317 - Marc Maron Signs Off, Orson Welles Voice Lives On, and Kids Dive Into Summer Listening Challenge

0:05 Good morning podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Wednesday, June 4th, 2025 and today we're back with a fresh batch of podcasting headlines. From AI powered storytelling with voices from the past to industry wide moves and video, smarter ad tech reads and a farewell to one of the greats. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. Don't hear it? Oh, there we go. And now give me about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again podcasting morning chat. I am your host Mark Ronic and here on stage with me, my Co hosts today we have producer Ashley Feller, Sid Meadows, Dr. Faye, Nick Naulback and Alex Baelish. And I'm giggling because I apparently I cut out on Clubhouse during my intro and then you may have heard Dr. saying hey, I can't hear you and then everybody else confirming in the chat that they couldn't hear me. So I think I must have cut out. I'm having Internet issues. I love the validation. Thank you so much people. Yeah, I'm having Internet issues and I will say here's a little behind the scenes, behind the curtain for everybody.

2:01 If you don't mind. If that kind of thing happens where I cut out, go ahead and put it in the chat first. No problem, Dr. that you came in and said something, but in the future, yeah, let's just do it in the chat 1st and then we'll go from there. So yes, today we're going to get into all the headlines around the world of podcasting and I say we just go ahead and dive right in. Let me pull up my notes. That would be helpful as well. So as some of you know, the way I like to start things off is with some podcast data. DDRNI, go ahead and share some stuff with you. So for example, the number one podcast on Apple is the Best People with Nicole Wallace.

2:48 I will not say who number one is on Spotify, and I will go to Dr. to give us that top five list. I don't reveal the number one anymore because for one, it's usually the same podcast on Spotify and to Dr. gives us the top five. So we can make that a little more interesting for you each week. So take it away, Dr. Yeah, we build it up to the climax, don't we? So let me Scroll down a little bit. OK? Five, top five S #5 is Crime Junkie. Welcome back, Crime Junkie to the top five. Number four is the past weekend with Theo von #3 is the Jefferson Fisher podcast.

3:31 Yay. I love him #2 is good. Hang with Amy Poehler and #1. Sorry about that all. Right then, it's the Joe Rogan Experience. And I want to just say that Jefferson Fisher podcast, and I know we've talked about him before, but I came across one of his social media posts, a video, and I was just listening to it. It was a little different than he normally does, his content. It was in front of a camera with a microphone and he was probably recording his podcast. And actually what he was talking about has nothing to do with what I want to say.

4:13 But first, I just love this guy. Like I think that this guy, the way he teaches how to communicate is so simple but powerful at the same time. And I sent whatever it was to my wife to watch and I followed it up with a comment 'cause I sent it over DM and I said I love this guy. And I said, mark my words, I bet you one day he runs for president, or at least runs for some government office. And I think if he does, I think he wins by a landslide. I really do. I mean, it's unbelievable how popular he is and how many people just love and respect this guy. And he's a lawyer.

4:56 Lawyers often go into politics. Not all of them, but that's a common thing for a lawyer to go into politics. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy runs for some office someday. So there you go. Mark that down so when he does I can say I told you so. Mark it down. So we have the random chart this week and this week I have chosen education. So #5 is the Jordan P Peterson OK? No, the Jordan B Peterson podcast #4 is let's find out. Number three is anything goes with Emma Chamberlain. Number one, I'm sorry #2 is Mel Robbins podcast, and the number one is the Jefferson Fisher podcast.

5:42 Education, yes. That's exactly where he belongs. That's awesome. That's. Awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. OK, so I cannot tell you how excited I am that YouTube has just dove head first into the whole charts thing because we've been waiting for them to do it. It is fantastic that they did this. So let's take a look at this week's chart, shall we? And the Oscar goes too. Well, you got to explain why I played that. Question. I have a question. OK. I have a question, what how many cups of coffee has Dr. had this month?

6:26 I think Dr. is nice and rested up from yesterday taking the day. Is she taking pain pills for her back this morning? Dr. Do you need to talk to us about? Something like. Talk about the. Pain meds and alcohol. OK. Well, why did I play that trombone? Yeah, the reason why we played the sad trombone is because YouTube has not updated their chart since the May 19th, the week of May 19th. That's so weird. They were really touting that they were adding that rankings page and they were going to update it every Wednesday. They were.

