Ep 6: Talk to one person | Micless [Micless](https://micless.com/) __ [About](https://micless.com/about) [Episodes](https://micless.com/episodes) [__Subscribe](https://micless.com/subscribe) - [Episodes](https://micless.com/episodes) - / - [Episode 6](https://micless.com/episodes/e6-talk-one-person) # Talk to one person Writing the way you talk is only half the secret to a natural solo podcast. Who you think you're talking to is what determines whether you sound like a friend or an announcer on a stage. Because a podcast goes out to a public feed, it's easy to slip into a performative broadcast voice meant for a crowd, even though every listener tunes in alone. In today's episode, I connect classic one-to-one copywriting and Ira Glass's approach to intimate radio with how scripting in advance helps me catch performative crowd-talk on the page before producing audio. Episode 6__3 min ![David Stack](https://micless.com/img/180x180-david-stack.webp)by [David Stack](https://micless.com/contributors/david-stack) · Updated Nov 6, 2026 ![Ep 6: Talk to one person](https://micless.com/img/micless-cover.jpg) Micless · Episode 6 Talk to one person 0:00 / 0:00 __ __ __ 0.00 1x [__All Micless Episodes](https://micless.com/episodes) [__RSS Feed](https://micless.com/rss) ## Show Notes Writing the way you talk is only half the secret to a natural solo podcast. Who you think you're talking to is what determines whether you sound like a friend or an announcer on a stage. Because a podcast goes out to a public feed, it's easy to slip into a performative broadcast voice meant for a crowd, even though every listener tunes in alone. In today's episode, I connect classic one-to-one copywriting and Ira Glass's approach to intimate radio with how scripting in advance helps me catch performative crowd-talk on the page before producing audio. ### Links from the Show - [Ep 5: Write the way you talk](https://micless.com/episodes/e5-write-way-you-talk) — Yesterday's episode on unlearning stiff school and business writing - [Ira Glass's Manifesto (Transom.org)](https://transom.org/2004/ira-glass/) — Ira Glass's 2004 guide on audio storytelling, avoiding the formal broadcast voice, and why radio is like a movie camera in close-up _This episode was fully produced and hosted with [Elora.fm](https://elora.fm)._ --- ## Transcript Yesterday, I talked about why you should write the way you talk. But knowing how you talk is only half the battle. Who you talk to is what determines whether you sound like a friend, or an announcer on a stage. In today's episode, I want to look at why picturing a crowd muddles your delivery, and how speaking to just one person makes everything you say sound natural, direct, and intimate. Picture the last time you listened to a podcast. You have earbuds in, everything's quiet, and then the host starts talking as if they're addressing a room full of people. Hey fam, welcome back to the show! You guys are gonna love this episode... It always feels a little strange. But I can see why hosts do this. Because you publish a podcast to a public feed where dozens or thousands of people might download it, your brain treats it like a broadcast. The problem is, nobody listens to a podcast as a group. Every listener hears you one at a time, directly in their ears. The best copywriters have understood this dynamic for decades. When you try to write a landing page or an email for everyone, your phrasing gets vague and performative. But... if you write like you're sending a message to one specific person, every sentence gets sharper. Longtime radio producer Ira Glass, noticed something similar in broadcasting. In his manifesto on audio-storytelling, he pointed out that sitting alone in a room speaking to an imaginary audience makes beginners over perform, or slip into sounding like what he calls a news robot. He compares radio delivery to a movie camera that's always in close-up. Because your voice is right in the listener's ear, the goal is to sound like a real person sharing something interesting with a friend. When I sit down to write an episode of Micless, I have to catch myself from making that same mistake. If I picture everyone who could possibly listen to this episode all at once, my writing immediately becomes performative. I start speaking to the room, instead of being helpful to a person. Instead of being helpful... to you. Writing the script first gives me a chance to catch that impersonal voice before it ever turns into audio. I can delete it from the script and rewrite it like I'm talking to a friend. So next time you sit down to write, picture one real person, and talk directly... to them. I'm David... and this has been Micless. See you tomorrow for day seven. [creators](https://micless.com/topics/creators) [script writing](https://micless.com/topics/script-writing) [Micless](https://micless.com/) Short daily thoughts on making a solo podcast without losing your mind (or touching a microphone). Show [About](https://micless.com/about) [Episodes](https://micless.com/episodes) [Topics](https://micless.com/topics) Connect [Subscribe](https://micless.com/subscribe) [Contact](https://micless.com/contact) [Elora](https://elora.fm?ref=micless)__ © 2026 Micless made with ❤️ by [David Stack](https://davidstack.io/?utm_source=micless.com&utm_medium=referral).From one creator to all others.