Business Advice Memoir Politics

Podcast Nation

For years now, I have thought to myself that I simply don’t understand why people listen to podcasts. Meanwhile podcasting has grown to become one of the most profitable mediums (to the podcaster) with the most audience appeal and an absolute influence on the political scene. It is now being said that Joe Rogan single-handedly won this election for Trump by swaying 11-15 million listeners (mostly young males) to the Trump camp, thanks to his 3-hour interview. I have experience recording in a small sound studio (I did this for several of my books going onto Audiobook form). I imagine that in the same way that it took me a few tries to get the hang of recording a story rather than writing it, I would likely learn to project my voice to the world through a podcast (at least in theory), rather than drudgingly writing out my thoughts through blog stories like this.

I came to the blog medium for this purpose about 6 years ago and consider myself well-trained to do it now, but I came way too late to expect it would be a nice revenue source. I never looked at it that way and certainly missed the blogging parade as it marched by. I recently signed up for Scott Gallaway’s weekly newsletter. When signing on, I was asked if I wanted in on his podcast. I declined for my old pre-diluvian reasons (I don’t do podcasts), so naturally, his first newsletter just reiterated all the reasons why podcasts now rule both economically AND politically. Galloway himself apparently has his own private label podcast that generates a gross $10 million per year, which nets to about $8 million into his pocket. But this podcast parade, while still very much only mid-lifecycle, he says is incredibly hard to penetrate anew even though the actual economic barrier to entry is not so economically capital intensive. He makes an example of how much harder it is to create a successful podcast than to win an Academy Award. Perhaps the best analogy is that the parade is in full swing, but you gotta know how to quickly build an elaborate float with 500,000 roses to get in on the action.

I seem to be one step behind the times at each turn. I have written some very solid books (not just in my opinion, but also in the opinion of some professional reviewers), but none of them have taken off commercially. I still get calls and emails from people encouraging me to throw more money at the attempt to rev up marketing of those books or sell them to the movie industry for conversion content. I am way over that and pretty much hang up on any such outreaches a this point. My mantra on the issue is to say that lightning has to strike and you cannot predict or force lighting. I suspect I would have the same reaction to attempts to rev up my blog for commercial purposes. If there ever came a moment when someone wanted to put in an effort and bear the cost of trying to take my writing (whether in book or blog form) to the moon, I would gladly agree to a revenue sharing arrangement, but I am not inclined to pour money into marketing my own work because I’m simply not in the lightning generation business. Having watched the book, book-to-movie and blog parades go by, even while everyone keeps screaming that more quality content is needed, and now reading about how podcasts are all the rage, I am convinced that I am unable to keep pace and am best left to do what I do and not think about making what I do more than it is. If the world decides it is desperate for what I have to say, I’m going to let it prove that to me rather than to chase it.

This all seems like the Facebook to Instagram to SnapChat to TikTok game that we all seem to get dragged around by in similar fashion. But where those social media phenomenon are actual platforms with people busily promoting them and providing shorter and quicker means of communication, the shift to podcasting is a more organic shift that goes in the opposite direction. Instead of short headlines, a podcast is an in-depth discussion or interview…at length…to delve into the depths of an issue or set of issues. Joe Rogan’s popularity is said to be that people can relate to his way of thinking about and questioning issues. There is a part of that change that is very encouraging and regardless of what I might think about Joe Rogan (I have honestly never watched or listened to him for any amount of time), it is a positive that people want to dig deeper on important issues and think about the ramifications of their decisions around those topics. In some ways this is the reincarnation of talk radio and my mind immediately goes to people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. I remember a few years ago when Rachel Maddow chose to step off the prime-time center stage at MSNBC at 9:00pm nightly, where she anchored the liberal/progressive agenda. She stepped off in favor of doing one show a week on Mondays and then spending her time putting together podcasts on topics she found so interesting, like detailing the the story of Spero Agnew in what she called the Bag Man podcast. She then went on to develop her Ultra podcast series that covered all manner of topics. At the time I thought she was showing the signs of someone who had made enough money and now wanted to do her own fun projects. But now, from all the evidence and yet without any specific numbers, it seems she was also making a revenue play. Once again, I feel like I am the last person in the world to figure out the big money-making trend that plays off cultural shifts.

While that sounds a bit “woe is me”, what it also makes me realize is that the universe may not be rejecting my content as much as it is rejecting my delivery mechanism for that content. Who knows, maybe my content is pure gold and it is just waiting for the right platform genius to pick it up and run with it. The business of tapping the path to people’s hearts and minds is, admittedly, “not my thing” as Mike would say. It’s funny, I far prefer audiobooks to trying to sit down and read a book, so you would think there would be some logical appeal to podcasts. I’m sure I should try to listen to some, but I don’t believe I want to listen to Rachel Maddow. I think I can kill two birds with one stone by listening to a Joe Rogan podcast. It might help me start to understand the medium of podcasting and at the same time, understand a phenomenon that has contributed in a big way to driving our country in a direction I never thought it would go. To do this properly, I have to go into it with an entirely open mind. My pal Claude (my new AI buddy) tells me me that my choice of platforms includes Spotify, Apple, Google, Pocket Casts and Overcast, so a blend of well-known technology-driven content and new bold start-ups. Claude also tells me that the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) is only available on Spotify and I can go the free with ads route of the premium no-ads route for $9.99/month. I will start with the free route for now and will use Claude to direct me in the setup and access (Claude does it all). Maybe with Claude and Spotify’s help, I can be brought into the Podcast Nation and that it will make more sense to me than the American nation does at the moment.

P.S. – I listened to 20 minutes of Joe Rogan and had to turn it off in disgust. If he is so relatable, I just have to recognize that I am cut from different cloth than those who relate to his style and content. I will keep writing and leave the Podcast Nation to find its own way with its $200 million dollar deals.

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