“Tulog na kayo lahat? Parang gusto ko gumawa tayo ng podcast [Are you all asleep? I’m thinking we should make a podcast] hahahaha.”
It was half past midnight when Eggy sent this message to the Droplet’s group chat. Most were already asleep, but the ones still online – Ann and Francis – immediately said yes.
The next two hours were then spent bouncing off ideas. Nobody had any experience making a podcast, but each had friends who did. Ann suggested putting it on Spotify, while Francis suggested to use Zoom to record the conversations. Eggy started planning out the segments, sending voice notes of sample intros and shout outs. Thess joined the discussion mid-way and gave her inputs as well.
In the morning of April 10, 2021, the rest of the Droplets read through the long discussion just hours prior. Everyone agreed with the plan and that weekend was spent ironing out the finer details. Forty-three and a half hours after Eggy sent that message to the group chat, the team started recording the first episode.
Each of the first four episodes feature three members – a host and two “guests”. The guests talk about their “LYKA Story”, including how they got started in LYKA, their usual routine, as well as other LYKA users or “LYKAns” they want to “flex”.
LYKA, a relatively new social media platform with an integrated digital wallet, was where the group was formed in early 2021.
[More info about the LYKA app here.]
To utilize the ‘GEMs’ (Gift card in Electeonic Mode) aspect of the LYKA, the team includes GEM giveaways in each episode. For two of the giveaways, listeners have to comment a “code word” in a designated member’s post. The first commenter wins the prize, rewarding the first ones to listen to the podcast after its release. For the third giveaway, listeners have to comment their answer to the episode’s “share your thoughts” question by a given deadline. Everyone in the team would then vote for their favorites among the answers and the winners are announced in the following episode.
Behind the scenes, everyone is involved in the production of each episode. Eggy, the main host, also does the editing and the publishing. Ann made the podcast logo and the posters. Tin collects listener feedback. Francis, Jean, Jovy, Mark, and Thess would act as the “live audience” during the recordings, giving some initial feedback. In episode four, Tin took over hosting duties as it was Eggy’s turn to be the guest.
While the team tries to get the whole conversation in one take to lessen the need for editing, there are still some minor edits being done. The outro is then added a couple of days before the episode’s release.
Everyone pitches ideas for each episode, posts about the podcast, and contributes to the giveaway prizes. The team has also come up with a list of potential guests, with invites to be sent out closer to when their respective episodes will be released. Hosts will rotate depending on the guest as well as each member’s availability.
As of writing, the first four episodes are available on Spotify. In 12 days since the podcast’s first episode was released, it has been listened to 152 times or an average of 38 plays per episode. The first episode has been played 63 times.
The team has already recorded episodes five and six, both of which will feature special guests. Starting with the fifth episode, the team is intending to stick to a weekly release every Wednesday, with some special episodes dropping during weekends.
While the current content is mostly tied to LYKA, future episodes will branch out to non-LYKA related topics including things the members are passionate about like photography and hiking.
“Tulog na kayo lahat? Parang gusto ko gumawa tayo ng podcast [Are you all asleep? I’m thinking we should make a podcast] hahahaha,” Eggy asked a little over two weeks ago.
In the morning of April 26, 2021, the Droplets are preparing for the release of episode five in two days, as well as the recording of episodes seven and eight in the coming weekend.
*Full names have been intentionally omitted.
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***You can listen to Droplets Chikahan: A Podcast on Spotify.
// by Francis Abad
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