The afternoon. Hey. Afternoon delight. With Todd and Rob. Oh, yeah. Hey, Rob. Here we are for another edition of the new media show. And, I I have my fingers crossed. I did a complete factor reset of the RODEcaster duo. If anyone has any connections out there, go beat the RODE software team by you know? But I just, I've I've I've never experienced a a more flaky USB connection. I don't I have no idea where it's come from, but, yeah, we'll keep
our fingers crossed it stays connected today. But, anyway, here here we are. Yeah. Well, I guess, RODE announced a a a new kind of wireless microphone. I guess it's their smallest wireless microphone they've had, yet. So I guess it's something that new came out this week from RODE. Yeah. And, you know, those little those little itty bitty microphones, those, you know, those tiny, transmitters. Those clip ons. Yeah. They they just
continue to get cheaper and cheaper. It it's just amazing to me because I think about the professional wireless stuff that I bought years ago. You know, it's 6, $700 a pair, you know, and now they're, you know, $100 or something. It's it's it's pretty wild. But, RODE and DGI and, you know, all those folks have done a done a great job. To be honest with you, I'm I'm a big fan of the, a matter of fact, I've got a DJI Action 4 right here, that I travel with now and that it's much better than my,
prior action camera. So I'm pretty happy with it. Just got a a d g I, it was a Osmo Pocket 3. I got one of those. And Oh, yeah. Those are nice. I think I mentioned that I mentioned that before I got the the creator's kit. But, yeah, I I agree with you, Todd. These new cameras and these new wireless microphones also have noise reduction technology built into them now. So Right. Right. You can get really terrific audio out of
out of these things. Plus these these little portable small cameras that they have are doing, like, 4 k. And and I think the the Insta 360, X4 out now supports 8 ks video. So, you know, that's a that's another small little handheld, video camera. I've got I've got a Insta 360, but it's not the it's the version. It's not the 3 60 version. Right? Right. But it it's just a clip on, you know, a little clip on camera. Yeah. Yeah. Those are fantastic. They're incredible.
Really incredible. Mhmm. I haven't got too much chance to use it. And part of the reason is I feel a little, it feels a little, you know, if you're in a public place, it's real easy to hide that camera. So it I just feel a little weird. It's it's it's pretty obvious when you're holding this that you're filming. But when you are wearing one of those clip ons like that, people can just miss it and it just it just feels a little it feels like a creep cam almost.
So I, you know, I don't I guess the original thing I wanted to, have it for was just to be out and about when I was here and I just feel uncomfortable doing it. So if I record, I record with this, which is kind of kind of reverse process. But Yeah. And the last thing I want is someone come up to me and say, are you recording and seeing some clip on, you know, where it's obvious you're holding a cell phone or a camera. No. Yeah. I'm recording.
So Yeah. I don't know. I don't know why I feel that way, but it's kind of the way I feel. But, anyway, big big week for you. You've been very very busy getting ready, with the, with the announcement for the podcast hall of fame.
Yeah. I I put out a a news release, yesterday, and it got covered by Podnews about the appointment of a a new board of governors for for the organization, trying to make it more of a big tent kind of a thing, making it more of an autonomous kind of stand alone organization of sorts and and trying to come up with some some more clarifications on the guidelines and the process. And and I'm gonna be doing a a little bit more of a kind of a formal voting process, but I haven't
fully fully deployed it yet. And then I also wanna eventually have a a more, I guess, a polished kinda nomination process too. So but that you know, all these things take time and effort, and I've spent a lot of time kind of updating the website and bringing it up to to the new year and and trying to work on a lot of the stuff. So it's it's it's coming together. And I know it's a mad sprint to January, which is coming up pretty quick. Yeah. It's coming up real fast.
Yeah. So things are gonna be happening fast, and I should be putting out more information here soon about who the actual inductees are going to be. And then and then that that causes a cascade of other things that have to happen prior to the event. And then creating the actual ceremony itself. We haven't decided if we're gonna stream the ceremony live or not. We would like to. It just depends on what the capabilities of the facilities are for us to do that.
But at the very least, we're gonna record it and then be able to put that out. Right? When does, when does voting start? As as soon as I can get everything pulled together, to have yeah. I've got all of the all of the nominees, in their 2 separate categories. Most of them have already been kind of submitted to me from a variety of different people in the
industry. And and then also, from the the actual hall of famers and and others that I've tapped into to get maybe some new names because we had a pretty extensive list of potential nominees even before I started gathering others. So it was more like making it kind of more inclusive. And and, unfortunately, when you add a lot of names, that
makes the process a little more complicated. So and it makes it more challenging on the people to vote because they're having to vote on a larger number of potential in-depth inductees. So we may, at some point, have to have, like, a a middle step here that basically thins out the the nominations that help the final voters select the inductees, but I haven't worked that process out yet. So that's that's probably something that has to be done for next year's
event. Yeah. It's it's it's not easy, is it? No. It's not. And and I'm also trying to be very, very sensitive to the current climate that we're in, too, around making the event as inclusive as I can while still are, you know, respecting the values of the organization and what we've tried to build here. Right. And so trying to expand it more beyond just the U. S. Borders, bringing on board members that are represent the international space.
So hopefully, we can make this event more of an international kind of recognition. Now one of the challenges with the international side though is that the international side hasn't had as long of a history in the podcast medium. So there's a a fewer set of people that will fit into that side of the fence. But but but I think the organization needs to be embracing that as a proactive step forward.
So as we move into, you know, more more substantial involvement of the international community in podcasting, that, that gets taken into account. You know, but that being said and having, you know, been spent a lot of time here in Asia recently, you know, every region has their set of trailblazers
that are not Yeah. That are not often known even you know, maybe they're known within this region, but they're not known outside of Asia or, you know, Europe is kind of we we kinda know some of the players, the good big ones of, you know, in Europe. But yeah. It's I agree with you. And how do you when you talk about the Middle East, you know, they've come on strong in a couple of years. There's, you know, there's gonna be a whole host of potential candidates.
So I know that you've also divided this year, made it clear that there's 2 2 segments of basically potential nominees. And I guess I don't know is is Well, and that's inductees too. So there's 4 of we're actually 5 from each this year. So 5 that are podcasters. Correct. Correct. And 5 that have done something extraordinarily No podcasting space. In the space.
Yeah. Yeah. That captures a lot of people that have had a significant impact on the growth and success of the medium that may not have been primarily a podcaster person. Right. So that's the bucket that we wanted to to capture people in so those people don't get forgotten about. Because they could be podcasters, but they may have had more of a a a platform or a or an executive role or something like that that that had a big impact on the
medium. Yeah. No. And I think you and I have talked about it a lot, based upon the couple of years that were missed. You know, we could probably do 10 of each Yeah. Easily. Right. Yeah. So, you know, I know we're we've upped the number this year to 10. It would be nice to see, I guess, when the how the process goes and then the reward ceremony goes, it would be nice to see if we get up that number again next year because I I just don't know how we catch up.
Well, I think one one one thing I've been thinking about is as I as I refine the process and make it more digital, make it more using technology to help kind of manage that, that maybe we can get to a point where we can have 2 induction ceremonies a year or for a few years, is is what I'd like to get to. Now granted that maybe one may have to be a virtual one and one may be an in person one. Yeah. So that's something I've been thinking about, but I'm not exactly sure if I'm ready to
deploy that yet. Doesn't the Grammys do something like that? They they have their big show with their, you know, the best actress and all that stuff. But don't I know that there's people that get Grammys for a whole bunch of reasons that, you know, you never you never hear. Yeah. It's not up on stage. Right? It's not up on stage on on on TV. It's the same thing with the Academy Awards. They they always have a bunch of awards that are given that they consider to be, you know, I
guess, less prominent awards. Yeah. Yet they're they're more of a a focus on the industry of of creating movies and TV and stuff like that that are always happen in a separate ceremony. Yeah. So that could be the model that I I could kinda mimic here, but what's different is is that the event may not be able to afford to have 2 in person events. Yeah. But that's that's something that needs needs to be worked out by the board. Well, I, you know, I fully understand it.
