Colin Marshall

Anthony asks about all this 10,000-subscriber fuss

Anthony comments on my push for 10,000 Marketplace of Ideas subscribers or bust:

Why do you need 10,000 subscribers to continue it? I realize you want to spread ideas, and that's not a bad thing, but you seem so intent on ending it without reaching a larger subscriber base.

Do you need that many people to justify its existence? Is this a self-imposed decision or was it forced upon you? I understand you're probably a freelance journalist and are busy and broke, but if you enjoy it, and your listeners enjoy it, there's no reason to push the boundaries of that relationship. If it becomes a burden then you can scale it back or pander for donations, or even end it. But begging for subscribers has always gotten on my nerves, regardless of the cause.

The only justification I can see for this is that in order to get more high-profile guests, you need an established reputation, and for a podcast, subscriber statistics are the best way to show that.

Strongly encouraging listeners to "recommend" and "share" turns me away. Nevertheless, I wish you success. I just hope you can attain it without succumbing to tired tactics that I've seen too often.

The long and short of it: because I expected to reach 10,000 subscribers years ago. At the current rate of growth, I'll die of liver spots before I can make a sustainable career out of this.

Interestingly, I haven’t had trouble getting guests of any profile; nobody’s even come close to asking for listenership figures. But while I seem able to invite any guest I want, there remain a few things I can’t do, the most urgent priority of which is to make the show without having to burn a huge chunk of my day on a job that has nothing to do with anything. To achieve that state, I reckon I’ll need at least the following:

• A five-figure podcast audience (because I keep hearing the refrain, “Don’t even try professionalizing any podcast with an audience smaller than five figures”)
• Some sort of major-city terrestrial broadcast presence (because, at its heart, I don’t see The Marketplace of Ideas as a fully “pull” medium type of show)
• Not necessarily a rapid rate of audience growth, but at least a constant rate of audience growth (as opposed to an oscillation between audience growth and decay)
• Listening enforced by law in at least 51 percent of Anglophone territories

Much soul-searching tells me that, content-wise, I have already done enough to achieve this, so the sticking point must lay elsewhere. (As Principal Skinner once said, “No, it’s the children who are wrong.”) I choose to heed the golden words of wisdom Conan O’Brien uttered during his interview on WTF (a podcast that, coincidentally, recently hit it big on public radio): “Get into situations where you don't have a choice. I believe that's the definition of accomplishing things in this life.” Hence the decision to rip myself off of whatever teat now holds me back and move to L.A., with nothing lined up, in exactly two months.

I’ve heard the question before, in various forms: “Why can’t The Marketplace of Ideas continue as a hobby?” Because nothing can. Maybe my own personal psychological weirdness causes this, but, broadcasting, filmmaking, or writing, I can’t keep any pursuit rolling viably as a hobby. But nor can I convert them into “jobs,” traditionally defined and separate from “life.” There comes a point when they must integrate with my existence itself or begone — and the clock’s ticking.

50 ready-made media angles on The Marketplace of Ideas

I know for a fact some of you readers and listeners wield awesome media power. I also suspect you, like me, have a strong interest in bringing more in-depth, long-form cultural conversation to and hearing more in-depth, long-form cultural conversation on the radio. So why not use that awesome media power to promote The Marketplace of Ideas, thus bringing us all one step closer to a much more interesting world to listen to?

For your convenience, I have come up with 50 ready-made headlines, each with its own “angle” for use in your publication, program, pamphlet, blog, or screed. Should you choose to use one, I will make myself available to provide all necessary quotes, sound bites, photo appearances, etc.

