“Let’s start a podcast,” an offhand comment between two friends didn’t hold much water—or so we thought. A year later, we’re still going. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Rosie the Reviewer podcast, and boy, what a year it’s been.
52 episodes
12 wonderful guests
Many, many, many hours of yapping
There are so many things I’m incredibly proud of and many things I’ve learned. I’m also by no means a podcasting expert, but I have no ambition on that front. Yes, I want to create content that adds value every week, but I don’t necessarily want to optimise the thing into oblivion. A little, maybe, so more people find us and stick around. But one of the things I’ve learned is that quality trumps quantity.
Our Audience
Our listener numbers are by no means impressive, but the people who do listen to us are. The World War Two podcasting community is a very male-dominated space. Yet, here we are, two women from Canada and the Netherlands, making our mark and bringing these (hi)stories to a predominantly female audience. Who cares, you might think? Well, we do, and you should.
I’ve wondered why we appeal more to a female audience. Perhaps because we are women, but more likely because we focus on different elements than most of the other military history-related podcasts we know. Namely storytelling, narrative, meaning and cultural impact. Historical accuracy, too, but almost always more focused on the heart of it than the rivets.
Another prime example of why the quality of your podcast audience is more important than the quantity… It’s introduced us to the kindest people in the creative (movie, TV, and book) industry. Some because I very cheekily reached out to them, but others because they found us. And let me tell you, there’s no bigger rush.
Our Guests
Part of what has made Rosie the Reviewer so fun is the episodes with our guests. We’ve had movie-industry people on, authors, and our friends. I feel insanely lucky that our friends have been such great supporters and brought us such interesting viewpoints and discussions. We’ve learned so much from them and got to know them better in the process. So thank you, Anna, Sansa, Bec and Sam. And George, especially, for becoming our SAS Rogue Heroes Correspondent and an invaluable part of our most-listened-to episodes.
Episodes with Our Friends
I don’t think either Sam or I ever imagined we’d have authors, actors and crew on. But that happened, too.
Here are all those episodes:
Episodes with Special Guests
Our Episodes
52 episodes. From the start, Sam and I were adamant that we would publish every week. That’s part of why we’re still here; consistency is key for our audience and us as creators. It’s easy to let your schedule slip and end up quitting. But we didn’t. Sometimes, we record multiple episodes a week. As I’m writing this, we have a six-week buffer. Things like that allow us to skip a week or two when either of us is away or busy or simply not feeling it because that happens, too. But overall, we love making this podcast.
Thinking about what my favourite episodes are, I find it hard to pick. The ones with guests are always fun and memorable. From our more recent episodes, I think Sonny Boy is really good. (I also did a little deep dive) We were both excited to talk about this excellent book, and from a personal standpoint, it brought me closer to my grandfather’s WW2 history, so I love it a little extra for that.
What I've Learned about Podcast Production
Can I call myself a podcast producer yet? I guess so because Sam gave me a mug that says producer on it. Coming into this a year ago, I didn’t know anything about podcast making. I don’t regularly listen to podcasts either, which seems blasphemous to admit, so I didn’t know what I liked in terms of production and was really going in blind. Here’s what I learned:
- There are free editing/production tools out there, but paid ones make editing your podcast easier.
- Editing your pauses to 0.2 seconds improves the listening experience. That seems short because pauses in face-to-face conversations are often longer. Without visual feedback, though, a pause appears much longer, and editing is appropriate.
- Uhms, Sos and Likes sneak in quickly, and while we’re thinking, we might say the same word twice. There’s nothing wrong with editing some of those out. It’s a lot of work but worth it (I need to remind myself).
- Cleaning up your audio is worth the hassle. I enhance our audio, adding clarity, levelling volume, and removing reverb or noise. This improves the overall quality of the podcast.
- Listening to the episode before you publish is a must. Thankfully, Sam does this for me. Because sometimes, on your own, you just miss things.
- Video podcasting with one single camera angle (in our case, we record over Zoom) limits your ability to edit so much that you should do it sparingly. Video can add to the experience, but audio podcasts are still more popular.
- Done is better than perfect. It’s a cliche, but also true. You could listen to your perfectionist persona and keep tweaking your episodes forever, but no one can listen to your episodes unless you hit publish.
Imposter Syndrome Who!
Those of you who know me know that I feel like a fraud in just about any creative field. Not here, though. For some reason, working on this podcast and reaching out to people I look up to, all things that usually make me nervous… don’t elicit that annoying voice in my head. I don’t feel like an imposter. What helps here is that I’m not just doing this for me but also for Sam. And perhaps, if I were inclined to believe in such things, I’m just meant to do it.
What's Next for Rosie?
Is there anything on my wishlist for Rosie for our second year of yapping about WW2 movies and TV shows? Above all, I just want to continue making cool episodes with my friend! I want more of those episodes where we just can’t shut up. More friends in our episodes to make us sound smart. All within our reach.
But a girl can dream, of course! I wish Andrew Garfield would go off the beaten path and talk to us about Desmond Doss. I also would like to talk to Anthony Boyle about Harry Crosby. And talk to so many more ladies about women in World War Two because they’re just not talked about enough.
Could I, perhaps, hit the imposter syndrome on the head with a stick and try to get Rosie on an official press run for an upcoming WW2 movie or TV show? I think I might just try. Thanks, everybody, for listening to us for a whole year. I hope to see you for yet another fun year of Rosie!
What Can You Do to Help Us?
You can find Rosie on all your favourite podcast platforms. We most want you to listen to our episodes—that’s what they’re there for, after all. But there are other things you can do that would also make us very happy.
- Follow us on Spotify, leave a comment and rate us 5 stars. We’d love to hear from you.
- Follow and rate us on Apple Podcasts. We don’t mention this one very often, but Apple Podcasts has the biggest podcast community out there and you know, can’t ignore it.
- Please rate us on IMDb. It helps us get guests who are in the movie industry.
- Share your favourite episodes on socials or directly with a friend. Honest recommendations are invaluable.
- Find us on YouTube. Fun if you don’t want to miss our video episodes.
- Have a TV show or movie that you want us to discuss? Or something you want to come and talk to us about on the pod? Drop us a line!
2 responses
OMG K-mart!! What a wonderful reflective on your very successful first year. You would NEVER get this out of Sam!! This podcast has really evolved and just has gotten better and better every single day!! Your website is an amazing font of information to follow up after each podcast, the most incredible resource for those of us peripherally interested in the content but not fully committed to watching every single movie or episode in a series. Keep it up, you both amaze me every week and deepen my interest in finding out more about this very important era in the history. It is informing world diplomacy and relations even to this day. Sad to think that we never learn much from our past mistakes. Chaos and war.
I think Sam would definitely also do this but I’m just the biggest sap. 😉 Thank you for being such an avid supporter.