You know, there's a firm for the podcast awards, there's and I spend a good 3 days prepping for the the ceremony. And, you know, I don't think it comes as any surprise in order to have a good ceremony. I I prerecord. Usually, it's 2 days before I do a prerecording to make sure that, you know, it's going to go smooth. Make sure that, you know, the acceptance speeches are
stitched in good. Make sure the audio levels are good, you know, just because I don't have the, you know, basically, the budget to to do a live event in person. It's just too hard to coordinate, getting 30 people, let alone, you know, get just imagine trying to get 30 people to an event and and all the logistics that goes along with that. So and you you you you know, you've you were talking about 10, and it's still gonna be hard to, you know, get 10 people to to Orlando to
be there. Yeah. I don't expect that we are gonna get 10 people to Orlando. I mean, we we didn't get 10 people to Orlando last year. So why would I expect that that's gonna happen this year? I'd be great if we did. But, yeah, I think creating those acceptance ceremonies as as a video that can be played during the event is it's a solution that works especially for the video side of it. Right? That can be stitched together with the in person with the
virtual. And I think too the you know, from what I've seen in the past, you know, there's been people that I was not super familiar with and yet when I heard their stories because you give them enough time to tell there's a little bit of their story. There's some pretty powerful messages that have come out of the award show and those acceptance speeches, that are they're more than acceptance speeches. They are why, how, where, what was my, you know, the inspiration.
And again, the origin stories of these individuals, their shows, what they've done in the space, is is something that, you know, hopefully we can capture deeper. So do you think that going forward that there could even be a podcast series with interviews from each of these folks. Yeah. I plan on doing that. I plan on creating separate social media accounts for just the podcast hall of fame and be able to create content on those channels
Yeah. As the year goes on. So, really, the Hall of Fame doesn't really ever stop necessarily. Just it just moves into a different functioning phase. And then over time, you know, who knows what we can create, you know, with this event To really create a kinda like a big tent kind of organization that really embraces, you know, authentic, leadership and and trustworthy leadership in the podcasting space that basically gives a forum for people to like you shared, Todd, just now.
A lot of the acceptance speeches are also an opportunity for leaders in the industry to thank other people in the industry too. So Right. It actually has a a a kind of a much broader recognition of the deep contribution that the community adds to podcasters unless they successful and then it comes back and and helps other people too. So that that's the that's the hope that I have with this thing is that it it creates a a really important legacy for podcasting that lasts beyond just the
the window of time Right. That that particular event happens. So Yeah. And in order for it to grow Yeah. And, you know, just in and also just so everyone understands too, you know, Rob, you're doing yeoman's work here. You're not getting paid for this. Mhmm. Well, I've never had gotten paid for it. Yeah. And, you know, this is a labor of love And that's kind of the way I look at, what I do with the podcast rewards.
So, you know, the amount of time that's invested is on my side is pretty I've got the process down really really well now. But still, just the if you think, you know, think about, my situation is I have to review 300 shows, you know, in the span of a week, and double check their qualifications and all this stuff and it's drudgery. You know, it's it's just looking at every show, looking at the number of episodes, looking at make sure they made their qualifications and, you know, it it can be can
be fun. Hey. We've got a Facebook comment from Leland. It says, good evening, gentlemen. Good day to be an American. Brad Whitley says, hey, Todd and Rob. Good to see you again. Thanks for joining us. Gentlemen and anyone else that's on the live stream. Feel feel free to, to say hello. And, so it's first time I've used this little tool. So That's great. Yeah. So, just stay connected device. Don't, don't disconnect.
So, yeah, I I I think the the board of governors then, what was your methodology in I know that you've is there anyone there is some folks on the board of governors that are not in the hall of fame. Is that is because of Correct. Yeah. Yeah. And that's that's kind of a bigger direction that I wanted to point, this board, which will probably get bigger. And and I think over time, the the board needs to
to represent leaders from the industry. It's still heavy, people that are in the podcast hall of fame today, because that's the that's the roots of this this medium or this this particular hall of fame is is the the people that have been inducted have traditionally been the one that has kinda managed this event Yeah. Voted on who who's inducted. But my bigger goal is to make the the the event look like it's more, it's just larger than just the inductees. Right.
So other people having a say in who's inducted, right? Yeah. And that's something that I'm going to expand kind of slowly, not rapidly. So I want to probably at the beginning, probably expand it more on the international side, which is what I started to do with the CEO of Hub Hopper, on the board from the huge country of India. So, you know, and you start thinking about, you know, trying to get into Europe.
And there's folks that I I may still add to the board in the future that'll be from other parts of the world that can provide input into the hall of fame on on potential nominees. Right? And and people that we can induct into the hall of fame. The you know, there's issues with that too. Right? I mean, are those people gonna travel from those countries to America? Or at some point, does this hall of fame have to take
place outside of the US? Yeah. You know, another thing too is, you know, I it the the makeup right now is good. It's it's but it is definitely a lot of inside baseball. Still. Yeah. So the question then becomes, you know, there's no charter per se yet. And probably at some point, there will need to be a charter put together. But what you know, and this should not be, you know, the the board of governors should not be some lifelong appointment either.
There probably needs to be some, you know, some process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm thinking probably maybe a 2 year term at the most probably at this point. And maybe stagger it so there's half a group that is and half of, you know, maybe every year there's a or every 2 years at least half the board or what whatever, you know, because it seems like 4 years is a pretty big commitment to be part of a process. I mean, I
don't know. Maybe, like, maybe you're right. Maybe every year, 5 you know, half the board of governors is replaced. You know? Yeah. I mean, I I kinda went through this when I was the the chairperson of the podcast academy with the AMBIA Awards, where we had a a board that was that was basically voted on at some point, but the founding board was was basically appointed. That's kinda what happened this time. But you
have to start somewhere. So you have to appoint the initial board, and then that board decides the cadence on how how long a term is. My term at the Podcast Academy turned out to be about 3 years. Mhmm. Because the the end of the 1st year term was when when we started to initiate the term limits. And so I actually went 3 years where the normal term was only 2 years. So so that's kind of what probably wind up happening here unless I wanna do it a annual thing.
But that's pretty quick. I mean, because we're we're just getting started with this whole concept, really, at the end of the day. Even though this event was started in 2015, there really wasn't any organization. No. No. No. Was really really kind of, you know, we're back to the beginning again in a lot of ways.
Yeah. Yeah. In that regards, I think that, at some point too, you know, if if we're going to really embody this thing, they're probably you know, there's gonna have to be some fundraising done to Well, it needs it definitely needs some additional sponsors. I am going to to bring on some media partners, and then there's gonna be different levels of support that can be
done currently through Podfest. But. Right. But it will probably, you know, as we lead into next year, it'll probably be more of an independent thing from Podfest, from a sponsorship level. Yeah. Standpoint. There may be some crossover with Podfest on that. But I want the Podfest folks to be a partner of the event, not not the actual owner of the event. Yeah. But it's they're technically, at this point, a partner.
