disrupter – Podcastreporter.com

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter podcast show, we discuss how one of the first podcasters in the podosphere (in fact, he was one of the two authors — the other being Tee Morris) who “wrote the book on podcasting”, PODCASTING FOR DUMMIES) had recently announced that he was no longer going to be a pundit about all things podcasting.

In fact, he mentioned in a November, 2022, episode of his recently finished podcast show, Podcast Pontifications, that he had wrapped up his show. He had exhausted all the topics for himself that dealt with podcasting as a pundit. He was now going into the area of audio fiction / drama as a type of curator, among other things. His new site is theend.fyi.

We are describing Evo Terra, who was also known as “the disrupter.” He had published over 600 episodes for this last podcast show. He was also flattered to be called “a contrarian.”

Now, I myself know Evo since 2007, when I met him in person at the 4th podcast event called Podcamp (very much executed like a barcamp-style event) in Arizona. And since then, I have had several interviews with him for some of my podcasts, as well as having met with him at other podcast conferences, such as the initial podcast movement conference in Dallas in 2014. And Evo proudly proclaimed that he was a professional “contrarian” or “disrupter,” as he had new ideas that went outiside-of-the-box in thinking and creativity for podcasting and new media.

So, what were his reasons for content-exhaustion? And where does he plan on spending his time in the podosphere for the near future? You can go to his last episode of PodcastPontifications.com to get all the details, but I feel that he wanted to slow down on the tech and the fast-moving changes in the podosphere — especially in advertising and the way that this was changing podcasting. He wanted to move more into the area of creativity and curation for crime and drama podcasts with multiple media.

Now, what does this earth-shattering news mean to podcasters — from the professional podcasters to the hobby and new podcasters?

For this podcaster, it means that both advertising and political themes have dominated the podosphere to the point of making me sick of them. Perhaps other listeners share the same idea, for I do refuse to listen to them. Case in point: even Evo had become subject to political pontifications, which he did for his last several podcast episodes (and this controversial view may have offended many of the listeners to his show).

However, I do wish the best for Evo in his new venture as he pivoted in the podosphere to his new site of The End newsletter and website for his future work in drama, fiction and live audio podcasting. My best to the disrupter and contrarian of New Media — I feel he may get to a winning strategy with this pivot.

Thank you for your attention.

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss the theme of “disruption” activities and promotions and projects. In particular, we deliver a repurposed podcast episode from Tom Schwab of the program Interview Valet, where we look at the “disruption technology.”

Also, we owe some credit to Evo Terra (podcaster of today’s show called podcastpontifications.com) when he discussed with us what it is like to be a “podcaster disrupter.” And we plan to include that earlier repurposed interview in a later episode of this show. Evo felt that the “next big thing” in podcasting would come from a supportive “disruption” of the podosphere.

Now, as I mentioned before in this podcast series, I have known Evo when I met him in person in 2007, and also when I had strengthened my relationship with him, both in person and when I had interviewed him on my podcast shows since 2007.

In one interview episode, I had Evo tell us how and why he described himself as a disrupter. This was both for being an entrepreneur and a podcaster.

Then, later, I had interviewed Tom Schwab of the Interview Valet program, where he was also noted as a “disrupter” in podcasting, as he was one of the first to publicly announce that he was NOT going to do a podcast, but rather, he would pursue his success in being a podcast GUEST. He announced this at the second Podcast Movement conference in 2015 at Fort Worth, Texas. And he later provided others with a business model that would help podcasters gain success in their shows by being a guest on other podcasters’ podcast shows.

As a matter of fact, we have the original interview from 2015 where Tom describes his business and his “disruption” of the podcast interview processes:

As you can hear from this repurposed episode, Tom describes his “disruption” in business and podcasting from the entrepreneurial side in the following summarized manner:

“Disrupted technology” that supports the pursuit of being a podcast guest (e.g., being and interviewee) as opposed to being the interviewer to lead the conversation on a podcaster’s own show;
Repeating someone else’s success may not be the best model to follow for success — in other words, do NOT be a “me-too” product;
Being a disrupter incorporates new models of how to do business as an entrepreneur, as well as a podcaster — but not by total imitation of someone else’s successful results (in particular, to avoid naming your show with the “on fire” suffix);
How to go about getting YOU as one of your prospects from being listener to being visitor and have you be welcomed to a tailored, individual welcome site for just YOU;
His “disruption” includes renaming some of the terms used in sites (e.g., a “welcome” page instead of a “landing page” or “squeeze page”) to make it more personal.
His disruption will be in the form of creating VISITORS and not to provide them with podcast audio episodes — but rather have them listen to yourself as a guest and then get them interested in your programs;
Monetization can also be incorporated in your business, as you can refer to his book, “Podcast Guest Profits: Grow your business with a targeted interview strategy.”
He currently has moved to interactive webinars (mostly free) to promote his program and the successes of podcast-guesting.

So, as one of the very first programs to emphasize being a podcast guest instead of a podcast interviewer, Tom has been flexible to adapt new methods for his success and his business.

We hope that this model of disruption may be of benefit to you as you shape your podcasting model for your show, or adapting parts of this to make your business more profitable and more successful.

So, later, we will deliver the repurposed episode from Evo Terra where he speaks to us earlier about plotting his way and pivoting to become a “disrupter” in the podosphere.

Thank you for your attention.