Joe Eftihiou on Podcast Amplification and the Power of Live Events
#73

Joe Eftihiou on Podcast Amplification and the Power of Live Events

Hey, everybody. Welcome to Poduty and the News for Tuesday, June 16, 2026.

I got a great guest joining me today, Joe Eftihiou from

Claricast. Joe, do you know what time it is?

It's showtime. What time is it?

What time is it?

The only live news podcast about

podcasting from the stage.

The only live news podcast about

podcasting from the stage.

Oh, the only live news podcast about podcasting from the stage.

Joe Eftihiou from Claricast, welcome to the show. Thank

you. Love, love that, love that theme tune. You've got the

dancing. It's 8am right now and

yeah, it's a little bit later for you, but that's a high energy song for

eight in the morning. Yeah, for sure. Nice. Just after

lunch. So I'm, I'm ready for it. Well,

Joe, tell us a little bit about Claricast. I know I've been on your show

before. You're super passionate about podcasting. You're all

about the creativity, the creation,

really refining the level of what a podcast

can be through expert audio, expert recording. And tell us a little bit more

about Claricast. Yeah, sure. So we're a podcast

production company. We do launches, relaunches and

production and we help businesses use podcasting to

get in front of their ideal clients and

convert listeners into clients or listen guests into clients as

well. Basically just ensuring that they're actually getting results out of their

podcast and that it doesn't just devolve into,

you know, just that kind of week to week, almost like, almost like a

hobby, which a lot of business podcasts do end up doing. So, yeah,

we really focus on the high production values

for video and audio show notes, writing,

graphic design, you name it. And yeah, we just help

businesses put together a leading podcast in their space and

then help use that podcast to get in front of their

ideal buyers. Yeah, it really is next level.

It's really incredible what you're building and what you've built. I've seen some of your

clients, I've seen some of your work. If you're a business looking to build a

podcast specifically, check out Claricast. What's the. The domain

name? Claricast.com. how easy is that?

Claricast.com I'll have all of Joe's links in the show notes.

They'll be down below and there'll be what we call the crew page.

Now that Joe's been on the show, he's going to be inducted into the Poduty

and the Crew and all the, all of Joe's links, all of his

references, all the future shows, if Joe ever comes back on, they'll all be

listed on this page where you can really connect with Joe. Stay in contact,

find out more about Clariacast, and follow the journey.

Joe, are you ready for our first story? I'm ready. Story

number one. We're staying in New York, and this is a big announcement.

Podcast Movement opens ticket sales and speaker submissions for

New York 2026. And yes, this is a podcast conference.

Yes, this is going to be happening in New York City, but there's also a

live podcasting element happening here where they're going to

be doing live recordings and live podcasts during the show. So

Podcast Movement has announced that tickets are now on sale and speaker

submissions are open for Podcast Movement New York 2026.

The event takes place September 17th and 18th at Terminal

5 in Manhattan. The conference will feature sessions covering

podcast creation, audience growth, monetization,

production, distribution, video, community building, and business operations.

Podcast Movement has also opened its call for speakers, and with half of the

final session selected through public voting and the other half

chosen by a community selection committee. And this

is really a lot of what we talk about in this theater is if you

are going to get involved in live podcasting, live events,

the best way to get started is to go where your audience is.

And if you're doing a podcast about podcasting or you just love podcasting in

general, events like Podcast Movement podfest,

those are built with your audience already there in one place.

So if you're thinking about live events, live

podcasting, go to where the people who do the thing that you

do are. That's. That's one of the reasons I love this event. I love that

they're also incorporating live podcasting into the show.

Joe, what were some of your takeaways? Yeah, this is really cool. And

it's not a show that I've been able to attend before, but I go to

the podcast Show London. So, yeah,

Podcast Movement in New York, be awesome to go to that at some point.

