Maria and I are taking another step – this time together – into the new information world.

We are building a podcast, and have recorded six episodes – the latest on vulnerability and courage even as our podcast applications are being processed by Apple and Google for  listing and registration.

New York Magazine says podcasts are among the most important cultural phenomena of modern times, and that is saying a lot.

Podcasts are unlike any other information medium now. Our newest podcast, Vulnerability and Courage, posted Sunday afternoon, already had more than 300 plays by noon today.

And the only promotion has been several mentions on my blog and Maria’s blog. That’s a far better success ratio that Facebook offers or gets on its ads.

“With 660,000 shows and 62 million listeners already,” says New York Magazine, the century’s first new art form is about to enter its corporate stage.

With between 660,000 shows and 62 million listeners, what some describe as American’s first really new art form is about explode, the corporate money-givers are swarming. 64 percent of Americans have now heard of podcasts a 40 per cent jump from just a year ago. 44 per cent of all Americans have now listened to a podcast, which is 124 million people.

One third of all Americans ages 25 to 52 listen to podcasts each month, says consulting firm Convince and Convert, a podcast research company.

Among people 55 and over, 13 per cent listen monthly, that demographic is skyrocketing. The biggest growth in podcast listenership comes from women, an increase of 24 per cent over 2017. Podcast fans listen to 40 per cent more shows than last year.

Podcasts are not like any medium I know. People see them as an Intimate, even personal kind of contact with people they want to hear from. Podcasters are notoriously loyal.

Apple alone has more than 520,000 active podcasts on Itunes and over 18.5 million episodes.

Good podcasts have the feel of conversations, not performances. I think of Paul Harvey and  E.B. White as models for me. Maria has her own feelings about her role in podcasting, she can write about that.

The set-up is not especially hard, but it’s not simple either. Maria and I have been at it for a week, and are not finished signing up with the three different sites needed to record, edit and publish our podcasts.

To do it takes some time and money.

We are not building a sound proof room as many podcasters do, we want our podcast to be authentic and feel and sound real.  Trucks go by, dogs bark, donkeys bray. Our podcast opens with Simon braying his call to life.

 I have a fine Shure microphone and Maria and I talk easily and often. Our life is one big conversation and we want podcast listeners to feel as if they are sitting the living room with us listening to a conversation.

Mannix Marketing is constructing a Podcast Library Page on my blog and podcast buttons on the bottom of blog posts. Listeners will be able to listen to any of our podcasts at any time.

We record in my study in front of a mike. Red lies down behind me and Fate and Bud come in to look for treats and see if they can annoy us. Come and listen to one of our first podcasts.

It’s about our experience overcoming fear and self-doubt and shame in order to do our work and put it out into the world.

All of this is coming together, and over the next few days.