WEBVTT - TechStuff Is About to Change (And That's a Good Thing) 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.360 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:16.239 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.680 I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.880 Tech Are You So. Once upon a time in mid 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:28.600 two thousand and eight, an editor and a writer for 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:33.519 the website HowStuffWorks dot Com were approached by their boss 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:38.319 about launching a podcast that would focus on technology. At 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.239 the time, most folks didn't know what a podcast was. Now, 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:44.720 the media form had been around since at least two 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:46.680 thousand and three or two thousand and four, depending upon 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.040 whom you asked, But the concept was this podcast would 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.599 serve as a kind of brand extension for the website. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:57.880 They would reach new audiences, and each episode would tie 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.400 back to articles on how stuff works dot com. The 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.679 hosts would encourage listeners to go to the website and 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:06.959 to read the articles as well as, you know, just 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.039 browse around in general. There was no monetization plan for 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:15.119 the podcast itself, not initially anyway. That would come much later, 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.680 and it was really just kind of a new type 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.759 of marketing, a brand extension for the website. The editor 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.520 and the writer agreed to give it a shot, So 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.480 the two went into a little used room that had 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.560 a very odd shape. So the house stuffworks dot Com 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.920 office took up an entire floor in a building in 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:39.040 a neighborhood called Buckhead. That's a fashionable neighborhood in Atlanta. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.720 That's where a lot of money is in Atlanta. It's 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.440 mostly known for having lots of office buildings as well 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.000 as a mall filled with shops that sell stuff at 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.760 prices that are way too high for my wallet and 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.360 perhaps most notably for us, it was also the location 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:58.000 where the owner of how stuffworks dot Com happened to live. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:05.520 The quote unquote studio wasn't a perfect rectangular room. It 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:09.160 actually had some odd angles to it. And in one 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:14.079 corner of this room there was this alcove like thing. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.079 It was almost like it was a closet, but there 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.160 was no door separating it from the rest of the room. 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.960 Someone had hung up a curtain to cover the entrance 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.160 to that little alcove, and that alcove would become our 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.440 podcast studio. A table inside this little alcove was nestled 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.720 between shelves. The table was just large enough for two 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.880 chairs to sit on either side of it comfortably. You 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:39.840 could smash three in if you had to, and on 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.400 the table were a couple of microphones and two sets 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.480 of headphones. The producer would actually sit at a desk 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.040 that was inside the larger room, but on the other 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.280 side of the curtain, so they were not in the alcove. 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.960 They were on the opposite side. And it was a 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:58.200 bit of a weird approach because there was no visual 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:02.359 contact between producer and hosts. But all in all, this 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:06.560 strange little setup worked. There was very little noise coming 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.359 in from other areas of the office unless the sales 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.480 or marketing teams were celebrating something, which always did make 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.160 quite a bit of noise, and the recording space was 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.040 isolated from the exterior walls, so you didn't get stuff 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:25.920 like traffic noise. Those two geeky, nerdy newbies to podcasting 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:31.040 were Chris Pollette and yours truly, Jonathan Strickland. We sat 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:35.600 down and we recorded a half dozen or so test episodes. 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:41.080 Those early ones were absolutely unusable, but eventually we got 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:45.680 to one that emerged from being awful to it's not 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:50.000 so bad, and so that became our very first episode 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:54.640 of tech Stuff. The episode was titled how the Google 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.320 Apple Cloud, computer will Work. It was based off an 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.760 article that Chris Pollette had written for how Stuffworks dot 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:05.000 com and it originally published back on June tenth, two 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.200 thousand and eight. It was just six minutes and eight 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:12.880 seconds long. That is a heck of a difference from 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.960 tech Stuff episodes today. Now, to be clear, tech Stuff 0:04:17.360 --> 0:04:21.159 was not the first stuff show to launch. That honor 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.000 technically goes to a podcast called brain Stuff, which was 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.360 originally hosted by how Stuffworks dot COM's founder, a guy 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.679 named Marshall Brain and yes that's his real name. Brain 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.159 Stuff episodes were really short back then, like sometimes only 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.960 a couple of minutes long. This was followed by what 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:43.680 would become the most popular show in the Stuff library, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:47.440 Stuff you Should Know. Fun fact, my co host Chris 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.920 Pollette was an original co host of Stuff you Should Know. Though, 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.920 of course, the program would really find its footing once 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:58.400 it paired Josh Clark with Chuck Bryant. The third podcast 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.120 to launch was what would become Stuff You Missed in 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.960 History Class. I seem to