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Today on the Get Started episode of Elite Podcast Academy we have Abe Abdelhadi, host of The Bitter Truth.
Abe explains that the main topic is left of the left politics. He says it isn't about bashing the Democrats and Hillary Clinton, but he approaches bigger topics like the Middle East and the military.
He wants to present information to people they won't hear anywhere else. He rightly states that people cannot make a decision about things without the truth.
Abe became interested in podcasting about this topic based upon his past experiences. He played in rock bands until his mid-30s. He was also a stand up comedian. He is currently a sales person. This groomed him to be a great communicator.
Abe is someone who communicates extremely well. He attempts to do so in a way you don't hear anywhere else. He says his guests have helped him put out a great show. He has had some big names in politics on his show. He says he agrees with most of the people who come on his show. He has also found that most of the people who don't agree with him also don't want to come on his show.
Abe points out how things you do seem like they won't be of any benefit to you at the time, but in 6 months or more they become very helpful. Your confidence in your point of view is improved. He says being a comedian taught him to research his thoughts so that he is sure to say the right thing. By “right thing” he means that he is being accurate.
Mike points out that Abe is very comfortable expressing his opinion, which drives his topic forward.
Abe launched his podcast on his own. It was a struggle for him, but he persevered. He looked for a place to do it and looked for guests. He anticipated doing 3 shows a week, so he spent 6 weeks recording 12 shows. He quickly discovered that scheduling is difficult. This caused him to change to once per week.
He has a Patreon at http://patreon.com/thebittertruth. He uses that to bring in a small amount of money.
The most difficult thing about starting the podcast was his confidence in his own ability to pick good guests. He states his biggest mental hurdle was wondering how long he could keep people coming on his show.
He points out that his guests often connect him to other potential guests. This means he can turn one episode into multiple episodes. His one interview with a Libertarian resulted in 9 interviews for The Bitter Truth.
He points out that after doing pre-interviews he has had many people not come on the show because he just didn't think it was going to work.
Mike and Abe discuss how difficult it can be to get someone to pick a date and time for an interview.
Abe says he likes to be fair and doesn't want to sandbag anyone. He says that many times the pre-interview indicates to him that the guest just will not work. Either things were so contentious on the phone that the guest was scared off or the guest just had nothing to say.
He has done 40 shows so far and has only done 3 by himself.
Abe says he doesn't actually edit the shows unless there is some glitch that needs to be fixed. He merely takes the intro and outro and inserts those and then compiles the episode and releases it. He is OK with cusswords. If someone has a verbal tendency like “umm” or “like” he leaves it in. His opinion is that this is how people speak. He wants to treat his show like live radio.
Mike agrees that changing a conversation to make it sound better is not always the best idea. The dynamics of the conversation change and that causes problems with the listener. Mike describes how their situation is very casual. They don't lock out their pets, for instance. He says they can later edit out the things that they don't feel fit.
Abe speaks about one of his guests, a psychologist. He had known this guest a long time. He says the aim is to make it sound like he and the guest are sitting around having a beer. He has bullet points about topics he wants to hit, but he lets the conversation go as it will.
Mike praises Abe for his approach. He has noticed that on his own appearances on The Bitter Truth, the conversation doesn't get changed.
Mike makes the point that podcasts don't have to sound like broadcast radio.
Mike asks Abe what he would do a second show about if he started one. Abe says it would be either about comedy or rock and roll. He feels it would be slightly lighter than The Bitter Truth. He says he would approach some of the finer issues like what is happening with music today.
Since Abe lives in Austin, he would have lots of potential guests for a music podcast.
Mike points out that paying for studio time to produce a podcast will limit what you can do. It costs too much. You have to go to the studio. It just limits what can be done.
Mike points out that podcasting as a medium is mobile. He points out that Yogi's Podcast Network has produced shows at conventions on the convention floor.
Mike points out that a music podcast could get to the bottom of what it is like to produce music today. Abe says that the recording labels are now dead. If you want to be famous, you need a label. They are now signing fewer and fewer people. He points out that 25 years ago labels would sign 10 bands. 1 would be outrageously successful and the others not so much.
He points out that bands today can put out their own stuff and make much more money. He says that downloads are a more realistic number than sales were before. So many albums were returned and the artist never got paid. Downloads don't cause that situation.