A Narrative Journey: Hope for more

Before starting this class, I had no experience in editing audio or creating podcast content. It was nerve-racking for me to record myself speaking and format it into a podcast.

When I began writing my notecard story, I wrote like a always do. I write how I think my voice sounds. After my first attempt to record my story I realized I was completely wrong. My written words may sound good in my head but it is nothing like how I speak to other people.

After some peer revision and rewriting, I tried to record my story. Listening to it for the first time, I realized there was a lot of background noise and that I sounded like a robot. Then I talked to my classmates and my teacher to get more advice on how to sound more natural. While I don’t think I’m a professional podcaster, I think my voice and tone significantly improved.

When doing my final recording, I spoke to myself in the mirror. Yes, I felt like a crazy person. But then I listened to the differences between my first and second recording. My voice was much more relaxed and conversational, and I took more pauses like I would in a normal conversation.

I think this is an area I can still greatly improve in, but I am glad to see how far my abilities have come.

Trying Something New: A podcast journey

On my way to work or school I often listen to the radio, trying to find new music or something interesting to keep me alert. For the past few weeks, instead of turning on the radio, I plugged my phone into the aux and tuned into my new favorite podcast – “The Way I Heard It” with Mike Rowe.

Each episode is formatted in a similar way and draws listeners in, wondering who or what each episode is about. Rowe uses his story telling abilities to give a seven or ten minute story about a well know person. Not until the last 30 seconds do listeners learn of who the story is about, giving them an “aha moment.”

Screenshot taken from Spotify web player.

The length and familiar structure of the stories in each podcast are comfortable for listeners. For those who may not be familiar with Rowe, he gained his reputation from hosting a popular show called “Dirty Jobs.” From this he also began to narrate many television shows and documentaries. His voice is recognized by many and he was once named one of the most trusted celebrities by Forbes magazine.

With is experience in storytelling, I knew I would not be wasting my time by listening to his podcast. Even though my assignment was to follow a podcast for a few weeks and listen to it, I found myself putting the episodes on shuffle and listening to many of the stories. I found myself even sharing particular content with my family members and boyfriend.

Since I began to listen, I started following Rowe on social media to get updates of new podcast information and found that he also records some of his episodes on YouTube for viewers. Check out his latest episode, and follow along with me!