Nerdette: The Qualities of a Successful Podcast

Nerdette is a podcast hosted by two females: Greta Johnsen and Tricia Bobeda. It is based in Chicago, recorded at the WBEZ radio station. In each of their podcasts, Greta and Tricia interview someone related to the sciences, the writing world, or any other field you can imagine; they do not limit their interactions with anyone as they want to talk about what those individuals are passionate about. They want to expose what these people are “nerdy” about and help show why someone else should also be interested or even nerdy about it as well.

The purpose of this review is to show how Nerdette has become a successful and popular podcast. Here are some of the ways in which Nerdette makes itself interesting and addicting to its listeners:

• sticking to its main theme
• maintaining a consistent script of events in each podcast
• inviting a variety of special guests
• having a set number of participants: two hosts and one special guest
• having consistent air dates and podcast length
• providing means for listener participation

In keeping all of these aspects a part of each podcast, Nerdette draws in its listeners and keeps them content with what they hear and how it is presented to them.

Nerdette's logo

Sticking to its main theme

Nerdette is all about the idea that everyone has something that they are a little nerdy about, something that they love above other things and can talk all day about it.

By keeping each podcast consistent with this theme, Nerdette allows its listeners to become familiar with the podcast that they are subscribing to and keeps them from becoming confused about the content. While “nerding out” might be considered a rather broad topic, it is still narrow enough that the idea does not have to be lost in the shuffle and a specific audience can be reached.

Maintaining a consistent script

Through listening to various episodes, it is apparent that there is a similarity between the podcasts even as the subject matter changes. The script of each of Nerdette’s podcasts varies very little. Of course, there are moments when sections of the podcast are put in a different order for either time or content purposes, but the same basic outline is followed:

• open with a few chords of its theme song
• Greta and Tricia share the introduction of the guest speaker and topic for that day’s podcast
• a list of sponsors for the podcast
•  get into the meat of the production and share the interview with the special guest
• a brief intermission of music
• another note about the sponsors of the podcast
• recording of a Nerd Confession as shared by a listener
• assign the homework given to the hosts and listeners by the guest speaker
• podcast is brought to a close with the mention of the next podcast’s special guest

By maintaining this basic format or script for each podcast, Nerdette gives their listeners something easy to follow and something that they can look forward to and expect as each podcast is aired. If they were to change up the order of segments in each podcast, listeners might become lost in the content or even confused about what is being shared throughout the podcast.

Variety of special guests

Nerdette is based on the idea that any and all individuals have something that they love above other things and that they could go on and on about it. This could be seen as a difficult platform, but then again it makes it very easy to come up with topics to discuss. To make things more interesting, Nerdette brings the topics to life with the addition of interviews with special guests.
Inviting guests to speak or be a part of a podcast can be difficult, especially when you have such a wide range of topics to pick from or ideas to talk about. However, this makes the list of possible guests meet a wider variety of individuals. Fortunately, the hosts at Nerdette pick from any and all among this wide-variety list. This makes for a very entertaining and interesting discussion within each podcast.

Number of hosts and guests

It has been shown that podcasts are less effective when there is only one host; this can be for many reasons including the fact that one person’s dialogue can grow boring or less appealing to an audience; on the other hand, if there are too many hosts participating at the same time, the listener may get lost among so many different voices and commentaries. To counteract these negative effects, Nerdette has employed two female hosts who have great compatibility and share great insights and jokes and can build off of each other’s comments. This makes for entertaining commentary for the listeners as well as the hosts. It also keeps them from losing the audience with too many voices and not enough.

<Greta Johnsen and Tricia Bobeda>

As for the number of special guests invited, Nerdette limits this to one guest per podcast. This makes it easy for the listeners to understand who the special guest is, allows the podcast to stick to a single subject for the duration of the podcast, and gives the special guest the time that she needs in order to share all that she wants to with the audience.

Consistent air dates and podcast length

Except when they take breaks for the occasional holiday period, these podcasts air once a week. Followers can subscribe to Nerdette at various places including Itunes and SoundCloud. They also have their own website where their followers can listen to any and all of their previous podcasts. With this consistent air date and the many ways listeners can find the recordings, Nerdette makes listening to them easy and convenient.

There is consistent audio in each podcast: introductory music and motto, interviews with special guests, a short break in content to give a shout out to their supporters, the giving of their homework assignment, a recorded message from a Nerdette fan/follower, and finally their mini recap of what they discussed and who would be joining them the next week. Each of these takes a certain amount of time, and Nerdette seems to have mastered just how long they need for each part and have made it work in the small amount of time that they allot themselves.

Listener participation

Listener participation is an important part of any sort of entertainment; if the audience is not involved in some way, they will zone out, ignore, or replace whatever is not holding their attention. Fortunately, Nerdette has found two ways to keep their audience active and participating: Nerd Confessions and Homework.

Nerd Confessions are recording of listeners who call and leave messages telling about a moment when they were at their nerdiest or someone else’s nerdiness affected them for the better. After a listener has called in and left their message, the hosts may decide to share the Nerd Confession within their podcast. Not only does this give listeners the opportunity to be an actual part of the podcast, it also gives them the opportunity to share what they are nerdy about as the podcast itself promotes.

