Having dedicated himself to the art and business of podcasting for 20 years, there is no question that Dusty Rhodes can legitimately be described as a “podcasting expert”.
However, long before podcasting became Dusty’s area of expertise, he enjoyed a sparkling career in the world of professional broadcasting here in Ireland.
Dusty has a long list of broadcasting credits to his name, but it all started when he was a teenager and became a pirate radio DJ on the famous “Sunshine 101” in Dublin.
Although Sunshine 101 was an unlicensed radio station, it was the number one radio station in Dublin for years. Therefore, a presenting role for Dusty on this station was a highly coveted job for a teenager.
Dusty’s role at Sunshine meant that while his friends were saving up to buy records each week, he was getting paid to play them on the radio!
Dusty’s experience and popularity on Sunshine 101 directly led to his first job on a licensed radio station, Atlantic 252.
Atlantic 252 wasn’t just any station; it was an international radio station broadcasting across Ireland and most of the UK, co-owned by Ireland’s national broadcaster, RTÉ, and the giant European Broadcasting Corporation, RTL.
The format of Atlantic 252 was aimed at 16-24-year-old listeners and proved to be a massive hit, especially in the UK, where it attracted around six million loyal listeners at its peak.
Dusty played a massive part in the station’s success, presenting the drive-time show, weekday afternoons from 4 pm onwards.
However, his dream was to work for his favourite station, RTÉ 2FM.
As a direct result of his considerable popularity on Atlantic 252, Dusty’s dream of working for RTÉ 2FM became a reality when he was head-hunted by the station and asked to take over one of the station’s (and Ireland’s) most famous shows, the 2FM Hotline.
During his time with RTÉ in Dublin, Dusty also worked on many other RTÉ shows, either as a presenter/or as a producer.
Besides his love of being on the radio, Dusty was also a talented producer, and eventually, he decided to spread his wings and move into independent radio production.
Among other things, he was soon producing syndicated radio shows for more than a dozen local and regional stations around the country, including the PPI award-winning Top 40 Oifigiuil na hEireann (the Irish Top 40).
Along the way, he also became fascinated with a new, downloadable audio format that would later become known as a “podcast”.
By 2020, podcasts had become the core of the business and Dusty and his team rebranded as the DustPod Podcast Company.
Today DustPod is a respected and award-winning podcast company/podcast agency, based in Dublin Ireland. The company also provides services for Podcast Marketing.
Over the past 20 years, Dusty has ensured that DustPod specialises in creating cost-effective podcast series for brands, businesses, and organisations.
The DustPod Client list is impressive and includes a combination of world-famous brands such as Corona, Bridgestone Tyres, JP Morgan and more.
Equally, Dusty enjoys working with startups and smaller Irish brands and companies too.
Regardless of Dusty’s busy schedule after the launch of DustPod, his radio presenting skills remained in demand for many years.
To keep “one toe in the broadcasting water”, Dusty presented a weekly show for Classic Hits Radio.
However, as DustPod’s client list grew larger, he decided that it was time to focus on the business and podcasting without any other distractions.
Somehow, we feel that we may get to hear Dusty on the radio again at some point in the future, since clearly it’s in his DNA.
Dusty’s extensive radio experience, combined with 20 years of podcast production, is the reason Dusty is considered a leading podcasting expert and today is often, and lovingly referred to as “the Podfather”.
He is a judge with the prestigious annual Digital Media Awards and assists Ireland’s media regular Coimisiún na Meán with their Sound & Vision programme funding scheme.
All of Dusty’s invaluable expertise and experience ensure your journey into podcasting is successful for your brand, business or organisation when working with DustPod.
Another notable and remarkable achievement is that Dusty Rhodes is also the presenter and producer of the longest-running podcast series in Ireland.
Dusty has produced and co-presented the Tech Radio Podcast weekly, without fail, since 2006, and there are now over 1,000 episodes.
It is also worth mentioning here that a set-in-stone promise Dusty makes to DustPod clients is that their podcasts will sound as good as anything you hear on the radio (or better).
This claim can undoubtedly be justified, considering the Tech Radio Podcast is now transmitted weekly on RTE Radio 1 Extra.
Click here to discover more about the Tech Radio Ireland Podcast.
Q: How long have you been in the Podcast Production Business?
A: “I can’t believe I am saying this, but it’s 20 years now! I was making podcasts years before most people had ever heard of them!”
