This. This cold open is so cold, I don't even know when it begins. Everybody,
welcome to Poduty and the News for Saturday, April 18,
2026. I've got a great guest joining me today, Anja
Lordanić on holiday. Anja, do you know
what time it is? I have no
idea. What time is it?
What time?
Oh, it's time for Poduty and
the News. Poduty and
the News. The only
live news podcast about podcasting from
the stage.
The only live news podcast about
podcasting from the stage.
Anja, welcome to the show. Hi, Jeff. Thank you so
much for having me. So glad to have you here. We're going to have a
great half an hour. We got six stories about
live podcasting lined up over the next 35, 40
minutes. But what we want to know, Anja, you're here
today. You have a great podcast. Say yes to podcasting. You do
some mentorship, you do some training, you do some launching. Tell us a
little bit about your services. And I'm really excited to hear more about the
podcast, too. Thank you so much again. Yes, the podcast
is called Say Yes to Podcasting, and it is aimed at
helping solopreneurs launch profitable podcasts. Because
one day at a time, one episode at a time. My goal is to
shift people's perspective about podcasting because most
people think about YouTube or sponsors or
interview shows only, but. But I'm trying to
shift their perspectives and let them know that they can
have a great podcast that doesn't have a million
followers or downloads and that they can make a great living
out of it if it is connected to their businesses and to their
services, so they can sell their own offers through
their podcast and reach great leads and great clients and
connect with awesome people. So that is something I'm doing myself, and
that is something I help my clients do. So it is all very
intertwined. The podcast, the offers, my personal life,
because it is all all over the place, but I'm trying to keep it
structured and sustainable as much as I can.
Yeah, there's some great tips on the podcast, and you're giving people
kind of that. You're kind of empowering people to move forward, to
launch that podcast, take that next step. And that's a big part of your
mission is, you know, how do we get this podcast off the ground? I bet
a lot of people come to you with ideas, and they're not sure what to
do next. I think what you're offering really can help them get to
that next level. Yeah. Thank you for saying that,
because I believe that to be true to my core. And
when people approach me, they think like, how can I monetize
my interview show when it doesn't necessarily need to be an
interview show? Or how do I record episodes? And.
And they think they need to have a quote unquote recording session every
time they want to publish a new episode.
But that is not true. We as solopreneurs, as small business
owners, we teach concepts for a living. We do this
all the time. We explain things, we break things down, we come
up with new ideas for our clients. And those are all
mini nuggets of wisdom that we could use and reuse and
repurpose for our solo podcast episodes that will
then multiply and amplify the message we've already
shared the structure we've already created for our one
to one work, one to one clients, workshops, presentations,
and they could very well be used for solo podcast
episodes. So, yeah, I'm trying to be as practical and as
sustainable and easy, make this as much of an easy lift
as possible. Yeah. Check out the podcast say yes to Podcasting.
We'll have the links in the show notes and the direct website if people want
to check out your services. And what's the best way to connect with you?
Well, surprise, surprise, it is say sayyestopodcasting.com
Well, that's. I'm so happy I got the domain. I got lucky because I didn't
think of that beforehand. So, yeah, I got lucky with
sayestepodcasting.com. that's really good. That's a
tough one to get. I had to make up a word, Poduty, to get Poduty.com.
so to get say yes to Podcasting is a. That's a great win to
be able to score that domain name. Yeah, thanks.
We'll have all those links in the show notes. Are you
ready for our stories? Absolutely.
We're going to our first story today. We're going to San Francisco. This comes from
Fun Cheap San Francisco. One of the most popular kids
podcasts in the world is hitting the stage. And they are not just
recording an episode, they are putting on a full live show.
Brains on is bringing science to life with games, music, and
audience interaction. And people are paying 50 to
$60 a ticket to be a part of it. This is what happens when a
podcast becomes more than just audio. It becomes an experience
for podcasters. This is the shift. You are not just creating content.
