The Sound Off Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Mary Anne Ivison was laid off in 2021. Ivison discusses the difficult transition and mental health challenges she faced after losing her job, but how she eventually found success in voiceover work and launching her own podcast "Let's Take This Outside".

We covered the ups and downs of building a voiceover business, including the challenges of working with agents and the impact of AI on the industry. Ivison shares her perspective that while AI may take over some lower-end voiceover work, the level of direction and variation required for many commercial projects still requires human talent. We also touched on the state of the podcast industry, acknowledging the difficulties of monetization and the shift towards more VC-backed companies. However, they emphasize the importance of finding a niche and building a loyal audience, rather than chasing download numbers.

Mary Anne is candid about the mental toll of the freelance lifestyle and the need to manage expectations, and that entering these creative fields requires a realistic understanding of the hard work and persistence required for long-term success.

Another honest episode providing an insightful look at the realities of navigating a career transition and building a sustainable creative business in the modern media landscape.

A video and transcript of the episode can be found on the network website.

Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life.

Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here.

Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show:

Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions

Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website.

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Donna Reed, a former radio host, podcast creator, and voiceover talent discusses her dcareer in radio, including her times at WQDR and WRDU in Raleigh, NC; then to KLOL and KODA in Houston, Texas and WCXR in Washington, DC. where she enjoyed the freedom of night shifts. She transitioned to voice acting after a car commercial opportunity and has since worked on audiobooks, commercials, and transit announcements. Reed also curated the "Leopard Print Lounge Chair" channel for AccuRadio during COVID-19, blending eclectic music for a relaxed atmosphere. She reflects on the challenges and joys of podcasting, emphasizing the need for consistency and creativity. Reed looks forward to more interviews and episodes in 2025. Give her show a follow here.

A video and transcript of the episode can be found on the network website.

Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life.

Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here.

Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show:

Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions

Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website.

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You likely know Dan Misener for his work in Podcasting - but I managed to trace his roots back to radio. Specifically, to CBC and shows like DNTO (Definitely Not the Opera) and Spark with Nora Young. His radio days actually stretch back a little further than that to campus radio at Dalhousie's CKDU in Halifax. But it was his time at Pacific Content where Dan began to explore audience development in the podcast space. Yes, he could have continued on making great sounding shows at places like the CBC, but what's the point if you aren't getting everyone to listen, right?

In this episode we will discuss those early radio days and the natural transition to podcasting, the experimenting at the CBC with Spark, and the creation of a feedback loop for the show. We also spoke about the importance of the packaging of your podcast and how it appears in podcast catalogues and on a dashboard display in a vehicle. We also talked about some of the cool blogs that Dan has written, the very helpful Podcast XRay that was released earlier this year which helps you find out things about show's like release days, enclosure tags and the brand new analytics Dashboard from Bumper presents another look at podcast metrics focusing in consumption and verified listens to a show. Yes downloads are cool but have you ever appreciated the Time Spent Listening (TSL) to your show?

Dan has given us a look into new Bumper Dashboard for their clients and we make a few observations about the Sound Off Podcast. Some we knew; some we did not.

We also touched on some other lingering podcast questions like, does it matter what day of the week you release an episode, and what's the role in video for your show. The answer to both is... YES!

I did not ask Dan about his feelings about Rogers (mis)handling the attempted shuttling of Pacific Content, nor the ensuing sale to Lower Street... there were podcast marketing strategies to pursue after all.

A Transcript and video version of the episode is available on the network page.

Please sign up for the SOUNDING OFF Newsletter. Full of all the verbal diarrhea you never knew what you were missing in your life.

Thanks to the following organizations for supporting the show:

Nlogic - TV & Radio Audience Data Solutions

Mary Anne Ivison at Ivison Voice. - Make her the female voice of your radio station.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers - It's great to have Matt back for 2024 supporting our show. Make him the imaging voice for your radio station by contacting him through his website.

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Also we added the Sound Off Podcast to the The Open Podcast Prefix Project (OP3) A free and open-source podcast prefix analytics service committed to open data and listener privacy. You can be a nosey parker by checking out our downloads here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is what they call in podcasting... a Feed Drop. An opportunity for you to sample another podcast. We had Paige Neinaber on our show back in June 2021. You can and should listen to that episode here. We are sharing this because we know you may not have budget to access great radio toys - but you should spare a little time for the people who are sharing their wisdom... especially when it's free.

You can subscribe or Follow everything Paige here.

And connect to the podcast here.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

NLogic has been a supporter of our podcast since 2017. In that time, we've had NLogic's President and COO David Phillips on the show to discuss the radio industry's relationship with audience data. In the current day and age, we have more audience data than ever before, and often we can't see what is relevant in the moment. I saw David at a panel at Canadian Music Week not too long ago, and had some questions I needed to ask him. That, paired with the fact that he's leaving NLogic in the next few weeks, meant I just had to get him back for another chat.

In this episode, we speak to David about how he manages to take in all that data, and what the evaluation process looks like. We also talk about what radio stations can do to enhance their monetization opportunities, since it's become a bit of a trend that radio companies don't want to innovate. Listener be warned: this chat gets very technical, so hopefully you're a radio nerd like us.

The other aspect we explore is television- what's the business model of the future? Is it subscription/streaming services? Is it completely free? And most importantly for us, how does that play into potential business strategies for radio? The two might seem unrelated, but I promise they're more closely intertwined than you might think.

