International Podcast Day 2022: In Conversation with Steve Lanham

Each year on 30 September marks International Podcast Day, an opportunity for anyone, anywhere to connect with podcasters, podcast listeners, podcast enthusiasts, and leaders in the podcasting industry. The celebration began in 2014 as National Podcasting Day, but quickly rebranded as the global scope of podcasting became apparent.?

While podcasting is a relatively new industry, today there are over 3 million active podcasts and 50 million episodes worldwide - and this number will only continue to grow. Podcasts are a vital pillar of what we do at History Hit. The company itself began as the podcast Dan Snow’s History Hit in 2015.?

Faced with an overwhelming selection of podcasts, created by museums, celebrities and brands to friends over the dinner table, how do listeners or aspiring podcasters know where to start??

For this International Podcast Day, we sat down with Steve Lanham, Head of Podcasts at History Hit, to talk about how Steve got into the industry, what he thinks makes a good podcast and his advice to aspiring podcasters.

How did you get into podcasting?

I was very lucky that I started podcasting in my spare time for fun before there were any jobs in it. As paid opportunities started appearing, although not for my own film podcast unfortunately, I had built up lots of experience at a time when no-one else had. This got me a job at Radio 4 (in a roundabout way) in their podcast commissioning team and then from there eventually I made the jump to History Hit.

Do you have any advice for someone starting their own podcast or who wants to work in the industry?

Don’t start a show unless you are committed to it in the long term and you want to make it for the love of it. Only something like 1% of the millions of podcasts out there actually make any money, so it’s very unlikely you will make enough money to retire to the Bahamas or somewhere in Zone 2. The primary reasons to do it should probably be to enjoy the process and learn a few skills. The skills, mistakes and successes will set you up for working in the podcast industry. I'm always impressed by anyone who has shown the dedication to make their own show.

What makes a good podcast?

History Hit… but more usefully I would say be enthusiastic about your subject. Listeners can tell if you’re bored and chances are they will be too. When editing, always ask yourself “is there a point to this, is it entertaining/interesting”. There’s nothing wrong with a podcast being an hour long but it needs to give the listener some sort of reward for sticking around that long. Spend time recording things well and making them sound nice; no-one wants to hear you and your mate having a conversation from what sounds like opposite sides of a village hall. Finally, try to set-up at the start what the podcast is and what the listener is getting themselves in for. You don’t have to spoil a big reveal but tease an outcome or potential outcome, it will help encourage them to stick around to the end.

How does History Hit launch new podcasts?

It normally starts with research around what subjects we know or think listeners might be interested in. Often this comes from our experience on our own shows, sometimes it’s based on gaps in the market or what we’ve learnt from elsewhere in the business. Gone Medieval, Not Just the Tudors and Patented all came from us knowing that audiences enjoyed those time periods and subjects. We also knew that we could find great hosts to work with on them. The same goes with Betwixt the Sheets - we were excited to work with Kate Lister and her personality and expertise led to us collaborating on a format that brought the best from her and her interests.

What does the future hold for the History Hit podcast team?

I’m very lucky to have been able to build an incredible team of people who work on audio over the two years I've been here. They have driven the growth and success of our shows, both old and new. Recently we’ve started experimenting more with different formats that our audiences have responded well to, things like explainers, origin and fall of stories and playing around with dramatic recreations. We’ll also continue to explore collaborating with podcasts that we love at places like Pushkin and Tortoise.

And finally, what’s something that you’d recommend to someone looking for a new podcast to dive into?

Firstly, I’ll pick one of our shows. I’m loving American History Hit at the moment because it covers stories that I knew very little about beforehand (the secret city which built the atomic bomb is a fascinating story of misdirection.) Outside of that I would suggest something which is perfect for the halloween season - check out Uncanny from BBC Radio 4. It’s beautifully produced with some immersive sound design, the host Danny Robins is a terrific story teller and it’s genuinely scary!?

You can listen to podcasts from the History Hit network wherever you get your podcasts. If you have an idea for an episode, get in touch at [email protected].