343 - Remembering Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Substack’s $100M Leap, & Shark Tank for Indie Podcasters

0:05 Good morning podcasting, morning chat. Today is Wednesday, July 23rd, 2025 and today we're diving into podcast news from a caution on double speed listening, remembering Malcolm Jamal Warner's legacy to TV broadcasters scrambling as podcasters steal the spotlight. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse or Chatter, the share button, bottom side of the screen on Clubhouse and top of the screen on Chatter, and if you're listening to be a podcast, share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. Good morning again podcasting Morning Chat. Thank you for being here.

1:24 I am your host Mark Ronic, and currently on stage with me we have my Co hosts, Dr. Faye, Ashley Feller and I should say as I normally do, producer Ashley Feller, Amanda Sharp and over on the Chatter stage, Jonathan Howard. Thank you all for being here. This is day two of our simulcast to not only YouTube. Oh, and Nick Naulback has just joined us as well. Not only to YouTube, not only to Clubhouse, we're at Chatter as well. So this is a big week for us and a big week for me as I'm trying to wrap my ADHD brain around all these moving parts. Bear with me, but I think we're getting there.

2:06 And I thought yesterday went very smoothly overall. So thank you to all of you. If it felt a little bit off, it'll get better, I promise, I promise. So yeah, today for those of you on Chatter today, what we do is we go through hand picked headlines around the world of podcasting, social media, anything that really affects us as podcasters, AI often times a big area for us to discuss. And with that, I might as well dive right in. So I like to start this some podcast data as of yesterday, July 22nd, I like to share the number one podcasts.

2:53 So first Apple, the number one podcast who took Misty Cope. See, I believe that's a true crime podcast and that's new to the top of the chart, at least as of lately. And also number one, of course, on Spotify is the Joe Rogan Experience. And as you may know, if you are a regular, I usually this is the portion where I'll say over the last week, a certain number of podcasts have published at least one new episode. And I would get that from pod news, no secret. I've shared that before. However, they've changed it because of their recent partnership with Mopod. Mopod kind of sponsoring their podcast data section and they removed that from the list.

3:39 But thanks to Dr. we did a little investigative work and talked to James Gridland. So Dr. you found or James told you where to find this? Where do we find this? Right. He said to go to the podcast, the journal thing that he, you know, that he also does that he also owns. And I said, well, we saw that, but we also saw an April date on it. So we weren't quite sure that it was current. And he said, oh, good eye, hold on just a second. And he came back, he said, OK, it's it's up to date now. So he changed it just for us. Nice. Yeah. So everything on the rundown is current Is current, yeah. OK, All right, cool.

4:23 So what? And you want to share any of those numbers? Because I it was last minute and I didn't grab any. It reports that there are 4,608,987 podcasts in its directory, with a total of 144,090,357 podcast episodes. Wow. OK, So a total podcast of total podcasts updated in the last week are 181,213, which is up 8% from last week, which was 179,804. Total podcast updated in the last 30 days is 332,770 which is down 4.4% from last month.

5:17 OK, New episodes in the last week are 430,282 which is up 4.5% from last week and the episodes in the last 30 days is 1 mil. Let's see this is posted recently. OK, 1,984,643 which is down 4.6% on the average. Actually, dear, let me cut you off real quick just because I what I am more interested in hearing is your top fives. So I, I think we got plenty, we went, we, we got more than we bargained for by getting this new information. That's OK. And this comes from, again, this comes from podcast index.

5:58 Is that right? It comes from his, the other one that you checked that you said it's April. It was, yeah. Market, I'll put that in the show notes because we found a couple of different links. Pod News has a few different sources, but yeah, we'll put that in the show notes for sure. And by the way, if you are listening on Clubhouse Live right now, you might have said, hey, where'd Nick go? Well, Nick is now over on Chatter. And by the way, Ed, thank you for the $5 in the Rocket Chat over on Chatter. Chatter, for those of you who don't know, Chatter has a monetization feature now where anybody at any point can donate some money for what we're doing. And thank you to Ed for the $5 donation. Much appreciated.

6:43 Jonathan kicked it off yesterday with a $3 donation. Thank you, Jonathan, And yeah, very cool, Ed Thank you for being the first listener to do that for us over here on Chatter. That's awesome. All right, Dr. go ahead and give us your top fives. I've got the timpani ready. OK, Spotify, the top five number 5 is this past week with Theo von #4 is Crime junkie #3 is call her daddy #2 is Mystery Mondays and #1 it's such a shock. It is Joe Rogan experience. Amazing. Oh my God, you're kidding. Amazing. OK.

7:23 And the random chart of the week is going to be sports. So this is Apple. This is an Apple chart. And it is number 5, Fantasy Footballers Fantasy Football podcast #4 Pablo Torre finds out. Number three, The Bill Simmons podcast #2 The Dan Lombard Show with studgots and #1 pardon my take. So there's a little, there's a little explanation with each one of these. And I pardon my take.

