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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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Summary

 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.2021-2026 JAG in Detroit LLC Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Beware of Pop-Up Podcast Studios!

    Beware of Pop-Up Podcast Studios!
    Apr 30 2026

    So just a short abbreviated version of the Jag Show today for a couple of different reasons.

    Okay, first off, I'm doing a little bit of testing. My partners over at Simplecast, they are the podcast hosting platform that I've used, are rolling out a feature for some plans where you can upload your video into Simplecast and automatically connect to your YouTube. So you don't have to upload your audio and your video in separate places. If you're doing a video podcast, you put the video in one place, it populates to your YouTube, done and done. And there's also going to be the availability to check analytics from your YouTube through Simplecast all in one place. I love the idea. I've been working on them, getting some kinks worked out of it. And of course, I'm going to test it for myself before I roll it out to my clients. Okay, the other thing that I want to talk about today is podcast studios. Now, I know some folks prefer to record in a studio. They really like that feel of having a face-to-face conversation with somebody. They feel something gets lost when you're on Zoom or on a screen like we all felt during COVID.

    But please, if you're going to go to your... But please, if you're going to go to a studio, please vet the studio before you go. Anybody can buy a thousand dollars worth of equipment, set it up and say, hey, we've got a podcast studio. I know of a client of mine that went to a podcast studio, did not know any better, not on them, but they recorded in the podcast studio on Riverside and sent me the files. But when I got the files, the video dimensions were off. It wasn't 1920 by 1080 or even 1280 by 720 or even 4K. It just wasn't the right dimensions. So what I then had to do, and there were only two cameras, there was a camera on each participant, but no wide shot of everybody. So that took a little bit of creative video editing on my side to get everything to look right, to look like a normal conversation.

    Now, I'm not going to fault the studio. There are very fine folks that run the studio. But if you are going to start a podcast studio, consult with somebody that knows how to set up a studio first. And then if you're going to use a podcast studio, take a look at some content that's been produced there or ask them some questions. Make sure it's the right place like everything you want to do your due diligence. Now all that said, I am still a huge fan of the Riverside platform. It's what I'm recording the Jag Show on right now. I'm recording in 4K thanks to my Sony... What is it again? I'm recording in 4K with my Sony camera and my, as you can see on the video, my Shure SM7B microphone plugged into my Rodecaster Duo.

    And I posted about this on LinkedIn. Shout out to my friend, Kristin Donnelly, who asked, can you record two people in person on Riverside? Yes, you can. If you have an interface or mixer that two mics can plug into, you can separate out the audio feeds. The only catch is you're going to have one camera feed for everybody, so make sure it's a wide shot. Or if you're on Apple, you can use your iPhone or iPad as a continuity camera with your Mac. If you're not on Apple, you can use the Riverside app on an iPhone or an iPad or an Android device to be a second camera in the session. You can go between the different views. So there's that too. If you have any questions about Riverside recording remotely or recording in person, please feel free to reach out to me, jag@jagpodcastproductions.com.

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


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    4 mins
  • Comcast Rant

    Comcast Rant
    Feb 20 2026
    Who doesn't love a good Comcast rant? My wife and I moved over the holidays – but this story starts way before that. We couldn’t do Fiber internet in our old house for technical reasons, so we reluctantly switched over to Comcast and Xfinity. At the time, we were both working from home – and we BLEW through the data limits for their residential service. I figured it was all of these live podcast recordings, uploads, and downloads. Turns out, it was her being on Microsoft Teams calls all day. At any rate, we had to upgrade to a Comcast Business account. Fine. In December, we were fortunate in that we had a couple weeks of overlap, where we were still in the old house, but transitioning into the new house. So I called Comcast, and explained I needed the service in BOTH locations. The sales rep seemed OK with that, but told me to contact him as soon as the new service was installed, so he could try and keep up all my discounts, which were unusually high, in his estimation. I emphasized, DO NOT TURN OFF SERVICE to the old house when the new house is turned on. Cut to December 18th – my birthday, no less. I spent the entire afternoon at the new house, waiting for the install. The older gentleman tested the line and told me the connection wasn’t great. So he climbed the utility pole in our new neighbors’ yard, and ran a coax line across the top of their fence, and ours, into our house. Turns out, our electricity line is underground here – great for a storm – bad when the cable company has to, by law, follow that line. So they opened a ticket to have someone come out and bury the line once the ground thawed. Meanwhile, there’s a giant red coax cable strung across our neighbors’ yard (fortunately they are super nice), and ours. Cable comes on, and my wife calls from the old house – sure enough, they turned the service off, over there. What followed was 15 minutes of me cussing out an automated system at Comcast, because it was after hours. Finally, I get a human being, overseas, who tells me to unplug it and reset it. I explain, no, it’s not a technical issue – it’s a YOU issue. “Oh I’m sorry, you’ll have to call back after 7am.” Uh, no. This may be a first world problem, but I have too much stuff in my house that relies on the internet to have it off overnight due to your incompetence. I said it a little nicer than that. Miraculously, they turned it back on. First bill comes – for FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS. This includes the install (fine), and two months of service – at $50 per month more than I’d paid all last year. That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back. I called AT&T about fiber. They came in at $80 per month cheaper, no data limits, and excellent customer service. Not to mention they are symmetrical – their upload speed matches their download speed. I’m doing more video for my podcast clients – and an hour podcast, at 1080p resolution can be around 6 Gigabites. To upload a file of that size would take an hour on Comcast. With AT&T, it’s usually a few minutes. SOLD. So I cancel Comcast. But in the interest of being a good neighbor, I need to get the cable removed from their yard and ours. Dead end, after dead end on phone, and chat. I’m pretty sure, Comcast having the monopoly that they do – the system is designed to get you frustrated and just give up. But then my good friend Diane entered the picture. She told me there’s a REDDIT thread for Comcast support. And she suspects the agents that are too good for the phone and chat get “banished” there. It’s some sort of secret society. Long story short – I posted about the issue. A moderator DM’ed me, and despite a few hiccups, eventually someone came and removed the line. So THAT problem was solved. That only leaves the bill. Reddit couldn’t help me there because once I admitted it was a business account, they very quickly said “not it!” On January 15th when I cancelled the service, they had the audacity to tell me I was past my 30 day cancellation window. I told them no, I spent my BIRTHDAY on the 18th waiting around for your installer. So they processed the cancellation. Look, I’m a reasonable person. I don’t expect a refund for the installation, nor do I expect to get my money back for the first month of service that I used. But I damn well better get my money back for the second month of service that was NOT used. They told me to wait until the February 14th bill to see the refund. I got the Feb 14th bill – and have a credit OF…18 dollars and 18 cents. Still no refund for month 2. So I tried the chat – oh you have to call our retention department – which sounds like AI but I think is a person. After 30 minutes on the phone, I come to find out – they are insisting I’m was out of my 30 day window on the cancellation because even though the install was on the 18th, the CONTRACT started on the 15th. They waived my ...
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    8 mins
  • 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
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