Podcast Episode Ideas - What Sources Do You Use?

You're staring at a blank screen.You're not sure, but you're pretty confident that the microphone is taunting you and you're just going, I have no idea what to talk about on the podcast today. Well, today we're going to bail you out. That is the question of the month. I threw it out to you and said, what do you do to find ideas for episodes?We had some people answer and I am going to chime in. And everything we talk about today you can find@schoolofpodcasting.com 981. Because today is episode number 981. Hit it, ladies.The school of podcasting with Dave Jackson. Podcasting since 2005. I'm your award winning hall of fame podcast coach, Dave Jackson. Thanking you for so much for tuning in.If you're new to the show, this is where I help you plan, launch and grow your podcast. My website is schoolofpodcasting.com use the coupon code listener when you sign up for either a monthly or yearly subscription.And today is the last Monday of the month, which means it is time for the question of the month. And this month's question was like, where do you come up with ideas for your show?And so just to give you an idea, I was sitting there one week and somebody asked me a question and we all kind of went, I wonder what other people think about that. And the question of the month was invented. I was like, now here's the thing. I am afraid every time.And I mean, like, I put it out, I'm like, is anybody going to answer this question? And some months I get 10 people. And then some months are like, this month where we didn't get a ton. But that's okay.But we're going to answer that question because if you're brand new, it's actually easier because you've got everything to pick from. And sometimes, if you're not sure what to talk about, an easy way to get the ball rolling is to figure out what not to talk about.I'll give you an example. It's from the music world, but I one of the bands I was in many moons ago, I'm a guitar player.I was in a country band, which for me was like, sacrilege. I grew up listening to Ozzy Osbourne and stuff like that. When they played it, I'm like, that's not country. They're like, it's no, it's new country.And I'm like, it's boogie with a twang. You know, it's ac DC With a banjo in the back.But anyway, we said we would only play country songs that were on the country radio that were in the top 10, because we figured that if we did Sweet Home Alabama, which is not a country song, it's about the south, but it's actually not a country song. And it was never in the top 10 of the country charts.Because once you do Sweet Home Alabama, then you're one step away from playing Roadhouse Blues by the Doors. And the next thing you know, you're just like every other band. And it worked out great because everybody knew the songs we played.We were a cover band. And so by figuring out what you're not going to talk about can actually kind of clear away some of the mess.And all of a sudden you will see, like, what you've been looking for. And we'll talk about that a little later. Right now, I want to get to what you had to say. So we're going to start off with Kim Newlove.She does two shows and, well, she's going to tell about them right now.

Hi Dave, this is Kim Newlove from the Pharmacist's Voice podcast and the Perrysburg Podcast.I get my podcast episode ideas from a variety of places, including my previous year's production schedules, vision boards that I create, series that I would like to continue, scraps of paper that I shove into my podcast binders. I have a binder for each show to keep some things organized. I also get ideas from the Notes app in my phone.I will leave myself cryptic messages that I sometimes have to decipher later, but they do have some ideas for episodes. I also get ideas from people that I meet at pharmacy conferences. I get ideas from guest application forms.I have guest application forms for both of my podcasts. People people pitch me. The ideas are in the pitch. I also get ideas from things that I read about, whether it's online, in print, or on social media.I am a reactor. If you go back to Valerie Geller's book Beyond Powerful Radio, she says that there are two types of people, generators and reactors.For my drug pronunciation series on the Pharmacist's Voice podcast, sometimes I will hear a drug name mispronounced in mainstream media or in some sort of an advertisement or maybe even in a continuing education session at a Pharmacist conference. So I will look up that drug name and use it as one of the drug names for one of my drug pronunciation episodes.Dave, I hope that answer helps you understand that I have to give myself something to react to it's order to create podcast episodes. I'm sure that list is not all encompassing, but it's at least a few of the places that I get ideas for creating podcast episodes.Now a little bit about me and my podcasts again. This is Kim Newlove. I host the Pharmacist's Voice podcast and the Perrysburg Podcast.You can find the Pharmacist's Voice podcast@the pharmacistsvoice.com we talk about pharmacy topics and careers, so my audience feels connected to the profession of pharmacy and inspired to contribute to it. And on the Perrysburg podcast we talk about what's in Harrisburg and why people like to live here.I live in Perrysburg, Ohio and I run this local podcast. It's a lot of fun and you can find it@perrysburgpodcast.com check out episode 76. It is my vision board episode.Thanks for everything you do for podcasters everywhere, Dave. And happy podcasting everyone.

