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The Best Interview Question Might Be the One You Didn't Plan to Ask
A great interview isn't always about having the perfect list of questions. Sometimes it's about listening closely enough to know when to leave the list behind.
You've done your research and your questions are ready. The guest joins the call. You hit record. And somewhere in the middle of the conversation, they say something you weren't expecting.
Maybe it's:
"That was probably the hardest year of my life." Or "Actually, I've never really talked about this before." Or even "It's funny you ask that..."
Then there's a pause. And you have a choice.
You can look down at your notes and move to Question #7. Or you can get curious.
A recent episode of Radio Workshop's Audio Storytelling, Step by Step explores the craft of interviewing and offers a reminder that's useful for podcasters at every experience level:
Some of the best moments in an interview happen when we're listening instead of preparing to ask the next question. Here are 3 tips to remain present and authentic during guest interviews.
1. Listen for “the door”
Good preparation matters. Knowing your guest, understanding the subject and having thoughtful questions can help you walk into an interview with confidence. But your questions aren't the conversation. They're the starting point.
During an interview, a guest will sometimes give you what we might think of as a "door”; a small detail, change in tone, unexpected admission or unfinished thought that suggests there's more on the other side.
"I almost quit after that." - There's a door.
"My family didn't understand the decision at first." - Another door.
"Everything changed after one conversation." - Definitely a door.
You don't need an elaborate follow-up. Sometimes the best response is simply:
"Tell me more about that."
2. Don't Be Afraid of the Pause
Silence can feel enormous when you're recording. A few seconds go by and suddenly your brain is screaming: SAY SOMETHING.
But filling every quiet moment can mean interrupting the exact moment when a guest is deciding whether to go deeper.
Sometimes they need a second to remember. To think. To decide how they want to explain something. Or to realize they aren't finished answering. Giving a guest room to continue can uncover something your next prepared question never would have reached.
3. Your Question List Is a Guide, not a Script
None of this means you should stop preparing. Preparation gives you somewhere to go but listening tells you when not to go there yet.
That's an important distinction.
If your guest says something fascinating during Question #3, you don't have to rush toward Question #4 simply because it's next. Stay there. Ask what happened next. Ask how that felt. Ask what changed. Ask the obvious question you're genuinely curious about.
The interview you're actually having will almost always be more interesting than the interview you imagined before pressing record.
What This Means for Indie Podcasters
Here's the best part: You don't need to add anything to your interview process.
No new software. No complicated interview framework. No list of 100 "powerful questions." Keep preparing the way you already do.
Then, during your next conversation, try giving yourself permission to notice when your guest says something more interesting than the question you planned to ask next.
You don't have to abandon your notes. Just look up from them occasionally. Because the job of a great interviewer isn't simply to ask good questions.
It's to recognize a great answer when you hear one and know when there's still more story behind it.
So prepare your questions and do your research. Know where you'd like the conversation to go and then press record and get curious. Because the best question of the interview might be the one you didn't know you needed to ask.
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Podtour Stop: Orlando, Florida
Date: October 8, 2026 from 6:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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October Podlab: Your Podcast Needs a LinkedIn Strategy with Colleen DelVecchio
Date: October 13, 2026 from 2:00pm-3:00pm EST
Your podcast is more than an episode that gets published and forgotten. Join us for this month’s Podlab with Colleen DelVecchio and learn how to use LinkedIn strategically to turn your podcast conversations into engaging content, expand your reach, showcase your expertise, and grow your audience. We’ll explore what to post, how to make it interesting, and how to promote your podcast without making every post feel like an ad.
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Should Podcast Apps Show You More of What You Like or More of What You Don't Know Yet?
Personalized recommendations can make finding your next favorite podcast easier. But could they also keep you from discovering something completely unexpected?
If you open your favorite streaming service, chances are it already has a pretty good idea of what you like. Watched a crime documentary? Here's another one. Listened to three history podcasts? We've got seven more waiting for you. Finished an episode about entrepreneurship? You might like these five shows, too.
Personalization has become a normal part of how we discover entertainment and now Apple Podcasts is leaning further in that direction.
Recent reporting from Podnews found that Apple Podcasts is no longer showing the same country-specific, editorially curated experience to signed-in users in parts of its Home and New sections. Instead, listeners are increasingly seeing individualized recommendations based on their interests and listening behavior.
