Prompted by the tragic death of Neil Kulkarni last week and then subsequently listening to Neil on the live Chart Music show recorded a week or so earlier, I’ve been mulling over the key components of a great podcast. Neil’s death really hit me, and I think it’s because I had mentally cast him as one of my close friends. It surprised me that a podcast could generate this level of emotion.

I must have sampled hundreds of podcasts over the last 15 years, but at any time there are usually only a half dozen I actively follow. Most of the rest are perfectly fine, but I seem to lose interest or forget about most of them.

So here are the common elements I can identify (and there are many exceptions):

1. It needs to have an ensemble cast. This is hugely important to me. I want to hear unscripted banter between people on topics I find interesting (pretty obviously replacing the banter I’m lacking in my own life). Some single host, scripted podcasts are great (Cautionary Tales, for example) but they are more like great radio documentaries or audiobooks, and most of the time I would rather just read » Continue Reading.