8:03 It says the loud. I feel like I need to read it with a little New York accent. It's the loudest and most correct sports take in the history of the spoken word. Love when Dr. goes into her impressions. It's Stu got get it right. That's right. It's not, it's not, it's not still gots. It's Stu Gots. Still got that? Makes sense now. Thank you, Alex. And that that number 5 in the sports that was a fantasy football show, right? What? What was the name? It was it's it's Fantasy Footballers Dash fantasy football podcast. Yeah, Fantasy Footballers. Yep, I know that show.

8:45 And for those of you who don't know, that's how I got my start in podcasting was based on fantasy football. I'm a junkie when it comes to fantasy football, and I was 20 years ago as well. Actually even longer than that because I started it back in college. Yes, I have now somewhat revealed how old I am. No surprise. I'm turning 52 in August. But yeah, the fantasy, the fantasy, thanks. The fantasy football category was is near and dear to my heart. It's what got me into podcasting in the first place and cool to see them on the charts. And that's not a surprise either. This time of year is when fantasy football starts really ramping up and we'll we, I wouldn't be surprised if we keep an eye on that sports category as we get closer to September and then into September, we may see some more fantasy sports shows in that top five list. I think that's all we got from 4:00 Dr. as far as the top lists.

9:41 Thank you for those. Let me move on to some events around the world of podcasting. Some places you may want to consider joining over the next month or two or three. Podcast Movement, as you know, is now under a month away, coming August 18th to Dallas, TX. I've seen some empowered podcasting speakers announcing they're also speaking at Podcast Movement as well. So if you don't catch them at Podcast Movement, because let's be real for a minute, no shade on Podcast Movement, but it's quite a pricey ticket and a pricey adventure really, because not just the cost of the tickets, but the cost of the rooms and eating and all the things, it adds up quickly.

10:29 And that's one of the reasons why we started Empowered Podcasting was to create an event that you can get similar value and information and also get it in a more intimate and affordable setting. Again, no shade for Podcast Movement. I love the event. It's just it, it can be pricey. Jonathan, you and I went last year. Are you going this year? I'm not going this year, no, no. Me neither. Is anybody going to podcast movement that's here right now and you can tell us in the chat as well if you are going. I'm guessing I see Janae in the chat. I'm guessing Janae's going to Podcast Movement. What say you, Janae? Yes, he is. I knew it. OK, Let me know if you are going because I'm not like I said, not going to be there and would love to have somebody there. Maybe Janae can be a correspondent for us. Well, while he's there and come and report, share what's going on over there.

11:22 That would be pretty cool to hear. Also coming up, if you're in Indonesia, September 1st, Radio Days Asia is happening and then also the POD Summit YYC 2025. That is September 19th in Canada. And by the way, Radio Days, if I didn't say it's September 1st and Dr. you having another event you wanted to share, this is actually a recurring event. Yeah. So there is, I'm a, I'm very big on networking and if I can find a networking event that is dedicated just to podcasts, then that is that's the cherry on top of the sundae for me.

12:06 So there is a new reoccurring podcasting networking event happening. It is media Firestarter networking. It's every Monday at 5:00 PM Eastern Time, 4:00 PM Central, 2:00 PM Pacific and your network networking with only podcasters and potential guests. So and of course producers. I was there as a producer, so I do not when it comes to getting my clients on podcasts. I don't send the e-mail, the cold e-mail, you know, here's my client. I think it they'll be a great value. I go to these events and I look for podcasts where there might be a good opportunity for a guest swap or maybe something else.

12:56 But I want to meet these people. I want them to see my personality. I that's what I do. That's how I facilitate those kind of guest spots for my clients. That's how I do it. I'm gone to two of these so far and it's brand new and I would just really like to see this one really grow. So we'll put that link in the show notes. Yeah, and I shared it in the chat both on Clubhouse and on Chatter and actually doing it right now on YouTube as well. And Speaking of links, Ashley, producer Ashley, if you don't mind, will you pin the link to Chatter, our room going on right now? Will you pin that to the clubhouse room? So if anybody wants to come check that out and see me on video or you can also see me on video at YouTube. But I want to try to build the chatter community. So if you feel like it, come on over there and keep the chatter chatter.

13:47 Keep Nick and Jonathan company and Leah as well. Leah's on stage with us as well. And again, shout out to Ed and Austin for chillin in the in the audience over on Chatter. All right, let's see. Oh, and of course, I should say before we jump out of the events section here, of course, Empowered Podcasting 2 is happening September 26th through the 28th. That's our very own event that I host with the help of many others, including Jonathan Howard here on stage and Nick, for that matter, also a big help. And yeah, the event is finally coming together. I say that it's a little bit tongue in cheek. Obviously, we've been working on this for quite a while. And I was getting a bit of a panic attack earlier. Well, earlier this week, I guess that was yesterday. And it was because it's been a week since we sent out our acceptance letters to the the speakers who applied. And by Monday morning, we only heard back from half of them and we had asked to hear back from them by the end of last week. So I'm sitting here thinking, you know, now, now what? Right.

