Preserve the episode. Not just the audio file.

Choose the records worth preserving

Separate production masters, public releases, excerpts, and research copies. Library of Congress guidance emphasizes identifying recordings and selecting versions with long-term value. Write a scope for your collection so temporary production outputs do not silently become permanent obligations. Keep private production material out of public archive pages.

Test relationships and export

Ask how the system connects an episode to its transcript, artwork, release date, and permissions. Inspect an export outside the application. Verify that references can be matched to actual authorized files. A matching file count is not enough when a transcript points to the wrong recording or a corrected release is indistinguishable from the original.

Practice recovery and succession

Restore a representative episode into a separate location and check both files and context. Record the result and repair missing dependencies. Plan who inherits access when a producer leaves or a show stops publishing. An archive should remain understandable without relying on the person who created its folder structure.