this is swisher's like 5th podcast. she had one at Vox and then they shuttered it and tried another one under a different title. she started one with NYT in 2020 that was sponsored by Salesforce. nancy pelosi was the first guest. she did one for hbo doing TV commentary.

what legacy media can't seem to grasp about podcasting is that the appeal is not the format. the appeal is that someone who lacks the connections and capital to have a platform under legacy media can start one up for like $400 and try to find an audience from a global pool.

if you want to listen to something on your commute or while you are in the shop that isn't part of the billionaire funded Right Wing Talk Radio or NPR Sphere, you can totally do that now, easily with podcasts. you can listen to a podcast about how aliens have taken over Domino's pizza. you can listen to a podcast about the people who believe aliens have taken over Domino's pizza! if you find 1,000 people paying $5/mo to listen to your premium episode, that means you're above the median salary. do a couple of weird, crappy sponsors, and you're buying a vitamix, a PS5, and a weight vest! not everybody can pull it off, but a SHITLOAD more people than have had an platform with editorial control under legacy media can now take a shot with complete creative control.

not enough bozos are going to tune into a Swisher pod to cover her $30k/mo salary draw with its anodyne lib tech takes, because there's already NPR for that. and a dedicated sponsor is going to eventually look at the analytics audience pool and realize they're getting more attention buying legacy media time and pop ups.

i actually think it's at worst an understandable move

i have no idea what old media is gonna look like in a few years, but anything that was anchored by cable and other by-appointment content distribution is going to probably go fucking extinct with few exceptions.

Maybe the move is a few years premature, but a podcast means more of the $ is going to her, it means she has this for clout on her resume, which, while it would get y ou laughed out of Hexbear, is pretty employable in Washington

of all the cringe and stupid going on here, this lady jumping an obviously dead medium for an apparently somewhat lively medium is at least sensible

All waking hours will be spent either listening to podcasts or recording podcasts. This is how we achieve Utopia.

That needs to be a Black Mirror episode.

I feel like this is being launched specifically so she can go on after the election and talk about how the left underperformed (after her goons spent months disparaging/dismantling everything that made the candidates popular in the first place).

There was definitely a conversation about making sure it was released close enough to the election that they couldnt be blamed for a loss.

I was going to make a joke that she was too busy because she had other grifts going. But that makes no sense even as a joke. Assistants and stuff will do all the work. It takes nearly zero effort on her part. All she needs to do is talk. And she can do it from anywhere at anytime. It's weird that she didn't start the podcast many months ago or last year.

And Neera Tanden is not one to share her Bota Box.

DNC All-star lineup you got there. Don't forget to add Cory Booker and Josh Shapiro for added diversity because they are the party of inclusivity after all.

no Hakeem Jeffries??

high steaks, the thc and beef podcast

It really gets to the heart of the matter.

Pinging @FlakesBongler@hexbear.net - got any Troy McClure content?

I was gonna say Contra

We don’t hear nearly enough from Nick Mullen anymore and it makes me sad.

People who are completely unaffected by the outcome of an election.