1. 26-Year-Old Public Radio Interviewer “Throws Down the Gauntlet” To All Public Radio Interviewers Over 26
2. In Wasteland Of Radio, Actual Interestingness (NYT edition)
3. Southern California Public Radio Personality Interviews 150 Luminaries At Length, All Without Ever Owning Garbage Disposal
4. Area Public Radio Broadcaster “Mad As Hell” And “Not Going To Take It Anymore”
5. Young Achievers: Colin Marshall, Microphone-Talker
6. A Rising Public Radio Star’s Quixotic Mission To Perceptibly Rise To Public Radio’s Equivalent Of Stardom
7. Host-Producer of “Most Fascinating Show on Radio” Eats Peanut Butter Sandwiches Every Single Day
8. A Newish Thing For Radio: Actual Conversation
9. Delusional Young Man Makes Content
10. Devil-May-Care Radio Interviewer Does Not Edit Out 80 Percent Of Conversations
11. He Does Radio And Office Nihilism
12. Public Radio Maverick Produces Program On “Non-Insane” Budget
13. Santa Barbara Man Has Nonsensically Interviewed Michael Silverblatt, Tyler Cowen, Momus, Steve Wozniak, And Charles Murray All On One Show
14. “He Seemed To Have Read My Book,” Claim Shocked Authors Interviewed By Marginal Public Radio Personality
15. Local Man Regularly Speaks To Own Heroes at Length, Cannot Afford Hamster
16. “Why Is This My Life,” Says Radio Host, 26
17. Marketplace of Ideas Broadcaster Declares Fatwa On Four-Minute “Nothing” Interviews
18. In Act Of Raw Impudence, Radio Interviewer Publicly Desires Career
19. “I Bring Up Abbas Kiarostami Almost Every Week”: An Interviewer On The Rise Talks Techniques
20. A Man, A Plan, An Ear Canal: The Marketplace of Ideas
21. “Be About Something”: A Fledgling Show’s Controversial Manifesto
22. Young Host Pledges To Create Richest Richest Interview Program in Existence — But Can He Do it Without Temping?
23. Starkly Experimental Radio Program Discusses Only “Interesting” Books, Films, Music
24. Public Radio Meany Refused to Promote Ephemeral Trend Piece-Turned-Book, Claims Aggrieved Publicist
25. The Marketplace Of Ideas’ Battle To Become A Known Entity: Impossible Or Highly Improbable?
26. Point: Radio Needs More Thoughtful Long-Form Conversations; Counterpoint: Isn’t A Stream Of Jittery Nonsense Enough?
27. Santa Barbara Public Radio Interviewer Attains Positive Net Worth (purely speculative)
28. Discovering Own Unemployability, California Radio Personality Left Only One Choice: Creating Worthwhile Things
29. Meet Colin Marshall: Public Radio Host By Night, Nihilistic, Motionless Desk-Sitter By Day
30. Versatile Radio Host-Producer Interviews Authors, Musicians, Filmmakers, Bloggers, Scholars — Pretty Much Everyone Except Entrepreneurs, Who Keep Being Dicks About Scheduling
31. Scandalous Radio Program Discusses People and Things You Haven’t Heard of Yet
32. “Kept to Himself, Mostly,” Say Neighbors of Apocalyptically Frustrated Public Radio Gunman
33. “Intellectually Engaged” Public Radio Interviewer Holds “Question Sheet Bonfire” in Town Square
34. Santa Barbara Program Contains Fewer Than 15 Resets Per Hour; “Insane,” Says Mainstream Public Radio Representative
35. Bitter Drought of Broadcast Conversations About Robert Walser, David Hume, and Kobo Abe Reaches Merciful End
36. Brazen Radio Host Programs For “Attentive” Audience
37. “He Does Interviews Designed To Be Relevant Even Next Week?” Ask Bewildered Public Radio Bigshots
38. Santa Barbara Public Radio Host Announces Goal Of 10,000 Listeners; Listener Count Drops Vertiginously
39. Public Radio Establishment On Up-and-Coming Interviewer Who Talks Only To Guests He Wants To: “You Can’t Do That”
40. Destitute Public Radio Professional Charged In Social Security Scam; “What Choice Did I Have?” Cries Disgraced Host
41. Literary Modernism, Experimental Film, Wang Chung: Do These Topics Belong On Our Radios? (op-ed)
42. Shamefully Unprofessional Interviewer Refuses To Write Rigid, Uncomprehending Questions Beforehand
43. Headless Public Radio Host Found in Topless Bar
44. “I Want To Make A Halfway Respectable Show,” Says Hopeless Radio Host-Producer
45. 26-Year-Old Interviewer The Future of Public Radio, Such As It Has One
46. Even In State Of Extreme Despondency, Heroic Public Radio Host Manages To Interview Prominent Literary Translators
47. Freakish Public Radio Program Wholly Ignores Politics, Racism, Youthful Weltschmerz, And Ambient Sounds of The Barrio
48. Embittered Public Radio Host Renounces World, Begins Broadcasting Exclusively To Own Shack
49. “I Don’t Mind A Small Audience, As Long As It’s Smart,” Says Quietly Weeping Radio Interviewer
50. Respected Radio Interviewer Reveals Interviewing Secret: “Actually Be Interested”

