In It For The Long Haul: The "Over The Road" Podcast

The enduring lesson of the 2020 US election might be that while the Democrats won the presidency, they will at best break even in Congressional races. Some pundits and analysts are attributing that to a lack of understanding of rural concerns in the country. As a window into those concerns, political strategists might do well to listen to the “Over The Road” podcast from Radiotopia, about the trucking industry, which ran from February through May 2020.

Trucking, as discussed in this podcast, is a good example of a number of issues of importance for rural areas – anything that might involve tension between regulation and freedom to conduct business in ways that make sense. In the first episode of the show, which checks in with attendees at the biggest trucking expo of the year, in Kentucky, the host, “Long Haul Paul” Marhoefer, finds out why truckers don’t like the electronic log book systems that have been required and installed in recent years. A lack of flexibility in enforcement, in truckers’ view, encourages them to stop short when they hit a time limit, even if that puts them diagonally across many parking spaces in a lot, or to deploy other workarounds to avoid losing time that should be counted toward being on-duty. The intention of the electronic log might be to improve safety and provide a resource to investigate accidents, but the purpose may have been lost in the letter of the law.

 

This issue is also, in turn, a recent manifestation of the overall historical and structural tensions within the trucking industry, covered in another episode “A Brief History of Trucking In America.” Here, Marhoefer and his guest, “The Long Haul” author Finn Murphy, explain the difference between corporate trucking where drivers are employees subject to more rules and regulation, and “wildcat” truckers, or independent owner-operators, who can set their own schedule. Also, there are truckers who just haul food including produce, and livestock, who need not be bound by an electronic log book, since they must do whatever they have to get their cargo to its destination, without spoilage or damage to farm animals.

 

Along with these concerns, other episodes and shorter interim mini-episodes during the show’s first season cover trucking culture, making it accessible to unfamiliar listeners, with coverage of how Covid-19 has changed the trucking business, a history of CB handles, truckers’ favorite music for the road, and more. 

 

In “Over The Road,” Marhoefer and his guests offer those willing to listen an education about a working class subculture, exactly the type of people who felt ignored and turned to politicians who told them what they wanted to hear. Listening to the show will educate you on how society’s institutions could deliver what truckers need. 

Rewatchables: "Apex Mountain" for movie podcasts?

 I love movies and I embraced the Ringer’s Rewatchables podcast before it was even on its own feed, listening to early “Hall of Fame” episodes covering “Jerry Maguire” and “Heat.” Bill Simmons and his Ringer colleagues get at the great scenes in the movies they choose, and unearth interesting trivia about the films, like casting choices that were made, especially if notable actors were turned down for parts or declined them. 

What really makes me tune in over and over again to episodes of this show is the banter. In the most recent episode I listened to, covering “Caddyshack,” Simmons and colleague Sean Fennessey make semi-mocking, semi-admiring references to how much cocaine all involved in making this movie were doing at the time it was made. I’ve seen the movie more than once but I can’t remember how long ago I last watched it, probably at least several years. Now that I’ve listened to this episode, I don’t really need to go back and re-watch it, though, because Simmons and Fennessey made the funny scenes they describe really come alive, particularly Ted Knight’s performance. As they observed, it’s unclear whether Knight was really in on the jokes of the scenes but his tone as the heel of the movie worked perfectly. 

 

The show has its own esoteric award categories that help bring out the hosts’ views of why the movie was rewatchable even if it’s not necessarily a great movie. These include an overacting award named alternately after Mark Ruffalo in “Spotlight” and Saul Rubinek in “True Romance,” a “heat check” award for the actor who appears briefly but makes the most impact in their short amount of screen time, most rewatchable scene, an “Apex Mountain” award for which person in the production (this can include the director, writer or even inanimate objects or themes in the movie – you’ll see – for whom this movie was the peak of their career or saw them at the peak of their powers in the entertainment business), and a “that guy” award for the cast member who is such a familiar face turning up in lots of movies without the public really knowing their name. The nature of these categories really make the discourse about the movies a lot of fun.

The show occasionally has notable guest panelists. Quentin Tarantino recorded three episodes with them in one fell swoop about a year ago, covering "Unstoppable," "Dunkirk" and "King of New York." Issa Rae joined in for the "Groundhog Day" episode some months ago.

