Podcasts

Owned by Zachary Restifo
Last updated: Mar 08, 2021
5 min read

You can use Tridion to create a Podcast for display on your site and add a Podcast channel in Apple iTunes.

  • Inserting Podcasts onto a page requires several steps (separated into 5 parts below) before creating the actual Podcast components.

  • It's important that you go through each of the steps below in order for the Podcasts to publish correctly.

The following instructions provide information on how to create an insert a Podcast channel on to your page via Tridion.

 

Table of Contents

 

Part I: Upload Audio Files and Record Information

The first step to creating a Podcast for display on your site is to upload the audio files and record the information associated with the Podcast.

  1. For each of the Podcasts you want to include, make sure you have a quality audio file. In addition, you will want to determine and write down the following information for each Podcast audio file:

    • Title

    • Subtitle

    • Author

    • Description 

      • A short description of the Podcast content

    • Date

    • Category

      • e.g., Science & Medicine, Research, Ethics & Compliance

    • Channel 

      • The name you will give to your Podcast channel on the page

    • Topic 

      • e.g., Colon cancer, gastrointestinal, OBGYN

    • Names of guests participating in Podcasts

  2. After you have collected this information, go into the the Building Blocks folder of your publication.

    • You will use all of this information in Part II, but it's best to have this completed beforehand.

    • Unless you are working in a standalone publication, please make sure you are creating the new folders and components in the parent publication!

  3. Open and create a new folder dedicated to Podcasts.

    • Within this folder, create another folder where you will house your audio files.

  4. In your audio files folder, create a New Multimedia Component and select Audio from the schema list.

  5. Click Load from disk and select the podcast audio file from your computer.

  6. Save & Close the component.

  7. Repeat for each podcast, as necessary.

  8. If you would like to include PDF transcriptions of each podcast, create a new folder in your Podcasts building blocks folder called "PDFs," then upload each transcript as a Document component. (see Uploading Documents for more information.)

 

Part II: Create Categories & Keywords

Once you upload your audio files as Multimedia components and record the accompanying information for each podcast, the next step is to create Categories and Keywords.

  1. Go into the Categories and Keywords folder of your publication.

    • This folder is located underneath the pink Root folder in the left column of Tridion. 

    • The icon looks like a small brown box.

  2. In this folder, you will see several pre-populated categories.

    • The information you use in this section will be pulled from your notes collected in Part I.

    • There is a strong chance that some of the information is repeated.

    • For example, there may only be one unique Author or Channel across all of your Podcasts.

    • When completing the steps below, do not create duplicate keywords.

  3. First, double-click Podcast Author.

    • In the Create tab at the top banner of Tridion, select New Keyword.

    • A new window will open. In the Value field, enter the name of the Podcast Author.

      • It is not required that you fill out other fields.

    • Save and Close.

    • Repeat for each different author.

  4. Next, double-click Podcast Categories.

    • In the Create tab at the top banner of Tridion, select New Keyword.

    • A new window will open. In the Value field, enter the name of the Podcast Category.

      • It is not required that you fill out other fields.

    • Save and Close.

    • Repeat for each different author.

  5. Repeat step 4 for Podcast Channel, Podcast Guests and Podcast Topic.

    • If you'd like to use podcast keywords, which are used by the iTunes search, also repeat step 4 for Podcast Keywords.

  6. Once all of your items have been created, return to the Building Blocks folder of your publication.

 

Part III: Create Podcast Components

Once you’ve created the Categories and Keywords for the podcasts, the next step is to create Podcast components.

  1. In your Building Blocks folder, locate your designated Podcast folder.

  2. Open & Create a Podcast component. (The information you collected in Part I and the items you created in Part II will now be used to complete the component).

    • Title: Enter the title of the Podcast

    • Subtitle: Enter the subtitle of the Podcast

    • Author: From the drop-down menu, select the appropriate author.

