The Brookings Institution started podcasting in 2013 with the Brookings Cafeteria, a weekly interview show first recorded in a makeshift studio. Fred Dews, lead podcast producer at Brookings, explains how that one show gave rise to seven shows covering multiple policy areas. He explains how a new show gets approved, how Brookings measures impact beyond downloads, and why podcasting hasn’t replaced any of its other channels.
Brookings shows include The Beijing Brief and a show about rural America. Each one starts with a concept note from the scholars who want to make it. Fred tells JT and Richard how an internal team reviews each show’s results at the end of a season, and why his goal is to constantly learn more about how audiences use Brookings’ multimedia work.
Key points
A new Brookings show starts with a concept note from a scholar or program team. Dews said the note covers the host, format, release cadence, whether it’s a limited or ongoing series, and how it fits the scholar’s research plan, and senior leadership signs off before pre-production begins.
Brookings looks beyond audio downloads to YouTube views of each full episode and the two or three vertical clips cut from most episodes, along with Instagram engagement and feedback that scholars hear at conferences. A group compares the results with success metrics set in pre-production, usually at the end of a season.
Dews described a show with low download numbers whose host was approached at a conference by a senior government official from another country who had listened to an entire episode.
Brookings wound down the Brookings Cafeteria after eight and a half years and more than 400 episodes. Dews said an internal study found scholars wanted shows on specific topics, and a weekly grab bag might interest a congressional staffer on a foreign affairs subcommittee in only one episode out of ten.
Dews said podcasting hasn’t replaced any of Brookings’ other channels. Scholars still testify on Capitol Hill, speak at events, and publish books and papers, and a video crew may film a short vertical video with a scholar right after a hearing.
In the listener mail segment, JT and Richard answer two questions from Rika: how an organization can tell the stories of vulnerable people such as refugees without exploiting them, and whether a limited series or an episodic show offers more value.
About Fred Dews
Fred Dews is the lead podcast producer at the Brookings Institution, where he is in his 30th year. He launched the Brookings Cafeteria in 2013 and hosted and produced more than 400 episodes before ending the show in 2022. The Academy of Podcasters named it Best News & Politics Podcast in 2015 and Best Education Podcast in 2017, and it was nominated for an Ambie in 2021.
Coming up next:
In two weeks, we’ll talk with Zoe Goldman, a podcast producer at Getty, about building a podcast program inside an art museum and making audio about art that listeners can’t see.
If you found this episode helpful, share it with someone who might find it useful as well, and follow Worth Listening wherever you get your podcasts.