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The Jag Show: Podcast Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices

The Jag Show: Podcast Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices

By: JAG (Jon Gay)
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About this listen

 Podcast and radio veteran Jon "JAG" Gay provides tips, tricks, and best practices for you and your podcast. By day, JAG launches and improves podcasts for financial advisors, small businesses, nonprofits, and corporate communications departments. His company rebranded from JAG in Detroit Podcasts to JAG Podcast Productions in August, 2025. After 15 years as a radio DJ and program director, and now 8 as a podcast host and producer, he brings over two decades of audio experience and perspective to the podcasting world.2021-2025 JAG in Detroit LLC Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Know Your Team!

    Know Your Team!
    Oct 8 2025
    Today I want to talk to you about who is on your team.I’ll use two examples from the NFL this past Sunday. They happen to be my two favorite teams. I started the afternoon with my adopted Detroit Lions. They were playing at Cincinnati and running back David Montgomery was having a homecoming. His family is there. He's from there and notably his sister is paralyzed after a car accident last year. So lots of pictures surfaced online of David meeting with his sister in a wheelchair before the game.Well, during the game, Dan Campbell wanted to give David Montgomery his moment. So he called a trick play and David Montgomery, the running back, threw a touchdown pass in addition to running one in later in the game. He knew that it was a special game for his star and he made him shine. I don't think David Montgomery is not going to run through a wall for Dan Campbell after a game like that. Then in the nightcap, my number one team, the team that I grew up rooting for, the Patriots, went into Buffalo as big underdogs. Nobody expected much out of them. Well, head coach Mike Vrabel from the Patriots knew that it was a homecoming of sorts for wide receiver, Stefon Diggs, he'd been traded from Buffalo and he really had something to prove. was getting older, he's getting past surgery. So what did they do? They threw him the ball, a lot, and Diggs had his best game as a Patriot. He was emotional before the game. He was emotional after the game. The Patriots pulled a huge upset win. And it all came down to knowing, for both Diggs and Montgomery, about them and what makes them tick. What does this have to do with podcasting? Well, for your podcast, if you're part of an ensemble, know what strengths your co-hosts have. Is someone really good at sports? Is someone really knowledgeable about food, current events, news? When something is going on in the podcast, you can tie back to your main topic, lean on those folks, make them feel like they are part of the team. And in doing so, you will have a much more loyal team member. It'll feel like much more of a group effort. And your show will be that much better. Know what makes each of your co-hosts tick, what they're good at and what motivates them, and it will make a better overall product. Okay, onto other podcasting news this week. WNYC, the public media outfit in New York, is making all of their locally produced programming available for all national public radio affiliates. Now this is huge, regardless of how you lean politically, with the recent funding cuts to public radio and TV and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Folks need content.They don't have as much money to produce original content, so keeping them on the air is paramount. And if you aren't really feeling the tote bag and don't have a lot of money to donate to your public radio affiliate, listen to their podcasts. More and more public radio and TV affiliate revenue is coming from podcasting.Listen to their shows, give them the download numbers, they'll sell it, they will make money that way. So you don't have to participate in a telethon. Just listen to your local public radio podcast.The team at BuzzSprout, a popular podcast hosting service is releasing a name generator, or a name checker, we should call it. You don't have to be a paid BuzzSprout subscriber. You can simply go on their website and try it out. It will tell you that if the name you want for your podcast is taken anywhere else and will help you find the best ranking and best fitting title for your show. That is again linked in the show notes. And finally, also linked in the show notes, if you missed Podcast Movement, you know I rave about it every year, all sessions from podcast movement, everything from production to monetization to industry tracks, everything done at Podcast Movement is now available for free on demand. Even if you didn't buy a ticket to the show, it's on YouTube and you can watch it at the link in the show notes.Finally, some big news this week. Chat GPT is integrating Spotify data. So if your show has good show notes, a good title and more, you may get your podcast to show up in chat GPT results. Always, spend time on your title and your show notes. Later.BuzzSprout Podcast Name Generator: https://www.buzzsprout.com/podcast-name-generatorThe Podcast Movement Archive on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PodcastMovementArchive/featured Find jag on social media @JAGPodcastProductions or online at JAGPodcastProductions.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    4 mins
  • Chat-Based Editing?! Interview with Riverside's Kendall Breitman

