This post documents a standardized operating procedure for posting podcast episode pages. This is a task that takes place after the podcast episode has been recorded. These are the procedures that you should follow when being asked to “post an episode” in one of our projects.

Transcription

Currently, Chat-GPT does a poor job of transcribing audio files. Fortunately, the college makes a powerful transcription option available: Adobe Premiere Pro. Click here for quick-and-dirty instructions on how to create transcripts from audio MP3s using Premiere.

Upload MP3

Upload MP3s to CUNY Academic Commons websites only. (#1) Open the “Media” menu on WordPress, (#2) drag the MP3 to the upload box, and (3) copy the URL of the episode. You will paste that URL in the episode page that you will create next.

Create Episode Page

From the left menu bar of the dashboard, select Podcasting > Add New Episode (as to the right)

You will then see what looks like a page to add a new blog post. That’s what it is. However, the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin used by this site (available in the Academic Commons) creates extra fields for us to fill in.

The following fields are available to be populated:

1. Title: This will be the title of your episode. Below, it is the bold face text that says “Charles Seguin on Frontier Lynchings”
2. Description: The main post will serve as the episode description.
3. Episode File: The URL of the episode’s MP3. You copied it above.

Along the right bar of the window, I have minimized the many menus that you can open and populate with relevant information.

1. Summary: This menu is where you will set the date and time of your podcast’s publication
2. AI Stuff: Ignore it. It is related to another project and not on the Commons.
3. Excerpt: Complete 20 word summary of episode. Used when sites want very short summaries.
4. Yoast SEO: Not relevant here.
5. Tags: Keywords associated with this episode. Makes your site searchable by themes if you do this over time.
6. All Podcasts: Checkboxes to choose which podcasts will be associated with this episode. You can publish multiple podcasts to one website using Seriously Simple Podcasting.
7. Speakers: You must install Serious Simple Speakers. Allows you to create indexes of people who appear on your podcasts.
8. Featured Image: Where you specify the image that will be associated with this episode. Remember that we only use AI-generated images on our properties unless given explicit authorization.

You can ignore the remainders.

Remember that your title and description will help people find you when searching for content that you discuss. Be sure to mention the kinds of terms that people will use in searches that might find your episode to be appealing.

Publication

Once you have set the publication date and time in the “Summary” menu to the left, click Publish at top right corner of the screen (see above).

Remember to promote your episode once it is published. Only a portion of your listens will come through podcast subscriptions and directories. You might attract listens through social media, email announcements, and other communications campaigns, so make sure to coordinate those. Note that the Academic Commons has the plugin Blog2Social for such a purpose.