And I just get so much value out of going to the podcast show, which

is a similar kind of setup. It's in London. It's got

live podcast episodes being recorded. It's also got the

networking side of things and the seminars so you

can learn about what's going on in the world of podcasting. So

if you are a podcaster or if you work

in the podcasting industry, there's something generally for

both sides. I mean, have done a bit of research on the podcast movement,

but yeah, I've been about Four times to the London one now. And it's just

been so useful as a tool for networking and

connecting with people and just getting the latest

statistics of what's going on in the industry and information and

yeah, I just find it very valuable and it's always a nice event each year.

Yeah, the networking and connections that you make through these types of

events are incredible. They're there. You'll build lifelong friends, I'm sure

people that you met at the first podcast London, you're still

talking to, you're still in contact with. And on top of that,

you're also finding out what's possible. A lot of times podcasters live in their

little bubbles or little home studios. They're doing the recordings week after

week after week. But when you go to an event like this and you meet

new people, you sit in on sessions, you're learning what's possible,

you're learning how to, to build on what you've already built and really take

that to the next level. Yeah, and it's gotten

better every time for me, like you say, you make lifelong friends.

I've been about four times now to the London one, the, the podcast

show. And the first time I went, it was kind

of nerve wracking. I didn't know how to make the best out of my time

there. I was putting flyers everywhere and in

the hope that it would grow my business. And it's just like I've realized now

that that's not really all that valuable and it's the

conversations you have. And now when I go, I'm walking around, looking at the

stands and stuff and waiting for meetings I've booked, but I'll

just see people that I know there and it's just become more of a,

a community thing and just something to look forward to. Yeah, you can, you can

pass out 500 flyers, but they will not be as valuable as

shaking 10 hands and having 10 conversations. You'll get

so much more doing that one on one networking and, you know, a little bit

of a lesson learned from your first one, but you know, you've built on that.

You've now gone four, three more times and you've made connections, you know,

in each and every one. It's, it's really the benefit of going

to locations where people are doing what you do, doing what you love,

and you're putting all those people in a room. That's the real value of

conferences like this. Yeah, definitely. And I like what podcast

movement does with the price. It's, you said $199

and that's just gets you access to everything. It's a little bit more

segmented with a lot of these trade shows including the podcast

show London where you get a bronze or

silver gold and platinum pass. And the first couple of times I,

I thought I'd save a bit of money. You know, I don't need to go

to every single event. But then you find one that you really want to go

and it's like okay, platinum only you're not allowed in. So I quite like

it that this one you just pay and you get everything

avoids any kind of. Yeah, missing out or wondering which.

Which ticket to get and so on. Yeah, no tier tickets of flat

rate 199. It's just a great everyone.

Everyone gets everything. You know, when you go there, you know, why not

get the full experience? You don't have to really separate people off

into private rooms. You can really have.

Podcasting is so tight knit. It's such a community of passionate people.

Everybody should really be involved in all the conversations

and our next couple stories. I know that you have a little bit of a

music background and music probably the reason why you're so

dedicated to great podcast audio. And this one is a

Rock and Roll hall of Fame is hosting a live podcast recording with

Sheila E. And Kathleen Hannah on June 24th.

This event features Kathleen and Grammy winning

percussionist and singer songwriter Sheila E. The recording takes place at

3:30pm in the Foster Theater inside the museum. Tickets

are 20 bucks for members, 25 for non members. And this

event is one of several programs, live programs, live

podcasts hosted by the museum during the month of June.

Yeah, no, this isn't. This is cool. And like you say, I've got a

music background. I did music tech in uni and then that led

me to working in recording studios across the uk and

then I started moving into podcast audio which evolved into

all the other elements of podcasting that are now part of it.

