Latest / Your Mic / Chart-Toppers vs. Difference-Makers: A Case for Independent Podcasts
Transcript
- 0:00The best podcasts in the world rarely hit top 25 charts, they don't feature celebrity
- 0:05hosts, and they may never land a Netflix deal yet, they actually change lives.
- 0:11Hey, it's Freddy Cruise, and during this episode of Your Mic, I'm joined by Earworthy's
- 0:15Frank Racheope.
- 0:17Frank, Champions of much bigger sea of the table for indie podcasters, he exposes how
- 0:22celebrity-driven shows warp what new listeners think podcasts can become, and he reframes
- 0:28ROI around human capital and relationships instead of CPMs.
- 0:33If you enjoy Frank's insights as much as I do, please consider sharing with a fellow
- 0:36podcaster in your life.
- 0:39Thanks.
- 0:43What is a hill that you are willing to die on?
- 0:45What is your hot take right out the gate when it comes to listening to indie podcasts
- 0:51that you're drawing the line of the sand?
- 0:53What is it?
- 0:54The answer is the hill I'm going to die on is independent podcasters need to have a larger
- 1:00role in the entire industry and not be shoved to the side because these large networks
- 1:06now have decided that, hey, we can make a lot of money in podcasting, so we will try to
- 1:15take over the industry, which is really what's happening if we're not careful.
- 1:21It seems like there's so much sizzle, but the steak is really within the indie space
- 1:28in all these people that you write about every week with your newsletter, ear-worthy.
- 1:31This is a perfect example of how these big companies don't consider independent podcasters
- 1:38in the equation at all.
- 1:40What Netflix did is, I believe, is a lot of their newer podcasts are from the Ringer
- 1:46Network, the Bill Simmons Network, and so they're popular podcasts, their network-supported
- 1:52podcasts, and so they're going to have their own, the way I understand it is, they'll
- 1:58have their own screen, so I think the way, you know, how Netflix does horizontal rows,
- 2:05so let's drama, thrillers, comedy, documentary, and so forth, so I'm assuming that podcasts,
- 2:11they may have a button on the top, but I think it'll be a horizontal row.
- 2:16So in our article, what we said is, okay, why would you do that when think about how
- 2:22Netflix is, think about how it's constructed if you can picture it?
- 2:26Let's take for a week-aven example of this, science fiction movies on Netflix are one
- 2:32of their biggest and most least watched genres on the entire Netflix platform, okay?
- 2:43Why would they not have a independent sci-fi podcast, sci-to-side with the movies?
- 2:52So there's a podcast that's independent from the UK called every single sci-fi podcast
- 3:00ever.
- 3:01They started at the beginning of the century, they're into the 1950s and 60s, and it is
- 3:08a wonderful show.
- 3:10And so if you think about this, who is attracted to the most popular events, sci-fi people?
- 3:21How many people go to Comic-Con, and there's more festivals than just Comic-Con, there's
- 3:29different ones, they are packed with people.
- 3:33So that means that there's already a built-in attention towards the genre.
- 3:38So why would you not play something like every single sci-fi podcast movie ever right
- 3:45next to all the movies?
- 3:47So someone can say, I'll click on it and listen to the genre that I'm going to about to watch.
- 3:53But you know, that's not something they consider because they don't think about independent
- 3:58podcasts.
- 3:59It's all the most visible podcasts, and that's really all that is, because they don't
- 4:03think anybody else would listen to a podcast that isn't part of the sphere of Spotify,
- 4:11Amazon, and I Heart, and Sirius XM.
- 4:15Exactly.
- 4:16I think that you and I are two P's in the same pod when it comes to this mindset because
- 4:24I see the news that comes out.
- 4:26It seems like it's almost every week, if not every other day, that there's a big media
- 4:31company that's doing this with this brand and this with this brand.
- 4:35And I'm like, yeah, also, there's some really cool stuff happening within the indie space
- 4:43and people that are not, who shows have not been acquired by the big networks.
- 4:49And in my opinion, these are the people that are actually out there changing lives.
- 4:55And not to, not to discount anybody who's got a show within a network because, you know,
- 4:59they're doing their thing and everyone's got to earn their money and everyone wants
- 5:02to make a living.
