I am *this fucking close* to just stopping doing the podcast altogether, and frankly would quit if it weren't for the fact that there are now multiple other people relying on me for their employment, given the *constant* stream of complaints.
I've spent the last three years with people whinging at me "the episodes are too long, why don't you cut them into multiple parts and release them more frequently?"
I have explained, patiently, why that was difficult.
Eventually, the reasons *to* do it started to outweigh, slightly, the reasons not to. So I started doing *the thing people have been begging me to do for three years solid*
Roughly half the comments I've had today "I wish you'd go back to doing long episodes"
You need a big mean guy to be your door man and receive their complaints. “Yeah, that’s real fucking fascinating. I’ll pass it along for sure. Andrew will be real goddam grateful for all your little observations.”
Yeah, I’ve never had a problem doing that! I can’t necessarily devote my full attention to a four-hour podcast (and would prefer not to listen passively and fail to absorb anything), so I just hit pause at one of the many convenient musical breaks. It’s not a big deal!
Hang in there Andrew and take as long as you need. Your podcast is a valuable documentary and for the life of me I do not understand how anyone would complaint about it.
By the way, Listening to Ep. 172 part 2 as I type this.
Andrew, your podcast is the single most anticipated media input in my life these days, and you have to find a way to stop encountering comments, including this one. You’re right: You’re very good at what you do. Make that knowledge your mantra, and just do the work. For you. And thanks.
Your podcast is awesome. I have told lots of people about it and have had two conversions in the last week. One, a guy who plays in a cover band (in a Stax-style horn section) and a work colleague who is on her way to see Taylor Swift this week.
Another convert was in the sidelines of a conference. Six months later (at another conference) she came up and said, ‘That podcast is so good- I listen to it in my car every day’
(I didn’t ask about music excerpt volume levels)
But the best one is a friend who came around to dinner and said ‘I’m listening to this amazing podcast on the History of Rock n Roll’.
I said, ‘I told you about this *four years ago*’
I'm sorry people are like this! I've learned so much from your show, but happy fans aren't as outspoken as grumpy ones. So please take some of these replies as proof that your appreciative followers outnumber the jerks.
Your podcast is my constant companion at cardiac rehab. It may be the American in me, but I consider the Patreon fee every month to be an upvote and positive feedback. I ignore most of my student survey results because only the angry ones share. The happy ones take more classes.
I’m so sorry they’ve got you down. I think your podcast is amazing and I have learned so much more about the history of music. I use this info for my work to help find music publishing royalties and get them to the rightful owners (you’ve very accurately described my company, The Harry Fox Agency).