7:06 On it. Yeah. Absolutely. They were so on it. I think they were on it for like 2 weeks. Yes, exactly. Right. Picking up my Oscar later on in the day so. Yes, yes, and maybe, maybe find something to chill you out. No, I love the energy. I'm not going to I'm not going to tease you about that. I love the energy. I appreciate the energy. By the way, I was just going to say I never said over the last week, 202,433 podcasts published at least one new episode, which is up just about 1%. All right, go ahead, Dr. This chart is no different from it was like 2 weeks ago. It was the Midas touch at #548 hours at #4 I killed Tony at #3 the Joe Rogan experience #2 and the number one on the YouTube charts.

7:57 They're so proud is Rotten Mangoes. Nice, There you go. Oh yeah. By the way, I do want to say I am live on YouTube and you can always, if you're listening to this replay, you can always catch it the live version on YouTube after the fact. It goes up as a replay as well. So if you want to join me, come join me over there on YouTube. You can actually see me while I'm talking and see me fidgeting and doing all the things behind the scenes. If that is of interest to you. I know our friend Mike Short here in the audience. He often joins me over there and I appreciate that, Mike All right, let's see anything else Dr. from this cat, this area.

8:41 Not in the charts area. OK, cool. Not in the charts area. We have, yeah. Well then I will go to some events going on around the world of podcasting and content creation 1st and we'll put all the links to these in the show notes. Just go to podpage.com/PMC and you can find the episode and go into the show notes. Or of course, we're on your favorite podcast platform. So first, how to get your podcast reviewed by the media? This happens Thursday, June 12th, 2:00 PM Eastern Time. It's hosted by Podcaster View and Podglomerate, which I believe Podglomerate is somebody a potential sponsor of the Empowered Podcasting Conference.

9:29 I think they are the ones located in Charlotte. And Chris Vaglio, our friend Chris, who often joins us, he's the one that actually made that connection. So thank you to Chris. To be continued, I'll keep you posted on that. It's going to be a virtual event. It's going to be via Zoom and we will put that link in the show notes. Also, if you are in the New England area, the New England Podcasters Group June meet up is Saturday, June 14th at 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM Eastern Day highlight time. That's in Westford, MA. It's also online as well. So if you can't be there virtually, I'm sorry. If you can't be there in person, you can be there virtually.

10:10 Business and podcasting networking event for female entrepreneurs Tuesday, June 24th, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Central time. This is hosted by the Female Entrepreneurs Business and Podcasting Society. It's a free event and it is online. There's actually there's a little yeah online June 24th, 12:00 PM as well. And of course, as I mentioned a moment ago, Empowered Podcasting 2, that comes later, that comes September 26th through the 28th, that's at the Hyatt Centric in Charlotte, South Park, Charlotte, NC. And it is, of course, for you independent podcasters, content creators, and we are still accepting speakers.

10:58 The deadline for speakers will be Friday the 13th. And we've got about half of the amount of applicants we had last year. So we're starting to get back on track if we're comparing to last year as far as those number of submissions. And yeah, so it's about 50 people so far. And we would love to have you be one of those speakers. So go to empoweredpodcasting.com/speakers and apply today now. OK? Oh, did you have something, Dr. Well, we had some job opportunities. Oh yes, that's right. Go ahead, go for it. OK, so there's quite a few today.

11:41 Health Span Collective is hiring a podcast producer in Boca Raton, FL. There's a company called 3 Pillars and they are hiring for a podcast producer and it's a remote job so you can be anywhere for that one. Pandora hiring producer podcast in New York and 1800 Flowers is hiring a podcast producer in Jericho, NY. That's interesting. Kick Caster hiring podcast relations manager in Denver, Co, Hammer Media hiring a content producer in Austin, TX, two more senior producer for confidential in Toms River, USA, and a content operations manager in And that's for you might know Doctor Mark Hyman.

12:27 You might have heard of him. He's kind of famous. Oh. Yeah, they're hiring for his podcast and that's a remote position, so you can be anywhere. I love that and I yeah, it is cool to see 1800 Flowers a company, a business that's now carving out job opportunities specifically for podcasting. It's a good sign for the industry when we start seeing some of these big name companies on the job search for podcast producers, I've seen some for hosts, etcetera. It's exciting to see being a part of this industry. All right, so let me get into some other news stories. These are what we call news bites.