14:58 Like, are we going to get these speakers? Are we going to have an event here? What's happening? So thankfully though, by the end of the day, I think all but one are confirmed, we had a couple that ended up not being able to make it, which did open up a couple of slots. So we may be sending out some more letters here soon, but we've got some really some known names if you are in the podcast industry coming to speak that I'm really excited about. I had a great conversation on Monday with Dave Jackson, a podcast Hall of Famer, and we had a he's really excited about the event. He even made the comment that it's feeling like he wasn't there last year. But he said based on everything he's heard and he's hearing about this year, he says it's he's getting feelings of the OG pod fests, the way that those happened, a little little smaller, a little more intimate and a great environment for people to connect, network as Dr. was talking about and grow together.

16:01 So empoweredpodcasting.com, please, if you're coming, go get your tickets. It would really help me and help put my mind at ease to see these ticket sales starting to come in. Yes, we have had we've had ticket sales, people are coming and it's just I hate that the fact that you guys make me wait till the last minute like you did last year. And apparently that's a very common theme when it comes to these events. I've heard from Pod fest, I've heard from podcast movement. I am not alone here. DRI know it is kitchen time. Did you want to share this awards story, or do you want me to come back to it? I actually have another event.

16:42 Oh, there you go. Then we'll come back to it. Go ahead. So I got a text from Alex. You're getting yelled at. You're getting yelled at. I heard. I heard the misses. It's Lucy's. You know what? Actually, you can leave that in. That just made me laugh. Let's keep things going. We'll get back to Dr. and the events. Let's dig into some news stories here. And I want to start with something that maybe you wouldn't think I'd start with as far as a podcast news episode. And it's worth discussing and I'll explain why, but some for obvious reasons, but some maybe not. So as I'm sure many of you have heard, Malcolm Jamal Warner, best known for his iconic role as Theo on The Cosby Show and again, I guess I'm dating myself a bit, tragically passed away on July 20th at the age of 54, just a couple years older than me. And if you didn't hear, and you want to know why, it was a tragic accident.

17:55 He was traveling with his family in Costa Rica and got pulled over by I guess a riptide. The undercurrent pulled him in and unfortunately he didn't get out alive. So we're covering this headline today, not just because he was a major figure in pop culture and truly a good man, but also because he had recently entered the podcasting world in a really powerful way. He Co hosted a show called Not All Hood with Candace Kelly. It was a podcast that launched in 2024 focused on black mental health, culture and identity.

18:37 In what would be his final episode, released just two days before his death, Warner delivered a moving reflection on Black excellence and the resilience of Black survival. And I'll say it again, Not All Hood is the name of the podcast. If you want to check that episode out in more episodes of For that Matter. While the future of the podcast hasn't yet been publicly addressed, not all Hood remains A profound part of Warner's legacy, one that showed his continued evolution as an artist and a truth teller. And I have a clip that I want to play to honor him really. And this happens to be a video. I don't think it's the last video he publicly posted, but from what I researched, it's one of the very last that he did post.

19:31 And even if it's not really amazing words to hear, especially considering the situation. So I'm going to play it for you. It's about two minutes long, and I'll say that I edited it down a bit because I really wanted to capture the whole message and it was certainly a stream of consciousness type of video that he did. So I just wanted to tighten it up for you so that we could really get to the heart of it and hear the message in its entirety. So this is the late great Malcolm Jamal Warner in one of, I believe his last messages so. I'm I'm having a moment right now.

20:13 So it's a moment of extreme gravity. There are people showing up for me in a way that makes me a little emotional. I don't even talk about, you know, what The thing is, but people are showing up for me. And, and not that I should be surprised because these particular people would be people who would show up for me because that's just the kind of people they are. But it still doesn't negate the I don't know the the the gravity, the whatever emotions it brings up being touched in my heart and my soul and it make wants me to share be a good person, right being good to others, be of service.

21:02 Do good for other people to other people, right to other people good because one, it's actually did just part of a self-serving part of that because you know, it makes you feel good to do something good for other people. We should always keep that in mind. Like you want to feel good, but you want to feel good about something. You feel down and in the funk about something. I know it said, you know, the couple of posts to God talked about being gratitude being a set of gratitude can pull you out of that. But you know what also works a really active thing is do something for someone else. You can't help but feel good, and not that you do it for things in return, but I guess the icing, you know the extra value in that is that people will show up for you and people will show up for you when you need them to. For everyone in this world for keeping the forefront of their mind, being of service to other people, and treating other people good, this world would be such a better fucking place, right?

22:14 Rest in peace, Malcolm Jamal Warner And what beautiful words in my opinion. And I know maybe some may feel like that feels a little eerie. And I think it's a beautiful statement and I think it's words to live by. And, and I know I did some research on him as of late and I know he's a spiritual guy. I know that he's very interpersonal growth and I heard him on an interview, you know, probably a few years old, talking about that people may not know that he's someone that struggles a lot with being OK with the idea that he's enough. And that felt very relatable to me. And I think that a lot of podcasters at some point or another go through that.