You are creating something people want to attend. And I
love combining education with kids shows and really
having an wholesome, entertaining night out. And this Podcast
Brains on is doing something just like that. They're taking their podcast
to a theater and inviting their core audience in to
enjoy a live show. So I think if you've listened to a podcast
for a while, you. You kind of have this imaginary relationship between
you and the host. You feel like you're part of it. You feel like you're
in the room, but now you get to actually be in the room. And I
think that's part of the excitement of live podcasting. Yeah, Jeff,
you know what? As a mother of two, I'm always on the
go and I always want them to have as many
experiences as they can. And especially as my eldest
is turning 4, I want her to experience
some things firsthand, to literally touch something, to hear
something in person. And I don't want to bore her with
a phone or a tablet or something else because as I
say to my husband, she's going to be staring at a screen probably half of
her life anyway. So let's just give her the experience.
And another point I wanted to make here, the name brainzone
is really cool, but when it comes to those
live experiences for kids, they really do remember those, and
the adults as well, because when you make something kid
friendly, you realize how fun things actually are.
And us as adults tend to kind of make
things look and feel and seem professional to.
I don't think there's any need for that. We can have fun in business as
well, and we can take a lesson or two from the kids that are doing
this the right way. Yeah, my daughters are a little older
in life, but those experiences at that young age where
it's a fully immersed experience and it's something they're
going to learn, they're going to explore. There might even be some meet
and greets. You might get to touch some of the props or talk to the
host of the show. Those are experiences you can't replicate
online. You can't get that. Even if they listen to the podcast.
If you listen to it on family road trips, all they're Getting is an
MP3 file. They're getting this one sided experience.
But being there and seeing how the hosts react in the moment,
seeing how they react to the crowd, maybe they take Q and A. You
can see them interact with people, even for an adult, but for
a child too, that experience, you can't recreate that kind of
immersion in any kind of digital world. Yeah,
but if you don't mind me interjecting here just for a second, I think there
is something special about letting them hear an audio
file or a song or something similar to that and let the
imagination run wild because that is also important for kids. So I think
this combination of, yes, doing things in person, but also letting
them play and imagine things themselves, that's a
great combination for a great childhood. Yeah, I love that. And
you're right, like hearing it and being familiar with it, but then seeing
it in real life. I think that combination that you're mentioning,
Anja, that's the golden standard. If you can do
that. If they have some familiarity with the experience, but then
they get to see it in real life. Oh, my goodness. I can imagine all
the neurons firing and the excitement inside the kid's mind
of, oh my goodness, this is a real thing. This is really happening right in
front of me. Oh, my goodness. Exactly. And we
get excited as well. We just tend to, like, hide it because we
want to seem cool on the surface. Dad's going to go
get a pretzel with the concession stand. I'll be back. While I'm wiping
tears, I'm crying, like going up the steps, like,
anyway, getting emotional. Yeah, emotional dads, that's the thing. Nobody
warns you about all the tears you cry when you have daughters. So here
we'll go to our next story. Before I start tearing up again, we're going to
celebrate with the adults. This is 100,000 subscribers and
they're still showing up. This comes to us from the YouTube channel. For Killa
Priest. Hitting 100,000 subscribers is a big
milestone. But what stands out here is how they chose to celebrate it.
Kill a Priest turned it into a live experience that brings the community
into the moment. They are not just looking back. They are
showcasing artists, breaking down their creative process and giving the
audience a seat inside how the show is built. This is what long
term podcasting looks like. It's not just one viral moment.
It's showing up, building relationships, and turning your audience
into part of the journey. There's something
really special about this because they're celebrating a huge
milestone. 100k subscribers is huge. And
when they get to even more eyeballs on their show with this kind
of celebration, those people will realize, oh, wow, this
is legit. They have a hundred K followers. I might as well go, go ahead
and follow them. Which wouldn't be the case probably if they were to
celebrate one the 1k mark. Right. So
there is the irony. The big ones are getting bigger, faster, and the
smaller ones need to push harder to get bigger. Do you agree?
Absolutely. And they're building this community environment by default.