13:07 They may spark some conversation, maybe not. And if you've got something you want, if something strikes you and you want to comment, if you're listening live, come up on stage, share it in the chat. And of course, that goes for my Co hosts as well. So this first one is I'm going to play you a clip in just a second. Just recently, the other day, June 2nd Story Rabbit, the audio storytelling app from Tree Fort Media launched Orson Welles presents. Now for our younger audience, they may may say, who is that? But I know who Orson Welles is, and it's a This is all about a premium experience narrated by a digitally revived version of Orson Welles's legendary voice.

13:54 Built in partnership with U Unite dot AI and officially licensed by the Orson Welles Estate, this AI powered guide delivers location based immersive stories. Story Rabbit is leaning into ethical AI with a promise that everything is human, curated and responsibly produced. It's out now on iOS and Android. I'm going to play it for you. For those of you who do know Orson Welles, you'll recognize this right away. And if you don't, you might recognize the voice because it is a pretty well known voice. Let's play it. The world has a memory.

14:38 It lingers in statues, breeze through buildings, and flickers at the edges of the familiar. This is the voice of Orson Welles, curious as ever, and I'm ready to reveal what has been hidden too long. With Story Rabbit, I now walk beside you, unearthing what time tried to bury in plain sight. Because the past doesn't sleep, it waits impatiently for someone to listen. Let's find out together what remarkable stories the world will now share through the power of my voice. Pretty cool.

15:25 I know that this has happened before. If you are familiar with more, people may be familiar with James Earl Jones, especially newer Star Wars fans. That is the voice of Darth Vader, among many other achievements and accolades for James Earl Jones. But I know before he passed, he gave consent for Star Wars Disney to continue to use his voice for future Star Wars projects. So Darth Vader will live on. That infamous voice will live on. I think. I just love that when these are done. And I'm curious if anybody else feels differently, right? Like, do you feel like it's OK if the estate has given permission?

16:09 Is it OK? Or do you still feel like feel still feel a little oogie about it? Let's check in with Ashley 1st and then we'll go to Nick. Good morning, Ashley. Good. Morning. I admit that felt a little eerie in that because Orson Welles wasn't alive to give his consent. I understand the state did, but I feel like with the thing that's as personal as your voice, that should absolutely be the person who owns that voice. But if it if it's consensual, for example with James Earl Jones, that's a different case. I guess it's just because the timeline of events didn't make it possible for him to give consent is all. I hear that and I have a feeling you're probably not alone in that.

16:50 I feel like there are people that may feel like, well, if the person wasn't alive to do it, is it still OK? Doesn't feel OK even if the estate says so. Nick, what say you? And then we'll check in with Alex. I know it's a little bit different, but I think about it like artists that have unreleased music and they pass away and then the music is released. It's obviously that artist is still the one who created it, but who is the one that's actually benefiting from the music that got created by that artist now that they've passed? But I feel conflicted on that side of the thing. But what I do think is really neat is that AI is basically allowing his voice to carry on into the future. His voice, the stories being told in his voice, it, I don't know, to me that it's just really cool that he had such an iconic voice that it will now forever live on in future projects and stories and things like that. It's just kind of a neat concept. Like I can't imagine anyone really wanting to clone my voice for projects and everyone being able to recognize that voice and be like, oh, hey, that's Nick.

18:03 That's so cool that you we can hear his voice again. I don't know, I just think that that's kind of neat. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I'm going to go real quick back to Ashley because I saw her hand come up while you were speaking. I would just want to make sure maybe she wants to add something. I just have a little tiny gripe observation, and that's just with the script that they use. I think if you're going to do an AI script and an AI voice, try to put a little bit more effort into having the script sound more natural. Anytime I hear dialogue that says the power of or the Blake of this, I automatic like, Yep, that's an AI script. So just a little. Gripe from my part. Yeah, I hear ya.

18:45 And Alex, you wanted to comment and then we're going to go to Dr. Go ahead. Good morning. Like Ashley said, it's it's kind of a catch 22 because for many people listening to the podcast, you they know that Orson Welles or they don't. And it's kind of a way to keep whoever that person is relevant, which I think is a good thing. And of course, if there has to be consent and maybe down the road, people like James Earl Jones or other types of actors will that don't want their voice to be plastered when they're alive, that maybe they want to use it down the road for whatever reason, you know, allowing it to be used.

19:26 Just think that it's such a great thing because there's a lot of people that get lost because of history and it's going to happen to all of us like, you know, the people that our parents and whoever grew up with. And if you can keep that going along, that's a good thing. The bad thing is it doesn't help in terms of new people coming in. Again, I'm, you know, using person Wells or James Earl Jones. I mean, they have such an iconic voice, but you know, we all heard that one or two AI voices and we know that that's that AI voice and it's like, can we get something? I know I'm all over the place with this, but it's kind of a messy issue. As you were sharing, it made me think when you were talking about these iconic voices and how cool it is to be able to bring them back for a new generation to experience those voices.

