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641- Perspectives from some podcasters after Podfest 2023

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter show, we deliver to you a REPURPOSED audio clip from another podcast episode called 2030Podcast.com.

The six minutes that we deliver to you are completely natural, impromptu and NOT rehearsed in any way.

The dialogue was from a show that had 2 co-hosts discussing several topics, one of which was an explanation of perspectives on the last day of Podfest Expo 2023. The co-hosts were both myself (known as Sergeant Fred) and my co-host, Matt Cox (who is a podcaster himself with his flagship show called BrunchwiththeBrits.net).

On the last day of the Podfest 2023 conference, we were discussing my views of the conference, as I had supported the event with my virtual ticket (as I cannot travel due to medical and health reasons).

As you will hear in the 6-minute discussion, we first are grateful to both Darren O’Neill and Sir Ryan Bemrose of the podcast show called GrumpyOldBens.com for their “atta-boy” to us about our other show, 2030Podcast.com.

Then we explain the positive aspects of the growing conference. And sadly, as we compare this conference with the upcoming Podcast Movement events, we also deliver the ugly news of how the latter devolved into a racist, bigoted and censorhip-oriented woke-based event where you will be canceled and not allowed to participate due to any political beliefs that are not in line with the administrators of the conference. This was proven in the last PM conference, where bigotry, hatred, cancelation and censorship were practiced against a company that had bought themselves a booth for $20,000 for the event. So we see that there is no adherence to the claim of inclusivity, since there was pure discrimination practiced at Podcast Movement. And therefore, I do NOT support that show at all (even though I did participate in the very first PM conference in Dallas in 2014 and have supported the show until now).

So, with this discussion, we clip for you our dialogue that described our feelings of PM, along with Podfest, and our memories of how wonderful the New Media Expo was in Las Vegas in 2015.

We hope that you will enjoy a candid discussion that was completely natural and unrehearsed about these Podcast events.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2023, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com and Podfest 2023 and Podcast Movement and New Media Expo. All rights reserved.

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podcast

533- The threat of censorship in podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a theme that is being mentioned more and more in the podosphere and its news in the various news-casts and newsletters — and that is the possibility of censorship coming from the lame-stream media and the democrats of the USA, as they want to control a narrative, even in podcasting.

Up to the second quarter months of 2021 (i.e., the time of this writing), podcasting was still an open forum, where most of the media hosts still did not have total control of the content, but instead, let the podcasters deliver their messages in the manner that they wanted. Oh, sure, there were censorship situations (like Alex Jones and some episodes of the Joe Rogan Show) where the podcasters and the content were censored by the employees who worked in the firms that hosted the podcasts. And that means that those employed by the media firms are so into woke that they are making their own determination of what should be posted and what should be censored, without the permission of the business owners or the logic in doing what they do only because of their own selfish minority leanings and political ideologies.

Well, what this means is that perhaps bit by bit and one by one, the employees of media hosts may sneak their political bias and ideologies into their work (without being stopped by their employers)  into the hosting services of the business and thus, influence the messages that are being out there.

What does this mean for the podcaster?

It means that he has to seek media hosts or partners to publish their content and distribute the messages outside of the political ideologies of those whom they hire. That means taking more of a hands-on approach to oversee the processes and tasks of their possible woke employees.

In this way, podcasters can still be assured that their messages will not censored or their content will not be restricted by the left-wing radicals that dominate lame-stream media today — especially by the democrats.

And there do exist certain media hosts — some very well known for their lack of content censorship and others very privately owned by those who advocate free speech (as espoused by the likes of Adam Curry and others like him) who will provide the posting and publishing of content that is free speech (but not radically too wild, such as providing a panel for hate speech, etc., which can violate the terms of service).

It seems that it is up to the podcaster to hunt out the media hosts that will provide a clear distribution of the content on the web in the podosphere without forcing their political ideologies and bias for the podcaster and others who wish to consume their content.

So, what can you, as a podcaster, do to prevent the 2020-type of censorship of content from engulfing your own content?

And the answer is to look deeply into the owners of the business who are the media hosts and see if they do swing to the far left of the political spectrum and are avid censors of the truth to de-platform others and keep the messages away from the distribution platform.