22:59 Am I enough? Am I worthy of doing this podcast? Who am I to speak on these topics and try to be an authoritative figure, right? We all go through it and it puts my mind at ease that although gone way too soon, it sounds like he had found some peace for himself before he left this earth. And we're all growing and we're all learning and we can all improve over time. And it feels like he's has certainly connected with himself. And what I'd like to do is if anyone here doesn't mind sharing a moment, maybe from The Cosby Show or something about Malcolm Jamal Warner that you know, or that you remember about him.

23:46 I know one of the classic scenes that I remember from The Cosby Show. And yes, I'll let me just acknowledge. I know there is a whole thing about Bill Cosby. And this is about Malcolm Jamal Warner, who became famous because of Bill Cosby and because of that show. So we have to, we have to mention it. We have to talk about it if we're going to honor this man. And I remember there was 1 episode in particular that always stands out. And it was probably an earlier episode of The Cosby Show and it was 1 where he was talking all about he was probably like 15 years old or something. And he's telling his dad that he wants to be on his own and that he wants to, you know, afford to move out and do what he wants, be on his own.

24:31 And it was a whole scene that Bill Cosby used Monopoly money to show him just how expensive it can be to to live on your own. And it was a whole back and forth of he gives him a bunch of money and then starts little by little, taking more and more away for different expenses like living and, you know, apartment and food and girlfriend. And it was a hilarious scene. And he was the only son on that show. And he was the perfect, he played the perfect role of being the only son on The Cosby Show. So if anybody has a moment, you're welcome to share. Otherwise, rest in peace, Malcolm Jamal Warner.

25:13 Amanda, did you want to add something? Yeah, I do love that episode, but there are so many from that show that I just think they're so great from when they would do the shows for the grandparents or when Denise, like, sewed him that famous silk shirt, satin shirt that was all mismatched and didn't fit him right. But what I really, really loved, and I feel like this fit his personality as he became older was when they realized he had like a learning disability and how much the world, I feel like, opened up for him once that was discovered. And for him to go on from being a poor student to somebody who then went to college and became a teacher and started affecting students, I just thought that that was such a great storyline to put in there.

26:01 So I just think I have so many wonderful memories of him acting as Theo and I just, I when I heard the news that he passed, it was shocking. So we never know what our last day is. We're never guaranteed a tomorrow. So make today count. Agreed and thank you for bringing up that episode with the learning disability. Totally forgot about that episode. And now I looking back, I remember how much I connected with that and at the time, I don't even know if I had gone to try to get a diagnosis, if to see if I had a learning disability. I did get I did go through that process at some point in my life or in high school and got the wrong diagnosis.

26:46 However, I just remember connecting so much with that and almost hoping when I saw that episode that you know what maybe that that's me like maybe I've got something going on. It very well may have opened that door the more I think about it to wanting to get tested and unfortunately not getting an ADHD diagnosis at the time and had to wait till I was 30 something to get that diagnosis. But yes thank you for bringing that up. I might even go back and try to find that episode on YouTube just to reconnect with it. I still see the red pepper up Amanda. Is that just because my club deck hasn't updated?

27:27 I think so, but I know Dr. did a pepper as well so it should be from her. OK. And for those of those of you who are wondering what a pepper what we're talking about, that's how we mark that. Hey, we want to say something over on Clubhouse, it's the emoji we use. Go ahead, DRI. Was just about to say that for all intense purposes, appearances showed that he did not fall into that stereotypical thing that we see when it comes to child actors, where they go through, you know, a lot of hard times, substance abuse and everything, and then maybe even perish soon because of that.

28:07 It felt as though he escaped all of that mishegash and, you know, sort of led his own life, that that's what it felt like. Now what it was in real life, I'm not sure, but he didn't make those headlines that other child star actors had have done. Yeah, yeah. And I don't know. I mean, I know I've, I heard a couple interviews researching him and it sounds like just like everyone else, he has certainly had some trouble, oh, growing up through through life. But you're right. I mean, he certainly at the very least escaped those headlines if he did have some big things going on in his life and what for where he was most recently, it certainly seems like he got his act together and and really became such an impactful, strong man both to his family, his community and beyond. So, yeah, again, rest in peace, Malcolm Jamal Warner. Really it is.

29:10 I agree, Amanda, really shocking to say the least. Dr. Did you want to share about the that awards story? Oh yeah, sure. So now there is a comic festival that happens every year with the exception of last year. It's called Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, and they give out awards, you know, besides all the different events happening during the couple of days of the festival. So comedians Tig Notaro, Fortune, Theme Stir and May Martin, who launched their podcast Handsome in 2023, will receive the Podcast of the Year trophy at the Just For Last festival in Montreal. Yay for them.

29:54 Yay. And OK, fun fact that Dr. knows but I haven't shared with anyone else, here's the crazy part. This podcast, Handsome Fortune and it's Femster. Is that right or I never can? I before E except after see the 2000 together the 1st. Time I always pronounce her last name wrong all right well she is a comedian I'm sure many of you know if you look her up you'll know who she is and here's the crazy part I could have been the producer of that show no lie. I actually had a conversation with her about her podcast and producing it my my friend Lowell, who's also my Co host of my former show the Mark and Lowell show.

