“How to Create a Bingeable Podcast Through Co-Host Chemistry” with Shea Keats and Maddie Jerge of the Camp Adulthood and the Resident Youth Podcast

 

As part of my series of interviews about “5 things you need to know to create a bingeable podcast”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Shea Keats and Maddie Jerge, hosts of the podcast, Camp Adulthood and the Resident Youth.

Camp Adulthood is the Millennial art of living like a trash bag while still managing to pay for your own s**t and being interesting AF. It’s is doing very big and scary things, like having a baby or buying a house or taking care of an ailing parent or starting a business, while still not being sure where your checkbook is (or even how to write a check). Camp Adulthood is Tinder and Facebook and Instagram, but also Encyclopedia Britannica and Oregon Trail and John Hughes movies. But most importantly, Camp Adulthood looks critically at a divided generation in a time of endless opportunity and terrifying unrest.

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Can you tell us a bit of your “personal backstory? What is your background and what eventually brought you to this particular career path?

Maddie: Shea and I lived together while I was in college and Shea was in her early 30s so it was an interesting dynamic. Some days she would be the mom like figure taking care of me, and sometimes we would eat cheese and crackers for multiple meals in a row. We realized we were both parts of the millennial generation and had a lot of overlap but a lot of unique differences, like our experiences with 9/11, that were worth exploring in a podcast setting.

Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?

Shea: I think just the guests we have been able to get and how intimate a setting podcasting is that lets people open up. Our multi-part series on religion with a former Mormon, Episcopal priest and a mega-church goer was a highlight.

Maddie: Totally agree, I think also your former roommate Steven talking about his struggle with addiction from a young age was an interesting story that you don’t hear a lot from millennials but is very common.

Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaways you learned from that?

Maddie: This one guest early on thought that the entire podcast was an elaborate rouse in order to stage a three-way! That was a crazy one. (Shea snickering in background)

Shea: Yeah we definitely learned that sometimes you don’t get taken seriously or people have other ideas when you invite them over to a house to record!

Maddie: I think we also learned a ton about audio quality, at the beginning, we had Jennie Mayfield as our producer and she really set us up for success, and we have only gotten better as time goes on. Home recording is tough especially when you have a little budget, but practice makes perfect. After 100+ episodes we have made huge strides in the quality of the episodes from those early days.

How long have you been podcasting and how many shows have you aired?

Shea: We started in June 2017 so about 2 ½ years, and we have 111 episodes and counting!

What are the main takeaways, lessons or messages that you want your listeners to walk away with after listening to your show?

Maddie: I think our bio says it all-we want to bridge the millennial divide and show that millennials are doing hard work that often goes unnoticed, and those generational groupings are an interesting way of looking at current events and the world around you.

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Shea Keats and Maddie Jerge!

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Podcaster Influencers, Shea Keats and Maddie Jerge of the Camp Adulthood and the Resident Youth podcast share the best ways to:

1) Book Great Guests. Start with your own network and ask to be introduced. You’d be surprised who you know that’s only a degree or 2 away. A good old cold email or DM really works wonders as well! You can also email publicists, it is their job to get their clients on shows and are surprisingly responsive.

2) Increase Listeners. Focus on the quality of the show. Ask guests to post about the show to their networks. Keep the show consistent over time and the listeners will follow.

3) Produce in a Professional Way. Be courteous to guests. Even if you are recording in your home, try your best to be up front about that and make sure its clean. Offer them a beverage etc. Spend the money where it counts on some half-way decent mics and audio software if you are producing yourself. Come to the interview prepared with questions so you look like the real deal for the guest.

4) Encourage Engagement. We encourage our guests to email us and we discuss on the show. We’ve also read some of our iTunes reviews which are always fun, and we did merch for a period of time. Find what naturally works for you and your show and what the fans respond to.

5) Monetize. We had a Patreon for a while so that’s good if you have a small but loyal group of followers. We have toyed with advertising small businesses or millennial-focused companies before, but the key to doing that is point 2 above about increasing listeners. So, focus on that at first and then the money will come second.

In your opinion what makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or your content?

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Shea Keats and Maddie Jerge!