If you can find this sort of information from listening to other podcasts who oppose such censorship (like No Agenda or That Larry Show or Grumpy Old Bens or Randumb Thoughts, just to name a few), then you should pay attention and put a plan into place to confirm that your content will not be subjected to the same woke environment of the censors, and that you can still enjoy the sense of free speech without the Nazi-type intervention from the democrats or the radical left who censor anything they don’t approve of.

And we hope that your plan will provide your podcast the freedom to speak freely and to be published in the podosphere without restriction due to political bias or ideologies.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and michaelandmike.com . All rights reserved.

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509- A eulogy for podcasting — but a bit too early

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss how your departure from podcasting and downsizing of your shows from several to just one or two may be a bit premature at the time you start to suffer from health complications due to age.

I, myself, a podcaster for the last 15 years, did feel that the world of health complications was crushing in on me and that I would have to exit from the podosphere. And so, in January of 2018, I wanted to give my listeners from the last 3 remaining podcast shows a type of eulogy that will signal my farewell (as at that time, I did feel that I was going downhill and would not recover to my previous level due to my conditions — both mental and physical, especially with the reactions to my complications resulting from exposure to Agent Orange from my experience in the Vietnam War as a combat infantryman).

So, at that time, I did present a type of eulogy to my listeners as I had just finished shutting down 5 of my then current shows. And today, I had withdrawn 15 of my shows, even though since 2018, I did add 2 more shows — and that is my situation today.

Now, besides physical health complications and aging, what other situations would force an avid podcaster to podfade his shows? Well, I know now that aging conditions that start with dementia and alzheimers (the symptoms, that is) can signify slipping into non-productive situations that may force me to podfade my shows and resign myself to treatment in the VA for PTSD, dementia and alzheimers for my injuries and wounds during my time in the service.

But at this time, I have grown much stronger since the time that I recorded my eulogy in audio for my listeners in the podosphere. And because of this, I feel that I am still going strong in the world of podcasting — and this proves that podcasting is a great way to recover from declining weakness from health and other family medical situations, even though the cause of my health situations was 50 years ago.

And so, I wanted to give you in this audio player the six-minute audio episode of this podcast series (episode 95), so that you can hear what a eulogy from podcasting would be like — and you can understand that it was premature.

So I am in recovery and still feeling strong to podcast my episodes and see that my shows are growing with great numbers of listeners and followers. In fact, I have reached a new high for listeners to another podcast show (2030podcast.com) due to the value that others have received — and from their posting not only great reviews, but also republishing episodes in a worldwide stream that has grown my audience of listeners by many thousands.

Thus, I am living proof that age is just a number, but your mental attitude and strength to continue podcasting for passion is most important to overcome both ageism and some of the mental and physical “speed bumps” with declining health.

And for this, I am grateful to my audience, my listeners, my producers and to both Adam Curry and John C Dvorak of the show No Agenda for keeping me sane through all the craziness of 2020. I also thank Sir Ryan Bemrose and Darren O’Neill of the Grumpy old Bens show — especially for promoting my podcast episodes on the noagendastream.com worldwide stream.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation . All rights reserved.

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podcast

544- Different monetization strategy with premium content in Podcasting

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a relatively different strategy for monetization via a membership, with additional feedback and additional content where the chief objective seems to be more than just money or financial success.

The podcast from Evo Terra called Podcast Pontifications announced that they would have a membership of those who signed up for donating to the show via the buymeacoffee.com/evoterra .

 

How is this slightly different to the usual donation by other podcasters requesting money from buymeacoffee.com?

In this case, Evo will still continue to deliver FREE content on his main show of PodcastPontifications.com. However, instead of donating a one-time delivery of $5 for a cup of coffee, he is now welcoming his listeners to become a MEMBER of his coffee-club. In this way, he has set aside a premium podcast aspect of his show for those who will purchase a yearly donation to his membership system. And then, he will offer additional content to those who sign up for this membership.

Well, for this podcaster, since I have always followed Evo (even though I may not agree with him on various topics he brings up — but I still respect his right to pontificate his thoughts on his show, and I listen to him with an open mind on all things — even though I understand his point of view but reserve my right to disagree due to my own critical thinking). Thus, I signed up for this membership and waited to see what type of additional content and additional deliverables would be coming to the “members.”

The answer started to come in almost immediately. I received an email from Evo  not only with his gratitude for signing up, but also with his brainstorming ideas as what type of content would be great for the membership, based on their feedback. So I looked at what he had conceived and I quickly sent an email reply back with MY OWN VALUE-BASED ideas of additional content or follow-up actions for members that Evo could deliver.