Happy podcasting, Kim. Thank you so much. He's a little bit like me. And that is I am always looking for ideas.Whether I'm reading something, listening to something, watching something, I'm always like, how does this tie into podcasting? And one of the things you can kind of mix together is, is if you're trying to come up with something new.Dan Lefebvre, he's a history guy, but he also likes movies and when you mix them together you get a great show called Based on a True Story podcast. Here's Dan.

Hey Dave. Dan here from Based on a True Story, the podcast that compares Hollywood with history.My answer for the question of the month has a couple layers, because most of my episodes are about a movie or TV show that's based on a true story. So coming up with an idea is as simple as coming up with a movie or TV show to cover, like Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down.And listener requests help a lot with that.But over the nine years now that I've had this show going, I've done some episodes about movies that are not based on historical events, like the movies I just mentioned. For example, Jurassic park or Indiana Jones obviously are not based on a true story, but they're still movies that I've covered on my show.So the way I come up with ideas like that really boils down to loving movies and history along with a healthy dose of because of my podcast. And I'll use Jurassic park as an example. Do you remember the first time you saw Jurassic Park?Maybe it's just me But I remember seeing that movie back in the 90s and just being blown away. Wow, those. Those dinosaurs on screen look so realistic. But wait a minute, are they? I'm not a paleontologist.Are the dinosaurs in Jurassic park actually realistic to what historical dinosaurs look like? Or did the artists who made them for the movie just do a great job at making creatures that look like what I think dinosaurs might have looked like?What about the more recent movies? Because if you remember, in the most recent Jurassic World movie, there's some dinosaurs with feathers on them. What's going on there?Well, because of my podcast, I was able to ask questions like that to the legendary Jack Horner. And if you're not sure who he is, do you remember the scene in the first Jurassic park where the character of Dr.Alan Grant recreates the raptor's voice box to hear what they sounded like? That scene in the movie was based on actual research that Jack Horner and his team did at the University of Montana.Although as Jack told me, they did it with a duck billed dinosaur.But that's just one small example of how the movie took a true story from history and then they changed it to be a raptor so it would fit in with the fictional story in the movie better. In fact, Dr. Grant's entire character in the movie is inspired by the real Jack Horner.And Jack also worked as the paleontology consultant on every single Jurassic park and Jurassic World movie. And if you think about it, all movies do that. Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates were a real thing.Even TV shows like the Sopranos, they all use very real things from history to try and seem a little more believable, even if the entire plotline is not based on a true story. So that's just a little example of how I come up with ideas. I don't use AI or anything like that.It's really just some good old fashioned curiosity, which is probably fitting since my show is about movies, but ultimately ends up being more of a history podcast. Oh, and if you want to hear my chat with Jack Horner about Jurassic park, that is over@basedonatruestorypodcast.com 200 and well, that's it for me.I can't wait to hear what everyone else says. And as always, thank you for everything you do for podcasters, Dan.

Thank you so much for that. Next up, we have Justin.

Hi, Dave, it's Justin here from the podcast Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.It's a podcast that covers the great work of the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew and of course, all things shanty across the United Kingdom and of course across the world. If you're interested in listening, pop over to www.shipshapepodcast.co.uk. so your question of the month how do I find content?And thankfully I'm still in a good place where more and more information around the world of Shanti singing and the what we get up to as a Shanti singing group is always giving. There's always something that to explore and talk about.As you can probably appreciate, the world of Shanti singing is internationally recognized as the sailors sailed around the world exploring different parts of cultures that influence the songs.So you can imagine that I am thankfully in a great place where I can dedicate an episode to the history and the knowledge that is linked to the song itself. And all of this really comes from a place where I come alongside my listeners.One of the things that has surprised me is that more and more people are listening more and more often or not, they interact with us either through our social media or me physically being present at some events. And they come up to me and they talk to me about the want and the need to hear more.And they themselves give me the inspiration to bring that content alive within a podcast. So thankfully I am not drying up with content. Potentially one day I will.But I think the tip I have is come alongside your listeners, understand what they want and be prepared to stay within your subject matter. But be comfortable that there could be so much more that listeners want and need.Anyway, Dave, thank you so much for everything you do for the world of podcasting. I've been podcasting since 2017.I've got a few podcasts under my belt and I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for your teaching and your inspiration and guidance over the last few years. So thank you. Keep doing what you're doing and take care.