Yeah. Yeah. They they don't own the event currently, but, you know, you're working with Chris and the team and Yeah. I think I think some of the branding of the website Uh-huh. Some some some of the things that were used in the ceremony last year, like the background had the Podfest, logo on it. Right. So the event really needs its own kind of branding behind it. And I would actually like to update the branding as well. So that's that's kinda like another phase that needs to happen with the
team. Because I think the the actual branding of the with the logo and things like that needs a needs a little refresh. Right. I think. Yeah. And but I just haven't gotten to that yet. Yep. It's like, you know, like I said, you're doing yeoman's work here and, this is amongst of the things that you're doing to try to make sure you put food on the table. Right. Yeah. Small things like that. Yeah. Absolutely. James Cridland says, good to see you both. So hey, James. Thanks for joining us.
And, James and I are about on the same time zone. Hi there, fellas. So for Mark Hradic and, so good. Glad you some of us are joining us in the evening and some joining us in the morning like me. Right. Actually, this makes it easier now for me, Rob, doing this show because, I'm I'm an hour 13 hours ahead now. So I didn't have to get up at at 7:30. I got up at, 8:8:30 in my time. Okay. Well, you got to sleep in. Oh, James says yeah. James says I'm not on your time zone. So
he must be, either. He must I'm an an AWS t. So, oh, he's in a lot James is in Los Angeles. So, I'm in LA. Just to confuse everyone. Well, okay. Good. Yeah. It's like, you know, James is clearly like a where's where's Waldo kind of paradigm, I think. He's he's bouncing all over the
world. He's getting his freaking fire miles, in, in keeping his status, he hopes, in getting those upgrades so he doesn't, you know, that 13 hour flight back to, Australia has gotta be just it's you know, I know coming over here, it's a butt kicker. And, it takes you 3 days to get on schedule, then it's time to go home. So and vice versa. I think, I think James went to a Spotify event tonight. So Oh. Yes. Interesting. What were they what are they doing? Any rumors?
It was just like a conference type of thing for for Spotify. And I guess James got invited, I guess, somehow. And and yeah. So in the in the newsletter tomorrow, there's gonna be some breaking news about Iheart. So Oh. We can talk about maybe a maybe a little bit. Oh, there's gonna be breaking news about Iheart? A little bit. Yeah. What do you know? There's there's there's been a bunch of bunch of layoffs over there.
So and cutting back and streamlining and and, like, like, the elimination of block talk radio, things like that. Oh, I did hear about that today. Mhmm. And they're doing it right around the holiday. And just so everybody knows, Blogtalk Radio was acquired back when I was working for Spreaker. Yeah. So so they're Spreaker and Blackhawk Radio are now kind of part of Triton. I don't know if everybody knew that either. And then Triton is owned by Iheart.
Mhmm. You can so there's been some consolidation. Yeah. I didn't realize A lot of the yeah. A lot of the Spreaker team now works for Triton. I wonder I wonder because we haven't heard a lot about Blog Talk Radio because it has it men promoted a lot, but there was a lot of shows over there that we're doing live. So I just wonder what the effect is. How many how many shows are gonna I'm gonna be either forced to go to Spreaker or but didn't a lot of them but didn't a lot of them migrate already?
Or Yeah. The reason that Spreaker kept it going was because, like you just said, Todd, that there was a a large group of shows that were wanting to continue on the platform. And so they the platform was still profitable. So there wasn't any motivation to shut it down. There was a lot of tech that was shared between the Blackhawk Radio plat platform and Spreaker in early earlier days. This was many years ago now.
That that helped Spreaker kinda add dynamic add in insertion capabilities and things like that. Back then, I would say Blocktrack Radio was one of the earliest, platforms to implement dynamic ad insertion, going back to their early days. So I think there was only a handful of companies, back in, like, the 20, 2010 time frame or 2,008, 2009 that were doing dynamic cat insertion, and BroadTalk Radio was one of them.
Well, I I know strategically, we've been doing a lot of things behind the scenes too. Well You're gonna see see some things come next year. We we talked about it in an a newsletter, so we didn't hide one of the things. You know, we're gonna be launching a site called Creator Connect. It's gonna be a standalone product. Mhmm. Not not, it's gonna compete with some some some sites out there. It's basically a matchmaking site for podcasters and and guests.
But the the difference is it's it's not podcast. It's it's it's obviously gonna have a podcast component because we have a large number of podcasters that are gonna get access to it immediately from Blueberry, but, the the product is not gonna be a 100% podcast. It's also gonna be open to YouTubers and any creator. So it's not it's not pipe stove piped as a AKA podcast product.
So I think, you know, what you're gonna probably see from us, is this realization of this changing world we're in and we don't wanna be so piped and left left hanging out to dry, as as a medium kind of, kind of shifts a little bit. So that's one of several things that we're gonna be, you know, our Q1 of next year. I think there's gonna be a couple of big surprises, and stuff that we release, more standalone products.
And some of the products we haven't internally currently available to Blueberry customers are gonna become standalone products too so that because every, you know, every time says, oh, I have to have a hosting account just like people that are using our statistics. They get they think, oh, I have to be a hosting customer of Blueberry to use your stats. Well, no. You don't.
So we're, you know, gonna work hard to make sure that from a positioning standpoint, people understand that, yeah, Blueberry has podcast hosting but Blueberry also, you know, this new product creator connect by Blueberry and a couple of other things we're gonna come out with or because otherwise, you know, it's still a tough business environment right now and, you know, we're we're watching revenue. Revenues, you know, still okay.
But we haven't grown really the way we we had hoped in the past in really 12 to 18 months. So, you know, you either you either look to the future or you die. And, yeah, so, James is saying that Blackhawk Radio has about 32100 podcasts and it's gonna close in January. So the question then is, are they gonna have I'm sure they've got a migration path for those folks into into
Spreaker. Right? I would I would assume those folks to just automatically Well, I know that in the early days of the acquisition of Blackhawk Radio, there was a concerted effort to try and get them to move over to Well, they're forcing them now. Right. But but there's a whole changed environment now. So there's so many more options. Mhmm. Look what we're doing today with Restream dot io. Do you need BlockTalk Radio anymore to do the live stuff that they were known for?
Is there a better interactive way to do a show now than being of course, they've been just audio only. They've never It's been yeah. Well, I think that's the big, that's the big aspect of it that you have to think about here is is the fact that, you know, the the industry is moving to simultaneous
audio and video streaming. Yeah. Not so much just audio streaming, though we're seeing on, like, platforms like X, you know, there's spaces that's primarily audio right now, but that's more of that that's more of a, like, a clubhouse model more than it is anything else. So but that's not to say that that's not a a valid model, but the problem is is that, the model that Block Talk Radio was using is not the cutting edge model. So Right. Yeah. So as we look to the future,
it actually makes sense. So I don't know what they're offering, those 32100 podcasters. Yeah. I suppose they could do what they're doing on Spreaker today, because it is a live Yeah. They have a live streaming platform. But I wouldn't even say that live streaming is really the priority of Spreaker anymore either. Though though you can get the tools to do it, I'm just not sure that that's that's a big priority for them. So I'm not really sure,
about those 32 100 shows. Maybe some of those shows will move over to, live 365, or there's other other live audio platforms out there like, spaces or things like that. But What was you know, I think What was the the revenue model over Blob Talk Radio? How how much was that service costing? I don't even know anymore. I think it was similar. It was a little more expensive than than a speaker plan. Oh. But So they're willing they're willing to sacrifice 32100 customers.
Yeah. I think it's what we're seeing with a lot of these platforms right now is really, kind of a an organizational restructuring to cut down expenses Mhmm. Would be my guess. One other piece of this too is that, Iheart announced a 5 5% staff reduction too. So there's been layoffs that have happened inside of that large company. Right?