So there's friends coming over, sitting on the couch. They're inviting other
musical artists to join them on stage. They're debuting their
videos, they're sharing their content, and it's making this
community environment where everybody who's there is part of it. You can be
a part of it, too. Watching from home. Yeah, exactly. And
I love this community part because I remember I'm
an adult and I was super excited to be in a
theater watching my favorite podcasters in
Croatia doing a live show, a live episode on
the stage. And that was an experience for me. I went by
myself because none of my friends could make it, but I was
like, I'm going nonetheless. And I was excited. And there was this
whole community. I think there were 300 people around
me who also rallied around and wanted to hear this
episode live. So, yeah, this is exciting for everyone.
Yeah. That's an unknown thing about podcasting. While most of the time you
consume the media by yourself, if you go to a live event with
300 other people, those are 300 other people who have
similar interests to what you're interested in. They're usually interested in the topic
of that podcast or whatever it's centered around.
They're people who like things like you do, they talk like you
do, and they listen to shows like you do. You're going to have something in
common with somebody there. And we essentially, as you're
saying, we speak the same language, even if we are not from the same country.
We're like gathering around the same podcast and yes, getting
excited about all of it. Agreed. It's so much fun. And
most people aren't even aware that this is happening as a
form of entertainment. You can go see all these podcasts are
traveling around and this is like episode 60 something of this podcast.
I do it two times a week with six episodes on 12
examples a week I'm giving you of people doing live podcasting, and there's
just nothing like it. It's such a great experience and it's
something that you can only see one time. That show
can't be repeated. Like, Anja and I can't go on
tour tomorrow and do this show again. We've already covered these six
stories, so the next show has to be different. And when you go to a
live podcast, it literally is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
That's the only time in the history of the world that that show is going
to happen. I like how you put it, but I would
also. Sorry, I just need to add one more thing. My connection is a bit
Unstable. But this is the beauty of live podcasting. We're just gonna keep on rolling.
I wanted to add one more thing because we could cover
these six stories again, but we would never be
able to replicate what we just said. What we are sharing today. It is
the same with musical giants. So every Taylor
Swift's concert is different. Even though she plays the same songs,
but she's in a different city every time, she's in front of a
different crowd. So I would argue that repetition is
really key and important. But there
is also with repetition comes this creative freedom as
well, to express ourselves and the same ideas in a different way.
Yeah, the crowds are different in every city. You get different reactions,
different even at different points in the show. People can completely
react differently in one city compared to the other. Comedians talk
about this all the time where one joke might laugh. People might get a lot
of laughs in Pittsburgh, but they go to Chicago and it's just crickets.
They're like, well, what happened? Well, it's a different show. You have to develop
the skills to be able to perform live in front of these different
audiences and adjust in real time. So we could. We'll go on the road.
We're taking the show on the road with these six
stories. 20 city tour.
Let's keep it moving. We'll go to our next story. We're going to the gaming
biz. Pocket gamers biz. This episode
was recorded live at a major conference, but the real story
is what they are talking about. Skills Acquiring Beamable is
all about helping creators stop building everything from scratch and and focus on
what actually matters, the experience. For podcasters, this is the
same shift. The more time you spend on tech, the less
time you spend creating something people actually care about. Oh,
wait, yeah. The creators who are who win are the ones
who simplify the back end and put their energy into the show, the
audience, and the moment. Two very important
points on this one. The first one is simplifying the tech. Case
in point, away from home. I'm in Austria right now and
I originally live in Croatia. But for this
podcast episode or for this live show, all I had to do
is bring my portable camera, which is super tiny, and this
little microphone you see right here. And
I'm getting the same audio and video quality
as I normally do. And I love the simplicity. I really
crave simplicity in life and in business. As I said, I'm a mother, so
I want things to be as streamlined and as simple as they can
possibly be. And the second point I wanted to make here as
you mentioned, gamers, which I know nothing about, but
I know they're notoriously
less outside or less sociable
than the average person. So the fact that
they're gathering together, together in a room,
sharing experiences, laughing together, that is something
that should be celebrated really as a milestone. Okay, I'm
a gamer. This is part of my life. I might
make a living out of it, but I also need this human to
human connection. Talking about simplicity,
the first thing I said to Anja was, you sound incredible for being on
the road. A lot of podcasters don't travel well. So to have
the setup, the camera, the audio, the video looks great.
