The Voice In My HED

Hosted by Neil Hedley

Business Marketing

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Episodes

Latest episode

Oct 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Advertising, copywriting, branding and marketing - it's all fair game with the Creative Services Director from KNOPP Studios, Neil Hedley. Every week, Neil takes forty years of experience as an award-winning writer, producer and voice artist and offers takes and tips that ensure you'll learn something new that will help you move your business forward, or at least get you thinking about things in a new way.

Listen to episodes

47 recent

October 19, 2026Episode 4710 min

Maybe This Episode Isn't For You

What matters more: the polish of your production, or the value your audience actually came for? Neil looks at the crucial question behind every good show, ad, and piece of content: Who is this for? From sleep-science interviews recorded on imperfect microphones to the meticulous sound design of a radio drama, the right production decision depends on what your audience values—not what your peers are likely to critique. In Episode 47 of The Voice In My HED , a reminder that the pursuit of perfection can become a distraction from the point of the work.

September 28, 2026Episode 467 min

I Hate Inside Jokes... Except This One

Inside jokes are great when you're in on them. When you're not? They can make you feel like you've wandered into somebody else's conversation—and for a radio show, podcast or any other piece of content trying to win over new people, that's a problem. Neil has preached against inside jokes for years. In this episode, a comedy-club prank, a deliberately mangled Star Wars reference and one spectacular piece of badly translated toy packaging all lead to something he stumbled across online this week. At first, it looked like terrible copy. Then he noticed one detail. And suddenly, he had found the rare inside joke that actually works. Mentioned in this episode: The gloriously translated “Amusing Duck” packaging Why May the 4th became Star Wars Day

September 7, 2026Episode 459 min

How to Beat Spotify's "Skip" Button

Spotify is testing a new way for podcast listeners to skip past ads, and some prominent voices in podcasting are already predicting disaster. Neil thinks they may be worrying about the wrong problem. This episode goes back nearly 30 years to Howard Stern, detours through the Super Bowl, Guns N’ Roses, Bud Light, Rick Moranis and some of the most successful radio commercials ever made — all in search of a lesson podcasters might want to remember before declaring war on the “Skip” button.

August 31, 2026Episode 449 min

How the Gurus Killed My Show

What’s the difference between a guru and a coach? A few years ago, I learned the answer the hard way. I had a successful podcast I loved making. Then I took a piece of advice that sounded completely reasonable — especially coming from someone who supposedly knew better. Five episodes later, the show was dead. This episode is about what happened, why I listened, and the lesson I took from it about gurus, coaches, “best practices,” and advice that sounds universal until you actually apply it to a real human being. Links: The Snooze Button 20 Ways to Make Your Next Show Better Show Coaching with Neil Hedley

August 24, 2026Episode 438 min

How to Apply Preparation H

Most producers are trained to fix the mistake, cut the pause, redo the line, and polish away anything that sounds imperfect. Sometimes that’s exactly how you destroy the best part. In this week's episode, Neil uses a legendary Gary Owens Preparation H spot, a live radiothon moment, and a couple of famous records to make the case for knowing when to leave the rough edge alone. Not every imperfection is a mistake. Sometimes it’s the thing people remember.

August 17, 2026Episode 425 min

One Coin, One Cone

McDonald's has a summer promotion built around a beautifully simple idea: one coin, one cone. It's cheap. It's memorable. And it contains the seeds of something much bigger. The problem? They stopped one step too soon. In Episode 42 of The Voice In My HED , Neil looks at the missed opportunity hiding inside a billion-dollar-company's promotion - and the simple idea that some random guy on an island thought of, that McDonald's apparently didn't.

September 9, 2024Episode 4111 min

The Keys to a Great Interview - Part One

After 10,000 - 12,000 interviews over the course of a career, I'll share with you one of the most important things I learned about how to immediately improve the quality of your interviews.

June 10, 2024Episode 406 min

Forking Genius

Everybody is "niching down", and it's a sound strategy for everything from your podcast to your audio repair shop.

June 3, 2024Episode 3910 min

What Anyone Who Uses a Microphone Can Learn from Van Halen

Nope, we're not going to teach you how to do that twirly thing with the mic on the end of the cord. And we're not going to make you a fretboard wizard. But Van Halen did leave a teachable moment in their decades of success that many of us failed to pick up on.