Q: How long have you been operating a podcast company or podcast agency?
A: “Originally, I produced podcasts alongside radio documentaries and other audio production projects via my Dublin-based audio production company called Digital Audio Productions.
However, podcasting projects were my passion, so I focused on this and launched DustPod in 2019.
Q: What made you start producing podcasts?
A: “I got into podcast production due to my background as a broadcaster and producer with RTE.
After presenting the Hotline on RTE 2FM for years, it was time to grow up, start up my own business and get into something more in-depth!.
Honestly, I had heard enough Boyzone and Backstreet Boys songs to last me a lifetime by then!”
As I mentioned, I was running my audio production company, which did well.
I was producing syndicated radio shows for more than a dozen local and regional stations around the country, including the PPI award-winning Top 40 Oifigiuil na hEireann (the Irish Top 40).
At the same time, I was serving as the vice-chairman of the Independent Radio Producers of Ireland. Still, ultimately, my podcasting passion took over, and the rest is history.
Q: What’s the latest trend in business-led and “brand-led” podcasting?
A: “Well, the podcasting business is constantly changing. Currently, we’re witnessing a significant shift towards hyper-targeted, ROI-driven business podcasts.
It’s less about mass-market reach and more about creating content that’s relevant to a specific audience and directly addresses their needs.
This drives tangible business results, especially for brands and businesses that rely on their podcasts to generate leads and support customer retention.
Q: What’s the latest with audio-only vs. video podcasting?
I could talk for hours about this, but the facts about audio versus video podcasts are pretty obvious.
Although we continue to see the growth of video podcasts, audio-only podcasts remain the king.
Unless you have a multimillion-euro budget, like Stephen Bartlett and his Diary of a CEO ‘TV show’ as I call it, there’s no data to confirm that filming a podcast in a tiny basement studio somewhere in Dublin, or anywhere for that matter, will deliver results.
In many respects, a cheap-looking video podcast can devalue the brand and reputation of many businesses.
Audio only is so intimate and has fewer distractions. Additionally, it’s easier to clean up stumbles, ums, and errors when working only with audio.
Additionally, with audio-only podcasts, people listen carefully, whereas with a video, you find yourself looking at the presenters, guests, the background, and so on.
If a guest has a lazy eye, a slightly larger nose, dandruff, or is wearing a horrible outfit, we as humans can’t help but focus on these trivial things.
With video, any overlooked distraction detracts from the valuable content being delivered in a podcast.
That said, we find that using “the best bits” of our podcasts as short video clips on YouTube, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms can deliver fantastic results when correctly promoted.
These short clips serve as a promotion for the full-length audio version of any podcast, and I highly recommend this approach to most of our clients.
Q: How important are listening figures and data right now?
Very important but it’s not about getting the most amount of listeners, it’s all about reaching the right audience.
As I have said for years, if you have a spaceship with just eight seats and the tickets cost €500,000 each, you simply need to reach eight people who can afford that and want to travel into space!
With that in mind, we use data, combined with real-world feedback, to understand listener behaviour and optimise our clients’ podcast strategy and content, tailoring it entirely to their objectives.
What matters is the time spent listening.
Let me explain, if you have 1,000’s of people listening for just a few minutes, this is bad news! It likely means you are reaching the right audience, and to put it bluntly, they hate your podcast!
A truly fantastic place to be is to have a smaller audience that is genuinely engaged by your podcast, listening for 10, 20, or even longer. If they listen to more than one of your episodes, that’s even better!
What this means is that your content is “on-target”, and the only job to do next is to promote your podcast to similar people further.
For me, this is the holy grail of a successful podcast strategy!
We also use time spent listening data to establish the correct length for our clients’ podcast episodes. There is no “one-size fits all” for this!
My advice is that the duration of any episode should be the amount of time it takes to cover the topic and deliver value to the audience.
Dragging out any topic for the sake of it is a BIG mistake and is the fastest way to lose credibility! Equally, failing to cover the topic properly can also be a “no-no”. Getting this right is a skill that takes knowledge, consideration and to some extent, some trial and error.
Schedule a free, no obligation call now with our CEO and podcasting expert Dusty Rhodes.
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DustPod is an award-winning podcast production company and agency based in Dublin, Ireland founded by RTE broadcaster and producer Dusty Rhodes.
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