And that's a very important part of podcasting. A lot of podcasters try to
overcomplicate things. The technology exists to simplify
things and to be able to be portable, to go on the road and
have a quality conversation with quality audio, quality video.
That's really honing in on what it means to podcast and what it
means to travel as a traveling podcaster.
Exactly. Yeah. And part of this, this was recorded at a
conference at GDC Conference. And
what we're seeing a lot more with conferences. And another reason I
included this story is conferences look for
entertaining things for their guests. People are buying tickets, they're
walking the conference floors, they're going from booth to booth,
but they also need to entertain their guests from time to time. And 20
years ago, you would just have, you'd have keynote after keynote after
keynote. Maybe a band was playing in between, maybe they had a
comedian come on to lighten things up. But more and more,
replacing those four people panels, you're
seeing podcasting becoming some of the main events at these
conferences. They're using podcasts as forms
of entertainment for their guests. So if you're in a niche, a
niche, and your podcast is related to a conference that's coming up,
you might want to think about reaching out to them and seeing, can you be
a part of it? Can you be a part of that conference? Because you're not
only going to find the audience that's interested in what you're talking about,
they're all there, they're all doing the thing that you do. But maybe you can
perform your show. Maybe there's a vendor that wants to do a live recording
at their booth to bring people to their booth. This is a big step that's
happening for podcasting, becoming part of conferences.
Yeah, that's a great point. And podcasters in general
are great at speaking anyway, so why wouldn't they take their
show on the Road. And when it comes to gamers as well,
you know that, that when they put their headphones on and when they
start gaming, they talk to each other live. So they're actually
kind of doing a live podcast all the time, right? Now that
I think about it. Yeah, they're. I mean, they're always performing, they're
playing, they're performing, they're reacting in the moment, they're getting
overwhelmed. You see all these emotions happen, you know,
during a live stream, during a, during a live gaming podcast. And
they record all that and they, they distribute all that out and you're
right in the middle of all that emotion, all that intensity, and you're watching it
unfold in real time. Exactly. And there
is, that's also something that needs to be celebrated
because people are often very shy about going on a microphone.
But if you're doing something you love, that you're great at, and you're
interacting with other human beings who are also doing what you're doing,
there is no point in hiding anymore. And it's a skill.
It really is a skill set that you have to learn to develop. You know,
how do I speak in real time, how do I keep the conversation
moving, how do I engage an audience? And those
are skills that, you know, you may think that somebody's just playing a game and
pressing buttons, but they're developing a very
serious skill of entertainment, of learning how to entertain an audience,
learning how to keep it not dry, learning how to keep the conversation
moving. Those gamers don't get, probably don't get enough
credit for being able to carry a four to five hour show.
Yeah, I don't think I could carry a four to five hour show, to
be honest. Yeah, I don't know what.
I get lost after 40 minutes on this show. So I don't know how to
get to five hours. So we'll keep it going to our next story. We're going
to Spotify, his newsroom. Spotify is not just
promoting podcasts anymore. They are building movements around
them with equal days happening across Latin America. They
are bringing creators in real time through panels, performances, and
even live podcast recordings. This is bigger than content.
It is community building at scale for podcasters. This is
the opportunity when you take your show off the platform and into the real
world, you create a digital deeper connection, stronger audience, and
something people actually feel a part of.