20:15 Another voice that came to mind. Man, are we dating ourselves today? Vincent Price I think would be. Oh, my God, I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking of Thriller. Yeah. Oh my God, that's so funny. Yeah. So, yeah, if for those of you who don't know Vincent Price, you may know Michael Jackson's Thriller. And it's that voice toward the end of the song that's narrating the creepy scenes of whatever, whatever it was, You, you'll you know what I'm talking about. So, yeah, check it out if you don't. And OK, anyone else? DRI saw your hand up. I'm thinking that I might have been a much better student had this technology been around.

20:58 Like, for instance, Christopher Columbus. All you know the the whole story about Christopher Columbus and discovering America and all of you know, all of those kind of stories back then. If I could hear the voice, I think I would probably have been a better student because if there's just something that draws you in instead of these stories that you don't even feel connected to because, you know, they're in some random book and stuff like that. And, and people say that history, you know, has kind of changed throughout time and that's not the way it was. And but, you know, if you think about the voice, there are people that we recognize right off, like Kennedy, like Martin Luther King, like, you know, we recognize those right off the bat. And so the voice is, the voice just kind of tugs you in and pulls you into whatever the situation is. Yeah, I mean, now, obviously Christopher Columbus may be a hard 1 to replicate because I don't think there's anything like that.

22:02 His voice is not. Recorded anywhere. That's my point. That's exactly, that's my point. Those voices from all of the history stuff, there couldn't be any recordings of it. And so I sat there in my chair at school just, you know, chewing my gum and. Yeah. And there's, you know, there is some stuff, for example, I feel like there are, well, I know like Thomas Edison, there may, there's some stuff from his inventions where he was recording his own voice that you could replicate that I suppose at least maybe not yet because it depends on how poor the quality is. But I know over time that will probably improve. Alex, did you want to add something else?

22:42 Dr. actually makes a really great point. I mean, the fact that audio is so important and people learn so differently, and I think it all comes back to what Orson Welles did, which was storytelling. I think it's just kind of funny with it. We're talking about podcasting and we're all obsessed about podcasting. I'm not saying it's not important, but you know, we're just all start War of the Worlds, you know, radio, people sitting around a big box listening to whatever that person was painting the picture. And I think the bigger issue is, will radio ever be dead now? It'll never be dead because people love audio stories. People love passing that audio story to one another. And I just think that whether it's something great like those type of things or what the narratives that Dominic does to sports or what Amanda does, it's just it's it's all different types of things.

23:41 So it's pretty amazing. Hi. Hello Lucy. Good to hear her voice. I think we've talked enough about that. Let me keep things moving. The topic Janaid. Janaid in the chat. Hello, Janaid. The topic today is news. We're covering all the headlines around the world of podcasting, and I'll share a headline since Janaid asked Janaid's podcast. He just came out. His latest episode just came out yesterday and it's called Hobbies and Hacks. Correct me if I'm wrong. Janaid and he interviewed Pat Flynn, who we often talk about here. I started listening to that interview yesterday on my way to the dentist picking up my new night guard and the interview was so far fantastic.

24:27 I think I'm about halfway through it Janaid and really enjoying it. It is particularly enjoy hearing about Pat's book, his new book, lean learning and what's behind it, what's in it. It's it sounds like it's calling to me. And I also told DRA lot of what I heard discussed so far. I think this is going to be a good book for Dr. and I'll I'll just give you a little more info on that DRI think because you, like many of us and I do say us, and I mean that literally. We get all the information everywhere from everyone and we try to consume as much of it as possible. And some of this book contradicts that approach and discusses the idea of it being too much and causing a lot of us to freeze instead of taking action. And one piece of advice that he has is to pick one first and just focus on that and see it all the way through. So if it's Pat Flynn, if if somebody like Pat Flynn calls to you, go all in on what he does and the advice he gives. So if you want to start a podcast and maybe he speaks to you or maybe I speak to you or somebody, find that person that you gravitate to or that process, that system that you gravitate to and apply it, see it all the way through and then move on to the next thing.

