Rob Greenlee from Microsoft talks podcasting and radio. Host of the New Media Show and content manager of podcasts on the Windows Phone, Xbox Live and Zune.
How Rob’s Passion For Podcasting Started
Rob had no background in broadcast or radio from a professional level and was really a marketing guy. In 1999 he started doing a radio show talking about the web and internet making week after week for about six and a half years. He eventually built his own home studio and started doing his show on a pre-produced basis and really got it out there working with XM Satellite Radio and CNET Radio broadcasting his show to 15 radio stations via satellite syndication. A podcaster turned content manager, Rob has been managing content catalogues for 9 years now, 6 years of those have been working for Zune in Microsoft.
Rob’s Role With Podcasters And Microsoft
Rob manages the content catalogue. He works with content providers and pulls together twice weekly features and promotions of content for listeners of the platform. He acts as a liaison to content providers making him the single point of contact for the company.
Top Mistakes In Podcast Submissions
Rob is very active on Twitter and often tweets about podcasting trends.
The top podcast submission mistakes include using artwork that’s not really the right size. It has to be square. Rob sees a lot of content providers that submits podcast with the artwork at a rectangular shape which creates a squashed look. Another mistake is not having series metadata on the podcast feeds. It doesn’t have to be long or be a massive undertaking but just a good show description so anyone looking through a catalogue can quickly glance at the album art and look at the description for the show and see if it’s something they want to subscribe to.
Will Microsoft Take On iTunes?
Rob says that if you’re talking about competing at the scale of which iTunes built their podcast area Microsoft is behind on that and has been behind for at least 3 years and certainly iTunes is the biggest player and it’s hard to compete with them. They’ve build a huge base of users and most podcasters think of iTunes first but the bigger picture is that users want podcasts on their phones and devices and Microsoft has been there for that and we’ve been pushing to improve it. Apple may be the Kingpin of podcasts but there is definitely still room for other competitors.
How Do You See Radio’s Future?
Radio is moving towards podcasting. Radio is a local phenomenon and there future is going to be catering to very specific genres in local markets. Currently, radio is struggling with a balance between national level content, local content and even global content which they completely don’t get. Rob thinks that it is still yet to be decided on what’s going to happen to broadcast radio but feels that radio will be primarily focused on local weather, traffic, sports and local news. The music part will stay but eventually may fade.
Do Radio Stations Really Get Podcasting?
If a radio station or a radio talent wants to make their radio show a podcast they can certainly do that but to be successful the radio aspect puts you in a situation where you’ll likely be less successful as a podcast. On demand radio is the dominant future and podcast radio will perhaps be in second place. I personally used to be a big radio listener and now I’m exclusively listening to podcasts. It is much more convenient and there is no limitation in terms of time and place.
Rob’s Other Side
Aside from being a successful content manager, Rob is a marketing guy and holds the title for the Guinness World Record for the largest glass of orange juice. He built this enormous glass for the Florida Department of Citrus holding in 720 gallons of orange juice!
Connect With Rob Greenlee
You can reach Rob Greenlee via Twitter or visit his own personal website.
Will Podcasting Become Bigger Than Radio?
We don’t know the answer to this until it happens but let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