Thank you. Justin, great advice. Pull up alongside your audience. Yeah, absolutely. That's a great tip.And I'll explain some other options you can do because that's all we got. We got three answers. I appreciate that three is better than two. My answer's right after this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The school of Podcasting.So where do I get my ideas? Well, I am going to explain this through a story about a friend of mine.I was in a band and the lead singer was a great entertainer because he spent many years as a professional comedian.He was a great singer, great showman, but he was also a comedian and we were talking one time about what it was like to get off the stage as a comedian. And he said the hardest part when he decided he was done because it wasn't great.Pay a lot of travel, putting up with a lot of crap, kind of like being in a band. And he said the hardest part for him was everything he consumed.He goes, if I was watching the Tonight show, if I was reading the newspaper, if I was watching the news, or if I was watching a cartoon or if I was watching anything or reading a book, anything he consumed, he was constantly thinking, is this funny? How can I make this funny? Is this something I could use in my skit? And I am kind of that way.Recently, I bought a past where I can go to as many movies as I want. And I'm kind of finding out how the movies is a horrible experience because the product stinks.You know, I'm really just going to feed an addiction for popcorn and overpriced popcorn at that. And so that was one that I talked about in my newsletters.Like, really, if you think about it, great content is the content and the delivery, and they're ruining it for the movie business. So that was one. So I just. I'm always got my lens open for can this be something about podcasting?And so I pay attention to people like authors because they're in the entertainment business trying to get people to consume their content.I pay attention to musicians, but obviously I pay attention to a lot of podcasts about podcasting, a lot of newsletters about podcasting, and there are tools you can use. I do a show now, and I'm actually, so far, two weeks in a row. Holy cow. About Akron, Ohio.I want to play in the local space, and I found some really great sources for stories, and one of them is that's a novel idea. I subscribe to the mayor's newsletter, and usually there's an item or two in there. And then I use.There are a couple tools you can use, and these are feed readers, which makes me sound like an old curmudgeon in a way. So again, the power of RSS rears its head. But I use a tool called inoreeader, as in the letter O reader dot com.It is basically 750amonth if you are billing on a yearly basis. Feedly is a really popular one, by the way. There are free versions of this, and Feedly is pretty close to innoreader.What I like about innoreader is the fact that I can go in and say, show me this, but not that. Like, show Me, Lewis, but not Jerry kind of stuff. So it really helps me get things that I'm exactly looking for.And so for an example, I just logged in and I see where Elvis Costello is coming to the Akron Civic Theater. What's so funny about Peace? Love. Yeah. So I can't wait to. I think Elvis is an interesting chap. And so here's the thing.Because you're like, well, wait a minute.Because I also go to Reddit, I also go to Facebook, and in some cases, back in the day, back in the day, I used to go to Quora, which is a thing where people are asking questions just to not so much go in and go, hey, I have a podcast. Come listen to it.But to go there and listen to what people are talking about, many a question that I've seen in Reddit or in the podcast movement Facebook group or the podfest Facebook group, or the Buzzsprout Facebook group, a lot of Facebook groups. Which is kind of funny because you will see, if you go to the Facebook groups for podcasting, it is, how do I start? What's the best microphone?How do I grow my audience and how do I monetize? And then maybe where do I find guests? That's it.You swear that's the only thing that people are struggling with in podcasting, But I go to those places and it sounds like a ton.And that's where a feed reader, in some cases, like I know from my Akron podcast, I am following a lot of pages on Facebook because I'm looking for hyperlocal stuff. So a feed reader can be a really handy way to bring information to you.So instead of having to go to all these sites, you can have those sites come to you. Now, if you noticed, Kim has notes in her notebooks and in her coat pocket and in everything else.And I'm kind of like that, too, because you will see things and go, oh, I got to write this down. That's where I really, really love notejoy. In fact, I just saw where I took a screenshot of something and then forward it to notejoy.And the whole point of this is to just not lose the notes. So it's one of those things where I need to maybe on a more frequent basis, go in and look at what I've kind of thrown in there and organize it.But there are times when I'm thinking, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about this