26:01 Oh, I can't imagine why you thought of me. Dr. is like, yeah, I think she she could open a Museum of called Museum of Knowledge. And I think she has pretty much everything that's out there that we could go and explore in her museum. Janae is on stage, so let's let him speak to his podcast for a moment. Janae, good morning. Did you want to share anything more? Good morning. Thank you, Mark, for mentioning. Appreciate that. Really, it was a, it was a joyous occasion to get to interview the legend and the whole circling moment of of how I discovered his story through Gary Vaynerchuk's book flashing it in 2018 and finally dove in. And then what's funny is when I was recording the episode with him, he's like, guess where I'm going tomorrow? Like where you going?

26:58 It's like I'm going to be on a live stream with Gary Vee in New York. Like get out of here. Because Gary Vee just launched the V cards, Which actually is funny is a lot of people are trading in their Pokemons cards to get the V cards, which is really cool. It's pretty cool. So that's what it so it's something similar to Pokémon the V cards. Yes. And if you remember it, it all started with V Friends back in 2022, I believe. That was when he, he did the first V Friends V con event and it was all around NFTS. But then the characters that he had created, he had drawn all of these things himself.

27:43 They're now animated features in Disney buses and and whatnot. It's it's pretty, it's taking a life of its own. Pretty amazing. Awesome. Thanks for sharing, Janae. And by all means, please share a link to your episode with Pat Flynn that launched this week. Please put that in the chat for us and we will make sure to also put it in the show notes for anybody listening after the live. Let's keep it moving. This is a follow up on the story we covered last week. I'll start with a quote from podcaststandard.org and it's regarding adding the ability to include video content in your RSS feed. And I'll stop before I say that quote the RSS feed. In case you're a little confused what it is, I'll try to simplify, but basically it is a URLA special URL that is tied to your in our case or in this case an audio podcast. And it's really what distributes your podcast to all the different podcast platforms.

28:48 It's the central place where Apple, Spotify, YouTube, all the other platforms grab the latest episode and then put it into their library, onto their platforms. And as of now, we can only do things like audio and text, but being that video is getting so popular in this space, there's a lot of talk about how do we add video to the RSS feed and podcast, standard.org said. If we don't nail this, meaning getting video included in the feed will essentially will be essentially telling podcasters that their only real option for podcast video are YouTube and Spotify.

29:30 And again, that's because we can go and add video to those platforms, but we have to do it separately and manually in most cases. The Podcast Standards Project laid out their case for using HLS to deliver video podcasts through Open RSS. Definitely a smart move. You can get a single RSS feed for both in in this scenario in both audio and video, which simplifies everything. As I just explained, HLS supports adaptive quality so your audience gets the best experience no matter the connection. There's also the potential for analytics and lower bandwidth costs.

30:11 And for those who need it, HLS streams can still be downloadable. So these are things in the works. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe even happens within the next year that we start getting that ability to upload a video podcast and it be distributed everywhere. Kind of exciting. Also, according to Magellan AI, FanDuel topped the list of podcast advertisers in April. Google climbed its way to #13 with the biggest jump in AD spending for the month. Just a little news bite for ya. And also this summer and pay attention. Oh, Alex just left.

30:53 Too bad because I wanted Alex and his daughter Lucy. They do a podcast together and I thought this was right up Lucy's alley. The summer. This summer, 8 Top Kids podcasts are joining forces for the Summer Listening Challenge. This is a fun, screen free alternative to traditional reading programs. Kids are encouraged to listen to 16 curated episodes from shows like What If World, Stupid Kids, but that's Spelled STOOP, Stupid Kid Stories, and The 10 News's Weekly Roar. There's a downloadable tracker to follow along.

31:34 And those who compete in the challenge by August 15th get a certificate and and I should say complete the challenge by August 15th. They get a certificate and exclusive videos from the hosts of those podcasts. It sounds like it's a great way to build listening skills, imagination, and keep learning going over the summer without screens and making it, in my opinion, a little more fun. God, I remember being the kid and when there was summer reading and summer homework, it was it just felt like a kick in the gut, right? It was so annoying. So if you're interested, families can sign up at joincharacter.com/summer Dash listening.

32:19 Dr. I'm going to ask you, do you want to take one of the next stories? And if you have one queued up, go for it. If not, I'll take the next one and you can find what you want to do next. I'm going to take number six if you're following along. So nominations are open for the People's Choice Podcast Awards in just under one month. Time to register your podcast if you haven't done so already and we will put the link in the show notes. So that'll be great. And. It's podcast awards.com, podcast awards.com to register your podcast. So, you know, they all these different podcast award situations, they all have seem to have some different approaches to this. What you have to do is register your podcast now before the voting begins and it's 50 bucks to enter, which is way more affordable than a lot of these other award awards out there. So if you're interested, you just go to podcastawards.com. There's a big link in the middle of the page that says register your podcast here.

