Bill Simmons, trending.

exmedia-

Podcasts are more often than not failed financial enterprises. The artistic end of it is hard enough to pull off.

I agree, it's a talent. It takes more than confidence to speak well into a microphone and carry a program (and Simmons is not all that good at it, either).

I saw a statistic recently that most podcasts - far more than half of them - go belly-up before their sixth episode.

Either the person can't make a nickel doing them or realizes the work being put in isn't equal to the reward.

 

I'm gonna give you a minor pass on your clumsy language with "parasites" because I feel like you've offered a lot of solid contributions over the years here, with insight into television, but man does that offend me deeply. We're having a conversation about opportunities for non-white people, and you quickly pivot to the idea that people who are not immediate drivers of monetary return are "parasites" who ought to be grateful that the host allows them to come along for the ride. Let's put aside how dehumanizing that kind of language is, and the fact that you'd almost certainly never say it with your name attached to it in the context of this conversation. The idea that every contribution must be measured in a bottom line kind of way is probably one of the biggest drivers in the overall decline of people's trust in media over the last 25 years. What is the monetary value of having Wesley Morris on staff? There is a chance it might not be large, but the cultural value is enormous. Perhaps your audience doesn't immediately grasp how rare it is to have a voice like Morris' on staff, and there is a cultural good in continuing to expose him to that audience that — though it might sacrifice some theoretical dollar amount if you put Chuck Klosterman in his place instead — would benefit tremendously from it. I suspect that "Binge Mode" would have initially played better had Chris Ryan been Mallory Rubin's cohost, because Ryan is pretty smart too, but having Jason Concepcion instead exposed a lot of people to his different brand of nerd genius, and NBA Desktop, which won a friggen Emmy, probably would not exist had the success of Binge Mode not preceded it.

Every single member of society is not a number in an Excel sheet, buddy. And while I don't know that you actually believe that, if you think using language like "parasites" is anything other than extremely offensive in a conversation about diversity in media than, dear god, you should drag your well-coifed ass out of the Lay-z-boy this Sunday afternoon and send a thank you note to every marginally-talented producer you ever worked with, expressing gratitude for all the times they likely helped save you from yourself throughout your career.

 

Fully agree. The radio hosts I know who also do a separate podcast see it as a different brand. The radio is where they make the money. They may clear a few nickles on the podcast but they’re like new restaurants. They likely lose money.

 

As the resident TV news producer here this has been delightful to follow.

I figured I'd ignore ex's comments. I've worked in a big market for 20+ years and so my experience, which is wildly different, may not fully apply.

But this:

Jesus Christ, dude. Some of us realized early on we'd rather be the guy who writes the newscast than the guy who sits on camera and reads what someone else wrote. And not everyone has a burning need to have their face on TV.

 

exmedia-

I've thought about it before. I think I have the voice for it but not the patience - and most importantly not the technical know-how.

I'm sure you know this but there are actual sound engineers behind ones that are worthy of the name.

If you don't have the right equipment then even assumed skill isn't going to be enough. You've already lost.

It also seems like an enormous time suck for what are essentially vanity projects.

Don't write me off yet, though.

 

Mad at myself for letting a goddamn Simmons thread turn into this. Although better to do it here than at work, I suppose.

This shows me that I need a break from SJ. Again.

 

The paternalistic wokeness was off the charts.

 

Funny, I didn't think DD was making any reference to race.

I thought he was comparing the relative value of Klosterman (famous but no longer interesting) to Morris (interesting but not yet famous) at Grantland.

I'd also introduce the idea here of the 'loss leader,' the classy aspirational literary hire you take on to give your publication cachet. To borrow prestige. Like Simmons bringing Colson Whitehead in for a year or two. Or Vanity Fair keeping writers like Lebowitz or Vollman or Langewiesche or Junger or von Furstenberg on the masthead when they so rarely write. It makes you look good.

The New Yorker lost money for decades, but Conde Nast was smart enough to keep publishing it because it made everything else in the building glow with literary high-mindedness.

To the extent it didn't pull its weight on the balance sheet, was it a "parasite" too?

 

Keeping in mind that Simmons hired both Morris and Klosterman, this is the part I'm unclear on. I'm sure DD will explain it.

As to which hire you make in any given instance, it depends entirely upon what you're trying to build. And sell. Robin Leach will drive more clicks than Masha Gessen or Junot Diaz, but in one case you're building People magazine, in the other The Paris Review.

 

One of the main differences between us, Ragu, is that you see everything as some sort of widget in an economic model. That is who you are, who you've been on this website for the better part of 15 years I've known you, and that's ok. There is no doubt in my mind that you can't see why having Wesley Morris write or talk about, say, Aretha Franklin instead of Chuck Klosterman write or talk about her might have a benefit to the Ringer, and its audience. The entire current cultural conversation we're having at the moment is about who gets opportunities to speak and succeed and, yes, even to fail, and who doesn't. Why not have Dave Portnoy talk about Aretha Franklin's passing under your model? I'm sure it would get the most views/downloads. Why offer something objectively better when the audience has shown us, the largest number of them would love to hear from Dave Portnoy on any subject. Dave Portnoy is a known commodity. To offer the audience Wesley Morris on this subject, or any subject, is obviously just paternalistic pandering because the goal is always to get the most listeners possible, not to say anything interesting or artistic about American culture.