- 5:03And there's probably a good number of indie podcasters that would like to have that level
- 5:08of success and more power to them if they acquire that success.
- 5:12I'm just saying that there is so much great audio content that is out there in the podcast
- 5:21universe that seems to get overshadowed by all the major headlines.
- 5:25I actually was on a podcast a while back where we talked about this race to sign celebrities
- 5:32on these network platforms.
- 5:34And it seems like every week there's some new celebrity that has their own show.
- 5:39And the shows seem to work like this.
- 5:42If they're going to interview people, the celebrity is going to interview people.
- 5:46And this is the same marketing language.
- 5:49And when they do it, these conversations are going to be unfiltered, controversial and
- 5:55opinionated.
- 5:56And they say the same thing all the time.
- 5:59And so what you end up getting is a celebrity, not accustomed to doing interviews with guests
- 6:07that are already pre-chosen by the network that are guests that will be easy to handle.
- 6:13Not somebody that maybe has a one word to answer that the celebrity will struggle with.
- 6:17And then when I've listened to these, and basically they're all the same.
- 6:22And then you counterpoint that Freddie with a independent podcast that you and I actually
- 6:28know well, better called Daddy, with Reena Friedman Watts now.
- 6:35B, when it comes to being an interviewer is far superior to any celebrity that I can
- 6:42think of.
- 6:44And she has this, what I thought is a great differentiator is her dad provides wisdom
- 6:54during the show.
- 6:57Those two elements, her skill as an interviewer and the second part with her dad, none of
- 7:04those celebrities shows have that.
- 7:05And why is that Freddie?
- 7:07Because they're just counting on people listening because it's the celebrity.
- 7:12They don't even really have to be that good.
- 7:14First, I will say that Reena is one of the most gifted interviewers in the podcast space,
- 7:20hands down period, end of story.
- 7:22Y'all can fight me in the comments because you cannot convince me otherwise.
- 7:26And then I will also say that to piggyback on what you were talking about, it's the same
- 7:31kind of formula with celebrities where they go and have these interesting conversations
- 7:35raw.
- 7:36Authentic is in other words, it's just so overused.
- 7:42But when the podcast consumer goes and listens to this, the John Doe celebrity podcast with
- 7:51the unfiltered authentic truth, well, the consumer is like, this show sucks.
- 7:58And then they go and tell their friend, hey, Frank, I listened to the John Doe celebrity
- 8:02podcast and this show sucks.
- 8:05And then all of a sudden, you get this mindset from the everyday podcast consumer that there
- 8:10are too many podcasts.
- 8:12Well, of course, you think that because all the people, the only shows that you're listening
- 8:17to are celebrity hosted shows is the same formula.
- 8:20And they all suck.
- 8:21Oh, I like it.
- 8:22You're getting excited like me.
- 8:24This is great.
- 8:25Yes.
- 8:26No.
- 8:27Absolutely.
- 8:29What you said earlier is true is I do give credit to the networks and that they do have
- 8:33some quality shows.
- 8:35There's no doubt about it.
- 8:36Not everything on there is garbage and I totally get all that.
- 8:39But on the flip side of that, do we really want a podcast infrastructure where the only
- 8:45shows we have are either celebrity interviews or true crime podcasts?
- 8:50I have nothing against true crime.
- 8:53Some of them are absolutely wonderful.
- 8:55There's some great independent true crime podcasts like the murder, the murder sheet and
- 9:01Femilla side, but I don't, I don't really want to have a media format when there's only
- 9:07those two genres that are included in it.
- 9:10So I mean, that's one of the things that's happening in broadcast TV.
- 9:14It's either game shows because they're cheap to produce or those, those franchises like
- 9:21there's nine law and orders, 17 NCIS's, Chicago fire, police, EMTs, dog catchers, whatever.
- 9:32And so they're down to just a couple of genres there in broadcasting TV.
- 9:37Podcasting is better than that.
- 9:39And plus the other part of that is podcasting's roots are independent podcasters.
- 9:46The people in the basement making podcasts 20 years ago, that's the origin of podcasting.
- 9:55It's not TV, even radio has a different origin story than podcasting does.
