E443 - What Do You Do When You Make a Mistake on Your Podcast - How Do Fix a Huge Error

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Episode 443 - What Do You Do When You Make a Mistake on Your Podcast - How Do Fix a Huge Error

Mistakes happen in podcasting, even to the most experienced hosts. Whether you’ve released the wrong audio edit, left in long silences, or forgot to bleep out curse words, it’s important to know how to respond quickly and professionally. Here’s how to recover from podcasting mistakes and what to do if you need to remove an episode entirely.

1. Replace the Audio File on Your Hosting Platform

• Most podcast hosting sites allow you to replace the audio file for a published episode. Upload the corrected file via your host’s dashboard. This updates your RSS feed, so new listeners and future downloads will get the fixed version

• Tip: Change the file name of your new audio (e.g., from episode1.mp3 to episode1-fixed.mp3) to ensure podcast apps recognize the update

2. Communicate the Correction

• For listeners who auto-downloaded the episode, they’ll still have the original, uncorrected file on their devices. You can’t force their apps to swap it out, but you can:

  • Add “[FIXED]” or “[REPOST]” to the episode title and show notes to alert listeners

  • Use your next episode or a short correctional episode to explain the mistake and direct listeners to delete and re-download the updated episode if needed

  • Notify your audience via social media, newsletters, or your website

3. Learn and Move Forward

• Don’t let mistakes derail your confidence. Treat errors as learning opportunities and keep engaging with your audience authentically

1. Delete or Set the Episode to Private

• Most hosts allow you to delete an episode or set it to private, which removes it from your RSS feed and, over time, from podcast directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify

• Note: It can take up to 24 hours or longer for directories to fully remove the episode, and some platforms may cache content for days

2. Can You Remove an Episode Everywhere?

• You can remove an episode from your feed and major directories, but you cannot guarantee complete removal from every device or third-party site. Listeners who already downloaded the episode will still have it locally, and some directories may cache content for a while

Replace the audio file on your host and update the episode title/notes to indicate a correction.

Communicate transparently with your audience about the mistake and how to get the corrected version.

Understand that once an episode is downloaded, you can’t remove it from every device.

Deleting or privatizing an episode removes it from your feed and directories, but not instantly or everywhere.

Mistakes are part of the podcasting journey. How you respond and communicate with your audience matters more than achieving perfection____

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