Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

We are Harleigh & Malaika, and we host Sonder & Salt – the weekly podcast for food lovers. We wanted to create a space to explore our individual relationships with food and how our unique experiences influenced our preferences, opinions and seemingly insignificant food choices.

M: I’m a casual content creator, but I would love to do it full time one day. Over the years I’ve had a YouTube channel, a blog and even hosted weekly cocktail hours on Instagram live. My content is always rooted in my love for food whether it’s eating out, travelling to eat & explore or sharing recipes of my favourite meals.

H: Same for me really. If I bump into someone who says they recognise me I just say, ‘probably from the internet!’

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

H: Another Round which was a Buzzfeed production hosted by Heben and Tracy. It was the highlight of my week and their drunk segment at the end used to give me the giggles when I was working on my dissertation. I still follow Heben on X and her recent commentary on the Beyonce album makes me want them back in a studio together so badly!

M: Food, But We Digress with Alex & Joshua. I found Alex on YouTube & fell in love with the in depth conversations about very specific ingredients and food topics. Some of the best episodes were about their favourite pasta shapes or debating whether it’s better to eat rice with a spoon or fork!

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

M: Harleigh will say I gave her no choice, but I would say it was meant to be!

H: We found each other on social media from our food blogs, developed a friendship and felt that there wasn’t a food centred podcast that you didn’t need to identify as a “foodie” to engage with.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

M: I was really inspired by Alex & Joshua on Food, But We Digress. The conversations have always found the right balance between being entertaining and informative which is something we like to do. Although we’re not a guest based podcast, Comfort Eating with Grace Dent is a good example of having really intimate conversations with guests about their relationships with food and the things they love.

H: I love the interview style on The Sporkful and how when he travels to meet guests it really feels like you’ve gone with him. I mostly use Science Vs by Wendy Zukermann for any food science information on the podcast.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

H: Claire Saffitz! Without a doubt. Her YouTube videos make me feel like she’s baking in my living room, so I need to have her chatting along with me in the studio.

M: I’d love to sit down with Staney Tucci or Chishuru’s head chef Joké Bakare – she’s the first black female Michelin-starred chef in the UK.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast?

M: I’d say ‘Can you cook jerk chicken in an oven’ featuring Melissa Thompson.

H: ‘Food Love Languages’ is one of our most popular episodes so I usually suggest people start there.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you?

Find us on Instagram,, X and TikTok at @sonderandsalt. For more of us individually, come over to our Instagrams @harleigh.reid @malaikamalz.

Sonder & Salt is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and other popular podcast apps >>

The post Sonder & Salt: Rooted in a love for food appeared first on POD BIBLE.

Who are you and what’s your podcast about?

ANDREW: My name is Andrew MacDougall, and I’m one of the regulars on Hacks & Flaks, the new podcast that shines a light on how media (Hacks) and PR (Flaks) work in tandem to make the news. I’m a former Director of Communications to former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper who’s been working in PR in London for the past ten years, advising corporates, charities and high net worth individuals in my role as a Director at Trafalgar Strategy.

GILES: I am Giles Kenningham, former Number Ten spokesman and in a life before that I was a journalist for ITV News.
Our podcast lifts the lid on how and why stories make the front and back pages but also why some stories end up in the dustbin. It also takes an irreverent look at the more comedic sides of the media.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to?

ANDREW: The first podcast I can remember binging on was ‘Serial’, the true crime series about Adnan Syed. Now I can’t stop listening to podcasts, from ‘The Missing Cryptoqueen’ to Joe Rogan.

GILES: One of the first podcasts I listened to was Elizabeth Day’s “how to fail” which was and remains a great format. Now I listen to an array across the spectrum and am trying to listen to more podcasts and watch less television. I am currently listening to the comedian Paul Chowdhry’s “Pudcast”.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

ANDREW: Having worked in politics, business and the media, I didn’t feel there was a podcast that properly examined how the news comes together and how that’s changing in the age of social media. Enter ‘Hacks & Flaks’! In any age of declining trust in media we think it’s important to demystify this vital cog in our democracy.

