podcast Archives ⋆ John Harrer

More Time To Write

Now that I’ve slowed down the podcast production, I hope to have more time to write. Yeah, I know. That’s what all writers say. Whether more writing occurs remains to be seen. But, I will have more “time” to write.

I had set a goal to produce one podcast a week, every week in 2017. That may not sound like much. Producing a 40-minute show is me. One guy. One guy setting up the interviews, doing the research, recording the conversations, editing the conversations and publishing them. Then, there was the social media, the website, and a bunch of little things to produce and maintain. I did it every week for over a year.

My hope was to build a listener-ship and generate some ad revenue. It didn’t happen. It takes a minimum of 20,00 downloads a month to even think about ad revenue. While we came close a couple of months, we simply could not get over the hump. I could list off a litany of reasons why we didn’t draw more listeners, but after five years of production, it comes down to one thing – compelling content. Well, I should say, lack of compelling content. And, that could be because I cast my net too wide. We talked about all aspects of horse ownership. Our topic list was broad, everything from Mustangs to working equitation. The things I wanted to know more about were the things I knew little about. Yes, I used the show for my own education.

For the most part, podcasting was fun. The difficulty in finding guests, guests that could talk, and guests that would draw listeners was a challenge. Many of my guests came on the show as a favor. Some had something to promote, but most left the promotion to me.

A Unique Niche

Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m going to make an observation about horse owners. I’ve observed it in other pet owners, too. Here it is: they enjoy talking about their horse more than listening to others talking about their horses. So, a show where other people come on and talk about their horses loses some appeal. I could have remedied this somehow, but I could not figure it out.

To top it off, the horse world almost takes pride in avoiding technology. It takes jumping a few hurdles to get a podcast. (It’s easier now than it was when we began in 2012, but it is still a challenge.) This will change as a new generation of horses owners grow up with the technology. I don’t have time to wait.

Networking

Besides my inexperience as an “on-air” talent, I lack networking skills. None of my horse friends wanted to join me on the podcast. I thought it was enough to be able to rub elbows with talented trainers and horsemen, travel, and explore the horse industry. Thinking back, perhaps it would have been better to have “revenue generation” as a goal too. When I talked to friends about joining the podcast, their first question was, “Is there any money in it?”

In their defense, their horse knowledge was already way above mine, so their need to learn was not nearly the motivator as it was for me.

Still, I need to get better at networking.

It’s Not the End

By announcing the end of weekly production I have more free time to write. I can still produce shows and call myself a podcaster.

I’m working on one right now. I’m taking a different approach. More editing is involved, but my hope is to have a better product. One with more compelling content. It’s probably too late to get more listeners, but I’ll have more fun.

Now to Write

What to write about? I’ve tried my hand at fiction. Making stuff up that’s believable is even more difficult than podcasting. I may give it a try again. For now, I think I’ll attempt at putting down my thoughts about health and living. I owned and operated a health food store for thirty years. That’s where I have my 10,000 hours as Malcolm Gladwell would say.

Look for it in the coming weeks. If you have a question, leave it in the comments section. I could use it for inspiration. I may need it.

Negotiating Traffic in the Urban Jungle

I hate traffic. (Who doesn’t right?) And, my sense of direction is lousy. Growing up in the 60’s in a family of seven we owned the now extinct “station wagon”. If you’re old enough you will remember the three sets of seats. The front seat of course for Mom, Dad, and the baby. The middle seat for older sister and brother, and the rear facing back seat for my brother and I. It’s difficult to develop a good sense of direction when you spend the majority of your time looking at where you’ve been instead of where you are going.

Recently, we had the opportunity to travel south to Irvine for a media event I was covering for my Whoa Podcast. It is a circus of sorts called Odysseo by Cavalia. A show that might be described as Cirque de Soleil with horses.

The event was scheduled to start at 10:45 and, according to the Waze navigation app on my phone, traveling time was 2 1/2 hours. My wife, Ranae was joining me. After a little discussion, we added another 40 minutes for traffic just to be safe.

With the Waze app on we took off. The app will notify us of police on the road or traffic hazards and will give us turn-by-turn directions. So, we essentially sat back, pushed play on a Chris Hardwick Podcast, and enjoyed the early morning drive.

Coming off the Grapevine on the Los Angeles side the phone woke up and Waze announced there was a “major accident” on our route and gave us an alternative way to go. We weren’t familiar with the venue location of Odysseo, but we allowed Waze to change our course and steer away from the accident. About a half hour later we had no clue where we were. Waze still had us arriving on time (Oh yes, it gives you your expected arrival time), so we just blindly followed along with her instructions.

As we drove along I thought about Ranae’s uncle, Tom. I wondered what he would have thought of all this. Tom would come visit us and the first 30 minutes following his arrival was a recap of the route he took. “Well, had to take the 710 to the 170 because we left a little later than we wanted and we were smack dab in the middle of rush hour,” Tom would say. “We shot over to the 134, hit the 210, and got on the 5.” Tom new all the freeways like the back of his hand.

“On the way home, we’ll need to stay on 5 to the 2, take the 10 to the 605, then back to the 5 to get around the Dodger game at Chavez Ravine.” He knew where the major factories, ball parks, amusement parks, and bottlenecks were all located.

At exactly 10:47 we pulled up to the entrance of Odyesseo. You can’t miss their big top. Our little phone app had gotten us there pretty much as she promised. Not nearly as much fun as Tom. Tom was a genius about traffic. Come to think about it, I wonder if they fashioned the Waze app after him.