Pod-Crashing Episode 34: Can We Talk Business

There’s so many different reasons why people get into podcasting. The love of the laugh, the openness to talk sports, freedom of speech to we’ve got to make some easy money! Yeah? How’s that working for ya?
My friend Ron wrote to me the other day physically excited that his podcast had finally started to collect pennies and cents. We’re talking 3 cents. I loved his attitude! Dude! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to make anything!
Look… when I got into podcasting in 2012 I wasn’t in it for the cha and the ching. I was doing nothing but trying to feed my need to perform. Thirty three years of the daily hustle. Then Terrestrial radio saw better ways to lower daily costs. You don’t need a fulltime local on air staff. In the biz we call it Voice Tracking! To the average Joe Blow listener they couldn’t figure out how Ryan Seacrest drives to Charlotte every day to do a show.
Once I realized how planners and promoters were utilizing the availability of podcasting to help push the word out about their clients I was hit with a thought, “What if I created a platform that took our terrestrial radio advertisers to an area where they didn’t have to worry about getting their entire life story in a 30 second commercial?”
In my head it seemed like a hot ass plan! So I went to the GM. Talked to sales executives. Only to hear, “What are you doing again?” I’ll never forget the GM’s response, “I like what you’re saying but I can’t picture how it’s going to work. Keep working on it.”
As production director of the cluster of six stations it became my personal mission to locate the vein of gold. I kept digging for bigger interviews. Content that was lifestyle and affective. I tried religious podcasting to motivational thoughts for creative minds. I didn’t say no to anybody that wanted to talk. Until the day Comedian/Actor Rob Riggle began answering my questions on the show.
It was all about the Holiday Inn Express. I could ask anything and everything pointed back to the hotel giant. There was no way this conversation was going to be posted. My listeners didn’t need to hear a 7 minute commercial. That’s when it hit me. Every person I talk with is selling something.
I didn’t let it get me down. I studied the path. It’s all about endorsements! As host it became a game to sell their product without listeners calling the episodes an info-mericial. Practice! More practice! Make the mistakes so we can try new things!
Eva the promoter and I became extremely good friends because the guests she was bringing to my platform now one million strong were huge. I loved podcasting! It was time to take the plan back to the station GM. Plan? What plan? If you want famous people listeners go to TMZ or Entertainment Tonight. If you want religion you hook up with a church. There was no product.
I knew that Eva was making money off her clients. I was trying to create money by not cutting off my foot. Eva was a solid source of content and fame. If I charged her for my digital time and space the race would dry up like a California desert.
I knew in my heart somebody was making money. I just knew it wasn’t me nor the radio station. What kept me in the distance was the business world’s lack of knowledge about podcasting. It didn’t become a thorn in radio’s side until 2018. That’s when the top dog companies began to invite podcasters to appear on their digital platforms for free.
There’s that word again. Free. I’ve been a Broadcast instructor since 1988. Not a single class went by that didn’t hear my Free Radio People speech. Radio people are passionate about their performance. So passionate that 90 percent of us left our homelands to chase down the next big thing. We’d go from state to state, fired here. Fired there. Screamed at by listeners, sales people and whoever else needed to vent in the moment.
I was convinced in 1988 that one day Radio people would be doing it for free. Podcasting has given extremely creative minds the opportunity to play radio exactly what their hearts want to design. We already know about sacrifice! What’s one more tiny little podcast really gonna cost?
Can we talk business? Unless you’re Mike Rowe, Marc Moron or Joe Rogan you might have a fighting chance to collect some change for the candy machine. The real money being made is still connected to the hard working, deeply dedicated and extremely passionate promoters that have set up shop on their sacred grounds and increasingly blessed every day to connect the dots. Then call or send an email to the podcaster wondering when the interview will be posted.
We’ve talked about this before. Most podcasters put up one to two shows a week. I’m old school radio. I program every inch of the process. There’s so much structure on how the content is delivered that it might actually straighten the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
How do you make money? I drive Michael Greenspan of Greenspan Advertising crazy! 2am text messages that shout “I’ve got it! We can!” We work closely together introducing podcasting to clients. Selling their products without sounding like an info-mercial. Anybody can do it but can you do it being real and without dropping a price point? Practice it every day!
What about businesses that want to do their own podcasts? I brought this up to a very famous steakhouse totally ending the conversation after one thought, “It’s cool that you want to produce and performer your own episodes. I’ll be over to the restaurant in an hour to use your kitchen to cook my hotdogs.”
So what’s the moral of the story?
People are making money with podcasting. Promoters and Ad Agencies working with national brands seeking free appearances on podcasts all over the world. Well what about the talent, the hosts and the creators of the podcast? I had a comedian tell me a couple months back, “Nope not gonna get into podcasting. I’m too late. The time and energy required to barely scratch into an extremely overcrowded arena is time I can make money somewhere else.”