33:22 You fill out a short form, pay the 50 bucks and then voting begins July 1st. So I, I know all this because I just did this like 2 days ago. So make sure you do yours as well. If you've got the 50 bucks to spare, do you want to take another one or do you want me to keep going? All right, so the Podcasting Seriously Awards Fund has just hit a major milestone, awarding its 300th grant since launching in 2021. The initiative helps independent BIPOC, queer and trans audio creators by covering up to $200 annually for award submission fees and up to $500.00 for training in digital audio production. Recipients have used these funds to submit their work to prestigious competitions like the Ambi's Webbie and the British Podcast Awards.

34:16 The fund, operated pro bono by LWC Studios with AIR as its fiscal sponsor, recently welcomed Sequel, a Canadian creative agency, as a new partner. The collaboration aims to further support and elevate unprecedented voices in under sorry, underrepresented voices in podcasting. Applications for reimbursement are accepted year round from independent producers based in Canada, UKUS or Australia. And For more information on that podcastingseriously.com/fund. I'm going to skip for a minute because I wanted to play another clip for you.

34:59 This is one of our what I consider bigger headlines today. And if you haven't heard, long time podcaster Marc Maron bids farewell to the WTF Podcast after 16 years. This according to pod news and various news sources. I have a clip from if you follow on Instagram at Pop Culture Brain. I think that I've came across this clip and thought thought he did a really good job covering what I believe is a really big story because like I said, 16 years, there aren't a lot of us that have been doing the same podcast for that long. I cannot claim that myself, even though I've been doing this for a long time and longer than 16 years have not had one consistent podcast for the entire duration of my podcast career.

35:53 So let's listen to at Pop Culture Brain. I am shocked and kind of beside myself. This Monday morning, Marc Maron is ending his landmark podcast after 16 years, breaking the news on his show today. Maron was one of the first comedians to get into the podcasting game, starting his interview show on September 1st, 2009. Since then, he's done nearly 2000 episodes and reached 1.1 billion listens. He's spoken to giants like President Obama, Paul Cartney, Robin Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio and Lorne Michaels. Overtime, he's become an institution in the medium, and his conversations are always thoughtful, deep, and unlike any other on the interview circuit. But he announced the news on his show today, explaining that it's really come down to the fact that we're tired, we're burnt out, and we are utterly satisfied with the work we've done.

36:40 This doesn't mean I'm never going to do something like this again, but for now, we're just wrapping things up. It's OK. It's OK to end things. Marin says the show will end this fall and he hopes to get some people who who have never been on before. He then said it's OK to try some other chapter in your life. It's nice to be able to end things on our terms. We've been very fortunate to be able to do things the way we want to do them and now this is part of it, ending it the way we want to end it. As sad as I am to be losing this show, you can't blame him for being burnt out and wanting to end things on his own terms. Marin then went on to explain that because of the podcast, my life has changed dramatically. So many things happened because of setting up a mic in my garage, but this is a full hearted decision. It's the right decision for for me.

37:20 It's OK. It's OK for things to end. It's just time, folks. There you go. Thank you to at pop culture brain. And yeah, I think that sums it up really nicely. And I'm curious what people think about this. What are your thoughts on creators like Marc Maron, a real staple in the podcast industry, ending long term projects due to it sounds like burnout. Is it OK? Is there a certain number of years where when you decide it's over, that's OK? Whereas like, you know, let's say one or two years in, you decide you're burnt out and want to quit. Is there a difference? DRC, You're off, Mike. I'm sorry, I'm just getting.

38:04 Ready to to read your next story to? Stay on, Marc Mirren. Yeah. Sorry. No problem. No problem. Yeah. So I'm with pop culture Brain, I think, or at least with the story he read. I I think that's OK if it's time. And especially after 16 years, one trend that we haven't seen in podcasting very often that we do see more on TV, that I wouldn't be surprised if this maybe happens down the road. But when? What is it? The Daily maybe so with Jon Stewart, is that the name of it? The Daily can't remember. He, you know, he left for a while and was replaced, right. And that happens on other TV shows like The Tonight Show. We've seen that multiple times from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno and now of course, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien as well.