30:41 His sister is a celebrity makeup artist look her up Jamie makeup she's blowing up on social media has been for a long time now especially on Instagram. Her client was Fortune and they became friends and I used to produce Jamie's podcast as well. And Jamie connected the two of us, me and Fortune, and we had a good a long talk about her podcast. And she ended up at the time when we talked about it, she ended up not moving forward at all with it. But then I think several months later, maybe about a year later from when I spoke to her, she ended up starting the podcast and unfortunately not with me, but so be it.

31:23 It's just crazy to think that I could have been the the producer of that podcast of the year podcast. One of these days, I'll be the producer of of that show. Maybe it'll be this show. We shall see. All right, let's dive into some more news. The line. Let's do this sub Stack just landed $100 million in funding and they're not playing small anymore. What started as a home for newsletters is now making real moves in the podcast space. Thousands of shows are already hosted there, and this new round of funding, it's all about leveling up the different tools they have, expanding the reach, and giving creators even more control. So here's what makes Sub Stack stand out. We know that they have the free hosting. Some of you may not know they have wide distribution through RSS feeds.

32:26 That's the way that we get our audio podcasts distributed and the ability to offer both free and paid content. They take 10% of that money that you earn, plus the usual fees, and the rest is yours. Total creative control. And they're taking, they're talking about advertising next because creators are looking beyond subscriptions for ways to monetize. Sub Stack says they're all in on making the app experience stronger and actually enjoyable. Not bloated, not overwhelming, just useful. And the bottom line is, is Sub Stacks not just a writing platform anymore? If you haven't figured it out yet, and I know we've talked about it before, but I don't see a lot of people from this community taking full advantage of it. So I want to make sure you go and check that out if that sounds like something of interest to you. And we've got a couple people on stage over on Chatter as well. It's Adrian and Amanda Yoa who a lot of you on in our clubhouse community know very well.

33:31 Welcome to both of you. I'll take a a pause here real quick just to check in because I want to make it very clear and I know Amanda Yohen knows this. We're happy to take any questions, podcasting, social media, anything related to podcasting. We're happy to take any of your questions. At any point in the conversation, you can interrupt us and our flow to come up and ask your question because ultimately that's what this community is about. It's about serving in an empowering one another. So with that, Adrian, good morning, welcome to the stage. Are you here to participate? Just listen. Go for it. Oh, good morning, good morning. I actually list of all of that all of the above nice along with am I able to share something that that we have a new program for podcasters.

34:22 Sure. Well, it's called Pod to Book and it is literally, it's literally you put your RSS feed into pod to book dot AI and you put your RSS feed you pick out. 15. Episodes and it will convert into an amazing book. I have a $50 off coupon so it'll come out to be $199 for an amazing book and I I've already done it. Leah, is it OK to mention that? Of course. So Leah is actually the first chapter talking about chatter and did you have a chance to look at the chapter or graze at it?

35:05 It's amazing. Yeah, it really is amazing. It makes me look much more fabulous than I am, I'll just say that. Not possible. So. Be sure it's possible. Really cool and we're getting a lot of great feedback. There's was one other company that was trying to do it, but they had a waiting list for a long time. Sheila Slick, the founder and a good friend of mine, she spent about 600 hours putting this together. What she had to do is really crazy, but it is now available and I just want to share for that because taking your podcast and bringing it to another, to a book with your guests is a whole nother level. Then you could create masterminds and there's so many other things that you could do.

35:45 So just think I didn't want to, I feel bad, but I do want to share it because this is really a gift to podcasters everywhere that you could do your book now. So thank you for letting me share. Amanda, yoa, good morning. Welcome. Glad to have you here. Now that we're on chatter, does that mean we might see you more often? And Amanda is so kind with the Rocket chat giving a donation as well. Thank you. That's so sweet of you. You didn't need to do that. Good. Morning. I just I love it. I'm so happy to see you on chatter. Yes, you will see more of my face. Awesome. I love this. I'm so happy. We are so happy you're here. And hey, I mean, Amanda, if you're, if you're interested anytime, if you want to be a regular moderator over here on chatter, I would love for you to be more involved in this.

36:35 So you are welcome to and no pressure. You don't have to answer now, but I but you are more than welcome. OK, you, you gave me the check mark. I'm going to make you a moderator right now. Make a commit right now. Put her right on the spot. That's what I think. That's yeah, done. But yeah. We also see more of Pam over here too. Yes you do. Pam was actually out and about last night on these chatter streets, believe it or not. Yes, for those who don't know, Pam is what, how do I put it? Amanda, the alter ego, your alter ego. Yes, Pam is a character that I play if you follow me on Instagram. She's a a Philly mom character that I play for my comedy sketches.

37:18 I always my scroll always stops when I see Amanda yoa in the wig. Sorry. When I see Pam, my scroll always stops. I got to see and I don't know. Maybe it's because I have a love hate relationship for Philly. Amanda, even though I love you dearly, I I have a love hate for Philly being a Washington Commanders fan and Pam cracks me up. All right, let's keep things moving. We got other headlines to do, so I'm going to go to you Dr. with our story on speed listening. That's that's item number 5 on our list. Got it. OK, so confirmed by science. Watching podcasts or online classes at twice the speed can harm your mental performance and cause cognitive overload. In a world jammed with content and no time to actually sit with it, speed has become the go to.