In addition to interviewing their guests regarding something they have done in their personal or professional lives, the hosts of Nerdette have a section dedicated to the homework that they would like their readers to complete; this can include reading a book, participating in some sort of activity, or simply offering something to think about. As each podcast comes to a close, Tricia and Greta share

with their audience something that they and their special guest feels would be something that the audience could do to better their life experiences or help them liven up their inner-nerd. Whatever the assignment given, the homework that is assigned allows listeners to participate, even if only on a personal level, with the discussion or the topic for that podcast.


And don't forget the social media activity that Nerdette maintains! Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are only the beginning. There are many other ways for fans and followers to interact with the hosts and the information presented by Nerdette.

Closing remarks 

Overall, Nerdette seems to be very successful in finding topics that are not only interesting but can also be very entertaining. They laugh and have a great time while also learning something new and important from their guests. In sharing their nerdiness with their audience, their followers are able to feel that it is okay to be a little nerdy themselves.

Some Advice from the "Greats" Applied to Today



Kurt Vonnegut

Writing advice from the “Greats”--i.e. those writers that everyone dotes on or aspires to emulate in some way--does not simply have to apply to fictional or academic writing as many seem to think. It can also be applied to various online publication platforms as well as video or podcast productions. The suggestions shared by writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and JohnSteinbeck may have been initially shared with those who are aspiring fiction writers, but their advice can be tweaked to fit a modern take on what constitutes writing.


Get straight to the point

Kurt Vonnegut advised that you should “use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted” and “give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible.” With fiction, a reader does not want to read unnecessary scenes or get too involved with characters that are simply passing and serve no purpose. On the same token, suspense at times is overrated in that it drags the story on much longer than necessary.

The same concept is true with any other form of sharing information with a larger audience. When speaking to the public, you want to get straight to the point. You cannot include information about something that is irrelevant to the overall purpose or subject if you want to keep the attention of the audience.
Lisa Evans explains in an article on FastCompany.com that getting to the point is an essential part of maintaining an audience. She says that all we have to do is keep it BRIEF:

B (Background): Provide a quick context—what prompted the update?
R (Reason):: Explain why you’re speaking now—why should they pay attention?
I (Information):: Provide two to three key nuggets of information you want to share. What are the bullet points of the conversation?
E (End): Decide on what note you want to leave the conversation. In this case, you may want to end by telling the CEO what you will do to get the project back on track.
F (Follow-up):: Consider the questions you anticipate the CEO will ask you when you finish speaking and prepare answers in advance.

Evans' names two real world situation in which brevity is ultimately going to be on your side: job interviews and sales presentations. In these situations, if you are not fast enough in providing the necessary information, you might mess up the job opportunity or lose the potential customer.


Write with one person in mind
Both Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck recommend that you forget about the whole and look at the individual. Vonnegut says to “write to please just one person;” Steinbeck says to “forget the generalized audience…your audience is one single reader.”
When scripting an informational video or even a podcast, a generalized audience is present just as in the world of fiction writing. However, when we take Vonnegut’s and Steinbeck’s advice, the outcome of the podcast may just be better than you can imagine. Whether you pick someone you know or make up someone, the narrowing of the audience pool allows you to be more focused on what that individual would want to know or hear. You cannot please everyone with what you say or do, so you should not kill yourself to make it happen. Making one person the major contender for your information can help you determine what is needed and what can be left out of your diatribe.



John Steinbeck

Some similar advice comes from an article titled "5 Questions to Define Your Target Audience," specifically Step 3. The author, Chase Reeves, tells his readers that they need to put their audience on a more human level, especially when their ultimate audience can span the whole width and breadth of the internet and everywhere it reaches. When you pick one person to share your information with, you will be better able to pass along the message you are wanting to share.

For a real life example of how this advice is relevant, check out David Siteman Garland's video about narrowing your online show's niche. He provides advice on how to do so for yourself by using his own show as an example for how it can work.


Say it out loud
John Steinbeck states, “If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.” In other words, only if you can speak it easily will it be believable to the audience.

In a world of audio and video productions, dialogue is an ever-abundant aspect. When you are scripting out what needs to be said within a video or podcast, you should always make sure that you are not writing something that does not sound like something you would say in real life. The less authentic the words sound, the more likely the audience will tune out or turn off.

Let's get into the application of this for you. If you are writing a speech or preparing an oral presentation of any kind, you will want to practice it beforehand, correct? If you don't, then you might find that on top of the nervous habits and other basic speech worries there are also parts of the speech that do not flow, you have too much or too little information, or one or more words are throwing off the entire speech.

Are you starting to see how Steinbeck's advice can apply to more than just fiction writing? If you make it a point to speak what you write you will recognize whether or not it is something you or someone else would say naturally or conversationally. If it is not natural, you will want to make the necessary adjustments.

Concluding remarks
Writing advice does not simply have to apply to those who label themselves writers. There are many different forms of writing that can benefit from the same advice though it may have to be adjusted to meet the needs of the platform used. I challenge you to see for yourself what advice the "Greats" have to offer and see if you can determine where and how it can apply to what you are doing personally, academically, or professionally.