GILES: I’ve always been fascinated in how the media works and shapes the agenda. We also felt there was a gap in the market for a podcast that lifts the lid on how the media works but does so without taking itself too seriously. The media show on Radio 4 aims to do that but is massively constrained by the straitjacket of BBC editorial guidelines

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

ANDREW: As someone who’s benefitted from cognitive behavioural therapy to help improve my mental health, I’m a big fan of Ryan Holiday’s pod ‘The Daily Stoic’, which explores the Stoicism that underpins much of CBT. Stoicism is an operating system for life in the dizzying age of social media and I love how the pod gives you strategies and insights that can help you in your daily life.

As a Canadian political junkie, I also love ‘The Herle Burly’, a political pod that actually knows what it’s talking about and knows what it feels like to be caught in the grind of modern politics. It’s also a real conversation for real people, not a sermon, and that’s a vibe we’re trying to match in ‘Hacks & Flaks’.

And as a football junkie, and a Chelsea supporter, I love the ‘London is Blue’ podcast, where the hosts really do a good job of including their listeners in the pod and building a community of people who love Chelsea Football Club.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast?

ANDREW: My dream guest for the podcast would be Rupert Murdoch, a man who had seen – and lead – multiple revolutions in the media, from the rise of The Sun and red top culture in the UK in the early 1970s, to the rise of opinion-led cable news in the United States in the 1990s and beyond.

GILES: So many people. But for starters any of my favourite comedians from Kevin Bridges to Peter Kay. On a more serious note Bill Clinton.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far from making the podcast?

ANDREW: My biggest lesson to date has been that chemistry really matters. On ‘Hacks & Flaks’ we have a great host – Petrie Hosken – and a great collection of regular contributors, including my business partner Giles Kenningham, another former political staffer, and Mick Booker, an experienced (and hilarious) journalist. We get along well in real life and that comes across on the pod. And of course we have a wonderful producer – Amanda Redman – who keeps us all on track and on point!

GILES: Sometimes the best moments come from going off piste. Given we are not live, we have the luxury of time and can always edit bits out if they are too off topic.

Listen to Hacks and Flacks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

The post Hacks and Flacks: How media (Hacks) and PR (Flaks) work in tandem appeared first on POD BIBLE.

They kept it hidden from everyone, but of course I wanted to know more as soon as I found out…

Pod Bible: Can you start by telling us who are you and what…just kidding!

Pip: We are podcast legends! Kidding… it’s a valid question. I’m Scroobius Pip, host of the Distraction Pieces Podcast and part of the Pod Bible crew.

Stu: I’m Stu Whiffen and I’m the host of the Off The Beat And Track Podcast and friend of Pip.

Scroobious Pip

What’s you’re elevator pitch for the new show?

Pip: My first question would be “do you know who I am?”. Basically the podcast is Stu asking me about specific parts of my life and career with each episode being dedicated to a different one. You don’t really have to know who I am though.

Subjects in series 1 include universally relatable stuff like School Days and living through your parents divorce, alongside more career stories like Touring the world playing music and moving into acting.

Stu: It’s a really lovely and often poignant long form interview with Pip who happens to be a good mate so the chat feels well connected and relaxed and the subjects chosen for each episode means the chat moves away from just Pips experiences to the wider conversation on the discussion in hand.

How long have you been working on this secretly? (And how do you both have time to do this??)

Pip: Well we wanted to get the first series in the bag before announcing anything to make sure it’s actually interesting. And, good news, it feels like it really is! So it’s been about 6 months in the making but we are excited it get it out there.

Stu: Well I had to do this thing called “prep” which I’m told podcasters often do which was a new experience so having the time to do that and no urgency to get the series over the line has definitely enabled us to create a really insightful and  lovely series.

Stu Whiffen

Where did the idea come from?

Pip: I basically got asked a few times if I would be interested in writing an autobiography… and there’s nothing I’d enjoy doing less… haha. But chatting to a pal about the past? That’s a bloody joy and hopefully a very enjoyable podcast.

Stu: Pip’s relentless self absorbed chanting from the rooftops to all in earshot really had to harnessed and kicked into shape and it’s been a dirty job but someone had to do it.

Finish this sentence: “You should listen to our new podcast if you like…”

Pip: Scroobius Pip and Scroobius Pip adjacent things.

