Starting a Mathematics Podcast

In the spring of 2021, Deanna visited the University of Richmond as the Gaines Professor of Mathematics. While together in Richmond, we finished editing our book, Count Me In: Community and Belonging in Mathematics. Deanna was ready, after many months of wrangling authors and looking for misplaced commas, to rest on her laurels. But out on a walk one spring day, Della asked Deanna to hear her out: we needed to start a podcast. The stories in our book had taught us the importance of finding a community with other mathematicians. We had learned that identifying with others helps build a sense of belonging and gives students and colleagues the strength to push through struggles and obstacles along the way. We decided to interview a broad swath of mathematicians and talk to them about their childhoods, their path to mathematics, the obstacles they had overcome, and the people who helped them along the way. We not only wanted to feature their successes in mathematics, but also their struggles, their vulnerability, and their humanity. But what did we know about starting a podcast? We had listened to podcasts, yes, but we had never started one from the ground up. We knew nothing, but we had Deanna, who loves to plan something new. We met at the kitchen table and made a list of what we thought might be involved and who might be able to help us. That’s how we began: at the kitchen table making a list. By the fall of 2021, that list had grown into the first season of Count Me In with Della and Deanna. We released our second and third seasons in fall 2022 and fall 2023, respectively. Here is what we’ve learned through our first three seasons of Count Me In with Della and Deanna.

Decide on the audience and what you want to accomplish. Like writing an article, before you start a podcast you need to determine who you hope to reach with your episodes and what your audience will gain from listening. We wanted our podcast to attract a broad audience, from secondary school students to professional mathematicians. We quickly realized we didn’t want our episodes to require any specific mathematical prerequisites to understand. We wanted our audience to learn about the wide array of possibilities in the mathematical community so they could envision a place where they belong. These goals translated into conversations with mathematicians who prove theorems with fancy names, edit publications, serve in leadership roles in the community, work in industry, or write books for broad audiences.

Determine your budget. You can create a podcast with little more than a recording device on your phone or laptop. However, if you have some funds (like $200/episode), you can significantly improve the quality of the finished product by hiring a professional producer (see below).

Get the right equipment. We bought some good but inexpensive microphones (we opted for Yeti mics). We audiotaped our conversations over Zoom, but other recording devices could be used.

Decide on a name and format details. When you are considering a name, look at Spotify or Apple Podcasts to make sure your name is not already associated with another podcast. We really wanted to name our podcast “Count Me In” to reflect our book title, but we discovered that the Institute of Management Accountants already adopted this name for their podcast. (Who knew?) We recommend that you choose a name that describes your podcast and is easy to remember. When you plan the length of each episode, remember that the average commute is 25 minutes, so aiming for episodes that last one or two commutes (25 or 50 minutes) will help attract listeners.

Find some cover art and music. Choose a photo or piece of artwork for an “album cover” that will help identify your podcast. Our book included a chapter on the EDGE Program with a piece of computer art we loved. We asked the artist, graduate student Victoria Robinson, if we could commission her to create an “album cover” for our podcast. Victoria said she would love to create our cover image…after she took her general exams! This modest investment turned out to be one of our favorite aspects of the podcast. We also asked Della’s son to compose 30 seconds of music for our intro and outro. He created five compositions and we asked friends and colleagues to vote for the most suitable one for our podcast.

Hire a producer. Our producer was really worth his weight in gold. “Podcast Sam” was a former student at Carleton who had worked professionally on podcasts after graduating. He gave us helpful information about how to set up the podcast, gentle advice about how to improve our sound, and thoughtful guidance about how to edit sound tracks. He did the technical work of making the edits and uploading our files. He also encouraged us as we learned the process of creating a podcast and he made the experience much more fun.

Set your guests up for success. Before we met with our podcast guests, we sent them tips for creating a favorable environment for recording an interview. We also included a list of questions that we like to ask so they could begin thinking about them in advance. Our episodes feature a series of fun questions in a rapid-fire format at the end. We do not send these questions before the interview, however, because we want to capture the spirit of the moment.

Record your podcast episodes. We recorded our episodes on Zoom; it’s best to “Record to device” instead of “Record to cloud” because the former records each person’s audio separately and allows for much more refined editing of the audio in production. A professional Minnesota Public Radio host also suggested that we have each person record their own audio on any simple recording device they have where they are, like audio notes on a smart phone. This way, if there is a glitch in the audio on Zoom, there is a clean version of the audio available to substitute into the final mix.

Edit your podcast episodes. Just like our written manuscripts, we edit our podcast episodes. We make a first pass at the audio before we send it to our producer. We make notes (with time stamps) about where to eliminate a cough or a side conversation that doesn’t fit. These look something like “at 13:12 Della coughs, is it possible to cut it and resume the episode at 13:14?” If you do your own editing, our producer recommends the free software Audacity.

Make a trailer. While we edited our podcasts, we kept track of noteworthy insights and comments. We then compiled these in a short trailer that reflects the overall aim of the podcast. This trailer gives listeners a chance to “try out” the podcast in a very short time (less than two minutes).

Post your episodes. You can make your podcast available on your own webpage, but to reach the largest audience, it’s best to make it available on a podcast platform like Spotify or Apple Podcasts. You can pay an annual fee to post your podcast there, or you can post a podcast on those platforms for free with some blog software packages, like SquareSpace. If you use blogging software, we recommend that you check to see if it includes podcast posting as a free service.

Enjoy your podcast. We both listen to our podcast episodes (even though it’s hard to hear your own voice in a recording). By now, we know some of the passages by heart and the time stamp where they occur. Even so, our guests still surprise us. Our listeners surprise us even more. You can never predict what listeners will take away from an episode, especially students. One of Deanna’s students listened to an episode and felt compelled to write her a long email outlining her own personal struggles to find her place in mathematics. One of Della’s students came into her office and announced, with her hands on her hips, “I want to marry a man like Susan Colley’s husband!”

Our podcast offers a personal introduction to some mathematicians. Although we started with conversations about professional journeys in mathematics, we learned just as much (if not more) about personal habits and lifestyles. We met members of the community who named their cats after Pythagoras, hung gigantic calendars in their laundry room, and created personal mottos to sustain them during challenging times. We gained insights about how to face serious personal struggles (find a trusted friend, for example) and how to make the road smoother for our early career colleagues (through building a supportive community for them within the department). We laughed and we cried. Literally. The podcast has accomplished our aim of showing the humanity of the discipline…and a whole lot more.