Myke Hurley on the History and Future of Podcasting

Myke Hurley is a British podcaster and the co-founder of 70Decibels, the network that brought us such shows as Bionic, CMD+Space, Generational and The 512 Podcast. More recently, Myke and his network have become part of the 5by5 network on which he, along with international cohorts Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels and Federico Viticci of MacStories, have since launched the hottest new tech podcast called The Prompt.

Although Myke works full time as a "corporate stooge" and hosts countless podcasts, including the daily podcast The News, I was fortunate enough to steal some of Myke's time and discuss his Mac and podcasting history, as well as what the future may hold for the medium.

Image courtesy of Shawn Blanc
Image courtesy of Shawn Blanc

Hi Myke! I'll start by asking you one of your favourite questions: Tell us who you are and what you like to be known for. 

I'm Myke Hurley and I am a podcaster from London, in the UK. I like to be known for working hard to create great audio programming on the internet.


When did you first start using the Mac? 

I think it was in 2005. My first Mac was the first iMac released with an Intel chip.

The original Intel-based iMac was released in January 2006.
The original Intel-based iMac was released in January 2006.

What inspired you to pick up the mic and start podcasting? 

Every week, me and my friend Terry would have long conversations about what was happening in the world of Technology and just generally waxing lyrical about geeky things. So I thought it would be great for us to maybe record them and put them out in to the world. It gave us an excuse to talk about our favourite things and maybe others would be interested too!


Tell us a little bit about your current Mac setup and some of the tools you use. 

I record all of my shows on to a Mac mini. I am using the generation just before the most current. I don't use it for anything other than recording, editing and posting the shows. All of my other work is being done on a Retina MacBook Pro (13-inch). I love this machine, it's so much more power than I need and looks fantastic. I'm so pleased I went for it.

At the moment I am using GarageBand to create my podcasts (like an animal!), but I am slowly starting to transition over to Logic Pro X. I has been waiting to learn Logic until they updated it, so I am starting to dig in!

GarageBand comes free with the Mac and is a powerful audio recording and editing suite.
GarageBand comes free with the Mac and is a powerful audio recording and editing suite.

How does your current setup compare to when you first started out? 

Oh man! When I first started out I was using a USB headset in to an iMac, this transitioned to a USB Mic (Blue Yeti) in to an 11-inch MacBook Air. Now I have a Heil PR40 Microphone and a Mixer going in to the Mac mini. EXTREMELY different!

The Heil PR40 is a well-reviewed XLR microphone.
The Heil PR40 is a well-reviewed XLR microphone.

What are some of your favourite or most frequently used apps that form part of your podcasting workflow? 

Obviously Skype (frequent, not favourite) and quite honestly, Google Drive. I outline and plan all the shows in Google Drive documents. I can access them from anywhere and easily let my co-hosts collaborate with me on the documents. It's the best system I have found for this stuff, by a mile.

Google Drive provides access to your files using many different devices, including online editing.
Google Drive provides access to your files using many different devices, including online editing.

Apple recently announced that the number of iTunes podcast subscriptions passed 1 billion! How do you see think the medium will evolve over the next few years? 

I think there are going to be big changes. I don't think I really know what they will be yet, but I am spending a lot of time trying to figure that out. I think 'live' will play a lot in to it, being able to provide content 24-hours a day, but still with a heave on-demand component. I think that the medium will grow actually and that it will start to become easier to get podcasts in other places, like cars.

Myke hosts a number of shows on 5by5 including The Prompt, CMD+Space and Bionic.
Myke hosts a number of shows on 5by5 including The Prompt, CMD+Space and Bionic.

If you could offer just one piece of advice to any budding podcaster reading this, what would it be? 

Prepare. Prepare for your show. You don't have to sit and write a script. But just have an outline, do your research and just know what you want your show to be. Especially if you are interviewing someone. Preparation is key to good content.


And finally, if you could interview anyone currently working at Apple on an episode of CMD+Space, who would it be? 

Jony Ive. The man is a personal hero and he is British like me. Perfect mix!


Thanks Myke!

Myke has shows at both 70Decibels and 5by5 and I've included some great examples of them below.
http://computers.tutsplus.com/articles/myke-hurley-on-the-history-and-future-of-podcasting--mac-52666
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