Stu: To hear a nice open, honest and  friendly natter between two friends, one of which has had a really fascinating journey to date full of great stories,  and the other a former rapper, podcaster and now an actor.

Listen to Tell Me About It now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

The post Tell Me About It: Learn about the fascinating life of Scroobius Pip appeared first on POD BIBLE.

PB: If you could go back to just before you recorded the first episode of your podcast and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?

C&R: Probably “Learn how to use Logic X properly before sitting down to start the podcast so you don’t end up having a massive argument”… saying that, we still have absolutely no idea how we’ve managed to record the ones we have. Basically, every single recording of every episode has a clip of the first episode on it, because when we deleted it once, the settings all went back to default and we had another massive argument (hence why episode 3 is called ’Episode 3 Take Two’). So we just keep it there. Shocking behaviour we know, but every YouTube tutorial of Logic X is by a 12 year old American child, and we just refuse to watch it.

What makes a great guest?

Well, considering we only have a single question from a guest each episode I’d have to say “The ability to send a voice note in decent quality before the day of recording”. We ask very little of our ‘guests’.

What makes a great host?

Being able to connect with the audience. The best podcasts feel like they are speaking just to you. Whether it be a true crime podcast or a sports podcast, the really great hosts feel like they are on the phone to you, not hosting a podcast. There are so many out there where it seems they have no regard for the audience at all. As a stand up comedian, this is obviously something I lean towards, because my audiences will let you know pretty quickly if you’re not their cup of tea.

What’s been your worst podcast moment?

Probably the first time we recorded Episode 3. It was after a blazing argument and it was so tense and weird. It felt forced and neither of us enjoyed it. Compared to the absolute joy of recording every other episode, before and since then, it was a real low. Podcasting has allowed us to work together as a couple and we absolutely love it… but that was an early red flag that told us working together may not always be sunshine and rainbows.

What is it about podcasts that appeals to you?

Getting to be funny together as a couple, on our own terms. We can literally say anything we want, and if we are happy to put it out, then out it goes! We record it in our kitchen in our own time and often have to stop recording because someone in the street is mowing their lawn or the fridge is humming, it’s so low rent, but it’s getting a lot of love, so we’re doing something right.

What is your podcast/podcaster pet peeve?

As a listener, bad sound quality. There is no need. Some of them out there seem to have been recorded on the Talk Boy from Home Alone 2. I don’t even know how to use Logic and ours sounds decent. As a podcaster, it has to be the fact that every single week someone contacts us to ask why we aren’t on some random podcast app. We are on all the main ones, and I think that’s a fair spread, but every week without fail it’s “Why aren’t you on Trevor’s Podcast Shack?!”. It’s infuriating.

Is there anything you found annoying as a listener but then understood when you started making your own?

People laughing really loud into the mic after what was quite quiet dialogue… it almost blows your speakers out, we used to absolutely hate it… but we’ve done it SO MANY TIMES SINCE. It’s massively unprofessional, we know, and we usually always sit back from the mic to laugh, but sometimes you can’t help it. Again, if I had any idea what I was doing on Logic I could probably dampen it, but I’m an idiot.

Which one episode of your own means the most to you?

The first one, or maybe even the trailer. Because the interest was so massive when we first put it out, it made us realise that this was something people wanted to hear from us and that it was going to work. We had never done any kind of ‘work’ together before so it meant the world to see how excited people got about it.

And finally, which one episode not of your own means the most to you?

It’s hard to say, probably the final episode of Dirty John… if only because I (Chris) was listening to it in a ’trailer’ (like you get on a movie set, but this was for a TV show). When the thing that happens at the end happens (trying not to give it away here), I literally jumped up and screamed; hitting my head on the roof and terrifying the life out of the person in the next trailer. Now, if you’d told me 10 years ago that I would be listening to what is essentially a documentary one day and I’d get so into it, I’d almost put my head through the roof of a caravan, I’d call you a filthy liar.

Bonus question! Which three podcasts could you not live without?

Rosie: Scummy Mummies. I really love it, they make me laugh A LOT. They are two really funny women and I love listening to them.

Chris: The old Ricky Gervais Podcasts. They were the soundtrack to my early comedy career. I have heard them a million times. If it wasn’t for them, those drives to and from gigs for £10 a spot would have been unbearable.

