Pondering Podcasts

This morning I listened to the EdTechWeekly #99 podcast while my dog and I went for a walk.  The good things (in my opinion) about this weekly show are that it is run by teachers and it is a resource for links and ideas on using technology in the classroom.  Upon visiting their website today, I also realized that some of their shows have a video component to watch as well.  You can't beat their price (free) for tips and ideas on integrating technology into your curriculum.  The less good things about this podcast, however, are that it is run by teachers who are not paid to do this and the amount of links and information that they hand out in each show can be overwhelming.  

Other podcasts that I regularly listen to are This American Life and Midmorning with Kerri Miller.  What I like about This American Life is that it's all about stories -- real stories.  Ira Glass and the rest of the crew that put this show together know how to tell an insightful tale that makes the listener see life just a little bit differently afterward.  And Kerri Miller's show is all about conversation.  Each day she interviews guests on her show, and it seems that she can make the topic interesting -- no matter what it is -- by the questions that she poses and the rich discussion that she elicits.  I know that these two shows are different than EdTechWeekly because their hosts are paid to make these shows appealing to listeners, whereas the hosts of EdTechWeekly seem to be making their show simply for the sake of helping out other teachers.  And this makes me wonder if the EdTechWeekly show would be more compelling if the teachers were given motivation, through pay or some other incentive, to make it appealing to the widest possible audience of teachers.  Would that affect the quality of the show?  Would that affect their listenership?  Does it even matter?  

If I want my podcast to be interesting, then I'll have to put some time into preparation.  I recently listened to a conversation between Kerri Miller and Jim Lehrer on the topic of good interviewing skills, and Lehrer said that a good interviewer is prepared by knowing some things about the topic ahead of time and a good interviewer is flexible and good at listening so that he/she is prepared to handle different directions the interviewee might lead even if it means abandoning pre-written questions.

So I guess I'll still have to think about this.  I would like to interview my grandma because she is a wealth of memories and wisdom, or my dad for the same reason.  Who would my audience be (other than you, Yunli...)?  How would I make it interesting for that audience?  If my audience is my family, what kind of conversation would be appealing to them?