- 10:03Yeah, absolutely.
- 10:05And shifting gears because years ago, now you have the ear worthy newsletter, but once
- 10:11upon a time you actually hosted a podcast.
- 10:14So I'm wondering if you were to resurrect the podcast and you can for listeners who are
- 10:20not familiar with what you used to do, tell them the name of the podcast.
- 10:25And if you were to revive it, what would you talk about?
- 10:29Oh, my God.
- 10:31Okay, this is a thorny question, Freddie.
- 10:33Oh no.
- 10:34You're just throwing out the fastballs you really are.
- 10:37I was thinking maybe like a 75 mile an hour splitter, but you're going right with the
- 10:42gas balls.
- 10:43Wow.
- 10:44So I've told the story before, but I'll make it really fast.
- 10:48When I started a podcast and it was 2011 in the beginning, I had this idea, like a lot
- 10:55of indie podcasters, you know, I'm just going to make this.
- 10:58I don't have to do any marketing.
- 10:59It's so good people just listen to it.
- 11:02And it was called make a connection and it was about how to communicate better in the
- 11:08corporate world, because that's where I worked for 37 years.
- 11:14And I did 17 episodes.
- 11:17The same number of episodes I did is the same number of listeners I had.
- 11:21They were equal 17 episodes, 17 listeners, not every episode, I mean total.
- 11:29So at the end of 17, yes, I know.
- 11:32So I decided, okay, you know, either I'm terrible at this or I'm not doing any marketing
- 11:39or a combination of both.
- 11:41So I got rid of, got rid of that, deleted it so no one could ever hear it again, because
- 11:47it's frankly quite embarrassing.
- 11:50I did look it up and could not find it.
- 11:52Oh, I know.
- 11:53Thank God, because I knew someone would.
- 11:57But then, then COVID came and like a lot of people, we were bored inside.
- 12:04So I have a brother who lives in New Hampshire.
- 12:07So we decided to do a podcast during COVID called false facts.
- 12:13So it was in 2020 and considering what was going on, we thought this is timely.
- 12:21So false facts basically was about, it wasn't political.
- 12:25Like we weren't going to, we're not going to do a political fact or fact checking on
- 12:29what politicians said.
- 12:31That was sort of a fool's iron.
- 12:33But it was just about things that you thought were missed, that weren't true.
- 12:37So I'll give you one frivolous example.
- 12:39Our first episode and our first little segment was about, if you dropped a penny off the
- 12:45top of the Empire State Building and it landed on the ground, if it hit somebody in the
- 12:50head, would it kill them?
- 12:52Oh, so the answer is no, but I think God, yeah, I know, because I've read that somewhere.
- 13:01Yes.
- 13:02So did we, and then, so that was like our first segment.
- 13:08Our second segment was about Katherine, the great from Russia.
- 13:13She was a charmer, wasn't she?
- 13:15Oh my gosh.
- 13:16Well, she, I mean, I know, I don't want to get x-rated in that, but I don't know if you
- 13:21know that she was also well known for our strange intimate proclivities.
- 13:28I didn't know that.
- 13:29I just knew that she was not a very kind person and that's putting it mildly.
- 13:33Yes, exactly.
- 13:34So there's a theory that the reason, or when she died, she died in the midst of a odd romantic
- 13:47encounter to put this lightly.
- 13:49That's the rumor, but that's not really the way she died.
- 13:53So this is an example of the things that we pulled to do, to the show.
- 13:59And we did a couple of shows and then COVID was over and then we both went back to our jobs
- 14:05and that just forgot about it.
- 14:07But I have to say, we actually did really enjoy that.
- 14:10It was a lot of fun, a lot of fun.
- 14:13Talk about Earworthy and actually before we have you talk about Earworthy, which
- 14:19is, by the way, one of my favorite podcast newsletters, y'all have got to check out Frank's
- 14:26newsletter, Earworthy.
- 14:28And I was a fan before what I'm about to tell you is that Frank had some very nice words
- 14:33to say about Reena and a conversation that she had with me and it was, and I got to thank
- 14:41you, Frank, because it really meant and means the world to me that you wrote what you wrote
- 14:47about me.
