Ep 204 Top Obama Officials Entering Podcasting Craze July 22, 2016

Is the world of podcasting now at a tipping point?

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Here'S why I asked this question. Major profile, major story in the New York Times in June of 2016 chronicling all of the high profile members of the Obama administration who are either starting their own podcast or appearing on podcasts. Last year, famously, Barack Obama appeared on Marc Maron's podcast, one of the most popular podcasts by the well known comedian. He's also been on Zach Galifianakis between Two Ferns. It's one thing to be a guest on a podcast, but more interesting things are taking place. A couple of very high profile members of the Obama administration are now starting and have been hosting their own podcast. One of them, David Axelrod, the media guru who has been with Obama since the beginning in his Senate campaigns and helped guide him in his media strategy through election and reelection, has left the administration but now has a podcast. Here's the interesting part. David Axelrod has got the big book deals. He has the contract with the major news networks like MSNBC where he can go on anytime. He, he has the huge speaking gigs where he's getting, I would have to assume north of 50,000, perhaps 70,000 per speech. So the question is, why would someone like that who has fame, has consulting gigs coming in from world leaders who all want some of that Obama pixie dust spread their way? Why would someone like that want to even bother with a lowly little podcast? The answer in a moment.

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So here's the answer. It's a combination of things. David Axelrod is on the record in the New York Times saying some of these things and some of them I do think are common sense. Number one, the freedom to really go in depth, to have major, major substantive conversations with people you admire and respect and not have to limit it to a sound bite or two or three or five minute segment on the Today show is just interesting for smart, intelligent people. People like doing that. Most people would rather have dinner with someone they consider to be a fascinating person and have a conversation for two hours with them than to have a two minute phone conversation. And this is in fact one of the reasons David Axelrod has stated for this. So that's part of it. Part of it. When you look at the modern media world and host being fired every day and being cut here and reshuffled and canceled. To actually own your own show means something, and it's a certain level of independence. I don't think any of these hosts are making a lot of money yet, but a podcast, if you stick with it and it grows and grows and grows, can make money. Marc Maron is, according to reputable sources, making as much as $12,000 per commercial on his twice a week podcast. So you can in fact make money from it. There are many, many, many reasons to want to podcast. Part of it is the taint is gone. Not just people like David Axelrod. Jon Favreau, the famous young speechwriter who wrote so many of the greatest speeches Obama's ever given, has left the administration has his own podcast. So there are other members of the Obama administration doing it. It's not just people from the Obama administration. It's people like Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell, of blank fame, the New Yorker fame, has written half a dozen bestsellers. All he has to do is wake up in the morning and bags of cash come in from all of his royalties. He does make in excess of $70,000 per speech. Why would someone like that want to have a podcast? Well, in his own words, it's a different form, it's a different way of connecting, it's a different way of telling stories. It's a different way of reaching people. And these people who are media experts, whether it's the mechanics of presidential communication with the White House or someone who's written as many best sellers as Malcolm Gladwell, I think they see that we are in fact at a tipping point with podcast. It's a way to reach the masses. It's not just shows like Serial that have gotten so much attention from millions and millions of downloads. It's shows like Tim Ferriss, it's other shows. And by the way, I'm not putting my show in that comparison, but it's frankly one of the reasons which has inspired me to start this podcast January 1st of 2016, is that seeing these trends, it's certainly not too late to start a podcast if you are thinking about it. The thing I think to realize is there's certainly no shame. It was only a couple of years ago when the Aaron Sorkin show, the Newsroom on hbo, had a character, the Jane Fonda character, The president or the owner of the network told Jeff Daniels, the star anchor, basically, you better do what I say or I'm going to destroy your career and you're going to find yourself hosting a podcast as if that were the ultimate indignity. The ultimate career punishment. Let me tell you, there are a lot of network news anchors and talk show hosts who wish they had half the audience and half the money that someone like Marc Maron makes, or a third of the audience and a third of the revenue that someone like a Tim Ferriss is now making from his podcast. So the shame is gone. The idea that you're only going to be talking to five people is gone. Because I can tell you without going into all the specifics, the numbers for this show are going up every single month. And if you look at month two to month five, it's not just incremental growth, it's geometric growth. So I'm happy with the way my show has progressed and believe me, I certainly don't have the millions of listeners and downloads that someone like a Tim Ferriss has. That's why I believe that the David Axelrods, the Jon Favreau's other high level, high ranking members of the Clinton, of the, not the Clinton administration, the Obama administration, are entering podcasts and we're only going to see more of this. If you are thinking about podcasting, my advice to anyone is stop thinking about it and just do it. Start doing a show. The best way to learn about podcasting is to just start hosting it. Now am I practicing what I preach? I did take some time thinking about it. I had dabbled in podcasting just by sort of reposting old videos maybe six years ago, but never even looked at it, never thought about it, certainly never promoted it. But as things heated up again in 2015, I spent more time thinking about it, researching it. I went on Amazon and just bought or rented every single book on podcast. Now there aren't that many, it was probably a dozen or so, but I read every single book on podcasting, started listening to more podcasts. People I like, admire, respect, thought about it. But then here's the thing I did that I'd urge all of you to do. I picked a date round about mid November of 2015. I just said no matter what, I'm going to launch my show January 1, 2016. So that organized everything that allowed me to make sure I had my software the right way. A few tweaks with the studio, my format exactly the way I wanted, finding a syndicator and a service, which I use Lipson, by the way it motivated. So that's really my biggest advice to you. If you're thinking about podcasting and if you're someone who ever does media interviews or goes into the media or has a message or has an organization that wants to promote a message. I don't know why you wouldn't want to do it other than just being lazy. I urge you, pick a date for your start date, work back from that and then just make it happen. If it's not great, if it's not perfect, if it doesn't have tens of millions of downloads, it doesn't matter. Something beats nothing. Don't take my word for it. Look at some of the top media stars of the world today. They're all doing it. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for joining me. As always, may all of your presentations, whether they're on network TV or your own podcast, be a success.

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