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Upstairs Downstairs
November 15, 2019
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Things look different from the top floor.
The disparity between management and rank-and-file in the perception of a business isn't breaking news, but it's real and it's what I observed covering the latest industry conference this week. At the Digital Hollywood podcasting conference, the panels were interesting but I kept thinking that something was a little off, and then it became clear: What the panelists were discussing and what the vast majority of podcasters are experiencing are really two separate realities. And that difference happens in radio, in television, in cable, in every medium, probably in every business, and it's not just about the haves and have-nots.
Podcasting shows the more obvious bifurcation. The people who appear on podcasting panels -- and here I should point out that I am one of those people, and have been on many podcasting panels over the last decade and will be moderating yet another one this weekend -- are generally among the very small percentage of podcasting people who are either able to generate enough revenue to make a significant profit or have investment backing to keep the lights on. They're the ones with celebrities and influencers hosting high-profile shows. They're the ones represented by ad sales organizations, the ones who have marketing and production resources. They are experts for that part of the business. They can talk about IAB 2.0, about cross-promotions, about subscription models and live events and merchandising and Apple charts.
They are not the majority of podcasters. The majority don't start out with big names, they aren't on podcast networks, they don't have the resources. They may have a great idea, they may generate amazingly good content, but they don't have the profile or the financing or the notoriety to get to where the people on the panels are. Measurement won't make a difference for them if the measurement is below a threshold of downloads that they will never reach. They don't have the following to do live shows on the road and have little chance of developing that following no matter how good they are, not without backing or self-funding that they likely don't have. Theirs is a world of Patreon and scrambling to get noticed, not selling the rights to their show for a Netflix series. That's not an indictment of the panelists or the industry, but it's just an example of how, when the talk at conferences about measurement and advertising sales and marketing is focused on the haves, it isn't relevant to the people who would like to be part of the haves but just aren't positioned to get there. There are and always will be exceptions, but if the window that used to be wide open for unknowns with good ideas to achieve big success in podcasting isn't closed, it's barely cracked open now.
Radio has a similar bifurcation, or maybe a trifurcation -- is that a word? Regardless, I think of it when I read rank-and-file radio people, especially the still-employed, come to the defense of the industry on social media against those who tend to be labeled the "radio is dead" crowd. If you're unemployed or somewhere on the bottom rungs of radio, the stories of how radio's future is bright and the "93% reach!" stuff are meaningless; even if that's true, it's not relevant if the good times aren't reaching YOU. Similarly, even if you're employed and in a good place in radio, there's a difference in the outlook if you're an employee from that of the CEOs and top management. The regular bloodletting taking place at major broadcasting companies -- the clearing out of local midday hosts, for example, or programmers canned in favor of someone from another station or market doubling or tripling up on stations -- should illustrate that.
What does that all mean? It's that when you hear how the business, ANY business, is rosy, or dead, or shaky, or growing, or whatever they say, keep in mind that what's presented as consensus may not apply to you. What the Spotify/Gimlets and NPRs of the podcasting world are experiencing doesn't necessarily affect Two Guys with a Mic and a Zoom Recorder, both good or bad. What the radio CEOs and the NAB and RAB are saying about growth or, really, anything about the industry doesn't always reflect the reality of what's happening on the ground where the rest of us are. And that cuts both ways: The executives and the top broadcasters or podcasters don't always know or remember what it's like on the outside of the C-suite or the top of the Apple charts. Maybe someday conventions will put the "little folks," the people whose podcasts are not on networks and the radio rank-and-file who have been displaced because the company's overleveraged, on the stage and have the executives ask THEM questions. It would be instructive for the A-list to understand the perspective of the Z-list, not just vice versa. Everyone can learn from each other, and perhaps a different perspective can help everyone prosper. You'd think we'd have learned by now that one size never really does fit all.
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Well, one thing fits all talk and morning shows and podcasrs: Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, made to provide hosts with material you won't find elsewhere. Click here and/or follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item.
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And with that, I WILL be moderating a podcasting panel at the west coast edition of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System conference on Saturday, November 16th at California State University-Long Beach, with three guys who know what they're talking about both for the haves and the have-nots, Maximum Fun's Jesse Thorn, Jam Street's Matty Staudt, and Libsyn's Rob Greenlee, offering the benefits of their experience to collegiate and other aspirants, and I will make sure the talk covers things from every perspective. Find out more at mediaconferences.org. See you there.
Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
www.facebook.com/pmsimon
Twitter @pmsimon
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