recall that the original title 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:08.719 for that podcast was fact or Fiction. And then there 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.800 was tech Stuff. The shows launched just a few weeks 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.400 apart from each other. It's not like Stuff you Should 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:16.960 Know had a huge head start on us. And what's 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.159 cool is that all of these shows are still publishing 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.640 today now. Stuff You Missed in History Class has been 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.719 through a few different host pairings over the years, but 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.880 Holly and Tracy have helmed it since twenty thirteen. I 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.920 argue that once you get past a decade hosting a show, 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.120 it's safe to say it belongs to you. Brain Stuff 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.840 now has Lauren Vogelbaum as the host. Episodes typically come 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.200 in at around ten minutes each, and of course Tech 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.920 Stuff has been through several changes as well. Chris Pollette 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.120 left the show in early twenty thirteen, and then the 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.280 aforementioned Laura and Vogelbamb stepped in for a couple of 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.719 years to be co host, and then she too left 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.000 the show in twenty fifteen, and since that time, Tech 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.320 Stuff has been solo hosted by yours truly as dropouts. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.640 Sam Reisch might say, I've been here the whole time, 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:11.600 but that's going to change too. Yep. The final constant 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.440 of tech Stuff will be departing in the not too 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.479 distant future. Specifically, the plan is for the handoff to 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:22.160 happen on January tenth, twenty twenty five, where I will 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.640 no longer host this show. That's assuming we stick to 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.080 our schedule that we have in mind. But you know, 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:32.640 schedules can change, so that date could move around a little, 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:34.640 so don't hold me to it. Maybe it's not going 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:36.960 to be January tenth, but that's what we plan. Right now. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.279 Tech Stuff is going to continue. Tex Stuff's just going 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.720 to have new hosts, and I'll talk more about them 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.520 in a future episode. You'll learn all about them. They 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:52.400 are veterans, they're not, you know, fresh faced newbies to 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.400 the podcasting game, and they're incredibly accomplished in their own right. 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.599 But that's for later. And I want to be clear 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.359 about this. This was actually my decision. In case anyone's 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.480 worried that I was shuffled off my own show. No. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.520 In fact, I've been thinking about transitioning away from tech 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.000 Stuff for a few years now. I would have loved 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.559 to have done it last year, but at that time 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.960 I was publishing five episodes a week, and frankly, it 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.200 was just impossible for me to do that much work 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.160 and also engage in succession planning or search for potential 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:28.240 new hosts. But then something happened at the end of 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:30.960 twenty twenty three that really convinced me it was time 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.040 to figure out a solution, and that was I had 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.880 a big ole health scare. So on December thirtieth, twenty 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:43.280 twenty three, I developed a migraine. And I've had migraines before, 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.040 but this one was worse than any I had ever 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.239 had previously. I could not lay down, I couldn't find 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.760 any comfortable position. I could not shake it, even though 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.960 I took my medications. So I told my partner and 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.840 we headed to an urgent care center, where they took 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.080 my blood pressure and found that it was dangerously high. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.360 I mean like super dangerous. I was in stroke territory. 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.559 So I was immediately sent to the emergency room, where 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:11.880 I was given some drugs to bring down my blood 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.080 pressure and some other drugs to treat the migraine, and 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.760 I returned home once the migraine had sort of subsided. 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.760 But a few days later, on January third, twenty twenty four, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.880 I again started to feel awful, and this time we 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.320 went straight to the emergency room. By the time I 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.520 got there, I was incoherent. I could understand what people 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.760 were saying, but I could not speak. It was the 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.559 oddest sensation. I remember. I was put into a wheeled chair, 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.400 but not you know, like a wheelchair, and I was 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:45.320 wheeled to a room in the er, and then the 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.840 following eight hours of my life are gone from my memory. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.320 I have absolutely no recollection of what happened from that 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:55.080 point forward. My partner would later tell me that I 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.920 was given a lumbar puncture, but I have no memory 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.360 of that, and also told me about a nerd who 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:04.320 was apparently incredible and really kind and looked after me. 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.280 But I have no memory of this nurse, like nothing. 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.560 I don't know her name or what she looks like 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:14.199 or anything. My next memory is being in the hospital's 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:16.920 intensive care unit, and I actually had to stay in 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.560 that room for two days, and I saw a whole 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.880 bunch of different doctors in that time. Everyone was really 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.959 keen to figure out why my blood pressure was so high, 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.800 and ultimately the determination was that it was a convergence 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.400 of factors. One was I put on a lot of 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.360 weight since the pandemic. Like leading up to the pandemic, 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:36.880 I was in good shape, the best shape of my life. 