The Marketplace of Ideas: 10,000 in 2011 or bust

This will be The Marketplace of Ideas' final year. That is, unless the show reaches 10,000 podcast subscribers by the end of 2011. I'm still figuring out how to properly interpret my statistics, but getting to 10,000 surely requires somewhere between a doubling and a quintupling of the current subscribership. If you're reading this, you may well subscribe already, but you can still help ensure the program enters 2012 and run well beyond. How, you ask?

Blog/tweet/Facebookify about the show. If you enjoy a particular interview, please don't hesitate to write a little something about it on whichever social media outlet you prefer. Most of the stuff I currently like came from recommendations found on blogs, in tweets and what have you — less so from Facebook status updates, but hey, they're still important — and I do hope others can come to like (or "Like") The Marketplace of Ideas in a similar fashion.

Review the show on iTunes. This seems like it wouldn't do anything at all, I realize, but the iTunes staff move in mysterious ways. Each new review raises the show's profile within the iTunes podcast directory, which sometimes leads to appearances in featured spots. This gives the old subscriber count a certain shot in the arm — not that most of 'em stick around. (Why is that, anyway?) All you have to do is pull up The Marketplace of Ideas' page in the iTunes store, click "Write a Review >", and leave a few choice words and (ugh) a star rating.

Recommend the show to a friend. Simple as that. A sharp listener like you certainly has plenty of friends who are looking for something engaging to pipe through their earphones, to play in the car, or to put on the stereo during afternoon tea. You — you! — can improve their lives by pointing them toward this one such engaging thing.

Wield your awesome media power. Write for a paper? Have a radio show? Do a podcast? Responsible toward any kind of media outlet that demands a flow of interesting stories? You might consider one about The Marketplace of Ideas. Some fascinating facts about the show include that (a) I do it on one seriously low budget, (b) I've nonetheless featured guests like New Yorker book critic James wood, marketing mastermind Seth Godin, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, critic Clive James, Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly, NPR's Peter Sagal, pop alternastar Momus, KCRW Bookworm host Michael Silverblatt, and public philosopher Alain de Botton, and (c) I'm, uh, gunning for 10,000 in order to bring cultural conversation of unparalleled depth to the airwaves and the iPods alike? (And if you do some kind of interview-y type thing, I'll almost certainly be on it.)

Tell me what you think. Anything you want to hear more of on the show? Anything you want to hear less of? Guests, subjects, sensibilities, formal quirks: I want to know what you think about every aspect of The Marketplace of Ideas. This information helps me tweak the formula in ways that help the show evolve into something even more enjoyable, informative, immersive, edutastational, etc.

Join the mailing list. I’ve just started a mailing list geared toward the truly elite Marketplace of Ideas listener. It delivers weekly updates on the program’s current and future broadcasts as well as related internet interestingness. I think you’ll find it the most efficient and entertaining possible way to stay on the vanguard of The Marketplace of Ideas’ grand quest to bring long-form cultural conversation to its proper place of prominence. Want to join? Simply let me know your preferred e-mail address to add at colinjmarshall at gmail. We will march on a road of bones.