Malaysian senior teaches himself how to podcast during MCO | The Star

There's no better time than during the pandemic to learn something new, says Mohd Adib Noh, 68, from Bangi, Selangor.

Since the first movement control order last year, Mohd Adib has been spending his time learning how to do podcasts.

“So despite having to stay home and not being able to go out, I’m having fun at home – reading, doing podcasts, exploring new ‘techy’ stuff, and more, ” he says cheerfully

Mohd Adib, who is a project management consultant, says that coming from an engineering background, he has always been “into such techy stuff”.

The avid hobbyist photographer and cyclist says that he is one of the “early adopters of technology’, and started blogging before it was even popular, and he has maintained several blogs, including ones on photography, cycling and his personal life.

So it was only natural that he started getting into podcasts, which he calls “voice-blogging”.

“Podcast is my version of blogging where instead of writing the words, I say them. It’s a voice blog, ” says Mohd Adib, or Pak Adib as he is fondly called.

He started exploring the world of podcasting in late 2019 but it wasn’t until the MCO in March 2020 when he had a lot of free time at home that he started to actively do podcasts himself.

He has two podcast sites: Putrajaya Café which is about his personal life and interests, and Simply Project for his work as a business consultant.

Today, he has over 100 episodes on his sites. Although most are monologues, with only one person speaking – namely, himself, sharing his thoughts and experiences in life, or his expertise in business and project management – Mohd Adib has also done a few episodes which involve dialogues and trialogues.

One such episode involves him interviewing a few photography friends after an outing he had organised during the recovery MCO.

An avid cyclist, Adib used to organise cycling and photography events for his friends before the pandemic.

Confidence boost

Mohd Adib says that he was first inspired to get into podcasts because he is fan of American software developer, entrepreneur, and writer Dave Winer who together with announcer, Internet entrepreneur and media personality Adam Curry, started the first podcast in 2004.

His first exposure to podcasts was when he started listening to BBC Sounds, which involves radio, music and podcasts. Inspired, he taught himself how to podcast by watching YouTube videos.

Mohd Adib started producing his own podcasts using a free application called Anchor by Spotify which can be downloaded to the mobile phone and used to record, store and even publicise the podcast.

“In a nutshell, a podcast is where you record a conversation (whether with just oneself like a monologue or with others) and upload it and then people come and click on the sound file and listen to it, ” says Mohd Adib.

“It is totally audio, like a recorded message, ” he says. “But different from radio because it isn’t time-specific and you can listen at your own convenience, ” he adds.

“The word pod comes from iPod and it’s related to sound, while cast is from broadcast, ” explains Mohd Adib.

Mohd Adib says that doing podcasts helps him gain confidence in speaking, and he usually speaks as if talking to someone when podcasting because he feels it’s more personal and natural than reading from a script.

Mohd Adib says that doing podcasts helps him gain confidence in speaking, and he usually speaks as if talking to someone when podcasting rather than reading from a script. Photo: Mohd Adib Noh

“It’s like talking to someone over a cup of coffee, ” he describes, but reveals that he does prepare before each episode.

He will select a topic that is currently trending. usually something that he is interested in or feels strongly about. Then, he lists down the main points before he talks about them on his podcast. Usually, he will keep each episode to a maximum of 10 minutes because it’s too long to listen to one person speaking for longer, unless it’s a lecture, he says.

On his personal podcast channel, there are all sorts of topics from cycling, to reading, to Covid-19 issues and the lockdown. One of his latest podcasts details his Covid-19 vaccination experience.

On his business podcast, he usually features episodes on topics which he feels will help his students. He adds that indirectly, it also helps him publicise his business coaching services.

Mohd Adib usually does his project management podcast on Tuesdays and his personal podcast on Thursdays.

He says that true to his tagline for his personal podcast site “let’s have more conversations”, it’s important for people to talk to one another and have more conversations so that they can help each other, especially during these pandemic times.

Besides podcasting, the happening senior says that he has been busy writing his book entitled The Joys Of Cycling In Putrajaya, which he hopes to publish this year. He is now working on his second book titled Now And Then, which he says is soon to be completed.

Mohd Adib hopes that podcasting will become more popular in Malaysia because “it teaches people to listen”.

“Sometimes, people tend to talk too much but they don’t listen enough. And sometimes, people forget to listen to one another. But, when there are no visuals, it forces us to listen more and that is a good thing, ” he concludes.