 

I could go on and on about moments I have enjoyed from the Rewatchables but the simplest thing to do here is completely let my nerd flag fly, and give you a list of the episodes I’ve listened to, and bolding the ones that inspired me to actually go rewatch the movie that was covered, or in some cases, go watch it when I hadn’t seen it before (bold & italics). And now, the tale of the tape. I've listened to about 36 episodes, if I haven't forgotten any with this list. Of these, 10 of them inspired me to go rewatch the movie again in recent months. (Maybe this is a function of our long-running pandemic lockdown).

Caddyshack

Groundhog Day

Back To The Future

Boomerang

Say Anything

Basic Instinct

Total Recall

Pump Up The Volume

Usual Suspects

Seven

Rocky IV

The Exorcist

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Talented Mr. Ripley

Unstoppable

King of New York

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Edge of Tomorrow

Cast Away

Do The Right Thing

The Shining

Beverly Hills Cop

Dead Poets Society

Proof of Life 

Dave

Taken

The Godfather

Jaws

Midnight Run

Michael Clayton

Heat & “Re-Heat” 2^nd episode on same movie

The Departed

Zodiac

Jerry Maguire

Titanic

Yes, I had not ever seen "Jaws" until more recently. A big hole in my movie fandom, I know.

Recommendation: "Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen"

 It’s been some time since I found and listened to a multi-part limited documentary podcast, but I’m into one now I can highly recommend, “Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen,” from Campside Media, which is smaller than the giants like Wondery, Gimlet and Spotify. It reminds me a bit of “The Shrink Next Door” and “S-Town,” in that “Chameleon” unspools an odd type of crime story or fraud story that reveals itself as the episodes unfold.

“Chameleon” tells the tale of a bizarre Hollywood scam in which someone posing as a movie producer convinces aspiring personal trainers, make-up artists and other rank-and-file craftspeople who are trying to get established as film professionals, to travel to Indonesia for what looks to be a big blockbuster style epic production. The marks were convinced to front their own airfare and expenses with promises of reimbursement, and when they arrived in Jakarta, were driven around in a hired car, mostly aimlessly, to production meetings that would get canceled and location sites where no work was yet underway.

 

For male marks, like Eddie, a L.A.-based personal trainer, this would be frustrating, annoying and aggravating, but female marks, like Heather, a U.K.-based make-up artist, started wondering if they were in danger of being abducted for human trafficking, because of the way the scam manifested itself by putting them into a state of confusion and uncertainty about what was really going on, which made this a terrifying experience.

 

That’s the opening two episodes, but please do listen for yourself. I’m now on episode five out of eight, and as this podcast continues, the hosts drill down on whether the scam was the work of a network of people or just one mastermind. The evidence from the accounts of some of the marks who were victimized for relatively small amounts of cash (in the range of $500-$3,000 a piece) mounts, and the hosts, journalists Josh Dean and Vanessa Grigoriadis, examine it in depth to uncover what is really going on, and how and why it is being done.

 

The appeal of “Chameleon” is its binge-worthiness. Each epsiode centers on one personality involved in the story, including professional investigators who get involved, and some of the real Hollywood players whose identities were being stolen to carry out the scam. The episodes each run between about 30 to 45 minutes, so they are nice digestible chunks, and often will leave the listener wanting more and ready to go right on to the next one right away. 

 

Just in case you haven’t had enough of politics in the past few weeks…

In the interest of posting more regularly here, by sticking to podcast content itself, I’ll share that even following Election Day, I’ve been seeking out and finding some political podcasts to throw in to my listening mix.

I’ve been a big follower of the political documentary series “The Circus” on Showtime, which features journalist John Heilemann (who co-authored the “Game Change” books about the 2008 and 2012 presidential races). This year, Heilemann founded a new website and podcast concern called “The Recount,” hosting its flagship show “Hell & High Water.” I’m recommending the Nov. 7 post-election episode, where he’s joined by Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, and Democratic strategists Jennifer Palmieri and David Plouffe (who each have their own shows on Recount). The foursome break down the election results at a time just before most rational sources and observers called the race for President-elect Joe Biden. In particular, check out a portion around the 22 minute mark when Schmidt diagnoses the problems with Trumpism in the Republican party.