      • If the Author you want does not appear, go back to the Categories & Keywords folder and make sure you entered the Author item correctly.

    • Description: Enter a short description of your Podcast content.

    • audiofile: Click the browse button (yellow folder with magnifying glass) to the right of the field.

      • Open the folder in your Building Blocks folder where you saved your audio files.

      • Select the correct audio file for the component you are creating.

    • date: Click the calendar icon to the right of the field.

      • Select the date and time of the Podcast.

    • category: From the drop-down menu, select the appropriate category.

      • If the category you want does not appear, go back to the Categories & Keywords folder and make sure you entered the category item correctly.

    • iTunes Category Code: (This field is optional)

    • Channel: Check the appropriate channel.

      • Again, if it doesn't appear, double-check the Channel items in the Categories & Keywords folder.

    • Topic: From the drop-down menu, select the appropriate topic.

      • The list will not collapse upon selecting the item.

      • You may select more than one topic by holding the "CTRL" key while clicking the topics corresponding to the Podcast.

    • Keywords: Optional. You need to have created Podcast Keywords in Part II in order to add keywords for iTunes search.

    • Transcription PDF and Transcription HTML: If you have transcripts of your Podcast, you may choose to include the content in these sections.

    • Guests: Select the guest from the drop-down menu.

  3. Save and Close. You're almost done!

 

Part IV: Create a Dynamic List & Publish a Page

Once you’ve created the Podcast components, the next step is to create a Dynamic List of the components and Publish the page.

  1. Once all of your Podcast components have been saved, in the same folder, create a New Component and select Dynamic List from the Schema drop-down menu.

    • Show items based on this schema (i.e., podcast): This field should be pre-populated with Podcast.

    • Keyword Filters: Enter the name of your Podcast channel.

    • Layout: You can organize your Podcasts by Date or by Topic.

  2. Save and Close the component.

  3. Now you will publish all of your Podcast components in the Building Blocks folder.

    • See the note below this part about publishing components.

  4. After they have published, go into the Root folder of your publication and open the page where your Podcast channel will be featured.

  5. In the Component Presentations tab, insert the Dynamic List component you just created. Use the Dynamic List template.

  6. Make sure you have other components on the page or else it will not publish (you should at the least add a Page Title component at the top of the page).

  7. Save & Close your page, then publish!

 

Important Note: Correctly Publishing in the Building Blocks Folder

In order for the Publications List to publish on a page, you must publish the Publications Reference components in the Building Blocks folder.

How you proceed to publish these will depend if your website uses a single publication or has a parent-child structure.

  • Your site has parent-child structure if you build your components in a parent publication, e.g. Surgery - (1), and the Root folder with the pages of your website is in a separate child publication, e.g. Surgery - (2) Main Site.

For a website that is a single publication:

  • Publish from the same folder where you built the components.

For a website that has parent-child structure:

  • Publish the component in the parent Building Block folder (where you built the components).

  • When the publishing window pops up, click on the Advanced tab. Under Advanced Publish/ Unpublish Settings, check off the Also Publish/ Unpublish in Child Publications option.

 

Part V: Create a Podcast Feed Page

  1. In the Building Blocks folder where you created the podcast components, click the New Component button.

  2. Choose Podcast Feed from the Schema drop down menu, and fill out all fields.

    • This information displays in iTunes as the details for the podcast.

  3. Save and Close the component.

  4. Navigate to the Root folder of your site, and open the Podcasts structure group.

  5. Click the Create tab, then click the New Page button.

  6. Give the page a Name and File Name.

    1. Note the file name of this page, as you will need to enter the URL of this feed to set up this podcast on iTunes.

  7. Uncheck the Inherit from Parent option.

  8. From the Page Template dropdown, choose the XML option.

  9. Switch to the Component Presentations tab, and insert the Podcast Feed component you created in steps 1-3 above.

  10. Save and close, then publish the page.

  11. See the Apple iTunes site for further instructions on setting up your podcast.