And part of that is being being driven by radio revenues or not really kind of keeping up and trying to keep those companies well flush with cash to keep large staffs. James And I think that go ahead. Yeah. Go go ahead. See if if this will actually show up. James says while and this is their quote. While there are no other platforms offer live guest call in option, we do want to let you know about our sister company, Spreaker, where we can place an easy direct to
ensure the safety of your podcast. We can also offer a great discount if you're interested in any of the available plans. So, you know, what a way to just bend over, grease up, and take it. Yeah. And this is There's a lot of talk about closing closing Block Talk Radio down very soon after speaker acquired. It's always a horrible time to do this. You know, we're starting in next next week, you know, for at least in the United States.
You know, really starting the week of and I kinda call it the the 5 or 6 weeks of Christmas. You know, we we start next week on 25th, really kind of in a period 5 week 5 to 6 week period of US holiday for Thanksgiving. Yeah. Then we go into December leading into Christmas. So there's this kind of this middle time between Thanksgiving and Christmas where a lot doesn't get done and then the New Year holiday and people
on vacation. So really from the 25th November to about January 7th, it's kinda I call this doldrum time and, you're still working but part of your staff is out. So if you have a show, if you're if you're doing a shutdown that's happening in January, now you've added stress to these creators to have to migrate to a new platform. Why not do this in June? You know, I I I just it seems I understand New Year. New It's a public company, Todd.
Yep. It's all about the stockholders and keeping them happy. But Yep. I'd Well, I think that I mean, I think the bigger picture here, Todd, is that I think that there is a certain anticipation of a, of a of a recession that's coming that may be deeper than what we've been through before, that's coming after after That's the you think that's what people In January. You think that's what people think is gonna happen as a recession?
Yeah. I think that there's an expectation that there's going to be something that impacts the economic climate that these companies are preparing for. Not the least of which, is is that, you know, these are public companies. Yeah. The ones that we're talking about today or, you know, this particular company, Iheart, is is the largest radio company in the in in the world, and I don't think radio is doing that well.
Wow. So, you know, I think if we project that maybe podcasting is doing better than radio is, as you look to the future, then you can kinda see what may be going on here. It's you know, what's kind of interesting, every week during our marketing call, we do basically with the sales numbers. You know, we look across the board how many new customers came in, who did, you know, an additional add ons, how many cancellations. You know, we look at all that data
in our marketing meeting every week. And the week following the election which is, you know, basically right now, we had a pretty good week last week. So Yeah. I think that the optimism is up a little higher. My my Once we're clear of the election. Yeah. My prediction was that a lot of people were waiting. They weren't invoking new To see what happened. To see what happened. So, you know, and we'll see if this continues, but it was a it was a very
I was like, oh, shit. This that's a good number, you know, for, for what had been pretty lackluster. And then I went and did a deeper analysis. I say, okay. Who are these new customers? What are these shows? Are they politically based or are you know, what is the makeup? And I pulled each of the shows up, spent a couple of hours looking at the shows and they were all across the board. It wasn't a bunch of people watching political shows.
It was a whole bunch of and it was there was probably heavy presence on business shows. So anyway, that, you know, that's probably an interesting project for somebody that's out there that's monitoring the the new shows are coming on is what type of shows are being created. And that might show some trending too. I would say that there was probably 40% of those new shows were business related shows.
So, you know, maybe it was just simple fact that those businesses were waiting until the election to make a to pull the trigger. Mhmm. You know, we went to social social we went into social darkness surrounding the election. I just basically said, hey. Let's, you know, preceding in a few days after, let's let's just be quiet and social. I don't, you know, need to be adding to any I don't want anything posted is taken as any type of reaction and you you know, such stuff
is neutral anyway. But the so we just did a bit of darkness during surrounding the election. So I don't know. Maybe it's because we did require oh, blueberries, you know, talking again or something. I don't know. But, anyway, it was it was a pretty good week on our regard for sales. So Yeah. I think that they it's interesting how the markets responded to the the kind of completion of the presidential cycle and how we saw it. I think I think it would have I think Bitcoin has just skyrocketed.
Yeah. I think it would have I think it I'm honestly thinking it would have reacted the same way regardless of who got elected. Was just simply because finally decided. It's because this is done. You know? Anyway, who knows the markets? It is what it is. But Bitcoin, holy shit. 9000? Yeah. And also the big uptick in Tesla too. That's the other one. Oh, I haven't wasn't following them. I did a little bit of a cash out when it hit 76 on Bitcoin. I wish it would have hold at this point but,
you know Yeah. Yeah. It it went up almost a $100. So Wow. For sure. Yeah. Okay. We we probably shouldn't talk about that. There's a lot of people pissed off about Elon. So alright. We've got some other stuff to talk about today. But so 5% of Iheart. Wow. Yeah. I guess they have a 10,000 person workforce. So that's 500? Yeah. So it's not a huge layoff. But still, I did hear It's a shitty time you people. It's a shitty time to lay people off. You don't lay people off before Christmas.
Or Thanksgiving. Right? You know, come on. You know, you you you let people get through the hot but I guess it gives people the opportunity to say, oh, we we can't spend very much money. It's all about the stock, Todd. It's all about, signaling to your investors and the stock market that you're trimming costs. You're also you know, what also has come out is that, you know, this was basically across the board on air talent, programming, sales, regional management.
And I heard of a couple of people that were let go at, its breaker. So I'm sure that there were others that were let go at maybe Triton and others at Omni and other parts of the of the company. And and then this this elimination of Blackhawk Radio, you can kinda see a pattern here. Right? They're they're they're basically focusing down, and reducing any kind of redundancies that they have. I've often talked or wondered about this redundancy that they have in the platform between Omni
Studio and Spreaker. Right? That that having 2 different products, but what they've done is they've made the Omni Studio be more of a like an enterprise product. And then Spreaker is more of a consumer side with with an enterprise component. So they've been able to accomplish not unlike what, Spotify has been able to accomplish between this the the Spotify for podcasters
platform and then the megaphone platform. So the question that I have is at some point, will those all those platforms merge together into one platform that has all the capabilities in it? So I I I had something interesting come up this week, and I've got to reach out to Ted. One of our customers, basically, the show just disappeared off Apple Podcast. No no strike. No email. No weird content. This happened in, July and It just disappeared? Disappear. It just didn't
show up. Yeah. It was it was it just was gone. And, there's folks at Apple that are looking into it. I need a little more backstory, but the the, the podcaster had a podcast consultant. I won't say who his name is, but they instead of they immediately basically submitted another show. And this show had a pretty good following. They had about probably 2,000 listeners per episode. And when the show went away, the listing went away. And then they they submitted a new show.
So they did it. Something happened but yet Apple then finally brought another brought the other show back or whatever happened. There was 2 show listings that were a second show listing that was created And, we didn't hear about any of it until later. They didn't come to us and say, hey. My show's off Apple Podcast. Help me. Help me. Which, you know, I would have immediately, you know, sent an email off and said, you know, what what's going on with this podcast?
And, they've had just it's been devastating for them. They haven't recovered on a on a subscriber standpoint. So to their audience, they just look like they look like they disappeared. They just vanished. Yeah. They just vanished. Now the podcaster is not very technically adapt. They'd they have a great show but far as the tech side goes, long story short, it's just like that, you know, they know that it disappeared. They don't know why and they and so we're we're trying to help them recover.
So I just want is anybody else seen that? Has anyone just had a listing just disappear? Again, I'm gonna reach out to Ted and and see if I can get someone. But so far, the person that's working this at Apple, the basically, the the the podcaster says they've been very responsive and they're, you know, they're in contact with them via email. So they're trying to get to the bottom of it but it's just a weird one on our part. We've never this is the first time I've ever seen this particular issue.