38:17 Podcast, lectures, YouTube. Everyone's hitting play at 1.52 times, even 2.5. The ideal more in more is faster, but the trade off you might not be retaining as much. A new meta analysis across 24 studies says that flat out, the faster you go, the more comprehension drops. At 1.5, the dips, the dip is minor. At 2.5, test scores can drop up to 17 points. Now sure, younger brains 18 to 36 tend to handle it better, working memory helps and stuff like that.

39:00 But even they hit a ceiling. And once you hit it, all that extra info, it just doesn't stick. So if you're blazing through podcasts thinking that you're saving time, maybe pause a second, the contents not going anywhere, but your brain might need you to slow it down if you actually want to remember any of it. This is kind of hitting close to home for me. We've talked about it. It's been a little bit. We've talked about speeds and what speed we listen or watch podcasts. What? What do you? What's your usual DRI forget? Well, up until about two or three months ago, I was just at the normal speed. I didn't, you know, speed it up.

39:46 But in the past two months, I've gone to one point to 1.5 OK. And you know, it just takes a second to, to get used to, right? The to get used to it. But now with this this story, it is. It's making me stop and think a little bit. I want to know what it's what's everyone's preferred speeds. I want to remember this How? How are you? How fast are you listening? I see Producer Ashley says she listens to almost everything in two times speed Janae. Janae says one time. Amanda Yoa, how about you? 1.5 for me. OK, Do you feel like you're remembering everything when you're listening at 1.5?

40:31 Honestly, yeah. And I don't know if I attributes to my ADHD, but honestly if I leave sometimes if I'm listening to something and it's slow, the person speaking is slow, I will zone out and not remember a thing they said. Versus if I speed it up and that person, you know, it's just for me. It just works better that way. All right, there you go. There's for Amanda. And yeah, I get it. I really. Another question I have is why? Why do we feel the need to have to listen so fast? Right. What is it about that? Go ahead, dear. For me, it's like I have a lot of things on my playlist that I have to get through, and there's just so many hours in the day.

41:15 I mean, I usually listen. I don't sit and listen. I listen while I'm washing dishes. I listen while I'm in the bath, quite frankly, in the shower. I listen, you know, I'm, I'm there's, I'm doing stuff while I'm listening. And there's just so much stuff to do. You know, there's sometimes you run out of stuff to do and, and that makes me turn off the podcast. So yeah. By the way, there was one of your filler words you just said, so trust me, I could be called out all morning long. And thank you for not calling me out all morning long. Let's see, we have. So Janae said he listens at one time speed. Yvonne, same thing.

41:59 She doesn't ever speed it up. Renee says 1.25, Austin's at 1.5 and I will occasionally. It depends why or why I'm going to hit that button to speed it up right For me, if sometimes if it's something short and it's informational, it's helping me maybe solve some kind of issue with my computer or something like that, I might put it on fast speed to just get to the meat of it quickly. But then I'll have to end up putting it on regular speed because I really want to follow the steps. I can't follow all the steps if it's going too fast. And then podcasts like if I'm in the car driving normally it's going to be regular speed for me. But but if if I notice they're just talking too too slow of a pace for me while I'm driving, I might speed it up to like 1.25. But otherwise I think I tend to also be regular speed for the most part.

42:54 So now the talk that we have done, that we have just done, is all about audio. I would be interested in knowing if anyone speeds up the video. Yeah, I know. I kind of feel like I'll do it with video the same way with audio. Sometimes I speed it up depending on what the situation is. I see Jonathan wants to chime in as well, and I think Amanda Yoa also wants to chime in. Go ahead, Jonathan. So I will quickly say I listened to it at 1:00 because if I'm doing something like DRS doing, I start moving at that faster speed and I usually start dropping things like plates while I'm doing dishes and stuff like that. It's not a good, it's not good for me.

43:36 So one. All right, Jonathan knows the danger of going speeding it up too quickly. All right, let's go to back to Amanda. Yoa, go ahead, Amanda. Yeah, I was just curious if there was any, any studies or anything out there regarding why people listen at a faster rate and if it is because of the length, You know, I know we've talked about that before, how long to make your podcast episodes. So if like majority of people are speeding it up just to fit it into their daily schedule, because you know, your episodes 50 minutes long versus if they speed it up, it could cut, you know, cut some time off. That's something to think about going forward, you know. Yeah, I'd love to see that.

44:19 I don't think this study went into that detail, did it, Dr. Did you see? I did not see that. But the other thing that that is more constant to me is that every time now that I turn my podcasts on with the platform that I'm on, it doesn't reset. It keeps the speed from what I listened to the last time. So if it if it was 1.2, that's where the next one is going to be, no matter when I turn it on. So it's maybe it's just a lazy thing where I don't go in and I change it back to one. Maybe that has something to do with me too. Yeah, that could be. And I want to just make sure. Did anybody else on stage want to add anything to this before I keep it going?

