Pod-Crashing Episode 39: The Beginning

Between 2012 and 2016 I approached the decision makers of Broadcasting Schools and Universities to open their hearts and imaginations to accepting the platform dubbed Podcasting. I was losing the battle on the terrestrial radio side of the performance. Sales people loved it but didn’t know how to sell it and programmers wanted nothing to do with something that looked more like a hobby than a profession.
Outside of my daily journals only one person knew of my true drive to bring this medium forward. Nathan Richie. We’d talk for hours about laying out the foundation of a tangible object that very few people wanted to participate with.
I thought the adult educational system would leap all over it. They listened but wouldn’t act upon the request. It was always based on money, “Our students come here for career opportunities and at this time it doesn’t seem to be a great place to change our plans to invest in something that honestly has no success story.”
One of the nation’s top radio consultants, we’ll call him the D man, he believed so much in my visions as a radio talent and producer that in 1985 he brought me down from Montana to Carolina. Somehow I lost my luster in 2012 when I spoke of this new age of On Demand listening. I tried so hard to convince him of its potential. Interviewing huge musical acts and actors during an annual event with students from across the nation.
He wouldn’t bite. Which Nathan Richie and I talked about all the time. Nathan was a visionary that leaped onto the internet approach to growing radio years before the industry hopped on. Every word he spoke was a foreign language and yet I was able to trust the impression he was putting on my path.
He knew I was a rule breaker and willing to look at top dog decision makers and call them out for being disconnected. They made sure I knew that they always knew best. They endlessly screamed at me about how radio listeners didn’t mind ten minute commercial stop sets and if you play Maroon 5 six times in a three hour break it’ll grab you more.
The building of my podcast presentation between 2012 and 2018 was heavily influenced by Nathan’s attachment to where listeners were growing. We listened to each other. We built on a project based on how a martial artist positions themselves in a process of always reaching toward the community. He was a Master in Tae Kwon Do. I am a 3rd Dan or 3rd degree black belt. Together we had the guts to face an industry that was about to take a huge hit because the world was quickly becoming addicted to getting what they want right now.
The night I learned of Nathan’s death was a passing of the torch. To this day I scan every memory bank in my soul seeking every bit of information he gave me about internet airplay. What he planted was a huge seed based on one thing: Don’t just do a podcast. Get your ass on the real streets of where people are and put them inside the performance.
I was finally allowed to talk about podcasting in broadcasting schools in mid-2016. The D man has never invited me back to his gatherings. I’m sure I posted something on social media that ended that connection but that’s what you do when you want to make a difference.
It kills me that iHeart Media didn’t invest in where I stood in 2012 and yet they brag about being the biggest and best in podcasting today. I won’t complain. Without any type of monetary exchange I’ve busted serious ass to have ten podcasts on their platform. I believed in Bob Pittman’s nationwide address to terrestrial radio people. He asked us to step up and participate. The Production Director who just lost his position on the air due to an all music format leaped at the opportunity.
There were no rules. No program directors and no D man. Even if it meant leaving the corporate world of radio I had to believe in Nathan Richie’s empowerment. I can still hear his voice, “You have a product. How are you going to find people? More importantly how are you going to keep what you’re creating alive? It’s too easy to quit.”
Yesterday I sat with 13 future Broadcasters in a control room introducing them to podcasting. Asking someone what they want to talk about is far worse than screaming out something the devil said inside a church. People know about it or have heard about it but haven’t a clue as to how they can participate with it.
If Eric Nuzum of NPR was told he was too late for the game in 2005 why they hell would someone want to jump into the sport in 2020? Because in 2005 there were no true pioneers to learn from. There truly wasn’t a history or learning tool.
I read books and magazines about it today calmly saying, “Bull. Won’t work.” Everybody seems to have the answer in an age where we need to be putting focus on the listener and tomorrows talkers. I get it! Broadcasting student’s don’t get it. I put them in the room and broke the junk down. Starting first with huge groups talking for 15 minutes. They hated it. Nobody really got any air time.
Then we shot it down to three then two then one. I get it that they don’t get it. But if you don’t lay out the map of possibility on their worldly connections then the schools are ripping students off. This is podcasting 101. It comes with a kick in the pants. Enjoy the ride!
Eric Nuzum said podcasting shouldn’t be controlled by anyone. It’s what you’re bringing to the moment. As much as I want to agree with him is how much I want to stop him in his tracks. There are a ton of horrid podcasts on the platform screaming for some love. The moment I praise an episode for its bad quality is the day I’m picking up a full time job at Circle K.
Look… I’m not good at podcasting. I just happen to be incorporating a few messages that Nathan Richie made sure I heard.
What’s the moral of the story? Without a doubt I feel sorry for terrestrial radio talent being told how to bring a podcast to life by the likes of people like the D man. Unless you podcast you can’t teach podcasting. No matter how much you trust research we aren’t playing by the same listener rules and expectations.
The most recent move by iHeart Media to dismiss a huge collection of their performers from the party will bring thousands to this next level of play. They won’t go to a university or broadcast school to learn how to properly podcast. They’ll use their radio knowledge to reach what could be, might be, should be, hmmm maybe not next level of play.
Podcaster’s of past generations aren’t interested in radio people playing the stage. I disagree with that. Probably because I grew up through the ranks of those two speakers. We need radio people to push this platform to the advertisers. They understand quality and performance. They’ve been trained to promote and push the door wide open.
Welcome them by teaching them. Unite because Nathan Richie would agree.