So the video and writing and everything. So is

cool to see that there are music podcasts and

they're becoming more than, than just what they are at the

moment. I feel like there were a lot of music podcasts when

podcasting first started where they would just play music on the

podcast and obviously these days

it's much harder to get away with doing that. But this is obviously an

official event with, with the actual artists there and everything. So it's a nice way

of bringing music into podcasting. Yeah, great way tying it in with

the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. We got Kathleen from Bikini Kill and

Latigra. Sheila E. Has been just a

sensation for 30, 40 years now. And what a great

event. A live event happening at the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, being

recorded as a podcast. I didn't mention the name. It's the Music Makes Us

podcast. They're going to be recording this live for later

distribution. So you can be there in the audience, get the full real

time experience, but then fans can also listen to it at a later

date on their own time. And that's really the beauty of what

live podcasting offers. It gives you an immersive in the

moment experience, but it's also recorded and lives on much

longer than the two hour session.

Yeah, and it just gives it something a little bit different

than what a lot of podcasts are doing. It gives you

a reason to listen to that podcast above or

sort of instead of other podcasts which might be doing kind of the similar kind

of things, just sort of talking about music. But

yeah, it's quite hard these days to find a

particular niche that hasn't been tapped into.

They obviously have a little bit of a benefit of getting access

to these famous artists, which, which is also going to help.

Yeah, the thing that I love about this style too is I think back

25, 30 years ago when, you know, a cover

or a copy of Rolling Stone would show up in the mail or Spin magazine

and you would read these in depth interviews, these articles

maybe from the road or about their new album. But now we don't

really have magazine subscriptions anymore. We might read some blog posts or

some news stories, but these types of interviews, and

we're seeing it a lot like Billy Corgan is doing an interview show where

he's, he's interviewing these famous artists from like a tea shop, like

a little theater in the back of a tea room. And these

are those magazine interview articles we used to read 20 years ago.

They're now performing them live and you can go see them,

you know, in real time and see how the, you know, see how the sausage

is made. You'll see, see the behind the scenes, get those stories,

ask questions, interact, you know, sure, there's an audience Q

and A at the end. If you're a fan of Kathleen or Sheila E. You

can certainly get up, ask a question and you know, you know,

how cool was that? You think that was even possible 30 years ago? Yeah,

for sure. And it's like reasonable, reasonably priced as well. And

it's something that you would remember

long term rather than just listening to an episode of the podcast. On Spotify.

If you've been to see one life, then that's something you're

presumably never going to forget. Yeah, 20, 25

bucks. That's a, that's a good night out in this economy.

Let's keep it moving with some music. We're going to some hip hop. We got

hip hop artists. Fabulous Mayno, Dave east

and Jim Jones hosted the first live taping of their podcast

let's Rap about it at Terminal 5 in New York City. The

sold out event featured a live recording of the podcast, audience

participation activities, music from DJs DJ Drew

Ski and DJ Mike Medium, and a surprise appearance by rapper

Remy Ma. During the show, the hosts discussed topics including

sports, relationships, social media and fatherhood. Audience

members also participated in trivia games and prize giveaways.

The event was presented by Prize Picks and included sponsorship support

from 1800 Tequila, McDonald's and Morgan

and Morgan. Yeah, it just, when you get that audience

participation, it just changes it into something completely different.

Really. It is still a podcast and talking

about this a lot recently, like what is the definition of a podcast? Because there

has been a lot of people that I've seen

on places like Reddit claiming that if a podcast

has video, it's not a podcast and

it has to be audio only. And then it kind of links in with this

because it's, it's no longer just, again just audio. It's

happening in a theater. It's,

it's audio, it's video, it's, it's live interaction

and but it's still, it's still a podcast. You're attending a podcast recording

and yeah, it just transforms it into something completely different.

Being able to access is the access,

isn't it being able to access the hosts that you've kind of formed this,

this kind of one sided relationship. When

listening to the podcast, it becomes. You got the chance to turn it into a

two sided relationship. It's, it's quite exciting.

