283 Eric Johnson - The Evolution of Journalism and What I Learned at All Things Digital

Episode Summary:

Harry welcomes to the show founder, podcaster and entrepreneur, Eric Johnson. Eric is the host of Follow Friday, the podcast about who you should follow online. Every week, Eric talks to creative people about who they follow, and why. He’s also the founder of LightningPod, a podcast consulting firm that helps its clients achieve their podcasting goals. Today, Harry and Eric engage in a discussion on the evolution of journalism, Eric’s experience at All Things Digital and what inspired Eric to launch a podcast focused on interesting people you should follow. Eric shares some of the biggest lessons he’s learned as a podcaster, talks about his love of movies and speaks to the idea that you can’t possibly consume the amount of content out there. 

Episode Sponsors:

Focusrite – http://pcjk.es/focusrite

FullCast – https://fullcast.co/

Key Takeaways:

06:17 – Harry and Eric talk about podcast recommendations, Eric’s background in journalism and the importance of keeping Big Tech in check  

19:06 – The death of local news 

24:27 – Eric’s experience at All Things Digital 

30:16 – Defining what is newsworthy and journalists Eric admires 

35:49 – Eric’s podcast origin story and what the production cycle looks like for Recode 

43:44 – Tools that aided Eric as a podcast producer 

44:54 – The inspiration to launch Follow Friday 

50:57 – Lessons learned from podcasting 

54:11 – You can’t possibly consume it all, so stop trying 

1:01:54 – Harry thanks Eric for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can connect with him

Tweetable Quotes:

“It’s important that we have a very critical tech press that is really looking carefully and scrutinizing everything they do and how it affects literally billions of people. I’m so glad that I saw firsthand how professionals walk that line of understanding that these are humans making decisions, humans are flawed and make mistakes, but at the same time they need to be reminded of the power they have and to use it responsibly.” (18:24) (Eric) 

“I had to do a lot of learning on the job. It was a lot of trial and error to figure out what’s the right workflow for this show and what’s the right tone and what do we need to do for a live taping and what do we have to do to get the guests booked, all the moving pieces that go into making a podcast.” (37:05) (Eric) 

“The idea is A, I want to make a successful show, something that I can be really proud of. But B, it’s also important for me to be out in the trenches making a show, committing to a schedule, trying new things, experimenting, learning on the job so that I can go back and use what I learned from making Follow Friday to help my consulting clients.” (45:13) (Eric) 

“I think the biggest thing has been learning about the rhythm of the interview, learning about the pace of everything, not rushing the guest and not talking over them.” (51:23) (Eric) 

Links Mentioned:

FullCast Website – https://fullcast.co/

Podcast Junkies Junkies Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/podcastjunkiesjunkies/

Link to Podfest Expo Virtual Summit – https://podfestexpo.com/

Link to Linda Holmes’ NPR Essay – https://www.npr.org/2011/06/27/137451477/you-cant-possibly-read-it-all-so-stop-trying 

Link to Baggage Claim Podcast – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/baggage-claim/id1543624775 

Link to LightningPod – https://lightningpod.fm/ 

Link to Follow Friday Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/followfriday 

Eric’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/heyheyesj/ 

Eric’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/HeyHeyESJ 

Eric’s Podcast: 

Follow Friday – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/follow-friday/id1549333457 

Tools Mentioned: 

Google Drive – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-drive/id507874739 

Asana – https://asana.com/ 

Trello – https://trello.com/ 

Evernote – https://evernote.com/ 

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