I podcast now
Apparently, I podcast now.
I woke up last week with a half-baked idea for a new podcast that I thought should exist. Four days later, it exists.1 Working Zaddy is my exploration of what it means to host multiple identities—father, husband, partner, teammate, etc.—and reckoning with my evolving definition of success as they clash in a battle for supremacy, or at least coexistence.
I’ve been on and off podcasts since I got hooked listening to EconTalk ~2013/2014. It’s not really about economics. Russ Roberts, the host, calls the show “conversations for the curious” - and that’s what it is.
In the past decade I’ve listened to all of the 1,000+ episodes - some multiple times as well as dozens of other shows over the years.
Having spent so much time listening to them, more than once, I’ve considered starting a podcast. For one reason or another, however, every time, I gave it up before I started. It was just slightly too hard.
So, why was this time different? Particularly when it seems that everyone has their own podcast now. Observing this fact, a friend of mine recently said, “too many mediocre men have podcasts where they talk as if they have something profound to say.” As a mediocre man, I was offended, but only momentarily, though certainly not deterred.
A weekend of noodling—and conversing with the AIs in my pocket in between errands, chasing my son around the house, and other odds and bobs—and I was ready to begin.
Out of the closet came the ring light we bought years ago during interview season as well as the mic I’d purchased when I first started working remotely and which has been quietly collecting dust.
I’m a big fan of sharing in public.2 But I’m not a social media guy. My blogs have always been passion projects - something I did because I “needed” to do it. I needed an outlet and blogs were always a way to do that that felt easy and within reach.
Podcasting has always had hurdles. Mics. Editing software. Hosting. Distribution. The number of things I needed to do just to put something out there seemed endless and was just a little too hard for me at the time. Just enough friction for my great podcast idea to die on the vine.
Which is why I’m so pleased with how things are looking now and why I’m writing this post at all.
I went back and forth with the AIs to do market research, think about where my podcast might fit into the market (it’s very complimentary of my ideas-sickeningly so!), how I could structure a season, formats to play with, but perhaps most critically, how I could test the idea in a week and for $0.
The biggest unlock in this whole process was Riverside. I’d downloaded the app a while back during one of those other attempts I mentioned, but I don’t think I got past the welcome screen.
The service is mindblowing.
For $03 and a few hours of my time (there is a learning curve to the software, but it’s so much more intuitive than what I remember), I created a theme song (thanks Gemini!) and recorded a pilot episode which is available on Spotify, Apple, Overcast, and “wherever fine podcasts are found.”4
The closet parallel I have is when I first started to learn how to code. I used the aforementioned mic to dabble in YouTube videos.5 That was the last time I really explored putting my face out there as it were. It was awkward, hard, and didn’t last.
But, like I said, I woke up with this thought. It, like blogging, was an itch I needed to scratch. I’m not giving up my day job—but I suppose I’m a podcaster now?
It’s a fun new way to explore and I’m sure there’ll be more to come as I learn more about the medium. If you’ve been thinking about it—try it. It’s never been easier to get started. Though, starting is really all I’ve done so far.
Exists is a generous description at this stage. While factually accurate, I would call what I have produced so far a test run, a pilot, a “see if it works” episode. ↩︎
I submit, as evidence, this and every other blog I’ve started, kept, and maintained over the past two decades alongside the Facebook profile with zero friends (which exists exclusively so I can give things away on Buy Nothing and to participate in single writers’ group). A Twitter/X account that is dormant and used only to read links shared with me, etc. ↩︎
I benefit considerably here from the fact that my first / primary format is going to be a “single-host” podcast. Otherwise, the free tier is limited to 1 hour of multi-track recording per month, which would be very limiting. ↩︎
There are actually other sites / feeds I need to publish too, but it’s almost as easy as a click of a button! ↩︎
They’re still available I believe, though likely not worth the leg work necessary to locate them. They were quite amateurish seeing as I was … an amateur. ↩︎
