Podcasting in South Africa has a future even though it’s still a relatively new format, but we can see a lot of people especially radio presenter turning podcasting. South Africa is a diverse country and there a lot of potential for good storytelling and storytelling has been in the DNA of Africans since the beginning of time. Even the enablers and podcasters in our second episode did agree with prosperity of podcasting having a huge impact in South Africa, as we are a diverse nation and lot of stories that could be told in each of our national language, which could make them distinct from other countries podcast. We are a multilingual country and that is something we should be proud of should use to our advantage in releasing future podcast. Podcasts are a way to introduce people from other parts of the country to your world. However, there are some obstacles like data division, access to internet, and unequal distribution of wealth that may prevent us in producing podcasts, because they demand equipment and equipment which are expensive for many South African. However, the potential of podcasting is there but it just needs us to make access to them easier.