 

Secondly, respected journalist Kara Swisher, who migrated over from the Recode Decode website and podcast to the New York Times starting in 2018 through early 2020, debuted “Sway,” a new podcast for the Times, in September. I’m recommending episodes from Oct. 9 featuring election law expert Trevor Potter, and from Oct. 26 featuring an interview with Hillary Clinton. In the Potter episode, Swisher unearths the intricacies of campaign finance law (Potter had helped out on a Colbert Report stunt several years ago where the host started his own PAC). The Hillary Clinton episode is notable for the way Swisher rapid-fires tough questions at the 2016 Democratic nominee about that race and the 2020 contest (before Election Day), including a frank assessment of the earlier Democratic primaries.

 

Lastly, an interesting one, albeit tough to recommend, is “5-4,” hosted by the Stitcher network, which critiques Supreme Court decisions and news developments concerning the court from a left-leaning perspective. The notable episode is one immediately following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in which the hosts gave no quarter in criticizing her decision not to step down back in 2013 at a time when it was likely President Obama could have filled her seat with a justice of similar philosophy. That critique rankles RBG’s fans, but is a fair one. However, the hosts undermine their point by descending into profane rants about that situation and how Trump was going to nominate her replacement, rather than staying level-headed and focused in presenting their views.

A Podcast For Every Season

I have written entries in this blog, sporadically, off and on, not as much as I would like. It started out in 2016 with sustained regular entries about the business aspects of podcasting. I can’t do that job as well as people like Nick Quah do it, who are able to dedicate themselves full time to the endeavor.  

So I may just try to return to this with some musings about content and recommendations. The constraints of time have shifted my listening from setting out to explore every new or recommended podcast that sounds interesting, to just enjoying listening to certain favorites depending on my mood and interest. In the past several months of pandemic lockdown, that has become, as ever, Marc Maron’s “WTF,” but also Bill Simmons’ “The Rewatchables” and “Tabletop Genesis,” the podcast that features a different album by the band in each episode, going into a deep-dive nerd-alanche of discussion truly for the diehard fans of the group. With occasional detours to other indulgences of entertainment fandom, such as Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer’s “Unspooled” podcast covering classic movies. 

 

One develops a relationship with the hosts of these shows, appreciating and being entertained by the nuances of their style and thoughts about the subject, by narrowing one’s listening from a broad spectrum of podcasts to multiple episodes of the same few shows.

 

My past pattern had been to check out mini-series style podcasts, such as “Slow Burn,” Rachel Maddow’s “Bag Man,” and “Crimetown,” but I think my habits have drifted to bingeing TV shows rather than narrative podcasts, because it’s harder to get into a running series on headphones while doing chores around the house. With a finite interview or recap style show, it’s easier to come and go and catch what you can. 

 

Sometimes it’s more promising to listen to something like “Bizarre Albums,” where they get in and out of the subject matter in 20 minutes or less, while some of the aforementioned shows typically run more than hour, so it’s a bigger commitment. For instance, the “Boomerang” episode of “The Rewatchables” was two full hours, as long as the movie itself, and it takes time to complete that. If it’s good, that goes by quickly in just a couple sittings, or more accurately “standings,” because you’re listening while working out or doing chores. The ones I tune into time after time are the ones that have a rapport between the hosts that stays engaging and carries you along.

Pod & Politics

Wanted to share this with readers of this blog:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/joe-bidens-podcast-is-bad-heres-how-to-make-it-better.html

Good advice and an interesting read...

And the overall downward trend?

Nick Quah has a somewhat contrary view to my previous post -- or perhaps a different take on the current overall trend?:

https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/03/it-appears-people-staying-at-home-all-the-time-is-bad-news-for-podcasting/

A New Normal Also For Podcasting

It’s a small thing in the scheme of things, but it is interesting to note that, with podcasting being a source of entertainment that can help everyone get through the coronavirus pandemic, that listening patterns have changed. It’s a data point about how we’re all trying to adjust.