Spotify has been doing all kinds of events like this. They've been building
small theater spaces and bringing in some of their artists to do podcast
interviews. They're touring Latin America with musicians and
podcasters, and they're doing these things on stage in front of
larger audience. They know that there's a connection here. There's a connection that
happens with podcasting and artists. You kind of get that behind the
scenes feeling when you hear your favorite artists talk about
road tours, what happens in the green room, what happens backstage,
what happens on the bus. You get to hear all that inside knowledge that you
don't get from just listening to their music. Yeah. And
whether we want to admit it or not, we're all a bit nosy
and want to find out this BTS stuff. I'm the first one
who is willing to listen in on a
conversation like that. And to be a part of that live, I think would be
such a great experience. And speaking of experience, I
think there is. This is very unique because
podcasting, as we all know, is very open
and liberal and democratic. But Spotify
seems to be taking this a step further and giving the voice
to the unrepresented voices with this equal
event. So they're doing like almost a hat
trick. So this is like killing two birds with one stone, doing
the same thing, doing something super important, especially with
women and underrepresented voices. And this is something
we will be seeing more often for sure. Especially with podcasts, because
that's a medium no one can really buy. Yeah. I mean, think
of all the audiences that you're serving. Podcast is being created
in every corner of the world, and they're about every topic in the world. And
when Spotify puts on events like this, they're amplifying
those voices that already exist, giving them a bigger stage, giving them an
opportunity to grow and find their audience all
through Latin America. They're going from Buenos Aires to Mexico
City. This is a huge tour. This is a huge movement, a huge investment
from Spotify, and it's done really well. The stage production looks
incredible. I'll put the pictures back up for a second here, there, these
huge sets, these huge stages. There's musicians, there's these
tents, there's stages, there's couches. Like, it is done
very well. And if you scroll through the newsroom website, there's
way more pictures than I was able to put in the slide here. But it's
really done well and I think it's just a great investment on behalf
of Spotify. Agreed. That's something I was
just about to say because it's great to see such a huge platform
with such a. Such huge funding and amounts of money to
be spent and the fact that they're investing it into something
that is this, on this of a large scale, and something so
important and informative and educational is
something to really be applauded for. Let's go to our fifth
story. Today we're going Gals and Gear. We're going to the
NAB show, where Gals and Gear is not just hosting a podcast.
They are creating access. Live recordings, meetups,
panels, and networking, all built around one idea, getting people
in the same room. This is what live podcasting can unlock.
It's not just about content you create, it's about the doors you open.
For podcasters, this is the opportunity your show can become,
a reason for people to connect, learn, and build
relationships that would not happen otherwise.
Yeah, as podcasters, we are often recording alone in
our little home studios by ourselves, and it is
hard to believe that we could meet someone in person who
listens to our show. So what they did here is really
smart, because when the only or the main mission is
to bring people in the same room, get them chatting together or networking
together, there is something really special that could be
born as a result of it. And I can attest to this myself,
because I never forget people whom I meet in person, if
we are related in a business sense in
any way, because meeting someone in person, nothing will ever beat that.
Yeah, and this is one of those experiences at a conference that's happening here. This
is the Gals and Gear. They're hosting these networking events for women at the
NAB Show. It's a technology show, and if you're already there, you
already have some interest in technology, but why not find people
like you, people with interests like you, thoughts like you, who work like
you, and connect them all together. And this is like a central
portal where all the people who are interested in women
in podcasting, networking with women in podcasting,
they're able to do that in one single event within the giant
conference. So that positions Gals and Gear as an authority
in networking and bringing women together to do these podcasts. And
they're able to maybe get half the women of the
whole conference to come sit down with them and maybe make some great connections.
That's what they're trying to do here, is do all the networking.
Yeah, that's super clever, because they're not trying to bring those hundreds
or thousands of people together themselves by hand, but they're taking
advantage of a larger show and creating a sub event
within that show and gather people who are interested,
because out of both that large of a crowd, you will get some
dozens of people who are interested in what you have to say and who will
be extremely engaged because they're showing up live.
Yeah. If you can be a segment within a segment, it's much easier
to get traction and become the authority of that segment.
So of the whole entire NAB conference, gals and gear
has focused on the women who are attending NAB and networking them
together. So within, they're a subset of the major conference.
You know, that's the angle. That's the way that you can maybe open the door
to get access to be a part of the show and contribute
is by finding some little niche within a niche. Yeah.
And the NAB team, like the organization team, probably
had nothing against it because they're going to have more
content and more eyeballs on their event
itself because there are different people promoting
their event on a different scale with a different topic. But it's
all part of the same day. And I think that is very clever.
So they hacked the system for sure. Yeah.
Love it, Love it. And this goes by so
fast. Our last story today, we're going to
Reuters Econ World Podcast. And this is a live
podcast tackling one of the biggest issues right now, the affordability
gap. But what makes it work is not just the topic, it's the
format. You have experts, policymakers, and a live
audience all in the same room, breaking down something that usually feels
complicated and distant. This is where live podcasting shines.