We're Yeah. I've never heard of it either before. I'm surprised. So and again, who you never know what has happened. Again, if you have a customer that's not super technical and you did they do something in their podcast connect account, you know, what, you know, what what may have happened. We don't know. They accidentally clicked the wrong button, the delete button? You know, I don't think yeah. There is a you can remove listings. Yeah. You can.
So, Yeah. So I guess we're gonna hopefully get to the bottom of that, but I just wonder if any because I did seem so un and there has to be a human element to something have been done especially when there wasn't a the show wasn't removed because it had, you know, it wasn't weird content. Matter of fact, it was it's great content, very helpful content. Right. Right. So hey, Felix. So that's what He said hello to both of us. He said,
hey, Todd. Hi. Felix. Hey, Rob. So anyway, that's the weird one I've had for the week that I've had scratcher on. And and the and the guy's got a sponsorship so he's coming up upon a renewal and, this could affect their livelihood. So it's it's and I don't know if anything can be saved at this point. Yeah. If it's gone, they've likely lost all their
subscriptions too. Well, you know, and again if they restored it and again I I'm just trying to decipher the what's happened here because I'm coming in 6 or 5 months later and asked to look at things and, you know, even if it went away and then come back that those those followers could be gone. Well, it could be because in the early days of the iTunes platform, they had a separation between the catalog and your your library or your your your personal on device. Yeah. Listing
of your subscriptions. Right? And and so even though something disappeared from the catalog, didn't eliminate all the subscriptions. Right. Right. But now that they've integrated those things together Once it's gone, you're who knows? So anyway, Ted, you'll be getting an email from me if you're listening. I mean, that is did a search for his name here, during the show and I'll I'll get you the details, but it's just one of those things that's out there that makes you go. It's scary.
But, anyway, let's go ahead and watch your we got a couple more topics today. Right? Yeah. I think so. Yeah. I think there's a couple that are, bubbling around out there. 1 is, what what was I gonna talk about here? Let's see. It was Spotify is out there continuing to talk about their video offerings. I guess they're they're starting in January of 2025. Spotify will offer an ad free video podcast viewing to premium subscribers in the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada.
So, so they're gonna offer a ad free version of the of the video experience. How much more does that gonna cost? Yeah. Well, that's that's the question. Right? It says the platform plans to compensate hosts who achieve a specific viewership milestone, which is what you've been saying for a while, Todd, and and and aim to attract creators with higher per view payments. Now do you notice they don't talk about listener compensation? Well, they're talking about video here. Oh, I
know. But but how come they're not doing conversation for podcasters that have audio only podcast? Why are they now going to give compensation? This this see, this pisses me off. Yeah. Well, I don't think this is gonna be widespread that they're doing this. I think they're gonna do it with selective shows, that have achieved a certain viewership milestone. But have they could they I Have they laid that out? Well, I think what they're trying to do
is compete increasingly with YouTube. And if you look at YouTube's model, right, there's a Right. Viewership threshold you have to Yep. Reach in order to be monetized. Right? So I think that they're they're just trying to copy what what YouTube is doing. And and because they're trying to capitalize on the growing trend of video consumption Mhmm. And and leverage their fantastic Spotify discovery algorithms to boost their video podcast viewership. So
are they actual video podcasts? Is the is is the ongoing question that we always have to ask ourselves. Does does the videos on YouTube, does YouTube call all their videos on their platform podcasts? No. No. So but Spotify calls all their video videos on their platform podcasts. So it's it's an interesting kind of rejuggling of the of the consumption environment around online content right now. It's, you know, everybody's playing a little different game. Yeah.
Meanwhile, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget that we had this very, very cool thing called RSS and, you can continue to be seen and heard on multiple podcast apps by having both an audio and video podcast. So Mhmm. We need to keep remembering that
and you and you can monetize. Of course, you probably these folks are gonna be able to monetize inside their videos if they want, but it goes back to the discussion we had couple of years ago with someone that was on the show that said, oh, Spotify is going to pay me for my, you know, give me a cut of revenue. Mhmm. No. They're not. They're gonna get Well, they're they're they're about to. Right? For video. They haven't done it yet. For video. For video. Yes. Let's be very, very clear for video.
Just for video. Right? At this point. Yeah. So the CEO, Daniel, Eck said that that video podcasting has seen higher growth on Spotify with a 88% increase in viewers just over the past year. I don't know what the base was, but if it's a relatively small base, 88% wouldn't be hard to make. So, but anyway, it seems like it's definitely increased focus on Spotify. The same 40 shows are gonna get paid, and that's what it boils down to. Well, I think what we need to figure out is what's this
Threshold. Threshold, this specific viewership threshold milestone. What is that? And, you know, like, we know what it is with YouTube. We have, like, 4,000 hours. Over here. Right? Yeah. By the way, for those of you, you can monetize from day 1 at Blueberry with programmatic advertising. You don't have to hit a threshold. Right. Now you're now you're every every play and every download. Your earnings may not be that great when you're new but but you can. It's true. And then it's it's,
you know, I I don't know. I'm just we we're still seeing strong strong support for audio. So I that that hasn't changed. Yeah. I don't think it's going away. I guess that that's just a foregone conclusion that audio is not going away. But, so I wanted to also talk about a a quote that was out there, put out by SoundStack's Rocky Thomas, which you both know. Yep. I've
known Rocky for a very long time. I guess, she was a speaker at the ASI, radio and audio conference in Venice, I guess, a day or so ago and offered this observation that, podcast ads are too difficult to buy. Oh, I think that's true. And buy means buying advertisement. So when we say that word, it's to imply buying advertising in a podcast. It's laborious. Yeah. There's immense and varied ad options, but she did add the brand suitability.
Brand safety tools have brought many new advertisers into the medium. And she called for, more precise data and alignment with language used to sell radio ads. So this has been a common complaint around the ad sales side of podcasting for many years is that everybody uses a different buzzwords and terms. Podcasting for many years is that everybody uses different buzzwords and terms to describe things. And there isn't there was an effort, a couple years ago to create a tax on taxonomy
of terms in podcasting. I'm just not sure that everybody has embraced that. Well, you know, a lot of a lot of the companies, and when I hear them talking, have really tried to pigeonhole, it into a, radio speak. Yeah. Right. That's right. Or creating a competitive advantage using radio terms to describe something Right. That doesn't necessarily apply to podcast. Yet here we have Iheart that is, laying off 5% because, radio is dying. So, you know, is that the is that the
correct methodology we should be going down? I I don't think so. Yeah. It and I know this past week, and we talked about it on the show last week, is this this growing feeling and impression that the the legacy media out there is basically in its last throes of existence. And there's all sorts of talk about these big cable channels being bought and how they're they're in a state of decline and nobody's watching them anymore and all this kind of stuff. So there is a a
shift happening right now. And I wanted to talk about that a little bit as are we what kind of things are we seeing around is the industry kind of resetting right now? I mean, are we going through a certain reset in how this how how podcasting is perceived, how it's monetized, and the type of content that's in it. I know that You know, my perspective is is that podcasting is fine. The challenge that you have is there's just a lot more creation outlets now.
You look at There's lots of options. Right? Lots of options and Lots of formats. Lots of different ways of of doing it. You know, if you if you think about it, we had a we had a period of time where audio was really, podcasting itself, you know, there was no distractions. You know, the very beginning, it was, you know, it was like, wow. I can have this this show, online and get this massive distribution. And then Facebook and all these other platforms started showing
up. And then so all of a sudden now you you can be distributed, you you know, you comes with a penalty because you never know when you're gonna be the platform, but at the same time or the log rhythm where you're gonna be not seen. So, you know, and folks are still seeing that. They're still seeing instances where all of a sudden they they can't talk to their business, you know, the folks that they've got their groups or whatever because whatever changes they've made, they don't want you
leaving platforms. So, you know, from a from a protection standpoint, podcasting's probably still reigns king in being able to, you know, assure that you can't be deplatformed and, you know, and have a situation where all of a sudden your listing is missing from a directory. Yeah. So, you know, again, this is where these new podcasting apps, you know, and if you have all your eggs in one basket, in other words, if you have only been promoting Apple Podcasts, it's time to diversify.