- 14:48So thank you, thank you for that.
- 14:52And having said all that, again, I was reading Frank's newsletter long before that article
- 14:57came, came out.
- 14:58So I was like, imagine my surprise, but I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, is this one of my
- 15:03favorite newsletter guys writing that about me?
- 15:06But please tell, tell, tell my friends who are listening about your newsletter and what
- 15:11it does for the indie podcast or community.
- 15:14Oh, well, thank you, Freddie.
- 15:16First of all, for someone as accomplished, talented, and experienced as you, those words
- 15:21mean a lot to me.
- 15:22So thank you.
- 15:23I appreciate it.
- 15:24And you certainly deserve the praise that we provided for you because you are really
- 15:30one of the great talents.
- 15:31And if anything, you're a shining example of the talent of people who are podcasters
- 15:39in the independent world.
- 15:40So thank you for that.
- 15:43You continue to show that, listen, independent podcasters are not second-rate.
- 15:48They're first-rate.
- 15:49They just need a chance.
- 15:51So thank you.
- 15:52I appreciate it.
- 15:53And based on your comments, also, let me know when I'll send you, then you'll send
- 15:56both of that money to you after the show is over.
- 16:01This show is over.
- 16:03Oh, man.
- 16:04No, but please, yeah, your newsletter, very, very, it's so, there's such a
- 16:10variety in the shows that you write about.
- 16:13And so let's talk about how you come up with the shows that you decide to cover every
- 16:22week.
- 16:23Sure.
- 16:24If I could go back for a second and sort of give you a brief history of ear-wisey.
- 16:30So it started, let's see.
- 16:32So now it's 18 years ago, right at the beginning of podcasting, and it started as podcast
- 16:39reports.
- 16:41And it was much too early in the podcast story for anybody to pay attention because you're
- 16:50thinking now 2009, 2010, not a lot of people even know what podcasts are, no less wanted
- 16:56to read about them.
- 16:58So it lasted a few years and then we folded our tent and went away until 2017.
- 17:06And that's when we came back.
- 17:09And by that time, then podcasting and now, you know, grown in stature, there were a lot
- 17:13of more people listening, and of course that growth continues to accelerate, and more
- 17:19people listen to podcasts, they more, they want to read about, well, where can I hear,
- 17:24you know, good podcasts?
- 17:25And so that certainly helped ear-worthy.
- 17:28But in the process, when we started in 2017 to now, 2025, we underwent, I think, a great
- 17:37metamorphosis, which I find so refreshing because in the first couple of years, Freddie,
- 17:44all we did was report on network-supported podcasts that sent us marketing material,
- 17:52Spotify, our I heart, serious exam.
- 17:55So basically, they would send this material, we would change some of it and publish it.
- 18:01And that went on for like a couple of years and, you know, we did get readers largely
- 18:06because those network podcasts, a lot of people listened to them.
- 18:10So they wanted to read about them too.
- 18:13But then a few years ago, we decided, this is just not only is it, not what we want to
- 18:19do, it's not even fun.
- 18:22Because we would, they would send us a press release and then we would try to inject a
- 18:26little of our own creativity and they get criticized by them saying, this is not exactly
- 18:32what we really want you to say.
- 18:34And so we got to the point where we're like, we don't actually work for you.
- 18:38You don't pay us.
- 18:40So we were getting into those disagreements.
- 18:44So we decided to jettison all of the netizens network-supported podcasts, God.
- 18:50Now we only report on independent podcasts.
- 18:53That's it.
- 18:54If you're not, our definition of independent is a little broader than people may think.
- 18:59But.
- 19:00Okay, but going back to that, were these, were these, were these big companies expecting
- 19:05you to either copy and paste the press release as it, as it was presented to you?
- 19:11Or were they expecting a copy and paste and kind words about what it was instead of
- 19:20a rather, for lack of a better term, sort of like brutal, brutally honest take on X,
- 19:26Y, Z podcast presented by this corporation?
- 19:29Yes, the former, they want, you know, they simply wanted a flattery and compliments, so
- 19:34more people would listen.
- 19:35And so I remember once, I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but we did our,
- 19:41we did an article on an iHeart podcast and it was something commendable.
