The story behind the founding and creation of International Podcast Day
Dave Lee, 37, works for a County Public Works municipality in the solid waste management and recycling industry during the day. But he has another identity in addition to his public service position.
Lee has been in the podcasting space for more than 10 years. One of his shows, The Waves of Tech, has more than 400 episodes now and has gone on for all of those 10 years. He has also completed three other podcasts that each ran their course of about 100 episodes each.
His involvement doesn’t stop there. Lee is also the co-founder of International Podcast Day.
“In 2007, Steve, my father and co-host, took a job five hours north of where our family lived,” said Lee. “In an effort to stay connected, my brother, Mike, and I would log on to Skype every Monday to chat about the week, work, and family. Inevitably, the conversation drifted toward technology as Steve and Mike work as IT Professionals. At some point in time, Steve hit record without us knowing and later sent the audio file saying, ‘Guys, I say we start a podcast!’ The rest is history, and we’ve been podcasting together for 10 years now.”
The podcast is what Lee calls a “tech grab-bag”. Each week they go over, discuss and analyze the technology industry while keeping a special lens on how it is impacting our lives on a daily basis. Some of the topics they cover include net neutrality, artificial intelligence, mobile network companies, social media, tech acquisitions and more.
“How technology is changing the face of healthcare, education, science, retail, space, and more,” said Lee. “We share the news, stories, and headlines that impact us as consumers and users of technology.”
Seven years later, the idea for International Podcast Day came into existence. 2018 will be the fifth year anniversary and celebration of the event. While driving in the car listening to the radio, Lee’s father, Steve, heard a commercial for National Senior Citizen Day and wondered immediately why there wasn’t a day to celebrate podcasters and podcasting.
“We founded National Podcast Day and hosted the first celebration on September 30, 2014,” said Lee. “September was chosen because it is well known that the first podcast was released in September 2004, so essentially it was the 10 year anniversary of podcasting. We hosted 6 hours of online sessions. The day after the 2014 National Podcast Day event, we heard overwhelmingly from the international podcasting community (mostly from the UK and Australia at the time) to be represented and involved – hence, the birth of International Podcast Day.”
Over the last three years they’ve featured podcasters from more than 40 different countries. The day is comprised of several events that take place in both an official and unofficial capacity.
“The main feature of the event is the live online 33-hour video stream we put together,” said Lee. “Podcasters have also presented their story or topic in their own language as well, but the majority are presented in English. You can scan the session titles to see the wide range of topics and messages shared. Each year brings a new group of awesome podcasters and stories to share.”
In terms of unofficial events, they take place all around the world. These events, Lee said, were put together by podcasters that wanted to celebrate the day in their own way. International Podcast Day also has sponsors that help to make the day happen.
The schedule for the day is jam-packed and doesn’t really include any breaks, according to Lee.
“It starts around 8:00 am on September 29 and ends at 10:00 pm on September 30,” said Lee. “It goes without saying that there is plenty of caffeine and jumping jacks to keep us going. Steve operates a studio that becomes ‘command central’ for the next two days, fitting with lighting, HD cameras, a bunch of computers, and some mixers.”
They take turns on shifts through the night to continue ensuring that the events are running smoothly. Social media is also a tool they use heavily throughout the day. They share which podcasters from which country are featured at each specific time and go through all of the posts made on social media and Google about the event as it goes on, then they share that info throughout the community.
In running the event Lee said that there are a few challenges that come with International Podcast Day including schedule changes, cancellations and language barriers to a certain degree. He said the biggest challenge though, is trying to involve listeners in the event. He said that frequently he sees listeners sharing their favorite podcasts on social media but the buck stops there. It’s a different experience for listeners as opposed to podcasters, podcasters are far more eager to jump in and participate, according to Lee.
“We are trying to find creative ways to involve them in more of what we do,” he said.
International Podcast Day, Lee said, would not be possible without the podcast community, listeners and podcasters alike.
“The podcasting and podcast community is amazing,” said Lee. “Without their continued support of the event, it would not exist. The community has taken it upon themselves to create some amazing events around the world and really make the day their own by finding their own way to celebrate the power of podcasts.”
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