So, again, that that goes back to the previous conversation we had, but the I just think there's a lot of choices right now. And, you know, that's it's the it's the shiny lure in the middle of the stream that the bass says, that looks cool. Let me go over and bite on that one. And, you know, you catch a record set a record size bass and all of a sudden, oh my god. Look at the success
over here. You know, a bunch of people run over there and then they say, oh, this this I'm not having any success here. And then they run over here and they it's in the end, it's about the content. You know, good content is gonna succeed wherever it is. The shitty content is not. Yeah. But there's so many different ways to to slice it now. I also hear a lot of people talking about creating, you know, short
short videos now. And now granted, that's even beyond just the vertical format of of of the current craze right now on shorts and things. It's it's around creating content. It's very concise, very focused. Now, granted, this has been going on on YouTube for quite some time, so I don't think it's any kind of a new trend here, but it's it's just more to do about clear communication, very focused. You know, I I, you know, eye connection Mhmm.
You know, with a clear message and having having passion and enthusiasm for what you're trying to communicate is getting people's attention. And that's that's an interesting kind of trend too, whether it's long form or or short form. And I I kinda see it not one or the other is what people should do. I think what you have to do is you have to pick one that you may maybe good at. Maybe you're really good at doing long form content, and that has a place out there too.
But maybe doing short form content has a has a valid place in your strategy too. So I've been playing around with both myself trying to create long form and short form, but I'm tending to lean towards doing shorter form content a little bit more and more. And I'm not I'm not really sure that that's the right strategy for a podcast
Right. Per se. So it's just striking this balance, right, of what's what the feeling in the market is around what people are have time for and what they expect with the content if they're gonna invest time in it. There's people out there that appreciate short content, and there's other ones that appreciate the longer form content. So what's the expectation of the content when it's longer form? Look at what Joe Rogan does. He does, you know, 3 hour interviews. It's the biggest podcast in the
world. So, you know, there's others that are successful at doing that too. But then there's other huge, you know, video creators that are doing 10 minute videos that are getting, you know, a 100,000,000 views. So it's, you know, it's it's what your strength is. This is maybe it's just nothing, but this is we're having a conversation. We're actually recording a podcast with, for the company. And a comment that, Mackenzie made during the recording
of that. She says if I see a reel, she says, and it doesn't have a caption on it. She says, I don't I don't watch it. I'm like, what do you mean? She said, I have the the the audio turned off. Right. And I'm like, what? So she's reading the video. Now now listen to me. You're you're you're watching reels and reading and not having and then I do the same thing, Todd. I'm the same, you know, I don't always have my sound turned up on my mobile phone because maybe I'm around other
people or something like that. You know, that's what earbuds are for. So to me, I was baffled by the by the because I would not even imagine watching a reel without hearing the audio. So it was I guess to me, it was just it just struck me funny. Why is it there then is the question. Why is the transcription layered on the video? There must be, a she's onto something there that more people are doing that.
Yeah. So I could I can totally see it in my own consumption is that there are certain videos that I don't wanna have the audio turned up on that, but I still want to watch them and consume the content. So if I can read what's being said, then. Right. But sometimes I I find it if the person speaks too fast, that the the transcription goes by too fast, you don't get a chance to read it. So I think the comprehension can be a little
less on that. Yeah. I've been trying to catch up on my podcast listening. I'm a little bit behind on some of the shows that I normally, normally follow. So and when you feels like when you take a a 2 week break from listening to podcasts, all of a sudden you feel like you're a year behind. So for me, you know, I very rarely take a break from listening and it's been a little discerning to me because I'm I go into this mild, panic. It's like, what did I miss?
You know, and now I'm I'm, you know, basically doing 8:10 hours a day of catch up of listening to, you know, content that I haven't been paying attention to. I don't maybe it's just me, but it's just and these are AI shows, podcasting shows, and it's just like the world is moving so quick. Just taking a 2 week break, has basically caused me to have a little bit of anxiety, in having missed conversations. So now you're falling
behind. Right? Right. Yeah. In what's happening, it's so easy to do that now where you unless you're watching and consuming all the time. Mhmm. It's easy to have that feeling that you're falling behind. Yeah. Because the world is moving so so fast. So quick. And there's so much, you know, breaking information that's coming out all the time about all sorts of things that you might have an interest in. Yeah. I think people are, people disconnect. When they do disconnect,
I think people just say, screw it. I'm gonna be behind and I'm not gonna catch up. But being a business owner, you don't wanna do that. Yeah. It's your peril. Right? Or Right. Exactly. It's always been the the the saying if you don't really know what's going on out there, how can you adjust your sales to to keep moving forward? Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Well, you know, it's a ever evolving world of podcasting.
Yeah. Yeah. That's right. And, you know, in in 2025 is it's it's another year of, the the industry trying to get over 2,000,000,000 in revenue. Well, there's a few companies that are doing pretty good. They've had some pretty good growth. You see some of these reports that have come out, you know, they they had they had they're they're taking market share from somebody or adding more ad inventory. You see it's kinda you know, you see some numbers out there like, wow. That's impressive.
And then again, you have other people laying people off. Right. And I did see that there was a guy that, from Triton, said that the UK is just, has a 6% share of all podcasting has a 6% share of all audio listening in the UK. That's all it has. That's horrible. 6%. This is, many publishers in the UK have a video first strategy for their podcast right now and but are only monetizing their audio. Isn't that interesting? So that plays right into Spotify's strategy. Right? Is that they're
making money on the video side. Right. So I don't know if that they're making more money on video than they are on audio. But well, you know, I said that. Well, audio, first of all, let's just be continue to be frank here. Audio is cheaper to produce. Much much cheaper. It's also probably more expensive to have ads in video than it is in audio, though. It's more what? It's probably more expensive to traffic and to and to, have video ads
than it is to have audio ads. No. From, you know, from some of the stuff I've been researching lately and buying into videos and advertising into videos and audio. Audio is a a better value for sure. Yeah. I'm sure that's true. Yeah. It's probably more profitable on the audio side. That's what Yeah. So I think the whole video side is rapidly catching up on the monetization side.
I think is what we're seeing with Spotify and what this guy out of the UK is saying is that most of the creators are moving towards a video first strategy, which we've talked about on the show before, is that I think that there's going to be a time when there's gonna be creators that are audio and video first, not audio or video first. Right? Which is where I think we are right now. Well, you know, I don't have a face for video.
And to be honest with you, the only reason that I did video to begin with is, you know, I was doing it because I wanted to read the comments. James says, woah there. He says, woah there. The number isn't too different in the US. So That is true, James. I mean, I agree with that. I wasn't trying to create a comparison to the US. Yeah. I don't what is the US number? You know, what's the Yeah. I think the key takeaway that James is pointing out is the fact that all audio listening.
So that includes audiobooks, includes radio, streaming audio, all this stuff that that all gets rolled up under the all audio listening. So Stuart says consuming audio versus consuming video is based on your activities. I believe that's true too. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I've what you're doing at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Because I've been doing less, you know, less commuting.
So I did a lot of audio listening while I was when I'm in the US, I do a lot of, you know, a lot of go somewhere on the weekend and get my car and drive 3 hours somewhere. Here, I'm not. So that's one of the reason why I wasn't listening as much. Yeah. James says share podcasting and all audio listening in the US is 10%. So pretty low too. And he says here's a pie chart. There's a pie chart at Edison Research, search of the year.