Both: Sh**ged Married Annoyed, obvs.

You can listen to Sh**ged Married Annoyed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps.

The post THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO… Chris & Rosie Ramsey appeared first on POD BIBLE.

We asked host Steff Garrero to tell us a bit more about the process, what listeners can expect – and what they hope subscriptions on Spotify can do for the podcast.

You’ve just launched The Socially Distant Sports Bar Extra on Spotify – tell us more about your bonus content offering and why you decided to launch this?

Distant Pod Extra is an extended version of The Socially Distant Sports Bar. We’re not going to just be adding content for the sake of it though – if people are paying for it then it needs to be even better than what we already create. So there’ll be a whole section in the middle of the podcast which is just for subscribers. There are 3 of us on the pod me, Mike Bubbins and Elis James and each week we bring 6 sports clips from YouTube, a documentary and a book for us to riff around, it’s a sports format but it’s very much a comedy podcast. So 3 of the sports clips we talk make up the bonus content.

Why did you decide to go with the type of bonus content that you chose to go with?

If you’re going to start asking people pay directly for content then you have to make sure that you’re providing them with something worthwhile – something which they feel happy about spending their money on. We wanted it to be a whole section of the show which is just for them – still a part of The Socially Distant Sports Bar – but not a tag on just to make money. The bonus content on its own is longer and hopefully funnier than most other pods! We also think that the bonus section being in the middle of the pod rather than the start or end makes it feel like you’re missing out on something if you don’t subscribe, rather than it being an add on if you do.

Did you already have a subscription content offering prior to launching on Spotify?

We’ve been running a Patreon subscription for the past 15 months or so and it works really well in terms connecting with the audience. We’ve been offering various different levels of subscription which get you various different gifts. The audience have been amazing in supporting us financially via Patreon – Global DAX have been great with bringing in a regular advert revenue for us too.

The only drawback of Patreon is that the RSS feeds don’t work on Spotify – we have a large section of our audience who want to support us financially but love the way that Spotify app works. Linking up with Spotify makes perfect sense for us and adds to the ways in which we can reach the biggest possible audience. They were amazing at promoting us when we first launched in March 2020. We’re an independent podcast with no huge media machine behind us, so the help Spotify gave us at the start meant a lot.

Do you think there is an ideal time/audience size you think creators should consider before they go ahead with bonus content?

I don‘t think it’s about size or timescale when it comes to bonus content or asking for subscriptions.

It’s about engagement. If people are reacting to what you’re creating then there’s an emotional response – they like you a lot (or they don’t!) If your completion rate percentages are very high then your audience like what you’re doing and 5-10% of them might be prepared to pay for more content.

Realistically, unless you’re in the top 10 podcasts in the UK then the advertising revenue alone isn’t going to sustain your product long term.

Have you tweaked your bonus content based on audience feedback? Why and how?

When we started our subscription model we spread the bonus content throughout the episodes. The audience would get 30 minutes more than the free version but it was hard for them to identify where the content was within the pod – it was longer but it was too slick. So we rejigged it so that one of the sections of the show went fully behind a pay wall. The length of the free version stayed exactly the same, but moving part of the show to subscription only worked really well for us in two ways. The audience we already had could identify where the bonus content was and make a decision on the quality of it more easily; it also provided the incentive for far more of our audience to subscribe to the bonus content because they felt they were missing out.

Are there any best practices you’d like to share for podcasters looking to produce their own bonus content, but haven’t started yet?

It has to be part of the product you’re already creating and your heart needs to be in the extra content too. If it’s just an add on to make money then people will feel short changed pretty quickly. The same production values, the same effort & energy from your hosts are needed for it to be a success.

There are a million podcasts out there, streaming platforms and subscription channels – what makes your content stand out for your audience demographic? Podcast listeners are, on the whole, a loyal bunch. But that loyalty and trust goes two ways. If you launch something substandard just to get money in, it will damage your brand.

Listen and subscribe to The Socially Distanced Sports Bar Extra on SPOTIFY!

—

This post was created in partnership with Spotify.

The post The Socially Distant Sports Bar brings something extra to Spotify! appeared first on POD BIBLE.