Mr. Donnelly-

Does CFI track downloads of the podcast? I’m curious about the size of your listenership, including ITunes and RSS or straight from the web downloads.. particularly before the IT disaster. If you do, I also wonder how that metric might have changed over the past few years.

Second, you replied in this post on May 5th that the dearth of new podcasts is due to your law school schedule which is perfectly acceptable. My question here is, don’t you have a #2 who can fill in on occasion? You might also consider posting a “best of” podcast in a given week.. you have no shortage of really great interviews going back to ‘05 that most of your audience may not have heard and it would keep the PoI pulse going.

Much obliged,

-s

I just had similar thoughts.
POI has built a large audience and is now losing it, including me, because they are no longer offering a steady supply.
Let me be blunt: This is foolish.
Foolish because it could be very easily remedied by reissuing earlier shows.
For many listeners they’d be new anyway and trusting that you’d chose only “best of” programs they certainly would be worth listening to again.
Please. It takes about 15 minutes per week, and it can be done by anyone in your office.

Martin Voelker

PS: I work in radio, it is common practice to fill the schedule with “encore editions” and there is nothing wrong with that. POI is not a scientific journal sworn to originality but talks about ideas, many of which are timeless and do not carry an expiration date.

moreover - 24 May 2009 09:33 AM

I just had similar thoughts.
POI has built a large audience and is now losing it, including me, because they are no longer offering a steady supply.
Let me be blunt: This is foolish.
Foolish because it could be very easily remedied by reissuing earlier shows.
For many listeners they’d be new anyway and trusting that you’d chose only “best of” programs they certainly would be worth listening to again.
Please. It takes about 15 minutes per week, and it can be done by anyone in your office.

Martin Voelker

PS: I work in radio, it is common practice to fill the schedule with “encore editions” and there is nothing wrong with that. POI is not a scientific journal sworn to originality but talks about ideas, many of which are timeless and do not carry an expiration date.

This is a great idea—they can also be set up ahead of time….

sate - 23 May 2009 06:04 AM

Does CFI track downloads of the podcast? I’m curious about the size of your listenership, including ITunes and RSS or straight from the web downloads.. particularly before the IT disaster. If you do, I also wonder how that metric might have changed over the past few years.

Second, you replied in this post on May 5th that the dearth of new podcasts is due to your law school schedule which is perfectly acceptable. My question here is, don’t you have a #2 who can fill in on occasion?

Thanks for the question. First, we do track the listenership, and according to our service provider, and have a total of almost 5 million downloads, about 3 million of which have been on iTunes specifically. Obviously, some shows are more popular than others. Our listenership has continued to increase over the last three years in ways that have exceeded our expectations. Unfortunately, we have no way to track how many listeners hear the show on broadcast stations, a number of which now air past episodes.

There is no one else in house at CFI who has the time (nor whose job it is) to do digital audio editing, and the issue is complicated by the fact that D.J. and I live in Saint Louis, not in New York where the other CFI offices are. (This is also where the show is recorded from—we moved the recording studio here when we moved). FWIW, I think I will be able to edit the numerous shows we have recorded but havent yet posted in the weeks ahead. D.J. has had some great guests and we look forward to getting those online.

I hope this answers your questions and I’m glad you enjoy the show. Cheers,
Thomas

moreover - 24 May 2009 09:33 AM

I just had similar thoughts.
POI has built a large audience and is now losing it, including me, because they are no longer offering a steady supply.
Let me be blunt: This is foolish.
Foolish because it could be very easily remedied by reissuing earlier shows.
For many listeners they’d be new anyway and trusting that you’d chose only “best of” programs they certainly would be worth listening to again.
Please. It takes about 15 minutes per week, and it can be done by anyone in your office.

Martin Voelker

PS: I work in radio, it is common practice to fill the schedule with “encore editions” and there is nothing wrong with that. POI is not a scientific journal sworn to originality but talks about ideas, many of which are timeless and do not carry an expiration date.

Thanks for the feedback. We’re gratified to report that there hasnt been a decrease in downloads of the show, because every past show is still currently available (each week, new listeners find teh show and can download episodes from any time in the shows three and a half year history on the website or on iTunes, etc.).

We have thought about this idea of “rebroadcasting"popular past episodes (D.J. suggested it a few months ago) but I have decided that it is inadvisable because new listeners still have access to all past shows, so reposting them as a “best of” is a kind of redundancy that doesnt make sense to us in light of the technology of podcasting. I hope that makes sense to you, and thank you for your interest in helping out by giving constructive advice.

Cheers,
Thomas

Thanks Thomas, that is interesting. I am glad it is doing well.

... I have decided that it is inadvisable because new listeners still have access to all past shows, so reposting them as a “best of” is a kind of redundancy that doesnt make sense to us in light of the technology of podcasting. I hope that makes sense to you, and thank you for your interest in helping out by giving constructive advice.

I don’t work in radio like my cohort here but I must disagree. The number 1 humor podcast on ITunes is the Adam Carolla podcast. When Adam had to take some time to shoot his CBS pilot he did not have time to make a podcast for a day or two. As a result he re-ran a previous podcast. Why would he do this? Number one, he only has a couple months worth of podcasts and two, every single one of them is available online. He did this because after around 20 years in radio (and now podcasting) he has noted the format is the most intimate in terms of relationship to listeners (as opposed to TV or print). The relationship part is important, people “want their fix” it is sometimes said. I would add that his ‘encore’ type shows always provide a brief blurb reassuring listeners by explaining (in vague terms if necessary) why a show was not possible and not to worry.. he’d be back in the swing soon but you are not forgotten etc.., this may seem trivial at first glance but it absolutely is not in terms of the listenership and every big broad/podcaster knows it. The technology actually changes none of this.
All your loyal fans want to hear from DJ every week- even if all they hear is ‘due to xyz we can’t do an interview but here’s one of my favourites, we’ll be back next week.. enjoy!’.

Thanks again.. I look forward to the new releases.

Perhaps a reissue might help others, but I have all the episodes on my phone, and I do re-listen when the opportunity suits.

I haven’t contributed any money in support, yet, and wonder about guidelines for contribution.  When I get more time to read, I will definitely order some books though POI, assuming POI gets something from such a move.

Thanks Tom and DJ and the rest for your valuable efforts, long may they continue.