Why I can't stop Podcasting
Money is tight. Very tight. The bulk of each of my paychecks goes towards paying the daycare bill for my one year old daughter. To say that Daycare is expensive would be an understatement. So I looked at my budget and tried to find places where I could cut corners. My Podcast was costing $30.00 a month out-of-pocket in web hosting. Some months it was up to $40.00 depending on how long-winded we got that month. It was an easy decision....drop the podcast. It was an expense and I wasn't earning anything from it.
Except I just couldn't.
Instead MegaPodzilla went on life support. We dropped from a weekly show to a monthly show in an effort to cut costs.
In a sense, podcasting (for guys like me) is dead. What do I mean by that? I mean that the podcasting world has changed. When I first started out in podcasting way back in 2007 (and yes, we are indeed coming up on my ten year anniversary!), podcasting was for the little guy. The common folk. The celebrities had TV and movies and radio. Anyone could have a podcast. And anyone could find an audience. It's different today. Today the top podcasts are hosted by guys like Chris Hardwick and Kevin Smith. The celebrities have taken over. Without name recognition it's so hard to find an audience. Sometimes it feels like you're just shouting in an empty room. Is anyone really listening? I see the download numbers, so I know that people are but it's easy to feel like no one is. We never have received a whole lot of feedback. Someone once told me that they couldn't listen to my show because we were too opinionated and didn't tolerate any view other than our own. This comment was beyond ridiculous. We do provide our voicemail number and e-mail address in every show. Of course different opinions are welcome. We want to hear them. If you write us an e-mail, we'll read it. If you leave a voicemail message, we'll play it. The thing is, few call and few write. If you don't hear your opinion reflected on our show, why not take advantage of our voicemail line? It seems silly to me to complain that we don't tolerate other opinions when you never took the time to offer one.
So why do it? Why not stop. Why not save that money? Why not stop wasting time? That's very easy to answer.
COMMUNITY.
That word says it all.
Let me elaborate. This past September I attended DragonCon in Atlanta. I was invited to be a presenter at the Parsec awards. I had no intention of attending DragonCon until that invite arrived. I was so honored to be asked, and couldn't say no. That weekend I hung out with Gary Lindros, Chuck Tomasi, Kreg Steppe, Susie the Southern Geek, Sam Roberts, Brad Boyer and some new friends whom I met for the first time like Clinton Alvord and Scott Tyler. Yep. I hung out with Gary from Florida, Chuck from Wisconsin (living in Phoenix), Sam from Phoenix (living in Georgia), Brad from Kentucky....I'm gonna stop there. I think my point is made. Here we are, people from all over the country who might not have known each other were it not for Podcasting. Most of them being met for the first time in person...and yet all friends. The podcasting community brought us together.
And there's more to it than that. In the fall of 2007 I found myself living in a new city where I knew only one person. Other than my friend Beth (and my ex-wife), I knew no one in town. BUT....one of my favorite podcasts was recorded locally. Slice of SciFi. Michael R. Mennenga didn't know me from Adam. I was a total stranger. Yet he invited me into his home and made me a regular contributor to Slice. Through that podcast I met Brian Brown, Tim Adamec, Sam Roberts and many of the people I would hang out with at DragonCon nearly a decade later. When i was in a strange city and knew no one, it was the podcasting community that gave me friends and made me feel not-so-alone. In the months that followed as my marriage fell apart, it was these same podcasting friends that were there for me when my family and friends were on the other side of the country.
Podcasting has been good to me. The podcasting community accepted me in and led to long term friendships that I value to this day. And that's why I can't give it up.
Except I just couldn't.
Instead MegaPodzilla went on life support. We dropped from a weekly show to a monthly show in an effort to cut costs.
In a sense, podcasting (for guys like me) is dead. What do I mean by that? I mean that the podcasting world has changed. When I first started out in podcasting way back in 2007 (and yes, we are indeed coming up on my ten year anniversary!), podcasting was for the little guy. The common folk. The celebrities had TV and movies and radio. Anyone could have a podcast. And anyone could find an audience. It's different today. Today the top podcasts are hosted by guys like Chris Hardwick and Kevin Smith. The celebrities have taken over. Without name recognition it's so hard to find an audience. Sometimes it feels like you're just shouting in an empty room. Is anyone really listening? I see the download numbers, so I know that people are but it's easy to feel like no one is. We never have received a whole lot of feedback. Someone once told me that they couldn't listen to my show because we were too opinionated and didn't tolerate any view other than our own. This comment was beyond ridiculous. We do provide our voicemail number and e-mail address in every show. Of course different opinions are welcome. We want to hear them. If you write us an e-mail, we'll read it. If you leave a voicemail message, we'll play it. The thing is, few call and few write. If you don't hear your opinion reflected on our show, why not take advantage of our voicemail line? It seems silly to me to complain that we don't tolerate other opinions when you never took the time to offer one.
So why do it? Why not stop. Why not save that money? Why not stop wasting time? That's very easy to answer.
COMMUNITY.
That word says it all.
Let me elaborate. This past September I attended DragonCon in Atlanta. I was invited to be a presenter at the Parsec awards. I had no intention of attending DragonCon until that invite arrived. I was so honored to be asked, and couldn't say no. That weekend I hung out with Gary Lindros, Chuck Tomasi, Kreg Steppe, Susie the Southern Geek, Sam Roberts, Brad Boyer and some new friends whom I met for the first time like Clinton Alvord and Scott Tyler. Yep. I hung out with Gary from Florida, Chuck from Wisconsin (living in Phoenix), Sam from Phoenix (living in Georgia), Brad from Kentucky....I'm gonna stop there. I think my point is made. Here we are, people from all over the country who might not have known each other were it not for Podcasting. Most of them being met for the first time in person...and yet all friends. The podcasting community brought us together.
And there's more to it than that. In the fall of 2007 I found myself living in a new city where I knew only one person. Other than my friend Beth (and my ex-wife), I knew no one in town. BUT....one of my favorite podcasts was recorded locally. Slice of SciFi. Michael R. Mennenga didn't know me from Adam. I was a total stranger. Yet he invited me into his home and made me a regular contributor to Slice. Through that podcast I met Brian Brown, Tim Adamec, Sam Roberts and many of the people I would hang out with at DragonCon nearly a decade later. When i was in a strange city and knew no one, it was the podcasting community that gave me friends and made me feel not-so-alone. In the months that followed as my marriage fell apart, it was these same podcasting friends that were there for me when my family and friends were on the other side of the country.
Podcasting has been good to me. The podcasting community accepted me in and led to long term friendships that I value to this day. And that's why I can't give it up.