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.960 But I really fell apart once the pandemic hit and 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:42.920 I wasn't walking as much and I didn't go to 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:47.080 the gym anymore. I also have sleep apnea, which probably contributed. 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:51.040 I also had a huge honkin kidney stone in my kidney. 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.080 As it turns out, I was also probably a contributing factor. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.560 So for the first half of twenty twenty four, I 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.160 measured time in doctor visits. I think I had five 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.640 different doctors that I had to see on a rotating basis, 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.880 and visits were sometimes as little as a week apart, 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:09.959 or once in a blue moon, I would have two 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.360 different doctor visits in the same week to two very 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.280 different doctors. I ended up having to have surgery to 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.160 remove the kidney stone. So if I ever really seemed 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.680 out of it this year, now you know why, it's 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.040 because I was dealing with this stuff. Now. One of 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.040 the big changes in twenty twenty four for tech stuff 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.800 is that we reduced the number of shows we published 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.800 per week. We went from five episodes to three. Really 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.120 it was more like four episodes to three, because if 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.080 you remember back when I was doing five a week, 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.240 I was publishing classic episodes on Fridays, so that wasn't 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:43.400 really a heavy lift, but going from four to three 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:45.440 was a huge change for me, and it was really 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.199 important for me to reduce work stress because stress was 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.360 another contributing factor to my blood pressure, and that change 0:10:51.360 --> 0:10:53.280 gave me a little bit more time to do what 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.640 I had wanted to do for a few years, which 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.240 was to figure out a way to transfer tech stuff 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.520 to a new team that could take care of it, 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:06.160 that could take tech stuff beyond my contributions and hopefully 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.320 to much greater success, while still staying true to what 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.760 I think is the underlying philosophy for the show. It's 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.160 the same as it's been for the entire run of 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:19.560 the show, which is that tech stuff. Yes, it's about technology, 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.320 but the guiding principles are a combination of compassion and 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.760 critical thinking that those two things should guide the show 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:32.480 no matter how it's tackling tech. But this would also 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:34.360 mean that I would be able to move on from 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:38.040 tech stuff and focus on other things while still remaining 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:42.600 at iHeart Podcasts. I'd be doing more executive producing work, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.440 and you know, with more than two thousand episodes of 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.960 this show under my belt, it is time for me 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.000 to move on. I think some of y'all would argue 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:53.680 I've overstayed my welcome, but I'm not leaving just yet. 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.920 I'll be recording episodes through the end of this year 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:58.200 and into the beginning of next year. But I didn't 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.280 want my departure to be a huge prize, so I 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:04.160 thought this episode would be a good opportunity to let 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.760 you know that changes are coming in the new year, 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.640 and also to look back over the history of tech 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.960 Stuff so far and reflect on what has happened. Also, 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.199 just to be clear, I'll still be working for iHeart Podcasts, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.400 in case you missed me saying that earlier. I'm just 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.520 not going to be the host of tech Stuff anymore. 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.280 I might occasionally pop up here or there on various 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:26.040 other shows. However, you never know, so I'm not going 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.960 to do a retrospective of how tech has changed over 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:32.000 the years since tech Stuff was founded. I'm actually going 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.199 to do that later in January, when I'll be chatting 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.600 with the new hosts for tech Stuff. Instead, I thought 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.880 I would talk about how the show itself has changed 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.680 over the years, So we're going to spend some time 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:49.480 thinking back on the origins and evolution of the Tech 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.959 Stuff podcast before we do that. However, let's take a 0:12:53.040 --> 0:13:06.199 quick break to thank our sponsors. We're back, all right. 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.880 So I mentioned in June two thousand and eight we 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:13.720 launched tech stuff. At that time, HowStuffWorks dot Com was 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.400 part of Discovery Communications. That's the company that now is 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:21.640 part of Warner Brothers Discovery. So Discovery had acquired how 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:24.800 stuffworks dot Com in October two thousand and seven. I 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.160 had I was there for that. I joined how Stuffworks 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.560 in February two thousand and seven. I remember getting a 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.760 DVD box set of Planet Earth as a kind of hey, 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.480 you just got acquired. Here's a present gift. But the 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.599 idea was that how stuffworks dot Com would help Discovery 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.040 establish a digital presence to extend beyond its reach on 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.080 cable TV, and podcasts would be one tiny part of that. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.000 The website would be another. But this would just be 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.280 the beginning, and HowStuffWorks dot Com ultimately would just be 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:57.080 one component of this strategy. Discovery would also acquire other 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.880 platforms like Revision III and Source Fan. And you may 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.559 be aware that all of the platforms I have mentioned 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.640 are no longer under Discovery. That's what we call foreshadowing. 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:11.400 It tells you how things ended up going So anyway, 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:14.040 we started publishing tech Stuff in two thousand and eight, 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.800 and the episodes were intended to just be a few 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:18.800 minutes long. They were supposed to be kind of a 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:22.760 summary and analysis of articles that you could find on 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.800 the website, so every episode was supposed to relate back 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.320 to an article on the website. But Chris and I 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:34.240 quickly ran into a real problem because tech changes fast. Now. 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.360 Ideally you would have staff who would be dedicated to 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.440 reviewing and updating articles on a sort of rolling basis 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.000 as things change within the tech sphere, but we didn't 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.760 really have those resources, and in the meantime, we were 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.800 having to write and edit new articles for the tech 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:53.880 channels all the time, so there was no time to 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:57.560 go back and revise things constantly, which meant that a 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.080 lot of the tech articles on the site we're pretty dated. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.280 For example, there was one article that was about how 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:08.120 to build a gaming computer, and that article referenced ports 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.840 and cards that hardware manufacturers didn't even bother to include 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.600 on PCs anymore because the world had moved on to 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.880 other standards. And so after just a few months of 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:20.400 publishing tech Stuff, we were told we could cover any 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.360 tech topic we wanted to, and there didn't have to 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.520 be an article on the site for us to reference 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:29.720 in order to create an episode. So that was a 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.320 huge relief. Now with that change came another big one. 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.160 Our earliest episodes were meant to be around five minutes long. Now, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:41.400 remember this was before monetization, so there were no ads 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:44.400 running against those early episodes in those days. Now that's 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.400 a different story. Now if you go back and listen 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:48.880 to those episodes, now you're going to hear ads. But 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:51.360 I'll get to why that is in a minute. Chris 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.000 and I were still struggling to be able to say 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.320 anything of merit in just five minutes. For one thing, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.200 we're both jokesters. Chris actually was the one who was 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.040 more heavily into making puns than I was. But for 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.520 some reason, that reputation got saddled on me. Not that 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.360 I dislike a good pun, I love them, and I 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:15.080 love a bad pun even more, but we found we 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.720 were bumping up against that five minute time frame and 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.440 it just wasn't really working. So eventually we were told 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.680 the episodes could be ten minutes long, and then later 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.440 fifteen minutes long, and then not long after that, we 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.840 were told Hey, just make the episodes as long as 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.920 they need to be in order to cover whatever topic 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.640 you're talking about. Chris and I aimed to try and 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:37.720 keep our episodes under thirty minutes if we could, and 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.960 under twenty five if that were possible. And you contrast 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.680 that with the average episode these days, which typically times 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:45.880 out at around forty seven minutes or so, and you 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.880 see how drastically things have changed now. I think originally 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:53.840 we were publishing either one episode or two episodes a week, 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.080 but we would go back and forth, like I can't 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:58.320 remember now. I guess I could go into our publishing 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.160 platform and look at the publication day and just figure 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.920 it out that way. But this changed a lot in 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.240 the early years, like how many episodes we would publish 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.159 a week. We're trying to find that sweet spot, like 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.360 is two too many? Is one enough? Should we look 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.840 at doing three? Typically we were around two a week, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.639 as I recall, but later on it would go up 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.280 to three, and then for a few years it was 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.080 a grueling five episodes a week schedule. The reason if 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:29.600 that largely comes down to ad inventory, and we might 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.920 as well cover that. I mean, so podcasts, you know, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.200 obviously are a lot of podcasts anyway, are ads supported, 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.520 Not all of them. Some podcasts are a labor of 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.800 love and aren't monetized at all. Some podcasts are behind 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.120 a paywall, so you subscribe for a certain amount per 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:48.800 month and you get them. Some are sponsored, so that 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.200 deal is a little different from ads. But a lot 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:55.680 are ads supported, and you typically figure out how many 0:17:55.800 --> 0:18:00.960 ads will will comfortably fit within a pot, or sometimes 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.520 uncomfortably if we're being honest, those are not my decisions. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.240 By the way, I have never been the one to 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.240 make the decision on how many ads per ad break 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.600 we should have for our podcasts. I have to abide 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.880 by the rules. I don't make the rules. So once 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:19.280 you figure that out, like how many ads can a 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.960 podcast hold within a certain amount of time, then you 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.840 have an inventory that you can sell to advertisers, and 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.359 your goal is to sell as much of that inventory 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.560 as possible. But sometimes you get a little a little 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.000 over zealous. Maybe you sell more inventory than there actually is, 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.239 which means you have to create more inventory, and there 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.919 are different ways of doing that. One is you add 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:47.640 more ad spots per break, so instead of having one 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.920 ad or two ads, you might have three or four 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.159 maybe even five ads per ad break. Another is adding 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.679 more ad breaks per episode, so you say, well, we 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.359 used to say every thirty minutes put in an AD break. 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:00.639 Now let's say every fifteen minute you put in an 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.320 AD break. That's another way. Another way is you start 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.439 adding more episodes, you have people recording more, or you 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.439 might do a combination of all these things. And if 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.879 you notice, Tech Stuff was one of those combo shows 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.200 where we were publishing five times a week with you know, 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:19.400 fairly long episodes and lots of ad breaks. So that 0:19:19.800 --> 0:19:22.280 ended up being a big reason for the way tech 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.359 Stuff evolved is that it was the money side of 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.480 Tech Stuff. You know, you can't just do this for free. 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.879 Podcasting does cost money. You have hosting fees, you have 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:33.640 the salaries of the people who work on the shows, 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.199 so there has to be a way to monetize or 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:39.439 else you're losing money on the deal and that's just 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:42.439 not a business, right. So that in large part shaped 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:47.560 tech Stuff for quite some time. So we get down 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:50.439 to five times a week, and then we scale back 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.200 to three times a week once I have my little 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.520 medical whoopsie as I like to call it. But for 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.680 a really long time we didn't have any ads at all, 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.000 but no one did really. I mean, there might have 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:03.879 been a few podcasts that were monetized, but by and 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:08.120 large most were not. Podcasts were so new and seen 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.720 as being such a niche form of media that no 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.480 one had really established a model for advertising or sponsorship 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.159 for those shows. In the early days, Rarely Chris and 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:20.280 I would get a request from our boss to do 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:23.520 an episode about a specific topic, and it would turn 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.639 out that the request was part of a larger ad 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:30.320 deal that had been made for the website houstuffworks dot com, 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.320 and a podcast episode was kind of thrown on top 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:37.320 as sort of a perk for that ad deal to close. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:39.440 But that was the exception, it was not the rule. 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:41.439 Ninety Nine percent of the time, Chris and I got 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:43.520 to pick our own topics and there was really no 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.879 outside interference, which was great. We would each do our 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.159 research separately for our episodes. We wouldn't share notes or 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.640 anything until we got to the studio, and then Chris 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.040 and I would have a conversation. It was mostly unstructured, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.520 and most of the time it worked out great. We 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.800 usually ended up leaving some off unmentioned, just because the 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.760 flow of conversation didn't allow for every little factor tidbit 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.240 we had researched. Once in a while, however, things just 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.920 didn't work. I remember there was one recording session where 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.760 Chris and I struggled through a topic. I can't remember 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:16.800 what it was at this point. It's on the tip 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:19.159 of my tongue, but I just can't quite remember. But 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:21.960 I do remember that at the end of the recording session, 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:23.920 we looked at each other and just kind of said, 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:27.800 that was terrible, and we made a very hard call. 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.120 We decided to go back into the studio to scrap 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.119 the original recording and to have the conversation all over again, 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.040 and luckily our producer agreed to do that. I don't 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:40.960 remember who was producing that particular session at that time. 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.960 Our original producer was Jerry, who is famous for being 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.080 the producer of Stuff You Should Know. But we also 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:50.000 had other folks. We had Tyler Klang, who now is 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:54.120 a leader in production at iHeart Podcasts. We had Matt Frederick, 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:55.919 one of the hosts of Stuff They Don't Want You 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.680 to Know. Noel Brown, one of the hosts of Ridiculous History. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.959 We also produced several episodes of tech Stuff. Ramsey Yunt 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:06.119 served as a producer, was a phenomenal producer who booked 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.919 a lot of really cool guests for Tech Stuff. And 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.879