If you want to connect with David, or hear more of his thoughts, you can drop him a follow on LinkedIn.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

NLogic: TV & radio advertising and audience data solutions

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click here for a transcript of this episode

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we're making what might be the longest-distance connection we've ever made for an episode. Tony Doe is a Nigerian Radio and Podcast Consultant who spent years on-air in the past, and remains a podcast staple in Nigeria.

I'm willing to bet most of our audience has never really thought about the podcast and radio scene in Nigeria, but as Tony will tell you, it's certainly different from what we have in North America. Stable, cheap internet is much harder to come by, and as a whole, the country is much more fragmented- both by languages and by the fact that each person likely has multiple SIM cards and phone numbers for different parts of the country.

Tony walks us through the way radio stations have come to handle these challenges, and what it's meant for the development of Nigerian broadcasting as a whole. He explains how he got into radio in the first place, how it's changed over the years, and some new developments rolling in that he thinks could change the landscape of broadcasting in a big way. He also shares some traditional broadcaster wisdom about what it means to be a great radio host, and how to make your show feel "complete."

If you'd like to stay caught up with Tony, the best way is through The Tony Doe Podcast. If you're a fan of Arsenal Football Club, you can also check out his other show, UPGNRS. Or you could just do it the old-fashioned way and follow him on Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click here for a transcript of this episode

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Podcast Hall of Famer Evo Terra is ending his Podcast Pontifications show. The show has dissected all points of the podcast business and there have been moments of punditry, contemplations, skepticism, and at times political positioning. This show along with a selection of others have been my "go-to" shows to learn more about what is happening in podcasting.

In this episode you will find out what Evo is up to next. We also discuss the value of Podcast 2.0 . We also talk a lot about fiction podcasts, audiobooks and narration which should give you an idea of what Evo will be doing next. Speaking of Podcast 2.0 and Value-for-Value, we have pivoted ourselves and are entertaining your support with Boosts. We are so new to it we have no idea what we are doing or talking about but this marks the first episode where we are swimming in the Boostagram swimming pool. (We started by downloading and listening to podcasts using the Fountain App.

Sign up for his newsletter here.

And Follow the Twitter account here.

Evo also gave us one last podcast pontification on Twitter and announced he might be doing Twitter a little bit less and is involving himself with Mastadon.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click here for a transcript of this episode

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week's guest is Tessa Malisani. Tessa is a voiceover artist, and if you couldn't tell from the title, one with quite the diverse portfolio. Aside from her current VO work, you'd probably be most likely to recognize her as the voice of the weeknight shift on 99.9 Virgin Radio in Toronto.

You might also know her as the host of the backstage lounge at the iHeartRadio MMVA's. Or for her time on CTV and MUCH Music. Or for her interviews with A-list celebs like Dwayne Johnson and Cardi B... The list goes on.

In this episode, Tessa talks to us about her career path and how she's kept it so open. We go over her past, her present, and a little bit about her plans for the future. There's no shortage of juicy information and stories here.

If you're an aspiring VO artist, radio host, TV personality, or any other position that puts you in the spotlight, this episode is a great reminder to think about all the ways you can leverage your skills. There's no need to pigeonhole yourself into one position- if you've got a great voice for radio, chances are you'll sound great on TV or in voiceovers too. Keep your options open, and hopefully one day your resume might look a bit like Tessa's.

To keep up with Tessa, you can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, or check out her YouTube channel. If you're looking to bring her on for your next voice project, you can check out her website as well.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click Here for a full transcript of this episode.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Matt hears more bad radio than good radio. There are stations and shows that are mailing it in, doing smash and grab type bits that don't brand build for either the radio station or the personalities; and radio's share of the audience against streaming and podcasting continues to diminish as a result. Spoiler: Matt does not twist his ankle coming off his soapbox.

A thanks to the people who support the show each week and allow it arrive on your phones for free.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click Here for a transcript of this episode.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bryan Barletta is back to tell us about the evolution of his company, Sounds Profitable. He started it two years ago, and since then it's evolved harmoniously alongside the podcast industry. You don't need even need to have podcast ads on your show to find value in its podcasts and newsletters, which we highly recommend you subscribe to.

In this episode, we speak to Bryan about the first two years of Sounds Profitable. We discuss the podcasts he's on-boarded, like The Download, and the great podcast people he's worked with: Arielle Nissenblatt, Lauren Passell from Tink Media (check out their newsletter here), Tom Webster, Evo Terra, James Cridland, and more. We also discuss the value and difference between programmatic and dynamic ad insertion - and how (and if) you should be using it to monetize your show.

We also have some special segments and questions from Jon Gay of Jag In Detroit Podcasts, and Mary Anne Ivison, who does some awesome voicework and has a kick ass podcast we produce called "Let's Take This Outside." In particular, Bryan helps Mary Anne find the best way to handle which ads can run on her show. Be sure to check out the episodes we recorded with them too.

Finally, Bryan shares the reasoning behind the incredible study he did with Sounds Profitable, called The Creators. He talks about how the data was gathered, what it means, and how everyone in the podcast space can benefit. If you'd like to view the study yourself, you can download it here.

Matt Fogarty Voiceovers

nLogic

Megatrax - Licensed Music for your radio station or podcast production company.

Click Here for a full transcript of this episode.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.