Laughing Our Way To The Podcast

A motley bunch of older adults find themselves making a podcast to share their knowledge. They find themselves richer for the experience and share their learning

November 2021 or thereabouts. We began our audio trip at the request of the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment*. The brief was simple - create podcasts aimed at improving the lives of senior citizens in urban and semi-rural areas.

We thought this is what we were asked to do:

While the podcast is a national programme, we felt we should do the podcasts in English and Tamil as our experience and stories would be more relevant and useful to our audience. Who were we addressing? Urban, semi-urban, tier II towns, men and women above 60 and youth who generally group together (the influencers). We knew the need to market the programme as radio is not a strong medium in current-day media reachouts. 

That was the easy part. 

We were a whacky team of oldies, respectfully addressed as seniors. The team had more than fifty shades of grey in our heads and bodies. We were a small part of the Covai Vani Podcast team, but audaciously, we called ourselves the Core Think Tank! Welcome to the fabulous and majorly dysfunctional team behind the microphones, ready to pretend that we could talk, croak, creek, stutter and mutter our way into the ears of the hapless listeners.

The Motley Crew

● A lady we called the Toll Gate Snacks Bar - a banker, social worker and storyteller.

● A prim and proper lady who not only wrote the Queen's English but also crossed the “t's" and dotted the “i” s when she spoke. A journalist, writer and consular communicator.

● A Tamil scholar and poet who found his roots and true calling after 40 years in the U.S. and came back home. An engineer and entrepreneur.

● An accomplished singer whose voice was melodious, spiritual and multi-lingual. A banker lady who had lived in more cities than the bank had branches in.

● And finally, the Guru of sillies, the master of mischief, and the town joker, with his contagious laughter and offbeat sense of humour. A corporate communication specialist he called himself, though all his colleagues wondered what that was.

We were so good, so bad and so sad, that it was only after 100 episodes, that we felt the need to think of making a kind of “How To” on podcasts. And that too, when the Government asked us to make a presentation on podcasts.

Here’s what we said in our presentation to the Ministry:

The name podcast may be modern, but the practice of conveying messages through voice is age-old. All Hindu scriptures were passed on by voice from the Gurus to the disciples. Our Vedas, Mahabharata and Ramayana were communicated and handed down in this manner for several centuries. The Bible tells us that God himself spoke the Ten Commandments on the Mount of Sinai. It is believed that Prophet Muhammed received messages from God through oral information alone. So voice as the medium was always there.

Did you know that podcasts actually came before the internet arrived in our lives?

In the 1980s, voice enthusiasts reached out to audiences via what was then known as audio blogging. But distribution was a problem and it faded away. Podcasting was developed in 2004 when Adam Curry, a former MTV video jockey (VJ), and software developer Dave Winer, coded a program known as iPodder, which enabled them to download Internet radio broadcasts to their iPods. Today, there are more podcasts than ever before — over two million shows and 48 million episodes, and the number of podcasts is growing exponentially, according to Apple Podcast. The rebirth of voice happened, aided by the internet and other technologies.

This Is How We Do It

We share our learnings, experiences and a guide to producing, uploading and reaching the right audiences through podcasts. We begin by trying to define who we are talking to.

God reached the whole world regardless of religion. We are but a tiny speck in the southern tip of India trying to reach out to senior citizens in and around Coimbatore and other parts of Tamil Nadu, such as retirement communities, districts and village panchayats. Our voice will reach them through radio, smartphones, health centres, Asha workers, OB Vans, websites, etc. And we intend to make a difference. With our voice. And our podcasts.

Ideation and content creation are the most critical parts of a good podcast. 

There are only three ways to do it. 

Prepare. Prepare. And Prepare. 

The podcast group sits and brainstorms on ideas for topics and execution. We need to decide on the topic and the format first and break up each subject into sub-themes. The format could be a solo voice, interview, co-host, group discussion, expert speak or celebrity interviews. Each person from the group has a penchant and talent for a particular subject. Here are a few examples of topics - health, wellness, mental health, nutrition, music, counselling, entertainment or infotainment. And a lot more.

Here's what the team members had to say: 

“I can do interviews with eminent doctors, banking-related issues, mental health, specific issues related to seniors, cooking, online education and games”. 

“I love music and can do episodes on all national and festival occasions. What I would love to do is to analyze the style and genre of music directors. There are so many avenues open in classical, folk, film music and Bhajans”.

“My forte is storytelling and interesting interviews. I’d like to read extracts from my stories, do evocative pieces on a variety of human interest subjects, and do interviews with seniors and experts. 

“I can break down wellness into several areas and also do podcasts on entertainment and infotainment. I love talking to seniors about our problems and managing them. I am actually the generalist in the team”.

We had the content. Now we had to ensure that the quality, voice and overall recording were of a high standard. A professional recording and dubbing artiste pitched in with his advice:

Good podcasts brand themselves well, consistently and emotionally. Transcripts can be used in blogs for the hearing impaired as well as for people who love to surf websites. We should get ourselves listed on Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts. We learnt that it may be useful to even try business networks like LinkedIn by recording a short trailer and providing a link to the main podcast. Word of mouth is really a great way to spread your message and social sites like Facebook, Reddit, Instagram and Quora are also good to be associated with.

Well, we done it.

That was about some newbies telling you how to take an audio journey at your own risk and at no cost. In the end, podcasts are all about relatability, experiences, learnings, laughter and memories. We are a delighted lot.

Here's where you can hear us: https://i-radiolive.com/podcast/channel/nisds3covaicare

Good to know: CovaiCare has been chosen in Tamil Nadu by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of India, for their initiative “Anubhav”, a Pan India Project to help create and spread awareness programmes for senior citizens throughout the country.

All photographs courtesy of the author

Cover image: Pixabay

Have you ever explored recording a podcast on your own? Do you listen to them? Share your experiences and favourite podcasts with us in the comments below.