- 19:50So iHeart does have a very vibrant LGBTQ, like network, they really do.
- 19:59They put out a lot of podcasts, but weirdly, and this is the thing I couldn't wrap my
- 20:03head around, on the flip side of that, they have podcasts where they have a political
- 20:08podcast where they have people attacking those same people that they have podcasted.
- 20:13So we wrote that in the article saying, okay, how where does this?
- 20:17You have podcasts and both send in the spectrum and you have the one group attacking the
- 20:22other group for which you have podcasts.
- 20:25They did not like that at all, so that was an issue.
- 20:30And then the same thing with Spotify as well.
- 20:34We started to criticize them and then we don't get anything from them.
- 20:38iHeart to their credit, they still send this stuff and they have great people.
- 20:42I love their marketing people, they're wonderful, but the network itself is, they just a lot
- 20:50of inconsistencies when you have these big companies that publish 2000 podcasts because
- 20:57sometimes they, you cannot get a feel for their, if they have a brand or whatever.
- 21:02There's some smaller networks that have a brand that you can wrap your head around.
- 21:07There's a small network called next chapter podcasts, they've, they've this entire ecosystem
- 21:14of what's called play on Shakespeare.
- 21:16They take Shakespearean plays, they recreate them in everyday modern English so you have
- 21:23a better understanding of them and they put them on as audio podcasts, they're fabulous.
- 21:28I was always intimidated by Shakespeare until I started listening to them.
- 21:33Now I can't wait till, wait till they come out.
- 21:36I mean, they're just wonderful, but I know what I'm getting in this smaller network that
- 21:41I'm going to.
- 21:43I don't know what I'm getting when I go to some of the larger networks because there's
- 21:47not, there's nothing consistent that brand is so large and expansive that you're not
- 21:52sure what you're going to get.
- 21:57I don't know if this is an accurate analogy, but it's the first one to come to mind.
- 22:01It's the difference between a local burger joint and a big chain where the big chain is
- 22:11like all things to all people and they've got all this that and the other and everything
- 22:15is mass produced and there's probably, you know, I wouldn't say there's no thought to
- 22:20it because there's obviously thought put to it.
- 22:22It's just mass produced versus the solo location and the cows are, you know, they're grown
- 22:33right across the street and the cheese is locally sourced as are the vegetables and the
- 22:38potatoes and all that other stuff.
- 22:40I don't know.
- 22:41No, you're right.
- 22:43And to go back to what we talked about offline before we started, you were telling me
- 22:47about the show that the Houston podcast for the organization, I think it's a real
- 22:54reorganization and what they do is they try to help people who are relocating the Houston
- 22:59learn about the city.
- 23:01The Houston bound podcast with Mandy and Chase, yeah.
- 23:04I mean, that's absolutely wonderful and if I could say that's essence and the greatness
- 23:11of the niche part of podcasting is that, okay, I know the Houston could be wrong on this
- 23:17Friday.
- 23:18I think it's the third largest city in the nation.
- 23:20Fourth, unless we have taken number three in Chicago, I think is New York, LA or what were
- 23:30the other way around?
- 23:31Then Chicago, then Houston.
- 23:32Okay.
- 23:33Well, it should be third.
- 23:34That's how I'm going to get ahead of that.
- 23:36It should be third.
- 23:38But anyway, so I mean, that's a lot of people, that's a lot of people, but the numbers of
- 23:43people that are still moving the Houston on a regular basis, okay, that's not going
- 23:48to be a five million number.
- 23:50So you're getting a smaller number and that's what I love about that is it's like, all
- 23:54right, we're not going to get too many people listen to this podcast.
- 23:57We may only get 2000, but it's the 2000 people that really want to listen to it and are
- 24:03going to get value from the podcast.
- 24:05That's what you get from independent podcasting that you don't get from the others.
- 24:10And one quick example, there's this woman named Kim Newlove.
- 24:14She has a podcast that we reviewed called Prariesburg, Ohio.
- 24:19She does the exact same thing that the realtors do for Houston, except that Prariesburg, Ohio,
- 24:26I think only gets 20,000 people only for people moving to Prariesburg.