Midroll, the advertising business arm of the Stitcher podcast network, reported in an April 1 webinar, that the listenership of its shows had returned to 91% of normal following an initial drop as lockdowns started in the U.S. The drop in listening during morning commutes was greater, because people have to work from home, and the total as of March is only 82% of the normal figure during that time, said Sarah van Mosel, chief revenue officer of the company. (Midroll collects listening data including times of day on its Stitcher streaming content).

On the other hand, because of people working from home changing their daily schedules and habits, to take breaks at other times of day or to get outside for walks, midday and other daytime listening is actually growing, according to van Mosel. “We’re now getting a sense of how people’s habits are changing as they stay home,” she said. “We’re seeing people are listening at varying times. We’re figuring out what the new normal is.”

Spotify: The Amazon of Podcasting?

In his February 14 appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast, Ben Thompson, the expert analyst behind the Stratechery website that covers e-commerce and media, posed a couple ideas related to podcasting and streaming audio that should be further scrutinized.

Thompson mentioned Spotify’s acquisition of Wondery and The Ringer and its increasing library of podcasts, but he was speaking to Simmons, the head of The Ringer, and Thompson was praising the strategy, saying it put Spotify ahead of Apple Music, Amazon and other platforms in the podcast space. Thompson also put forward the idea that podcast aggregation can work much better than news media aggregation, as Apple has also tried to do with Apple News, and Vox, BuzzFeed and Vanity Fair are all doing, and may be doing more of going forward.

Simmons and Thompson both commented that more successful outlets like New York Times and Washington Post aren’t going to want to integrate with other news outlets because they have millions of subscriptions and would be cannibalizing their value by participating in aggregation. 

It was hard to tell if Thompson (and Simmons) is fully committed to the idea that podcasting is more amenable to integration than legacy print news media because the discussion bounced around so much between topics and often let go of threads before reaching complete conclusions. Reflecting on their observations, however, it seems that podcasting might actually be less amenable to integration when niche aggregators like Stitcher and Luminary have a more challenging time, at least in terms of commanding a higher subscription rate. As with the New York Times and Washington Post, the biggest podcasters (like Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla) aren’t going to participate in someone else’s aggregation, since they have better value to protect.

One can also see how Simmons is effectively voting with his feet on these issues. Simmons threw a couple bones to Luminary with specialized niche podcasts like “Rewatchables 1999” and “Break Stuff,” but is now putting the Ringer’s bigger and broader ideas, like the “Music Exists” show, on Spotify. Luminary found that its subscription rate had to be closer to Stitcher’s $3 or $4 a month, because demand for its offerings just wasn’t high enough to command $8 or $10 a month.

The question now may be whether Spotify ends up crowding out or dominating the landscape and making it even harder for niche aggregators featuring specialized content to keep enough of an audience to sustain themselves.

Mini Post: A Boring Podcast Blues.

I'm more partial to podcasts that talk about great albums or albums that really had a substantive story behind them, like, well "The Great Albums." This Vulture story notes that podcasts as a promotional tool for new albums or new artists can backfire if there just isn't enough of interest to cover in their creation or rise.

Harnessing the Business of the Medium

The previous entry here a couple weeks ago began with more thoughts about how changes in communication media shape the messages or content transmitted. The post ended, however, with questions about how acquisition deals in podcasting could further change this medium.

Spotify is acquiring a lot of podcasting companies. It appears to be the main media concern out there that is doing this. Will others get into this game? HBO is doubling its “McMillions” documentary series with a behind-the-scenes and extras podcast. Netflix is making nominal efforts in the podcast world with its Irishman podcast as well as its short interview series with stars of new shows and movies on the service called “I Hate Talking About Myself” (which itself is a quick-hit mini podcast of 10 minutes or less per episode, a la The Ringer’s Spotify exclusive, “The Hottest Take.”)

But these feel like token efforts and nobody’s idea of a serious challenge to giant generators of content like Wondery, The Ringer and Gimlet. Amazon seemed to have the scale to succeed in this field but pulled back from its Audible Originals shows in August 2018, only a little over two years after their launch. HBO and Netflix certainly have the resources and connections with talent to compete in the podcast or audio entertainment space if they so chose. Do HBO and Netflix know something that Spotify doesn’t?