    Chat-Based Editing?! Interview with Riverside's Kendall Breitman
    Oct 1 2025
    On September 30th., International Podcast Day, the Podcast Super Friends, welcomed Kendall Breitman, Community Lead at Riverside, with big news on a major product rollout: Riverside's launch of its new chat-based editing tool — the "AI Co-Creator," affectionately nicknamed “Coco” by the internal team. Co-Creator introduces a major shift in how podcasters can handle post-production. Instead of manually editing timelines or transcripts, users can simply type what they want — like “make this episode more engaging” or “cut the part about watermelons” — and Riverside’s AI will handle the edits. The tool supports everything from layout changes, B-roll additions, branding overlays, to audio cleanup like EQ adjustments and filler word removal, all with user-guided flexibility. Kendall walks us through the evolution of the tool — how it started as a way to generate show notes and blog posts directly from transcripts, and now powers full post-production editing, video layout automation, and audio enhancements like Magic Audio and Smart Mute. Co-Creator’s AI capabilities also include adding royalty-free music, removing background noise, and even dynamically changing video composition based on prompts. While you still have full control to fine-tune manually, the tool helps users speed up their editing dramatically. We also discuss the importance of community feedback. Kendall emphasizes Riverside's commitment to implementing user suggestions quickly, with the Facebook group "Conversation Creators by Riverside" acting as a hub for ideas and feedback. In fact, several features — including the Editor Add-On that lets producers access client accounts — were born directly from community input. The conversation touches on pricing barriers for small-scale producers, the benefits of using iPhones as high-quality second cameras, and the addition of Safari support — making the platform even more accessible. We also explore Riverside’s live streaming capabilities, which let creators stream to multiple platforms including YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and custom RTMP destinations — with multi-channel live chat support. Kendall suggests this is a great next step for creators looking to deepen audience engagement, especially as platforms reward live content in their algorithms. Wrapping up, Kendall highlights Riverside’s free resources, like the Community Hub (riverside.com/community) and their live workshop series, which showcase workflows from everyday creators. She also teases future updates and encourages everyone to keep checking back — because the features keep rolling out fast. More: https://riverside.com/community Riverside Users Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/264571558188791 Superfriends' websites: Johnny Peterson - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Johnny Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.johnnypodcasts.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Catherine O’Brien -⁠⁠⁠⁠ Branch Out Programs ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.branchoutprograms.com⁠⁠⁠ Jon Gay: Jag Podcast Productions ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.jagpodcastproductions.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ David Yas: Pod 617 -⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Boston Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.pod617.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Matt Cundill - ⁠⁠⁠⁠The Sound Off Media Company⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundoff.network⁠⁠⁠⁠ 00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guests 01:02 Big Announcement: Chat-Based Editing 03:27 Evolution of Riverside's Editing Tools 04:45 Community Feedback and Feature Development 07:51 Introducing the AI Co-Creator: Coco 09:33 CoCreator's Journey and Marketing Assets 10:52 Editing with Coco: Enhancements and Control 12:00 Advanced Editing Features and AI Capabilities 14:03 Audio Enhancements and Magic Audio Features 16:42 Filler Word Removal and Audio Quality 18:54 Maintaining Creative Control with AI Tools 22:32 Exploring Media Board Functionality 23:44 Video Editing Techniques and AI Integration 25:02 Enhancing Video Quality with Creative Edits 26:57 Browser Compatibility and User Experience 27:12 Safari and Cross-Browser Functionality 29:01 Using Mobile Devices for Recording 30:10 Community Engagement and Feature Awareness 31:22 Community Resources and User Feedback 34:05 Understanding Podcaster Needs and Trends 36:42 Challenges in Podcast Promotion and Repurposing 39:10 The Importance of YouTube for Discoverability 42:56 Producer Tools and User Feedback 44:58 Navigating Technical Challenges in Podcasting 47:40 Enhancing Collaboration with Riverside's New Features 49:37 The Rise of Live Streaming in Podcasting 56:59 Riverside's Comprehensive Podcasting Solutions 58:19 Community Engagement and Resources for Podcasters Find jag on social media @JAGPodcastProductions or online at JAGPodcastProductions.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr
  • Podcast Crutches - What's Yours?

    Podcast Crutches - What's Yours?
    Sep 25 2025

    What is your podcast crutch? We all have them.

    So I was sitting at a Detroit Tigers game with a friend the other day. Sadly, we were at a Detroit Tigers game. And we were talking about the WJPZ at 50 podcast that I had done. And he was teasing me that the "whispered wow" is what he called the hallmark of any JAG podcast. When somebody says something compelling or interesting, I tend to sit back and say, "Woooow."

    And I thought about it. He was probably right. And then he joked that other people have stolen it from me. I don't think it's original to me. That said, I was recording a podcast the very next day and I caught myself saying, "Wow," when somebody said something interesting. Now, there's nothing wrong with occasionally using a crutch or occasionally having a trademark of your podcast. And my friend wasn't criticizing me, but it got me thinking. We all have verbal crutches.

    I know one podcaster that as she gets ready for her next question, she says, "aaaaand," until she thinks of what she wants to look for. Some people say, um, uh, you know, like- those words that we all use in regular conversation.

    And this is not something that you are going to know off the top of your head what it is.

    My challenge to you, once you're 10, 15 episodes deep in your podcast, go back and listen to yourself. Now, I know this is something that's difficult for a lot of people because physiologically, your voice does not sound the same on a recording as it does inside the bones conducting inside your skull. Nobody likes how they sound recorded. But go back and listen to yourself and see if you can find certain crutch words you use and be aware of them. That way you can sort of...try to avoid using them, or at least overusing them in the future. It's okay to have crutch words, but as with everything in podcasting, all things in balance.

    Okay, one pet peeve for this week before we wrap up. The lavalier mic. These guys here. If you're a podcast or especially on YouTube, I see this all the time on YouTube.

    Do not use a clip on tiny lavalier mic as your interview mic. I can't tell you how many times he somebody on YouTube go back and forth, hey, quick, quick, let's do this. These mics are designed to clip on to a lapel and be "this far" from somebody's mouth, not right up here. It's going to sound distorted. It's not going to sound good. Then that goes for these old school lapel mics, lav mics and these new school mics that clip on.

    And Rode makes these, this is a knockoff version of a those. They're designed to clip on and be a certain distance from your mouth. You risk having the audio distort and clip and be too loud if you don't use mics as they're designed. If you're going to interview somebody, have a handheld mic and do it the old school way. Use mics the way in which they're designed.

    If you need me, I'll be telling the neighborhood kids to get off my lawn and their music is too loud. Lata!

    Find jag on social media @JAGPodcastProductions or online at JAGPodcastProductions.com


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    3 mins
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