Podcasting Ebb, Flow and Overflow

It was a terrific run. From the very first (and very awkward) episode of Generational with David Sparks to the final episode 80 of Technical Difficulties with Dr. Drang, I enjoyed making podcasts with all of my friends, heroes and inspirations. I got a chance to make something I’m proud of while talking to amazing people like Helene, David, and Merlin. What a total and complete joy this project has been.

Thanks to every single person that contributed, subscribed or commented. You are all the best part of the Internet.1

I’d also like to thank my partner in the majority of the episodes, Erik Hess. What a fantastic windfall for me. He first showed up on episode 25 and I enjoyed his companionship so much that I asked him to cohost.2 It doesn’t get much better than finding a collaborator out of thin air that’s such a generous and enthusiastic soul as Erik. Just look at the home he built for the show. I dare say, it’s the best podcast site on the web. On the days that I want to flush the entire Internet down the toilet, I remember the people like Erik and consider what a magical gift we all have here.

I’m a huge podcast fan. I listen to podcasts like most people watch T.V. Generational and Technical Difficulties gave me a podcasting laboratory. Erik and I played with big things like the show format and guest lineups as well as smaller things like podcasting hardware and guest intros.3 I highly recommend you give it a try if you love podcasts too.

Generational was a lot of work and we hoped that changing the schedule and bringing some really smart people on board would alleviate some of the pressure.4 We kept moving the bar up throughout the life of Technical Difficulties until we created our ideal show format.5 As with all management work, we aspired to a level of our ineptitude and succeeded.

Rather than change the format of Technical Difficulties to something less interesting, we’ve exercised our golden parachutes and are shelving further production.6 We are also ending production of the Dawn Patrol show to spend more time with our families.

Thank you all so very much for the help, gratitude, inspiration and joy. We all made something I like very much.

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.

— Kurt Vonnegut

  1. With a special footnote call out to Michael Schechter and Myke Hurley for giving me a start. If you know me, you know all the best stuff is in the footnotes. These two are the best stuff. ↩︎

  2. For nostalgia, here’s the very first episode Erik hosted with me. ↩︎

  3. What do you want to be known for? ↩︎

  4. Sincere thanks to Potatowire and Bob VanderClay. What great thinkers and doers. Smart guys that are super fun. Potatowire, in particular, put a huge amount of work in on the show notes. I think their quality is a singular achievement he should be proud of. ↩︎

  5. I’m still totally impressed with the quality of the Ethernet show notes. Nice work Potatowire! ↩︎

  6. There’s actually an unreleased show still in the proverbial can. It will probably stay there. Dr. Drang makes for a great culmination. ↩︎