THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL POST. It is a post about podcasting and Joe Rogan’s interview with Donald Trump. For those not familiar, Rogan has the biggest podcast in the world. It’s unscripted. They are long. They are wide-ranging. He is number one for a reason and I am a student of what makes people successful. They say that “success leaves clues.” So here are my thoughts as a low-level minor-league podcaster who is also unscripted.
Podcasting is hard. Ask anyone who has one. They say if you record more than 10 episodes, you are in the top 10% of over 5 million podcasts in the world. It’s a grind especially for those of us without Joe Rogan’s production and team. It ain’t for everyone. Podcasting without a script or questions in advance is not easy either.
Especially with Donald Trump and/or Kamala Harris.
Both of those guests have far different communication types (please don’t comment with your political thoughts on that one statement). It’s just the truth. As an interviewer, you understand that going in. When the mics are hot and you are recording, you never know what you will get. Rogan is a master and keeping it rolling. While not interrupting, he knows when to interject. Yes, his podcasts are 3 hours long. But most people bail on a podcast after 30 minutes (the time to walk your dog or a treadmill workout). HE HAS THE NUMBER ONE PODCAST IN THE NATION which tells me that people stay for 3 hours. There’s a reason.
I believe he asked tough questions, and allowed long answers. If you really listened to it from a neutral perspective, he gave the opportunity and left the door open should he get a Kamala interview. That was smart. This is not his first rodeo (nearly 2500 episodes?).
Over the last 4 years I have talked to and helped so many people start a podcast. Some are still rolling. Many are not. I am not sure if that is my fault or the fact of what I said earlier. This is not easy. It’s incredible. It’s rewarding from a connection standpoint. It’s a grind. Especially when you are every department of the entire process (host, promotion, editing, graphics, video, audio, talent scheduling, and much more).
At the time of this post, in 16 hours, the Rogan interview with DJT has 15 million views on youtube. That’s one platform. Imagine when you combine the listens across all platforms (Spotify, Apple). This election will be the most heavily influenced ever by podcasts like Joe Rogan’s last night.
To my podcasting friends, keep going. You’re seen. We all know how hard we work. It feels lonely but this form of media is the new media. The old one is going the way of the newspaper. Our guests, their voices, their stories.
I may not like Joe Rogan but success leaves clues. Thanks for reading this long post.
AARON CONRAD 