45:03 I know Ashley wanted to say something, as did I saw. There you go. Thank you, Amanda. Thanks for and by the way, yeah, thank you to my team on Clubhouse, keeping an eye on that because my eyes are bouncing between three different platforms. So this is really helpful. Thanks for keeping an eye on things. Go ahead, producer Ashley. I definitely listen at least 1.5 and even up to two times speed on audio and video depending on the show. And I think it's because I might have editor's brain. I think the way that some people edit, they don't reduce the gaps as well as others. So I think by putting it up to 1.5 in a way sort of fixes it, and I think that's why I do.

45:44 OK, makes sense. And Amanda Sharp, what do you got for us? Well, this is such a timely conversation because just yesterday I started listening to some audio fiction books again and I had it at a faster speed. And for that I said, you know what, I need to reset it down to 1 because if I'm reading fiction or listening rather, I'm going to be losing some of the skill of storytelling if I have it too fast. And I'm kind of in the depths of writing and doing some fictional stories. And I said I need to train my brain to, to think again as like a storyteller. So I, I took it back to one where typically if I was consuming content, I, it was just at like a 1.5, which is totally not that crazy where some people are like above 2. And I'm like, how?

46:27 But I just thought I needed to train my brain again to have that slower, thoughtful, regular pace listening experience to just kind of reset my brain a little bit. So what a great conversation, so timely. Yeah. And that's that's exactly, I think what this study is saying is that it's hard retention drops when the speed goes up. Janae, go for it. Good morning. Welcome to the stage. Good morning, guys. Great question and great study. So the study is focusing on podcasting, I'm guessing. Well, it's really just focusing on consumption of content and and how fast you're you're running that speed.

47:09 Got it. So somebody asked if they there was a study done about what are the benefits for listening or why are people actually doing so. In 2000 and 2022, January Applied Cognitive Psychology volume 36, they did a study and they asked students and this is focusing on lecture, watching lecture at double the video speed and it's actually doesn't there's an article associated as well. It's actually has minimal cost to comprehension because when you're listening to lectures, people are, you know, the the lecturers are actually speaking slower and podcasting. So when we're watching lectures AT2X or even 3X speed, this was an MIT challenge.

47:58 People often scoffed that it doesn't work. But after the study came out and said people are actually OK doing that, Yeah. So I was like, OK, there is some research done so I'll share the link to the journal. Yeah, please do put that in the chat on Clubhouse here and producer Ashley, I'll grab it and put it in the show notes. Thank you, Janae. Look at that. We we ask if there's a certain kind of study out there and then somebody delivers. That's awesome. Thank you. Awesome, loving this community and how everyone contributes. So let's keep it going. We've got probably time for one or two more stories. And actually, I think what I want to do Dr. is I'm going to go to this story about well, this Shark Tank story, and since it's a Shark Tank story, got to play the Stinger that everyone if you watch that show, you know, somebody's walking through the doors at that point. So this title here, this headline Shark Tank for podcasts, indie podcasters pitch for growth, and I'm going to butcher this gentleman's name, the writer of this particular article, Frank, What do you think DRI know? I don't know why I'm asking you you. Resto race looks like a pasta dress. I don't know.

49:21 Yeah, right, RACIOPPI. This way at least we'll get the correct. Name. Yeah, OK, sure. Frank is a podcast industry junkie. He proposes that a Shark Tank style show where independent podcasters pitch their shows to a panel of podcast savvy backers. Every episode would feature, and again, this is all theoretical. Every episode features 4 creators presenting their format, audience content, goals, and monetization plan. The panel would dive into each pitch, asking tough questions, offering mentorship and potentially writing real checks.

50:04 It's a hybrid of performance, tough love and strategic insights meant to propel an independent podcaster to the next level in reach and revenue. I'm curious, what do we think about that? If would you, would you do something like that? I know I would love to do that. Whether I could be one of the sharks or one of the contestants, I would love to do that. And I'm curious if anybody would play along. If you had two minutes to pitch your panel and we don't have to, we're not going to keep a clock on you to pitch to a panel, what would your tagline and hook be? What would you or let me make it even more simple, what would you, what would you try to pitch to to get a deal with a shark? Is anyone willing to play along?

50:52 I'm looking here on How about you, Dr. Are you willing to play along? You have a million podcasts that haven't gone gone live yet, so you you could get a shark to maybe back one of those. OK, let me pitch my very first one then. OK, my very first one is all about boomers. It's called boomers. There you go Boomers side hustle lounge and it's all about the different unique jobs that boomers could have in their retirement just to make a little side money. So for instance, how about a professional cuddler? How about ever see ever go on Namecheap to get your URL and and you think, oh, this is the best thing and all of a sudden you see it's been taken, but you can get it if you pay $5000.

51:41 Well, I interviewed those people that get $5000. How about like, do you look like someone has ever, anyone ever said to you, hey, you look just like and they named some big celebrity. You can make money doing that. I would be curious. I would be an interested shark. I'd probably have a few more questions. I'm laughing because Janae just wrote Professional Cuddler. That's right. And she did it on Zoom. Wait, what? Now that's interesting. But I guess I guess, you know, if, if there's a if there's room for that kind of stuff in the sexual arena, I guess hugging could qualify as a virtual thing too.

