The Work Room Interview: Joe Osmundson on Podcasting for Writers

Interview by Cheyenne Paterson

CP: What podcast did you listen to that initially inspired you to embark on the craft yourself?

JO: Oh man, mine was… radio. I am so old. I grew up on Car Talk and Lake Wobegon and graduated to This American Life when I was trying to do middle-class cosplay in college (yes, I subscribed to the paper New York Times, too). 

I have a vivid memory of taking a trip with my first girlfriend just after we broke up. On Selected Shorts, we heard Aasif Mandvi read a story by Jhumpa Lahiri. It’s a story of the silences that haunt a relationship, and the pain and joy of filling those silences together.

We started to get out of the range of the radio station just as the story was ramping up to its conclusion. I pulled the car over to the side of the freeway so we could listen to the story’s end, even as the radio hissed and popped static. We would lose the station only a minute or two further down the road. I held her hand as we sat, cars zooming past us, and listened. The wake of each car, moving at 70 miles an hour, gently pushed our car, a small force, but one I could feel. I cried. “They wept together, for the things they now knew,” the story ends. My ex and I sat in silence, other than the radio.

There’s just something so intimate about the voice, and I wanted to be able to make something that felt as intensely as that moment in my life. 

CP: Do you feel that the low barrier for entry into the podcasting field is more helpful or hurtful to writers looking to emerge into the field? 

JO: It’s incredibly helpful. Podcasts at the moment have a low barrier for entry but a high barrier for “success,” if that success is measured by having more than 1000 listeners or making money from your work.

But, for writers, selling 5000 books is a pretty good deal, and that’s years of labor. Getting 1000 people to listen to your words every week? A dream! Even 100! Even just your mom!

Plus, in my experience as a writer who came into podcasting later, it’s helped so much with my writing voice and craft. It gives words literal voice, and play comes in as you interact with others, and all of that has helped my writing be more alive. 

CP: By your standards, what are the universal qualities of a good podcast? What are the commonalities of those that don’t do as well?

JO: I think, for me, it’s very hard to say ‘good’ or ‘bad’ when it comes to podcasts; there’s so much about taste. But I think intentionality is the most important thing: Are you thinking about structure, content, learning from other shows, thinking about writing beforehand and editing after. 

There’s so much more to think about than just turning on the mic and uploading a file to the internet.

CP: What, if any, were the greatest challenges and/or victories you encountered while translating your own literary craft into podcasting? 

JO: It’s so entirely synergistic for me in my work. Making a podcast brought people into my writing. I was stopped on the street yesterday because of Food 4 Thot by someone who’d bought a copy of my book! And writing provides a lot of the content and camaraderie of our podcast.

Both writing and podcasting changed my life; my podcast is by and about writing and writers; my podcast changed my writing. Whether or not you ever get recognized on the street (honestly, embarrassing), making audio work will make you a better writer!