Yeah. Five, six years ago I used to be one of those sticklers that it's,

it's got to be an MP3 file Distributed by an RSS feed to, you

know, a podcast app or it's not a podcast. And I still think

there should be an audio element and audio distribution to, to be in that game

of podcasting. Yeah. But I also am like

it has evolved to a point where I do think I'd rather

support an independent artist creating something and

not get hung up on the definition. So I do still, I still like,

I want to see the RSS feed. I want to see the MP3 file, but

I'm also so bullish on people creating their own works,

their own media, their own assets that, you know, I'll bend

and flex my, you know, my rigid definition just to

support them, to be there for them. But I also, you know, I do want

to see that. I do want to see the MP3 file. No,

I, I do agree, and this may be slight, Slight bit of a tangent,

but it's. Yeah, I, I agree that there

needs to be an RSS feed. It needs to be distributed. It needs to have

those things that make it a podcast. And I, I

have seen podcasts or I've spoken with people who claim they have a

podcast, and then all it is is a playlist on YouTube.

I, I agree. I don't personally call that a podcast, but

if. Yeah, I mean, this. I'm presuming this

podcast, let's rap about it, is on audio podcast.

And it also has this. This element of

live to take so. So that the audience can take their.

They're being fans of the podcast to the next level.

Yeah, that's the part I love. Like, they're pushing the boundaries of, you know,

how do you record a podcast, how do you capture that audio? How do you

create an immersive experience and then release that as a podcast? And

that's the field that I'm playing in. And that's where I really see.

I really see things come to life with podcasting when you do it live

that you don't just get when you're recording in your home studio and releasing an

MP3 file, you know, hoping you get a review or a comment.

When you're, when you're really there in the moment when there's 40, 50 people in

front of you, it's such a different game. It's such a different energy.

It's. There's nothing compares to it. And while you are having that

live event, that live event isn't necessarily a podcast, but extracting that audio

to distribute. That's what becomes the podcast. So you can have all these

points. You can have. Like Joe was saying, you're getting into video recording or you've

been video recording, but so video is also a part of podcasting.

You can capture the recording in real time. And now you have this video

asset that you can put on YouTube or distribute in different ways, but

you still, at the heart, at its core, you know, it's always centered

around that audio file.

Yeah. And I'm glad podcast fans have some.

Something else. Now I have other options because not everyone

listens to music or I mean, most people listen to music to a degree, but

maybe not like hugely into music as much as they might be

hugely into podcasting. And music and other

forms of medium have. Media have always had that,

those options where you can listen, you can buy

the CDs, the merch, you can go and see the band live, you can take,

you know, take things to the next level. And

it's taken a while for podcasting to

really get that mainstream. I mean, I, I remember I

did view, did go and see a podcast live about 10 years ago.

I think it was, it was quite a. An

unknown thing back then, going to see a podcast live, but now

it's, as you know, becoming more of a

expectation, particularly from the bigger shows.

Yeah, you're seeing it all, especially with celebrities and

actors and comedians who have a large following already. You know,

we're seeing them take their podcasts to theaters and arenas

and doing great shows. So we know that this is

happening. We know that the public is starting to consume this as a form

of entertainment. It's live entertainment. The problem is,

what's the bridge between the home studio and

Madison Square Garden or a big theater?

There's no middle ground. So that's where I really think over the

next, you know, five years, you're going to see small places pop

up so the independent podcast creators can perform their shows

live to, to kind of be that stepping stone to. To bigger and bigger

theaters and arenas. Yeah, and it's, I

mean, I, I don't change what we offer all the

time just to follow the trends with Claricast, because

a lot of what's most important with the podcast stays the same,

I think. But it's definitely important to keep an eye out and keep an

ear out for what is going on if, if live does become the thing

that people want, especially in the AI age,

where people are craving

events and things that aren't that can't be replicated by

AI basically. And this is one of them. And here's

another one, a TV show in the States. They're called Dance

Moms, two of the mothers of the kids on Dance Moms.

They're also part of the show, part of the. Like a reality television series.

