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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter show, we discuss the eroding practice of podcast bumpers. This is, for us, a sad loss in creating and recognizing podcasts of value (since 2005).

As you will hear in this podcast, we mention both Leo LaPorte of TWIT and from The Audacity to Podcast show creator, Daniel J Lewis, as well as others.

So why is this very famous and heavily used practice now fading from the podosphere today?

As cases in point, we deliver some examples of past podcast bumpers which I have delivered to others, as well as other podcasters’ delivering them to myself and my shows:

Leo LaPorte and his bumper in 2013 at the NMX show;
Daniel J Lewis from his show of The Audacity to Podcast;
A bumper from myself for the show Brunch with the Brits; and
A bumper from myself to Ray Ortega in 2 examples — one that proves the value of Ray’s show.

As you will hear in this episode, they are included.

In my opinion, the practice is eroding due to the following reasons:

Loss of value by the branding podcaster delivering the bumper (e.g., Leo LaPorte of TWIT);
Not being able to promote or deliver a bumper due to the podfading of the recipient podcast show or podcaster (e.g., Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast, who earlier sent a bumper to the now-faded podcast show of mine, The Struggling Entrepreneur;
The change of political recognition of the podcaster who delivered a podcast earlier, but is now going woke — and the receiving podcast does not want to be affiliated by the woke podcasts;
The trend to be self-recognizing and refusing to be part of a group or podcaster that once mentioned your show of value;
Not being able to incorporate bumpers from the marketing tactics of promoting podcast conferences. This was a practice that was used by the Podcast Brothers podcast show, in preparation for the Podcast and Portable Media Expo in 2006 and 2007. Unfortunately, the owners of the new conferences tend not to include these at all any more.

So, thus, we may ask if there will be a return to podcast bumpers in the near future? I, myself, do not see this, mainly because of the ideologies of the owners of the conference, and the refusal of podcasters to be aligned or recognized with the political views of the show owners. That is, they do NOT want to damage their brand by being aligned with the political beliefs of the owners of the show.

And that also goes for the podosphere, as well. Podcasters want to be neutral in the podopshere and do not want to be canceled or censored or be discriminated because of the title or nature of their show.

So, my perspective is that the politics of the podcasters must not be included or recognized and politicized by the listeners in the podosphere so that we can all celebrate the value from the shows which we want to promote — and that means keeping political views and ideologies out of podcasting shows, conferences and potential podcast bumpers.

Thank you for your attention.