- 24:33Now, or it's for people that are there too, that about events and everything.
- 24:38That 20,000 people, when you take out the children and people that don't listen, what
- 24:43are you getting as your maximum audience, 500 people maybe, I was going to say maybe
- 24:50it seems that face value just yeah, 500 maybe, or people that are that live like if Frank
- 24:56and Freddie used to live there.
- 24:58And now Frank, you and Sal Jersey and me and Texas, they were like, oh, you know what a slice
- 25:03of home.
- 25:04So maybe there's some listenership from that from from those people.
- 25:08Yeah, but still they don't worry about that.
- 25:13This is a service they're providing and it's a great service.
- 25:19I think there's a value, there's value in that.
- 25:21And one other thing I'm going to add, I know I'm going on is that I know because of
- 25:26your radio background, there's a lot of radio people that have moved in the podcasting
- 25:32and they're in the Indie space and they bring experience, they bring talent.
- 25:40They bring all of their audio background to it.
- 25:45And I think they really help the indie podcasting ecosystem because of that.
- 25:51So they're not, you know, they're not novices that don't know what they're doing.
- 25:56They already experienced people that do that.
- 25:59There's a gentleman in Toronto who was a radio DJ and when I guess the radio station
- 26:05went away, he went to podcasting his name, his first name is Mike.
- 26:10The name of his podcast is Toronto Mike.
- 26:14So it's M.I.K.E. apostrophe D.
- 26:17Oh, I love that.
- 26:18I'm looking it up right now.
- 26:20Yeah, look it up and it's so good.
- 26:23I did a review on it.
- 26:24It's so good, basically, did you fight?
- 26:27Did you have you found it?
- 26:28I got it right here.
- 26:29Yeah.
- 26:30It's so good that people use it for information about the city and he is a radio person
- 26:39by background too.
- 26:41So it's those kinds of shows that make podcasting so vibrant, so creative that cannot be duplicated
- 26:53by a large network that's sitting there with the next cell spreadsheet saying, we need
- 26:58to, you know, what's the CPM on this or how can we make money on this, you know, these
- 27:04aren't in the calculations of independent podcasters.
- 27:08There seems to be the hidden ROI.
- 27:10So with anybody who might want to launch a podcast as an indie host and have their podcast
- 27:17be an extension of their brand because they're a business owner or maybe they just started
- 27:21a nonprofit or maybe they're already, maybe they, maybe they're 10 years into their business
- 27:25journey or nonprofit journey and they want to have a podcast as podcast as an extension
- 27:31of their brand, the responsible thing to do and I'm a business owner, the responsible thing
- 27:36to do is like, okay, what's the ROI?
- 27:39If you shift the conversation around ROI from, well, yes, you know that you're going to
- 27:45incur hard costs like the mic.
- 27:48I'm talking to a sure mic, headphones, bringing a podcast studio, hiring a company to
- 27:54edit and produce their show.
- 27:56What have you?
- 27:57Those are the hard costs.
- 27:59Will you, will you make, will you be making Joe Rogan style money back to your point
- 28:04about CPMs?
- 28:06Most certainly not, at least if you're, you know, if you're like most independent podcasters
- 28:13almost certainly not and it's going to take years to even start to make, you know, start
- 28:20to earn some sort of an income unless you productize your show or and or rather and or you
- 28:30have a different conversation about the ROI and what it, what it at what, what your ROI
- 28:36is outside of money.
- 28:40So if you productize your business or service, your product and what have you, what the,
- 28:46what an effective call to action at the beginning, possibly the middle two and then at the end
- 28:50so three calls to action and then what's the ROI?
- 28:54So with your mic, which is the podcast that we're on now, I'm not making direct money
- 29:00from it.
- 29:01But what do I get?
- 29:02The ROI is that I'm talking to one of the most powerful and influential newsletter,
- 29:07newsletter writers in the podcast universe and I'm just having fun hanging out with
- 29:12them.
- 29:13And I don't care that I'm, it's like there's ROI and relationship building and it's just,
- 29:20you don't see it in a spreadsheet or you don't see it in the mail when you get it when,
- 29:26when you're looking for a check is my, is really my, my long wooded way of trying to make
- 29:30a point.