Christy Lucas Siak and Kelly Hyland, known for their appearances

on the reality television series Dance Moms, will bring their

podcast back to bar to Portland, Oregon on July

17th. The live podcast will take place at the Albert

Rose Theater. Tickets are listed at

5425 and minors may attend when Accompanied

by an adult, Lukasak and Hyland appeared on Dance

Moms, which aired on lifetime from 2011 through 2020 19,

and followed young competitive dancers and their families under the

direction of dance instructor Abby Lee

Miller. Well, this, this one is a bit more of a

slightly pricier event, but I imagine that they can command those

prices because of their status and

being on, on TV and everything. Yeah, you have that

celebrity background. You can pull a bigger audience and you kind of find the

balance. I don't know the size of this theater, Albert Rose Theater.

I'll put a little blurb up on the bottom corner of the seating capacity, but

if you're, you know, this is something to consider is, is when you

can get to a level like this, Even the first show was 20 bucks and

maybe you sell a couple hundred tickets, right? That, that's some good

money for an independent podcaster to walk out of there, you

know, with some money in their pocket after hosting a live show. So as

another form of monetization, you know, not just reading host read

ads for, you know, me undies or Sherry's berries or purple mattress,

you know, there's other ways to monetize. And what we're seeing in these first few

stories is, you know, live is another avenue to

bring in some immediate revenue for your podcast. Yeah. And

it does seem like, I mean, it's good to see that some of these

celebrity hosted podcasts aren't just doing the same thing as everyone else. There's

so many celebrity podcast popping up where their

agent or their producer or whatever has obviously said, right, you need a podcast.

And then to just sort of get it together as quickly as possible

and get them in front of their audience. They're often quite generic

interview podcasts where they're just interviewing the same celebrities you see on every other

celebrity podcast. So it's good to see like, one like this where they're doing something

a little bit different despite sort of coming

from. From TV and having that audience where they probably

could get away with just interviewing celebrities. But

yeah, nice to see some different concepts out there, I think.

Yeah. Speaking of different concepts, our last two stories are.

I kind of find I like stories that are in industries where I wouldn't expect

to see a podcast, and the first one's in the hotel industry.

And the HT360 Hospitality Leaders Forum will

feature a live recording of the Hotelier's Voice podcast.

Focus on the future of hospitality spaces. The discussion will examine

how technology, digitalization and staffing changes are influencing

hotel design operations, food and beverage areas

and public spaces. The session will be hosted by Ryan

Haynes and Scott Turner of Auden Hospitality and will

include guests Alessandra Leone, Paul Wells, and

Prem Jethua Odedra. Panelists

will discuss topics including space planning, interior design, smart

technology, operational efficiency, and guest experience

within the hospitality business. Yeah,

yeah. So this seems like. I mean, I've hadn't

even considered a hotelier podcast to be out there, but obviously

that we've got podcasts every single niche. But this is more

in line with the kinds of clients we work with. We don't work in this

particular space, but in terms of B2B. So it's interesting to see

that we're also getting B2B podcasts,

making use of these live opportunities as well.

It kind of ties into our first story. We were talking about live events. If

you're a podcaster, go to where podcasters hang out. And if you're in the hotel

industry, maybe you have a hotel podcast, a hotel blog.

Here is a place where all the people in the hotel industry are getting together

to. To talk and share ideas. So if you want to present, to be a

speaker, maybe you can run your podcast live on the show, maybe you can

make those connections. You have something to build off of. You have a place

to go that's in your area of interest, it's in your

area of expertise. Why not show up at conferences like this,

that. That. That are doing the thing that you love doing.

