It’s a warm Friday evening and I’m in Sheffield with a hope in my heart and a dream in my head. My hope is that if I spend enough time here at the Crossed Wires festival – the biggest podcast festival in the world – talking to podcasters, producers and industry insiders, I might learn what it takes to create a successful show. My dream is to pitch my idea to a few A-List podcasters to see what they think.
Crossed Wires was founded by Dino Sofos, who also runs Persephonica, the company behind such hit podcasts as The News Agents and Dig It with Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley. He seemed the perfect person to tell me what it takes to create a hit.
“There’s a secret sauce,” he says. “It’s a combination of a great idea, brilliant talent and the community that builds around both of those elements. I think if you lock those three things in, you have the magic.” I was desperate to suggest my idea, but I didn’t quite have the nerve yet. Instead, I wandered off to ask some super-successful podcasters what made a great concept.
Danny Robins, whose Uncanny podcast is one of the biggest in the country, had been a “jobbing writer and a Jack of all trades” before ghosts became his subject. In Uncanny, Robins investigates real-life stories of paranormal encounters, such as ghosts and UFOs, with a sceptic and a believer on hand to assess the evidence. “This was a subject I’ve been obsessed with since I was a kid,” he told me. “What people look for in podcasts is authenticity, and having a story that’s very personal to you, that you care about.”