38:52 People keep well, some of these production companies keep the shows going, but replace it with another host. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing that more often here in the world of podcasting. Dr. You want to take the next one? This is oh wait, let's. Wait, hold on one second. Janae. I saw Janae come off mic. Janae, did you want to comment please? Yeah, yes. So sorry, I jumped in a little late. Really good pointing, Mark, that they bring in different hosts and, and that's mainly because those are not independent podcasts, right? Those are not independent shows. The shows that are the property of the company or of the studio that's putting the show together.

39:32 That's the way that they bring in advertisers. That's the big way that they hold the prime time, whatever time that they're holding, and they need somebody to run the show. And that's where they bring in the hosts. And if you remember Conan O'Brien, when he was doing his show, he was able to move it to a different channel because that was his own show and his own creatives and whatnot. So we will see that happen for podcast shows that are run by companies and not by people like you and I. But again, we could also formulate our shows to be managed by Co host and whatnot. Again, it all comes down to, hey, what's the mission for the podcast? What's the mission for the show?

40:16 And what type of value are you delivering because? I'm, I'm wondering, hey, how long do I want to go with my show? You know, it's been been out for six years, 7, seven years going and like how much energy do I have to continue pouring into it And I guess the summer breaks to help. Thank you. Yes, yeah. And so does having dozens and dozens of episodes recorded already. Janae, I think that helps as well for breaks and what have you. Thank you for your insights. I appreciate that. And Dr. Go ahead, take the next story. Well, this is actually the same story. It's a piggybacking off of it.

40:57 The Guardian put out something which is his top five interviews as per the Guardian. What the Guardian feels are his top five interviews, and I want to talk about this for a second. So #5 would be David Spade. And this was episode #669 in 2016 where David Spade talked about how his assistant went kind of crazy and David had to in the bathroom with a shotgun. So they talked about that. Number 4 was episode #627 in 2015 with Lynn Shelton. If you don't recognize the name, this is where they kind of met and started their relationship.

41:40 And she has, she's passed away like a couple years ago. And that might have some kind of play into why he's hanging it up as well. I'll be honest with you #3 would be an interview that he did with Louis CK and that would be two episodes, episodes 111 and 112 from 2010. And it was over 2 hours long. And this was seven years before the issues with Louis CK had come up, come about, and you said Louis CK. I thought maybe that's why, because of the whole controversy that he went through.

42:20 Yeah, this was long before it. And they talk about, for instance, Marin admitted his professional envy of stratospheric rise and Louis CK talks about being jealous and stuff like that. So that would be a real one to to tune into. Then we're going to go all the way back to episode 67 for the number 21 on the Guardians list. And that was with Robin Williams, I think. I, I think I might TuneIn just to hear this one. And Williams in which he talks about his struggles with depression, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts was released on the day of William's death in 2014. Now, if you're not familiar with Marc Mayer and how he does stuff when someone that he has interviewed before when they Passover and they pass on, he will rerun that episode for everyone to hear.

43:20 And the number one interview, I'm sure this is not, you know, something that's going to make the news, but everyone knows that Barack Obama was interviewed by Marc Maron. It was episode 613 in 2015. And I remember seeing the footage, the news footage of Barack Obama going into his backyard, Marc Maron's backyard, into this little shed that Marc Maron had set up as his studio. It was wild. So 2015 with Barack Obama, that means it was probably leading into, well, it was probably his campaign for his second term.

44:02 Yeah. And and that's, you know, that's interesting because we've talked about how this past election year, podcasting, how much podcasting was an influence on the voting. And there was Barack Obama getting an early jump on the world of podcasting. It's really interesting, right? Thank you, Dr. Appreciate that, by the way, gang. Podcast launches took a dip in May, but overall activity does seem to remain high. So this comes from podcast news-daily.com. And in May of 2025, the podcast industry experienced a decline in new show launches compared to previous months.

44:42 However, existing podcasters have been more active releasing episodes at a higher rate than in the same period last year a year. The trend suggests a shift in focus from launching new podcasts to consistently producing content for established shows. Some of the key points here. There was a note, obviously, there was a noticeable decrease. And despite fewer new shows, the total number of episodes released has risen. The data reflects A maturing industry where creators prioritize consistency over launching. And I'm curious if anybody has any thoughts why do we think that is? So how is it that we've got more podcasters now producing more consistently, but less that are actually starting a podcast? I could argue that maybe video is stopping people because they're too nervous.

