"Go Podcasting"
Podcasts have taken over a great deal of my media consumption. They are often more candid than broadcast television or what's left of newspapers. Given the space to explore nuance, the enhanced exploration of perspectives can lead to a better understanding of the turbulent times we are enduring. They can also be poorly produced or made by people that have little regard for the medium or quality of equipment involved and just want to say they have a podcast.
Like good books, it can take time to find podcasts that are interesting to you. Most of the job listings I see relating to podcasts are for the marketing and advertising aspect. In a way, I see the popularity of podcasting as a response to existing sanitized mediums that skirt controversy for safety and tow the establishment line on commentary.
More than half of the shows I listen to are listener-supported (not like "underwritten" NPR, no ads all donation-based). Advertising is the least appealing part of podcasts. Though some comedians do a decent job of advertising reads with the twist of their personality. I'm not sure how Tim Dillon keeps his sponsors but his reads are often outrageous and intentionally offensive, but also hilarious. And Joey Diaz (Uncle Joey's Joint) could read the most basic copy and give it so much character with his voice.
Advertising on television makes the medium almost archaic in these times. When a guest being interviewed gets into a great story or point and then a commercial break occurs, the focus on the point is broken and I need more Swiffer pads? What was I doing? It almost becomes surface material like sifting through headlines and never reading the article.
Sadly, I have found the last couple of years extremely isolating even in the most populous city in the United States. I could write another post about that but I'll skip to the happier part where I have connected with many people through podcasting and been a guest on numerous shows:
Hog Story, first and second appearances
Apart from appearances as a guest, I regularly contribute media mixes with original music to the No Agenda Show for their "End of Show Mixes" segment that runs where the ending credits would be on a show. No Agenda identifies as a "media deconstruction" show. Jam-packed with news clips from the week, Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak follow trends that transcend all the networks and have been spot on with many bold predictions. John has a great Substack,
At heart, it is in more of the spirit of a comedy show, dealing with a lot of heavy and dark topics with a strong dose of humor and listener submitted jingles. Nothing should be taken too seriously and political candidates are not endorsed. Being financed directly by listeners who they refer to as “producers,” John and Adam are able to ask pertinent questions that shows with advertisers would be too fearful or cagey to even approach.
Since I started listening in 2009, I have had the pleasure of meeting both hosts at meetups organized by listeners of the show. John had me conduct his Skype interview with Anthony Scaramucci which involved me going to Scaramucci's office in New York, and setting up the audio equipment for the interview and shaking his hand about 5 times as he came in and out of the conference room.
Adam has not given me any assignments but has been a tremendous help with podcasting questions and general advice. I can not think of one person that has been more of a positive force in podcasting, helping many get started as well as starting the whole medium, sometimes going by "The Podfather." In January, along with my girlfriend Alex, we were fortunate enough to meet up with Adam and his wife Tina, who also have a podcast, when we were both in Dallas for different events.
More recently, Adam and Dave Jones have developed the Podcast Index as part of Podcasting 2.0. They also have a show where they discuss developments, Adam initially shared an index of podcasts with Apple when it all started that they made more private in recent years, prompting Adam to create another index that would allow shows to be listed and available more openly, not behind a paywall or subject to cancellation based on content or investor/advertiser conflict. Working with podcast app developers the Podcasting 2.0 system allows for payments via the Lightning (form of Bitcoin) system.
As Adam likes to say, "value for value." You donate what you feel you got out of the show and based on what you can. Not a fixed fee for all. The podcast apps that allow value also can set a payment amount per time for a show. How much is it worth per minute or hour? As an enthusiastic fan of podcasting, I built a lightning node for my show so I could follow along with the exciting developments.
It is an exciting time to be in podcasting. While I have been a co-host on several shows (LPV Show, What I Miss About New York), last year I got my solo operation off the ground as the Melodious Owls Show.
The current focus of the show is an interview series with fellow composers of End of Show Mixes for the No Agenda Show. Yes, there are that many. I am still discovering new people to talk to and learn from. But at the moment I am going through a list of the heavy hitters. To my surprise, I seem to have the highest number of mixes. Looking through my list of over 120 mixes, I started making these about five years ago and it's become somewhat of an obsession.
On my latest episode of The Melodious Owls Show, I talked to John Fletcher and Carolyn Blaney. We had so many of their mixes to play and discuss it ran over 3 hours but was a fun-filled 3 hours. John and Carolyn aside from making some fantastic mixes also produce the Hog Story podcast that I have been a guest on a couple of times.
After we signed off for the show that evening, I felt energized and motivated to make more, which is unusual for having sat in a chair behind a mic for 3 hours. But then when you are in good company, time flies.