- 29:31And there are more ways to judge what an ROI is on an independent show.
- 29:36Oh, Freddie, you're absolutely right.
- 29:38This is a great point because there's so many companies now that are doing a few things.
- 29:45One is I can think of Costco is a good one.
- 29:47They've been doing this for a while.
- 29:48So they have a podcast for their employees.
- 29:51So now I'll ask the same question that you just asked, what's the ROI on doing a podcast
- 29:58for their employees?
- 29:59It's the same cost that you just mentioned.
- 30:03The answer is, are they going to get direct money back from putting out a podcast to their
- 30:07employees?
- 30:08Nope.
- 30:09Nope, they are not.
- 30:10But what will they get for it?
- 30:12In many ways, what they'll get for it is far greater than anything that you can either
- 30:19evaluate or you can measure because it's the goodwill of their employees and employees
- 30:25that are informed and satisfied or more productive employees.
- 30:29And generally that makes for a more productive and profitable business.
- 30:34So they're extremely smart for doing that.
- 30:37And there's other companies, American and quite a few other companies that now do the
- 30:41same thing.
- 30:42They understand your equation, which is we don't have to recoup money.
- 30:49What we have to do is we're going to get something back in currency more.
- 30:54That's different than money.
- 30:55But in many ways, much more valuable.
- 30:58If you've got the Costco employees, Frank and Freddie who are working on the weekends
- 31:03and you feature one or both of them in episodes and then they go and tell their family and
- 31:10friends, even though it's an internal podcast, they're like, hey, honey, guess what?
- 31:14I was featured on the internal podcast and it changes who they are as a person.
- 31:21You've made their day possibly week, possibly month.
- 31:24You possibly made their year.
- 31:26You've earned a fan.
- 31:28You've earned someone who is now legitimately wanting to go to work because you showed
- 31:33Frank and Freddie just how much you value them featuring their stories and why they love
- 31:37working where they work to their employees.
- 31:41And then the employees that hear that internal podcast then are like, wow, I had no idea
- 31:46that Frank did this and this before he started.
- 31:50I really like him now or I knew he was cool.
- 31:53I didn't realize he was that cool.
- 31:56And so the ripple effect is really, is really infinite.
- 31:59I've got one more point to make too because this is something our longest client is the
- 32:04Rose Breast Center of Excellence.
- 32:05They provide mammograms to the uninsured and insured women and men in Southeast Texas.
- 32:11And Dorothy had said Dorothy Gibbons is the host and CEO and co-founder and she had even
- 32:17mentioned and she said this more than once too is that if anything, you have a podcast
- 32:23if you're a business or nonprofit just to let your employees shine.
- 32:27Oh, that's fabulous.
- 32:29Absolutely.
- 32:30She's a smart business woman and a great benefit to her community for saying that.
- 32:36That's great.
- 32:37There's so much more than the mutton.
- 32:40I'm a business owner.
- 32:42I like capital.
- 32:43I like money in my bank account.
- 32:45There are also so many different ways that you can slice the pie and read the benefits
- 32:51of the podcast universe.
- 32:52But Frank, my man, it was a pleasure getting to talk with you.
- 32:59We've traded some LinkedIn messages and again, I've been reading your newsletter for
- 33:05quite some time and I'm a big fan.
- 33:07Please let everybody know where they can find the ear worthy newsletter and all that
- 33:11good stuff.
- 33:12Oh, well, Freddie, thank you again.
- 33:14This was great.
- 33:15Love talking to you.
- 33:17You are a credit to not only the industry, but to independent podcasters so we all appreciate
- 33:26you.
- 33:27Thank you very much.
- 33:28And you can find us.
- 33:29You can do a search for ear worthy.
- 33:31We're a medium.
- 33:32We're a blogger.
- 33:33We're on every social media site that you can think of just to search for us and you'll
- 33:38find us.
- 33:39And if you're looking for a podcast that is out of the norm that you're going to enjoy,
- 33:47look us up to find the podcast.
- 33:49And the last thing I'll say is please, please, please support independent podcasters.
- 33:55Love it.
- 33:56Appreciate you, sir.
- 33:57Thank you.