Anything HBO, Netflix or Amazon does in podcasting has to start as a loss leader at this point to attract attention, or it has to be bundled into its existing subscriber offerings. Spotify, on the other hand, can put new shows from the companies it has acquired behind its own paywall, while using the great volume of already popular shows from Ringer, Wondery and Gimlet as loss-leaders or attention-grabbers. That’s a lot larger critical mass of content. 

On the Recode Media podcast, which analyzes these matters, Peter Kafka said on February 6 that Spotify won’t put popular podcasts behind paywalls, but will “encourage” its newly acquired properties to generate new exclusive series. This has already happened with The Ringer about to launch “Music Exists” with Chuck Klosterman and Chris Ryan.

What’s the point of all this? It’s so hard to get noticed in the flood of podcast content out there, that having the promotional muscle that a giant like Spotify can provide is a must for a new podcast to catch on in large numbers.

The Medium Takes Over The Message

A couple of anecdotes I caught recently argue strongly for the idea that the medium controls the message in artistic content such as music or movies.

Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller, speaking on Chris Hardwick’s ID10T (pronounced eye-dee-ten-tee) podcast in March 2019, described an issue he ran into while making “The Aristocrats” documentary in 2005. Streaming video was just starting to emerge at that point, but Jillette and his colleagues already had to think about where the movie, about the legend of a certain long-lasting dirty joke, would be seen most – in theaters or on home video. A movie theater audience, he explained, had to be given time to react to elements of the joke or different comedians’ versions of the joke, with pauses before the next bit of narration or other spoken element. Otherwise, a laughing audience can actually miss what is said next in the movie. On home video or streaming, it’s easier to go at a quicker pace, because one or two people watching at home may laugh or be amused but they don’t fill a room with as much energy for as long, and the makers of the program can move on more quickly.

The Netflix show “Bojack Horseman” comes to mind as a perfect example of this. Its jokes are often rapid fire, but subtle, in the dialogue, and the pace of the show rolls right on almost before a viewer can react to any one piece of it. Movies and shows are less and less likely to allow room between jokes or funny pieces of dialogue, especially in comedy, because so few are being seen anywhere but privately on streaming. Another example – the recent comedy “Long Shot” with Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, which played in theaters, but its makers probably knew most would see it on HBO or streaming, because its pace is similar to that of “Bojack Horseman.”

In music, the way the medium shapes content is even more pronounced, and that can be seen in an example of how the very order in which performers appear and present songs is changing, because of how recording artists know music is being heard.

“Rockonomics,” an enlightening book by economist Alan B. Krueger (and sadly, it was his swan song), covers how streaming music service Spotify counts plays of songs for royalty purposes. A listener has to play a song for 30 seconds to count as a “stream” or “spin.” So producers putting together artists to collaborate on tracks will structure the performance so the more popular performer appears first on the track, to make it more likely that listeners will hang in there for at least 30 seconds.

It would be an interesting exercise to analyze popular duets of decades past (think “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves,” etc.) and see if the more popular performer sang first on these songs. Maybe the same principle did apply to keeping listeners tuned in on FM radio, maybe not. Even if it did, it’s less likely that there was such precise knowledge and analysis of this. In the case of Spotify, popularity is being evaluated by a much more precise metric – exact numbers of plays that artists have on the service. And so, this was probably not much of a concern in the recording studio when these older songs were made. The main factor was a producer’s opinion or artistic ideas about who should sing what lines in the song, based on the story being told in the lyrics, or what words sounded better for each performer – not a sophisticated data analysis.

This blog previously hasn’t explored such broader questions about media, focusing on podcasting, but the role of Spotify in music, as just mentioned, is important to observe, because probably soon, Spotify won’t just be called a streaming music service, since it is getting ever-more involved in the podcasting field, having acquired Gimlet and now, as just announced, The Ringer. Would these same principles apply to these producers’ podcasts? Would the more popular host or guest need to appear in the first 30 seconds or two minutes of a show to raise engagement and plays? Or will the merging of podcasts into a medium like Spotify change their shape in other ways. It’s something to think about.