The reply from Evo was almost immediate. And I saw that he was offering different ideas, based on feedback from myself and others who joined the membership.  And I responded with an email that thanked him for his planning, and I said that his ideas seemed good enough for me. And to this day, I am waiting to see what the results will be, for I know that Evo does deliver to his audience — especially when he is able to monetize the podcast and its infrastructure for his audience to provide more VALUE.

Now, will this be a trend for other podcasters to do so?

Or, will the podcasting community go along more with Adam Curry’s “value-for-value” model in his show No Agenda with John C Dvorak  (which is also being used by Ryan Bemrose and Darren O’Neill of the Grumpy Old Bens podcast (as well as other podcasts on the noagendastream.com)?

The answer is that time will tell to see which strategy will be adopted by other podcasters (or perhaps there will be NEWER strategies that will be implemented — and how successful they will be). I will be anticipating for that. And I also plan to report on the strategy from Evo and my opinion of the deliverables that will be sent to myself and others in this new “coffee-premium” audience.

So, if you wish to join a “coffee-premium” program, then you may want to listen to the podcast show PodcastPontifications.com with Evo Terra and decide if you want to join. Or you may listen to other shows on the noagendastream that are implementing a “value-for-value” strategy to see if you may want to go that route — or you may want to plan out, contemplate about, and START YOUR OWN VALUE-BASED premium program.

We hope that you will become successful in whichever way you decide to monetize your show and deliver even more VALUE to your audience for your own show’s success.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Evo Terra and michaelandmike.com. All rights reserved.

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BONUS- 475A-Reverse benefit of podcasting — how your sphere of influence can grow YOU

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we deliver some thoughts from an old benefit of starting a podcast. Initially, you were told by such pundits in podcasting like Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting that podcasts can help you grow your sphere of influence (as well as grow your audience).

Well, after some thought, I have a case study that proves to new and aspiring podcasters, that podcasting can help your sphere of influence to GROW YOU.

Case study is a podcast show that has been around since 2014 — The 2030 Podcast. And, as a short story, this podcast had absolutely NO promotion or marketing or sales calls-to-action. In fact, there was not even a SUBSCRIBE button on the web page of its latest episode, or on the web pages of its prior episodes.

This podcast show grew when its episodes were picked up anonymously by a current podcast show, Grumpy Old Bens, by one of the co-hosts (Sir Ryan Bemrose) and included on a 24-hour online stream (noagendastream.com). It was played as a published episode in which the producing managers found value in what was said and knew that the current audience of noagendastream.com would find it as having great VALUE to the current stream audience.

Now, I myself, as a subscriber to the Grumpy Old Bens show, had heard during various hours of this 24-hour stream my episodes being played and broadcast on the stream. What a wonderful surprise it was to me — and I quickly informed my co-host, Matt Cox of the podcast show called Brunch with the Brits, of that activity. He was surprised and glad of that activity.

But again, there was NO marketing, no promotion, no sales, no bumpers, etc. of any sort to try and increase our audience, and thus to GROW OUR INFLUENCE.

The results: well, since that time, over several months, our download numbers have grown — sometimes to 3,000 downloads per week per episode or more. And all this due to like-minded listeners receiving the stream and hearing our podcast show episodes. And they, then have downloaded the episodes and listened to them.

So, as Dave Jackson said in a recent podcast episode of his School of Podcasting show:  “podcasting can help grow your sphere of influence…”

And now, we have seen that, in our experience, podcasting can help your sphere of influence grow the PODCASTER and the SHOW.

As you will hear in this audio episode, we have included a recent small clip from a show, Grumpy Old Bens, that describes the VALUE of our 2030podcast.com show, in which the co-hosts actually promote the show to their fan base of listeners (that is, to their own sphere of influence).

 

So, as you can see, there is no absolute rule that your podcast must have a plan to drive listeners and increase your audience numbers by growing your sphere of influence. There is always a situation that defies conventional wisdom by having your sphere of influence grow YOU.

We hope that this episode could give you another proven method for you, as an aspiring or new podcaster, to improve the results of your podcast show and episodes. And we wish for you the best in podcasting.

Thank you for your attention.

Copyright (c) 2021, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Grumpy Old Bens. All rights reserved.