So Yeah. And if you go back and I would say if you go back and look in the history of that, tracking of that, I I think in the, like, maybe 10 years ago or so, it was probably, like, 2 or 3%. Now it's it's been growing pretty substantially over the last probably 5 years, and it's gotten up all the way up to 10%, Todd. Well, you know, I I think again yeah. It's it's it's it's interesting. But one thing's for sure is I have not listened to a radio program. True AM FM radio program in
Yeah. A long time. I can't even remember, to be honest with you. It's it's been that long. Yeah. And I think if I if I think back, if I've listened to any radio, it's been a music station and it's been a talk station. Yeah. But even that, I don't think has been yeah. I I I don't even remember, to be honest with you, when I listen to but I am I'm also probably one of those weird birds that, don't listen to a lot of music.
I'd rather experience music in a live venue, but I don't think I'm one of those folks that purposely seeks out a jazz channel or again, I I think most people do. I'm just one of those weird birds that that doesn't. So Yeah. I stream a a music channel, from Live 1, which is the the owner of podcast 1 for a while. Mhmm. Into my, yeah, end of my Tesla.
So oh, also I wanted to mention too the Pocket Cast has just announced that they're going to finally change, their subscribe button to a follow button, Todd. So they've they're finally catching up. They're acquiescing. So we did have a boost come in, not today. It was a week ago from Brian. He says maybe it's my tin foil hat moment, but I think the real driver be high in the industry push towards streaming is about unskippable
ads. I think the other stuff is potentially true and tangential, but not the real reason we could make the case as particularly metrics. But I think that's just semantics. I think it's unskippable ads. And this was in relation to the conversation we had about stream versus downloads or, you know, whatever you wanna call it. Well, I think it's it's dual. I think he's correct, but I think that there's another component to it, and that's metrics.
You know, you can get deeper metrics off a stream that you can off of a download. But there is some convergence there of data that's valid too. I know you're you're capturing data off of a download that could be mapped somewhat to a stream. Right? Yeah. Well, we're we're looking at the partials. But, again, it's just a percentage of downloads that we can do that because with the Internet speeds the way they are now when, you know, there's not all all apps as you click and
you get the whole thing. So and so, again, we go It depends on the speed of your connection too. Yeah. But, you know, audio is still pretty small, and the net the networks have gotten so good that well, we're not here but, usually the, you know, a large percentage of apps download the media so quick that even they're chunking and you're still not, you know, just just it's just it's done.
It's so Yeah. There's only a small percentage of not small, maybe 15% where we can actually look at that data and get any tangible information out of it. So, Todd, I wanted to ask you about a topic that came up with a conversation I had with Sam Sethi, who's out of the UK with the True Fans platform and works with James with the the
Pod News podcast. And and so he mentioned to me again, and I I think he's mentioned this to you before, of the possibility of being able to use our our SaaS feeds for this show to be able to, have have, like, each of our feeds have primarily what they are. Right? You know, one's video and one's audio, but then to have an alternative enclosure, right, that would have the other
media. So the video RSS would have primarily video in the the the main enclosure, but then to have an alternative enclosure in there that links to the audio. Sorry. And do that with the audio file too. Yeah. That's what he meant. But here's the thing. He's gonna support it. Right? He's the only one that supports it. And maybe a few of the free few of the new podcasting apps support it. I've been I've been remiss in putting the link to the YouTube video in the
they have it. It's not the alternate enclosure tag anymore. There's another tag that Yeah. I think it's content tag or something. Yeah. So I've been remiss in putting the YouTube link in the in the content tag, but I'm not going to I'm too old school and too much I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna put the video in as alternate enclosure in the audio feed and and vice versa. Just because it's it's largely not supported on the majority of podcast apps.
And I think the goal of that would be to have one RSS feed that has both. Right? That's the that's the goal. If we're hacking to RSS feeds That's, you know, that's the dream. I'm not sure what we're accomplishing. But Apple Apple and others are never gonna do it. Look at Spotify. They don't honor it. So there there you have 60 70 percent of consumption. Yeah. But isn't that the argument for trying to push forward with the podcasting? Of course.
And 2 point o project is to is to push the envelope on this and get some get it deployed at least We have it available in PowerPress and in Blueberry publisher. It's just my personal choice not to do it because I I guess I could do it. What what difference does it make, I guess? You know? Just more work for me. Yeah. I would agree with that. I mean, I mean, unless it's as simple as as your uploads the audio and video. And paste. You know? Right. Like, for it. It's easy to just add it to the
vice versa. Typically, on this show, the way I do it is I publish the audio version of the podcast first. That's usually preceding the video by a half an hour or so. And it largely is because I get the audio done. It's up. It's ready to go and I publish it and then the video is lagging either because I've I'm downloading from Restream and then editing and then re uploading,
it just takes longer. So, I would have to go back and update the audio file with the video link, which, you know, probably is not a big deal. It's just a cut and paste. But, again, it's additional additional work. Todd, I saw that, Chris Wallace from CNN, has has has decided to leave the the the CNN network to go off and start his own independent show. Well Probably smart move. Streaming and and podcasts. Considering considering how their ratings are, probably a smart
move. Yeah. Right. Right. I mean, you could just go go through a litany of list of all of these big big media creators that have gone off and done their own shows like podcasting. That's that brings up They're much bigger than they were on on on the on the network. It brings up an interesting topic and it probably sensitive to some. But there was, about 4 or from what I could tell is I'm on watching YouTube and, you know,
doing other things. I was reading some news where 4 or 5 real high end YouTubers, specifically, liberal YouTubers, Basically, the day after the election saw a mass exodus of subscribers and paid followers. But if you think about it, when you're in the heat of a political campaign and there's lots of stuff going on, people are gonna want people are more interested in what's going on and the election's over.
And if you're a one trick pony and all you're talking about is the presidential election, of course, people are gonna leave immediately following the election. You know, they they've been devastated. The candidate lost. They don't wanna hear it anymore for a while. So I don't you know, they were all panicking that they were losing high percentages of their paid subscribers, Patreons, and all this. And I'm like,
yeah. You have a it had been the same on the I'm sure it happened on the conservative, content as well because people were done. They've been inundated for 2 years, and they don't wanna listen to the shit anymore. It's just Well, it's like going to a football game, Todd. You go to the football game all excited because your team's gonna win, and then you you the game's over and your team lost and you left and you're depressed. Right.
Sometimes people sometimes people throw their, you know, their jerseys in the trash, you know. They get so mad. So, you know, and it takes a pee some people some time to recover and reengage. So, you know, when there's when they talk about a mass exodus for mainstream media too, well, it's because people are fed up. They're sick of you know, they'll tune back in at some point but, you know, it's it's like they almost have to grieve for a little bit and then come back.
Well, in the side that I I think perceived as lost has been going through a lot of introspection. I'll just put you that way. You're where they're they're reassessing what what they did and things like that, which is natural. I mean, I did that as a sports player too. Yeah. Yeah. I would look back and try and gauge what where I made my mistakes and learn from it.