52:23 Who knows? Austin says economy of words and purpose of context surely impacted. OK, so I thought he was talking pitching for a second. Sorry. Austin was answering somebody else. And Ashley says in the chat, how do you cuddle on Zoom? I agree, Ashley, I'm not quite sure how that works. It was an amazing conversation. I got to interview a Robin Williams look alike and throughout the interview I really reached that realm of weirdness where I thought I am talking to Robin Williams. It was wild. It was wild. That's cool. And I see there's a guy on TikTok. I wonder if it's the same guy that you interviewed because he's comes sometimes pops up in my feed and he's a Robin Williams in.

53:07 Person is David. OK, I'll look next time he pops up and all right, Jonathan, I'm going to come. Me, you and I are going to do a little bit of social media news to wrap us up. And I have to 1st go to you Jonathan to ask, did I just see you cuddling your iPad? I was cuddling my iPad because, well, how do you puddle on Zoom? Oh, wow. OK. So Jonathan, why don't you first kick us off with, I know you had something about Instagram trials, that newer feature and then I want to piggyback off of that. All right, yes, Instagram trial Reels are now available for more creators. If you are someone like me that has been hoping to get into trial Reels because they actually work, then you might be lucky.

53:55 I wasn't lucky, but they are rolling it out to more creators and allowing them to actually create more trial reels. If you're unfamiliar with trial reels, what it does is it creates A reel that doesn't go to your audience, it goes to new people. That's a huge benefit when you're creating your reels. So yeah, I'll throw it back to you, Mark. We got some new people that are hopefully going to have that and I'm not one of them still, but. Yeah, I am lucky enough to be one of them. And I've had a hard time figuring out really how I want to use them because, well, for one, you know, I put some love into the content I make. And it's hard for me to put out content that I know is only going to a limited number of people. And if it doesn't do well, you know, the advantage is it kind of helps you decide or helps you decide whether or not you want to put it out there to the world, right? Because if it doesn't do well in the trials, that's a good indication it may not do well publicly when you put it out there.

54:56 So that's an advantage, but not enough for me to move the needle until I saw this cryptic post. And I know this was intentionally cryptic, a cryptic post from social media expert Brock Johnson. So I'm sure many of you have come across Brock Johnson if you don't follow Brock already and it sparked some serious curiosity for me. So I did a little digging and he had revealed in this post that well again, cryptic but I figured it out what he was saying that creators can use trial reels along with DM automation tools like say many Chat or our friend Jeff Dwoskin who joins us every so often. He runs Stampede Social works in a similar way, using those tools to post up to 20 ad style reels per day without spamming your entire audience.

55:54 OK, so think of this almost like a way to do some free advertising to new people outside of those who follow you on Instagram. Each of those reels becomes like a mini lead generation machine. It'll automatically send links, offers or free downloads to anyone who comments on these quote UN quote trial reels. So you could make more. I don't want to say you want to make them in the style of an ad, but you can treat them as ads without spamming your entire audience. I love this idea. Jonathan, did you want to chime in? I want to give another option for people who are doing this potentially, if you have reels that performed incredibly well, those reels show to your audience, you can take that same exact reel, repost it as a trial reel.

56:48 You know, it's got a history of doing well and that's going to go to a new audience, people that didn't already see it. So you can gain new followers, gain, you know, some traction on that particular reel. It's going to be posted as a separate reel on your feed in the trial section, but it's going to get you new followers, so that's another great way to do it. I love that idea too, Jonathan. I've just got now I'm like, I'm now I'm excited about trial reels again because I think that was, that has been its biggest problem is really how can we use it to our advantage. And I think those are two really great ways, especially your I really like yours because it takes very little effort. You've already made that content. You know that that content has done well.

57:31 So you just take that again and repost it as a new thing only to new people who haven't seen your stuff before, at least may not have seen that particular one before. So that's a great suggestion. Thank you, Jonathan. Appreciate that. You're welcome. And I got to run. OK, go for it. Janae, did you have something before we wrap up? Yes, absolutely. Brock is amazing. He, he talks to so many cool things about Insta. And I was just going to mention the same thing in the use ads for trial and what Jonathan mentioned about using your top performing reels as trial, Gary Vees talks about using your performing reels as ads because it's already, it's already done the work for you. So why experiment on you step in when it's already working? So yeah.

58:24 Yep, love it. Thank you, Janae. And with that gang, we have hit the 8 O clock hour. So we're going to wrap things up, but don't worry, we're back tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern, live on Clubhouse, live on Chatter, live on YouTube. So if you have a question about your podcasting journey, something going on in your world that you'd like some experienced podcasters, content creators to help you through, we're happy to answer it. So bring it tomorrow or any day over the summer, Tuesday through Friday, 7:00 AM Eastern Time. We are here to serve, to empower, and would love to have you be a part of the conversation. So until tomorrow, make it a great day everybody take care.