week, and I'll go into note joy, and there'll be a ton of things that I've Captured. So wherever you're getting them from, that's another key point. Whatever you want to use Apple Notes. I think there's a Google. I want to say tag.Nope, that's a tag manager. But there's something. Keep Google, keep anything.You just want to make sure that when brilliant strikes or you get that idea that you have something to write it down with. Now I've got a couple more tools that you can use in case you're wondering, and one of them is called Answer the Public.This is now owned by a guy named Neil Patel, who's a really big SEO guy, and so he liked it so much.But I went over and I typed in the phrase dog grooming, and it shows you what topics are highly searched, which is the how much the average search is the latest search. So I can see things like, can dog grooming blades be sharpened? Can dog grooming cause hotspots? What? How to dog grooming. How to dog grooming videos.How cute. Dog grooming. This sounds like somebody. Where? Okay, who does dog grooming near me? Why dog grooming? Where is Animal Kingdom? Dog grooming?So these are what people are searching for. Now I can come up right now. It's in this weird giant wheel. It's a big circle which breaks your neck.So I can click on the button that says list and it says things like, our dog grooming business is profitable, our dog grooming vacuums worth it, our dog grooming hammock safe, are dog grooming clippers different, etc. Etc. And I can see where. How much are dog groomer grooming courses?And if I want to advertise and try to get that to the top of the list, that would be $2.55 a click and how much search volume there is, etc. So you can see the idea is, with this kind of SEO stuff is you want to find something that is popular but doesn't have a ton of competition.So it's lots of searches or medium searches and not a lot of competition. So you can jump in, write a blog post, do an episode, whatever it is about that, and get some traffic that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah.And of course, we haven't mentioned our good friend AI. If you're using Captivate, you can go into episode planning. It has an interesting tool. It will say, you can say, look, you know, generate some ideas.It will look at your last few episodes and then look at the stats and then generate not only some interesting ideas, but the guests it suggests at times are really good. Now the one I just did suggested I should go get Gary V. As a guest. Sure. I'm sure he's not busy at all. But that is one.But here's the thing that I kind of get worried about. AI so I have a prompt right now in ChatGPT and this is the prompt. I want you to do some research for me.Act as an expert Instagram social media marketer. Tell me 10 frustrations, 10 desires and 10 fears.Now, this would be where you put in your audience, but I put in that podcasters experience with whatever they're doing. So in this case, I put their podcast, put it in a table format, Label x axis 1 through 10 and the y axis frustrations, desires and fears.And when I hit go, it's thinking about it, it is searching the web. And now it's going to come back and say, as an expert Instagram and social media marketing.I've compiled a comprehensive table outlining 10 common frustrations, desires and fears that podcasters often experience. This insight can be invaluable for tailoring content and strategies that resonate with podcasters on platform like Instagram.So the idea here is, you know, write me stuff that I can put on Instagram. And so under frustrations it has struggling with growing your audience.Technical issues, difficulty in monetizing, limited time to manage all aspects. So it takes up too much time. Challenges, inconsistently creating engaging and relevant content. Kind of things we're talking about a little bit today.Low engagement rates. Yep. Well, we've talked about that. Get a newsletter. Difficulty in booking high profile guests, navigating complex podcasts.I mean, we could go on here. Fears, fear of investing time and resources, concerns over technical things.And of course, all these fears are completely just obliterated when you join the school of podcasting. Fear of burning out, worrying about running out of interesting topics and ideas. Well, hopefully this podcast has helped you with that.The only thing I worry about asking tools, and we all just kind of go chat GPT, it could be anything, is if you were to take this prompt and put it into ChatGPT with the exact same thing, it might be a little different. It might be.But again, I kind of scratch my head when people are like, yeah, I want to start a podcast and position myself as a thought leader where the engine is chatgpt. And I'm like, because you're using other people's thoughts, we want to know your thoughts.And I need to test this because if I put in the exact same prompt that you put in the exact same prompt, I know it's supposed to make a little difference based on the profile. But I get the sneaking suspicion that you might end up with very, very, very similar content. And now you don't stand out at all.You sound like everybody else.