Yeah. And when you get into those niches as well,

oftentimes I imagine that they would be one of the only ones

doing that. So if you go to a convention

in a very niche industry, you're likely not to find more than

one podcast there. So it immediately makes you stand

out if you can get involved with that, as, you know,

as the only podcaster in the space. Yeah. And

that really ties in to our last story, which this one

blew my mind. This was. This is called. This is the

multifamily industry, which is like people who

rent houses that are more than one residence per house, I think, is what

the multifamily is. This is a whole industry that

is putting on Podcast Palooza. They are. They have

podcasters talking about multifamily

industry. This is a whole thing. It's happening today, actually, in

New Orleans. And the 365 Connect has announced its

participation as venue sponsor for Podcast Palooza,

a live media event taking place June 16th at the Civic Theater

in New Orleans. Produced by the Multifamily Media Network,

the event brings together professionals from multifamily housing industry for

discussions, networking, and live content. The civic

Theater, originally opened in 1906, serves as the event

venue. Kerry W. Kirby, founder and CEO of

365 Connect, is scheduled to open the event, while Kirby

and Multifamily Media Network CEO Mike Brewer will close the

program with a discussion focused on industry trends

and technology. Yeah, no,

that is quite incredible if they've put on an

entire event just for that niche industry, and it's

centered around podcasting. Yeah. When it was the naming

kind of threw me off at first. I was like, oh, podcast palooza. I should

be there. Like, I love podcasting. I want to learn more about it. But then

as I dug into this, this is just podcast

in one particular industry, which. It's so

well done. The website's done really well. The events happen tonight. We'll

maybe get an update on next week's show. But I was blown away.

Like, you know, we say file these stories under

industries. I never expected to have a podcast. Well, here's an industry having

a whole event about podcasts from within that industry.

Yeah, it's incredible. And it's. They've obviously

made use of this. This opportunity to get in front of a lot

more people within this. This niche market, because

I feel like a lot of business owners or, you know, businesses that

start a podcast, they expect to be able to

put the podcast out there, and if they keep putting episodes out there, then

eventually all their potential new leads will

come flocking or you know, create all these networking opportunities.

But it generally requires intention, whether

that's doing things online. So guesting on other

podcasts and getting in front of other people's audiences

on blogs and things like that, or, you know,

these guys have obviously taken it one step further and put on a whole live

event. Yeah, love it. Very impressed.

Just. I couldn't believe it. The more I learned about the story, the

more I dug into it. I was just. I was blown away that this even

exists. What a thing to pull off and that they're pulling it off at this

level within this one particular industry. I didn't even know

multifamily housing wasn't its own industry. I would

just call it real estate or renters or. So the fact that

it's. So It's a segment within a segment is.

It just. It blew my mind that they're pulling an event off at this level.

Yeah, for sure. Interesting. Well, Joe, it

goes by so fast. I had so much fun. We learned a ton of stuff

today. We learned about clear cast and one Thing I do before we

say goodbye is I turn the floor over to you one last

time. You plug, promote, talk about anything you'd like.

Joe, the floor is yours. Oh, thank you very much,

Jeff. Yeah. So I would say if you want to learn

any more about how to turn your podcast into a podcast

that gets the attention of the people that you want it to get the attention

of and actually turns into goals.

So whether that's finding sponsors to sponsor you, whether that's

building a podcast that generates leads for you, if you ever listen to

Podcasting Amplified, because you already listen to a podcast, so you just go on your

favorite podcast platform, Podcasting Amplified, where they're

mostly solo episodes, and I go into a different aspect of

podcasting each episode. So practical things

like how to write show notes that get people to click

and titles and how to get the best audio quality possible

to more interesting topics you might not hear on the podcast.

I've just done one recently going into the challenges

that podcasters are facing these days when relying on AI to

build a podcast for them. So there's a recent episode on that, which

was good, fun writing. So, yeah,

Podcasting Amplified, if you want to learn more about that.

Awesome. I'll have all the links Podcasting amplify Claricast in the show

notes. Connect with Joe, follow along, see what he's building.

Joe, do you remember what time it was?

It was showtime. What time is it?

What time is it?

Hold

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