45:35 The thought of them being on on film, the thought of. Them being that's one, yeah. To start a podcast and being on film, on video for the first time, I think that can be uncomfortable. And also learning how to use all the equipment. I mean, there are a bunch of you here. And by the way, hello, Stacy in the audience. We don't see Stacy as much these days. Busy woman. But Stacy's a prime example. She shares all the time in this community how she had the box of the equipment just sitting there for months because she was intimidated by that. And that was just audio equipment. And then you throw in this other factory. Expense too, the expensive video stuff. Yeah, so. I mean the expense too.

46:17 So those are three factors that could be whereas you have existing podcasters who may feel more comfortable incorporating more tech to their production and more equipment, cameras, etcetera, where they're in a more of a flow, a rhythm and that might, that might be make it easier. Janae, our studio expert. Janae, did you want to add something? Yes, it is harder to start a new podcast, especially when people are considering, you know, I've got to do video, I've got to do audio, I've got to do post production. But also makes sense that the podcasters who have launched earlier, they are continuing to be producing more episodes. And that's maybe also because we have so many more tools for post production.

47:05 There's so many AI elements also available that maybe teams are implementing cutting down that time so that they can produce even more content. I'm with you there, Janae. So to be continued. I you know, I would like to see more people out there starting podcasts. I think there's still plenty of room, but we shall see. So we that is to be continued. By the way, DRI noticed. I don't think did we do the buzz sprouts stats. I don't think we did. We did not so. I'll go ahead and just take this because I just, I think that this is important for especially for a lot of independent podcasters. Buzz Sprout, as some of you know, they put out their global statistics.

47:53 This is basically anyone and everyone who's on their platform. It gives us an idea of a lot of the averages of what's going on around the world of independent podcasters. So for example, if you want to know where you fall in the top percentile of podcast episode downloads, so this is specifically to the first seven days of that episode being available, you're in the top 50 if you have 28 downloads. So let me say that again, you're in the top 50 if your podcast averages around 28 downloads in its first week of existence. That feels crazy.

48:35 Totally doable, right? Yeah, and I'm hoping that for some people that helps them realize that they're not alone, right? They a lot of people are down on themselves or their podcast when they see a number around of around 30. But unless you're one of the big guns, this is not a bad number. And top 25111 downloads top 10 percent 453, top 5% 1054 and the top one percent 4300 and change. And this is based on all of the month of May this past year. And then as far I thought that this was interesting too and kind of goes a bit with the last story.

49:20 If this is how many episodes are published and over 30 days 2%. I'm trying to think of how to explain this better. Episodes published? OK. Episodes published every 30 days? That's 2% of the Buzz Sprout users. Episodes published every 15 to 29 days? That's 19%. The biggest #8 to 14 days. So every 8 to 14 days, 38% of all Buzz Sprout podcasters are publishing an episode. I say that because a lot of us think of podcasts as being weekly. Of course. Podcasting. Morning chat not included, but it looks like the the majority are doing it every 8 to 14 days. And then also, if you're in that three to seven day category, you're in the 34% tile and if you're doing it zero to every zero to two days, you're in the 7%. That's us.

50:19 Yeah. So you know, it looks like every three to 14 days, that's the majority of about 70% and change of podcasters, independent podcasters that are posting regularly. So there you go. And with that, we have only about 5 minutes left. So I think what we'll do is tomorrow we've got another mailbag segment to do and we will also couple that with some news. And I need your help yesterday. Was it yesterday? Yeah. It was brought up in the chat that we need a sound effect when we do the mailbag segment. Somebody suggested we do the old you've got mail from a Oli used to do that on my old show.

51:00 And I'm not opposed to doing that again now, but it does feel a little dated to me. So I want people to chime in, send me your suggestions for, you know, a sound effect, like for example with the news, when I, when I hit the news, you know, it's a little palate cleanser. It sets up what we're about to talk about. I play it usually a couple times. I want a similar sound effect for the mailbag 'cause we're going to do that a little more often. I enjoy those segments. It keeps things, gives us a lot of variety. So let me know your thoughts. Shoot me an e-mail mark@ironicmedia.com or Adm at Markronic MARCRONICK over on Instagram or LinkedIn for that matter. Would love to hear your thoughts. So we're back again tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern, doing exactly what I just told you.

51:50 And we do this every Monday through Friday at that time, live on Clubhouse, live on YouTube, and of course, available a couple hours later on your favorite podcast platform. So until tomorrow, make it a great day everybody take care.