Toe, for crying out loud. Here comes another 10 second tangent.

10 seconds indeed. Such absolute rubbish.One of the things I just heard an episode today, speaking of podcasts and finding ideas and things like that, I'm here to tell you I heard a show today thanks to my buddy Matt. So here again, word of mouth. The show is called the corner office and it's cute.It's corner is K o e r n e r office business ideas and small business deep dives with entrepreneurs. And this was season two, episode 158 called what AI tools are worth your time in 2025. And I heard this clip.They're talking about what you can use ChatGPT for. And this came up.

I'm going to say this. You and I have talked about. We each have superpowers. When you have a superpower, you have to know when to use it and when not to use it.And you also have to recognize that you can use your superpower for evil.

Mm.

To me, the reasoning that ChatGPT has, like, let's say you have an argument with your spouse and you're trying to get your way where it can help you frame an argument is out of this world. And then it's a very unfair fight.

Because you, you're not citing to your wife.

ChatGPT.

According to chat, you're not doing it. No. You're not citing.

You're like, well, that's an interesting point, honey, because I would think that you would want to do X, Y and Z based on your previous. You know what I mean? And she's like, yeah, that's a really good point.And meanwhile you're like looking down at your phone, you're like, she said it was a good point. What do I do now? Ugh.

Finally back to the show.

And so yes, you can use AI even to help you argue with your spouse. And the other one that a lot of people overlook is books. Books can be great thought provoking tools. I'm listening to a book right now by Dave Ramsey.You know the lottery is just the stupid tax called build a business you love. Now how did I find out about this particular book? You guessed it, heard it on a podcast.And I will link to that because Sean over at Think Media podcast had date, had some sort of YouTube event. He's a big YouTuber and he had Dave Ramsey keynote. The thing which cannot be cheap. Holy cow. But it's a great keynote. Definitely.Got to check that out.He talks about how, like, one of the things he said that's just so true that if you're thinking, well, once I get this done and then I get this done and then I get this done, that, you know, I'll be able to finally relax. And it's like, no. When you're a content creator, everything is always changing, which is kind of disheartening in a way, but it is kind of true.But books are another thing that you can use for input. A lot of times you will see things. Because the great thing about books, if it's a good book, I guess I should say, is that it's well thought out.Like, there's typically. If it's a good book, it's well thought out, it's put together, and usually there's some takeaways.So that's another place if you are wondering, like, what to talk about.You can do a book review and obviously you can't, you know, read the entire book, but you can talk about it and give your takeaways from it without getting into too much trouble with copyrighted material. As always, contact your lawyer. But I think you can do okay with that. That's another source of inspiration for episodes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.And I'm just going to echo what Justin said a while ago, and that is pull up alongside your audience. That's really the best place to figure out what they want. The hardest part is getting them to open up.So the more specific a question you can ask, the better the chance you're going to get a specific answer. So when you go, so what'd you think of the show? They're going to go, it's good. So try to be specific when you do that.Ask them about the length, ask them about the content, ask them about their favorite episode, ask them about their least favorite episode instead of what you think that way, and then shut up. Because when you go, so, what's your favorite episode? And they go, I don't know. They're all good. Just enjoy the awkward pause as they figure it out.Now, they might not remember a specific episode, who knows? But the more specific, the better the chance you're going to get some sort of answer. But it is hard at times.I know I've had a couple shows where I just could not get my audience to engage at all, which in itself is kind of a weird. Kind of like, well, yeah, what's that say about the show. Yeah, I get it.But I later started asking more specific questions and that seemed to get a few responses. But keep in mind, about 3% of your audience will actually chime in.Now, you could come up with some ideas based on feedback that you got from people leaving a rating and review. I know a lot of people are like, please rate and review me an Apple podcast. And that's fine. It's social proof.The thing I hate about that is I can't reply to that.So if somebody goes, I don't know, it's a horrible show, you know, Mike, I cannot reply to, you know, Tim's big red truck 27 to say, Tim, can you give me a little more constructive feedback then? Guy sucks. Yeah, that's not really helpful. So I would rather have somebody.If you really hate the show, please let me know and I'll be happy to hear you out. If you like the show, I'm always happy to hear that too. So that's the last way you can get ideas for your show. And there are many more.And I want to thank everyone for who chimed in today. You can find everything out@schoolofpodcasting.com 981. And if you're on the fence about starting your podcast, don't forget that coupon.That's listener L I S T E N E R When you sign up@schoolofpodcasting.com I'm Dave Jackson. I help podcasters. It's what I do. And I can't wait to see what we're going to do together. So until next week, take care, be safe. God bless.Class is dismissed.com for either a monthly or yearly subscription. And if you're still a little worried, remember you got a 30 day money back trial. I said that backwards. It's 30 day money back trial.Nope, it's money back 30 day. It's. You know what? Anytime. I'll give you your money back. Ah, Holy cow. Wait, I had it right the first time. It's 30 day money back guarantee.There we go. Not a trial, a guarantee. Oh, Alice, I know this world is killing you. Is somebody strangling him? The switch broke because it's old.Or is he just got a really bad cold? Ready? I think my favorite Elvis Costello comment was from David Lee Roth.He's like most people like Elvis Costello better than Van Halen because most music critics look like Elvis Costello. If you like what you hear, then go tell someone.