It turns big abstract conversations into something people
can actually engage with in real time. For creators,
this is a reminder that your show can be a space where important
conversations happen live, not just something people
passively listen to later. Yeah, I
cannot tell you how disinterested I am when
the Croatian government is assembling and they're
appearing live on the national television, talking for hours
about important topics, but in a non
interesting way and in a way that is not accessible or
even understandable for young people, even people
younger than me, because I do have a family and those issues do
matter. And there is definitely a shift I've seen in my small
country in the past 5, 10, and 15 years. So
the fact that they're bringing it into a podcasting, into live
podcasting format is again, really clever because
that way they're going to appeal to a younger audience
for whom this topic is extremely important and
relevant. And they need to know that these details, those
details do not need to be reserved for the national
television because most young people don't even watch TV or for news
portals that I don't know how Many young people read
those. But if you disguise that as a podcasting event,
then you will attract the young people who are
shaping the future. Yeah. Here they're having a
conversation about the affordability gap. There's a, a huge problem
in housing right now. I don't think it's just, you know,
confined to just America. There's housing is going crazy
across the world. It's new. People who are trying to get into the market to
buy a house are. They're getting older and older. The average age of
purchase now is like 35, 36 years old in the United
States. Younger people are just not able to
purchase a house. And these types of conversations least
let you know where is this all going? Let's have a conversation
about this is the reality of it. This is what's happening right now.
And it's. You're part of it. You're in the audience listening to
these experts from, you know, Reuters and the different sponsors
probably contributed panelists to this event. And you're learning a
little bit more. You're getting a different perspective about what's happening and what
it looks like. Six months down the road, two years down the road, you
might get a bigger picture of will this turn around at some point.
Yeah. And we definitely don't need to shy away from those
topics or turn a blind eye and pretend as if everything will
magically fall into place in five years time. Because we
have our voices and we need to use them for good. And I know
this is what everyone says, but podcasts have this
power to do that. And even if we're talking
about business or small businesses all the way to
the these large scale economic issues.
Yeah. Just think about whatever you're passionate about. You could literally have a
podcast about that. And you will find your audience, you will find
people who are passionate about the things that you're passionate about.
And if it's social issues, if it's things that are happening right now and current
events, that's where you need to live. If that's what you're passionate about, that's where
you need to live. That's where you need to place yourself and position yourself as
a thought leader in that space. And Anja, this
has been so much fun. We did six stories so quickly.
We actually did eight because I messed up. So we had to do two of
the stories over again. Nobody's going to know that in the final edit, but you
and I know it. But Anja, this is the part of the show where I
turn the entire floor over to you to plug Promote.
Talk about anything you want. The floor is yours.
Yeah, I like to use my podcasting voice for in a business
sense. And as I said before, I like to help
podcasters launch their podcast because
solopreneurs have a lot to say and they're already
helping so many clients. And I believe they can
easily amplify their voice through podcasting and they
can make podcasting sustainable and effortless and
even fun for themselves if they only knew
how easy it can be. And I'm trying to not only help them, but
raise awareness and kind of
make them think that there is another medium with
which they can connect with their ideal clients and their ideal
audience. Because I don't know about you, Jeff, but I would
personally rather have 30 loyal followers, loyal
listeners every week than thousands of those who are
not really there, who are not really interested in what I have to say.
Because as we said throughout these six stories, it's the connection
that matters, whether or not we're meeting live. Most of us are not
meeting live, but I see there is a shift happening there too.
But there is this one to one human connection with podcasting
that is super special and that I want as many solopreneurs to take
advantage of as possible. Absolutely. Check
out the website. Say yes to Podcasting links in the show notes.
Anja, thank you so much for joining me. Even on holiday, it
was so great to have you here. I love the perspectives. These are six stories
that everybody listening to can take something away. And if you're thinking about
putting your podcast together, you don't know where to start. Reach out to
Anja and check out say yes to Podcasting. Anja,
do you remember what time it was?
I think I do. What time is it?
What time is it?
The only live news podcast about
podcasting from the st.
Poduty and the News?
The only live news podcast about
podcasting from the stage.