I think it's a natural behavior. Yeah. Again, I don't wanna get into the whole he said, she said, why said, how come, you know, why the country did what it did because we're gonna get nature at this point. Yeah. But I think the the main thing is is, you know, these creators are freaked out. The key is to have a diversity of content. If you're gonna be a political commentator in doing a political chef. So rewarded, Todd, to take extreme positions. Right? I mean, I think that that's the takeaway
I have. Again, let's not talk about the messaging. Let's just talk about if you're do if you're gonna be a political podcaster or YouTuber, then have some diversity, some width and, you know, and varying varying voice. Hear that though, Todd. I mean, I think if you think about it logically at this point, it's almost like if you create more centrist content, all you do is piss off everybody. Well Because nobody's interested. This is why I
do a tech show. Right? And and and why we do the new media show where we try to stay away from politics, and we've we've we've went into danger zone again here. Well, no. I would say it's danger zone. It's you know, and that's part of the the problem of the media landscape right now is that we're not really dealing with really honestly what's been going on in the media because everybody's scared. Right? Everybody's scared to say
something wrong. And Yeah. And that's part of the the bigger problem here is everybody's scared to but but for for quite a bit of this time, though, everybody's been taking very extreme positions. So it's just it's just what Will is saying that's really odd. I haven't really been through a phase like this before where people are scared to to speak their mind. Yeah. Well, it's not just politics. No. It's it's a lot of things. Right. It's a lot of stuff. But they do tend to
get wrapped up in politics. Yeah. But it's it's it's, you know, it it's everything from, you know, it's there's just such a wide variety of stuff that people have to tiptoe around. And and to be to be frank, again, tinfoil hat time, people with if someone called me on the phone and asked me to take a basically do a survey, I wanna be very reserved in what I tell That's why polls are not very accurate. Exactly. You know, I would people lie to
the pollster. Because, you know, I'm or, you know, I'm not gonna answer that. Or maybe people did because they don't wanna answer. Maybe, like you said, maybe they lie, or they don't wanna participate. I've been called I've been you know, people think I still live in Hawaii because I have an 808 number. So I'm getting called all the time. And it was during during the election I was getting called all the time and it was, hey. We're doing a, you know, we're doing
a such and such poll. And I I said, I I I don't wanna I said, I don't live in Hawaii no more. I don't wanna participate. So I that was my excuse. But it just seemed like I was getting, you know, 2, 3 calls a week and, basically because, you know, they see that 808 area code and, oh, you're, you know, you're you're the kind. You're you're local.
So I I just basically refused to participate because I don't have a skin in the game anymore in in Hawaii, especially, you know, I don't what's kind of weird though, they sent me a ballot even though I'm reg how does that happen? I'm registered in Michigan to vote and don't they cross check? And if you're registered to vote somewhere else, don't they take you off the voting rolls? They're supposed to. I mean, I had that happen when I moved from Washington state to Connecticut.
Yeah. I I contacted them to, you know, Washington state to find out if I was still on the voter roll over there. Just curious. And I they did have me tracked that I moved to Connecticut and took me off. That's really bizarre because they didn't do that with But I don't know that everyone, all the states do that. So you could get in a situation, it sounds like, where you could vote in 2 states. Well, I I basically told Shok would have shred the, you know, shred the ballot.
And I think that's that's illegal, I think. What? To shred a ballot? No. To Oh, it's illegal. Oh, yeah. For sure. You know? So but it's it's and maybe it's because I still have a home in Hawaii, and I still have a I'm still paying property taxes. So maybe that's why Well, you probably didn't contact them. No. Yeah. It depends on if they're they're tracking your kinda, like, move through your registrations or something. I'm not sure how they're doing that. I don't I don't know either.
But, anyway, I did get 2 ballots. 1 and I only voted once. So just so everybody knows. You're clear of that possible criminal charge. Right? Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's not not gonna go down that route and get 5 years in jail because of some stupidity. Right. But anyway, we are we made it here 90 minutes. Wow. Yeah. We did. Just in time. Yeah. Exactly. So
here's the thing. We're we are, I I'm good to go next week, 21st, I mean, excuse me, 20th, For the show, what's your plans for the week of Thanksgiving? Are you going anywhere or Thanksgiving is obviously Thursday 28th, because I'm a day I'm a day ahead. So technically, I I guess I can do a show that Thursday morning of 20. For me, it's a 28th. This stuff for you, it's Wednesday evening. So if you're if you're good with doing a show the day before thanksgiving your time,
I'm I'm okay. But let me just let me know your schedule. We could do it either on the 26th or 27th if you wanted. Okay. If you wanted to push it back one day. Yeah. It doesn't it doesn't I guess it depends on how much I'm partying and if I wanna wake up in the morning, which I'm not really doing any partying. So So all the all those thanksgiving,
partying that you're doing. Yeah. Right? And here, you know, here, basically, they you know, you you have to go somewhere to get the the American Legion here does a, there's a legion, because there's a lot of expats here. They have a Thanksgiving dinner. So I've reserved, you know, my spot to have a little turkey and fixings, being in Asia. So and probably with some That's good. Some fried rice and, pancit and adobo and some not so traditional American, Thanksgiving spread stuff.
Yeah. There's probably no turkeys over there. There is. You know, I found it. I it's kinda curious. There is a shopping group called SNR and, it's a membership club shopping area. And, I I basically bought a membership and it's it's basically they have, it's a Costco, but it's in the Philippines. But it and it's not all Costco stuff, but I can still like, I go in the meat section and there is Kirkland hamburger, Kirkland frozen. So I thought, oh, so you it's kinda
funny. You can see some so I don't know if s and r has, if Costco is an owner in it or if they had distribution, but it's the one place where I can get American. I'm not for those of you in Australia, I'm sorry. I don't like your beef. It leaves an aftertaste. Yeah. Australian beef to me and and does it taste a little wild? And I think the I think the Australians say the same thing about American beef, but if I when I eat Australian beef, it just leaves me with a funny taste.
I don't know what it is and it's I think it's maybe because of the way it's range fed. It's different, but it definitely tastes different than what I'm used to. But I'm pretty spoiled too because my family buys a beef that is grass fed in grain finish and it, you know, it's really top tier meat. So when you've had that and then again don't the Australians don't get pissed off but, I'm glad I have an outlet to get American beef here.
That's good. Because I just eat a hamburger, like, what's that taste? It's not bad. To that. It's just something different, you know. Yeah. It's not something you're used to. Yeah. And it's it's just like being it's like anyone else that moves with another country and they taste a certain type of food. You know, even the McDonald's here tastes a little different. So not that I go to McDonald's, but I did once and it's just like, okay. And they have chicken on the menu too for
whatever reason. Fried chicken's on the menu at McDonald's here. So, it and if you get rice. Alright. Well, Todd, let me know, if you wanna do it on 20 on 26th or 27th. I can probably do both. But Okay. Sounds good. Let's just talk about it. Alright, everyone. Make sure you follow us on to on x atnmspodcast. Of course, make sure you go over to new mediashow.com. Follow or subscribe to the show. I'm [email protected].
I'm at geek news on Twitter then at geek news at geek news dot chat on mastodon? You can find me on x, at Rob Greenley. You can also go to my website, robgreenley.com. If you wanna go to the podcast hall of fame, just go to podcasthall.comorpodcasthof, dotcom also, goes there as well. So and you can send me an email if you want. [email protected].
Love to hear from you. If you have any tips or anything like that, that comes across that you wanna share with us or any comments about the topics that we've talked about, please let us know. So and I'm on LinkedIn and YouTube. I have a YouTube channel that I'm creating a lot of content on right now, at at Rob Greenlee as well. So It's a miracle. The, the Roadcaster stayed connected the whole show. Maybe the factory reset fixed my issue. Well, mine's connected too. That's what's recording this
as a Roadcaster. As a as a backup. So the rat road caster duo, maybe maybe the reset cleared whatever the issue was. We'll we'll knock on wood here. Alright, everyone. Thanks for being here. We'll see you back here next Wednesday at the same time. 8 PM eastern is our go time for the show right now if you wanna watch live. We have been live and lit, so make sure you get over to podcast apps.com. So thanks everyone. See you next time. Take care. Thanks. Bye.