On the surface, that makes perfect sense. There are millions of podcasts. Why wouldn't we want some help finding the ones we're most likely to enjoy? But there's another question worth asking: What happens to the podcasts we don't know we're going to like yet?
What's Behind It?
Personalization solves a very real problem. There is simply too much content for any listener to sort through manually. If someone loves true crime podcasts, recommending another great true crime show can save them the trouble of searching.
For indie creators, that can also be exciting. A highly specific show doesn't necessarily need to appeal to everyone if an algorithm can help connect it with the exact listener who is likely to love it.
But human curation can work differently. An editor might highlight a local show because something important is happening in that community. A friend might send you a podcast from a genre you never listen to. A newsletter might mention an episode because someone simply thought it was brilliant.
Sometimes discovery isn't: "Here's more of what you like." Sometimes it's: "I know this isn't normally your thing but trust me."
And those discoveries can be pretty powerful.
Underlying Questions
So which experience do you believe actually helps podcasting?
Should podcast apps learn our preferences well enough that opening the app feels like walking into a store where everything has been selected specifically for us? Or should discovery occasionally challenge those preferences? If algorithms become better at predicting what we'll enjoy, do our listening habits become broader or narrower?
And there's an important question for indie creators, too. Personalization could be incredible for niche podcasts. If you make a show for a very specific type of listener, you don't necessarily need millions of people to see it. You need the right people to see it.
But how does a new podcast break into someone's recommendations if that listener has never consumed anything quite like it before?
What Are Your Thoughts?
There are good arguments on both sides.
Team Give Me More of What I Like: My listening time is limited. If a podcast app understands what I enjoy, use that information. Better recommendations mean less searching and a better chance of finding shows that actually fit my interests.
Team Surprise Me: Some of my favorite podcasts are shows I never would have searched for myself. Discovery shouldn't only reinforce what I've already listened to. Human recommendations, editorial choices and a little randomness can introduce us to voices, topics and communities we didn't know we were missing.
And maybe there's a middle ground. Maybe great discovery needs both. An algorithm can learn what we like. But every once in a while, perhaps someone (or something) should also say: "Forget what you usually listen to. Try this."
Final Thoughts
The best recommendation isn't always the most obvious one. Sometimes it's the show that perfectly matches everything you already love. And sometimes it's the podcast you almost didn't click.
As podcast apps get better at understanding our habits, personalization could make it easier than ever for the right show to find the right listener. But discovery has always contained a little bit of surprise. A recommendation from a friend. A show mentioned during another podcast. Something featured on a homepage. A title that made you curious even though the subject wasn't normally "your thing."
Maybe the question isn't whether algorithms are good or bad for podcast discovery. It's whether knowing what we've liked before is enough to predict what we might love next.
We Want to Hear From You
When you're looking for your next podcast, do you want more of what you already know you like or do you want to be surprised?
And as a creator, would you rather have an algorithm get really good at finding your exact audience, or have more opportunities for your show to be discovered by someone completely unexpected?
Hit reply and tell us. We would love to feature your responses in our weekly Messenger!
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Entrepreneurship is tough, but you don’t have to go it alone. Each week, we bring you raw, real, and practical insights from battle-tested entrepreneurs and sharp industry experts who’ve been through the trenches – and came out stronger.
From breakthrough stories to road-tested strategies, we share the tools, mindset, and grit you need to build a business that not only grows, but endures.
No fluff. No fake hype. Just powerful conversations to help you thrive long-term.
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Podmatch: Automatically Matching Ideal Podcast Hosts & Guests For Interviews While Streamlining the Process
PodMatch believes that podcasting is the most powerful content medium for informing, inspiring, and motivating people to take action toward a more positive future. PodMatch’s purpose is to elevate independent voices on both sides of the microphone, empowering them to impact listeners in their own positive way, ultimately, making the world a better place.
Most podcast hosts and guests spend hours researching connections, coordinating interviews, and working on administrative tasks while only spending 10% of their time on what matters, recording impactful podcast episodes! PodMatch enables podcast guests and hosts to reclaim their time through automations and streamlined processes, so they can focus on creating content that serves listeners!