A Fantasy of 2021🪄
Music history, Top 5 this week, and highlights
Hey Poddy People!
I’m keeping today’s fresh newsletter super lite compared to other weeks since I’m in the Bay hanging with the cousins. I hope you have a Happy New Year and that we meet again next week!
Just a few highlights of 2021:
Newsletter subs grew 240% from last December 2020
Accepted into the USC Incubator for Start-Ups
Meeting and networking with podcast friends at Podcast Movement
Shoutout to Indie podcasters out there making it work
Shoutout to the partnerships we’ve created from big to small creators
The first two organic articles linking to Great Pods as a source
Inside Story (Greek publication) for Blind Landing
Skye Pillsbury (timber.fm) about Storytime w/ Seth Rogen
Connecting with Independent writers in podcast criticism space
Shipping search & a mobile-friendly website
Adding a little color to the website
Officially hit our goal of the year in unique page views today and it’s still going! I’m nervous about beating this stat in January just like how I was nervous for December.
First blog post - The cool thing about the blog is we can update it with lists that are still coming out
Feedback Question: Have y’all looked at that Audio Sample player? Is that useful? Have you used it? Thoughts? Feedback?
That’s it for the final intro piece of the year. On to my picks this week…
Podcast: Welcome to Your Fantasy (Adult themes & Explicit)
Genre: Society, True Crime
Publisher: Pineapple Street Studios, Gimlet
Not what I expected to listen to…a history on the early scandals on Chippendales.
However, being tied at #1 with the 9/12 podcast on our aggregated list of the year didn’t hurt. This was the review snippet that got me listening.
James Marriot - The Times UK
“a masterpiece of character study”
Host, Natalia Petrzela, does a great job of adding context with the interviews with former dancers. Old tapes spersed throughout bring the stories to life. You got history, true crime, entrepreneurship, storytelling, and interviews wrapped into a great podcast so far. And finally, you can hear Natalia’s fascination with the subject as added value.
Side note: There’s a certain editing style that I started to like with the Only Murder In Building pod I heard in this podcast. If there is a long answer to a question or story, Natalia comes in and summarizes the rest of the answer, sparing us with a potential loss of emotional momentum.
Podcast: Cocaine & Rhinestones (Adult themes in various stories)
Genre: Country Music History
Publisher: Tyler Mahan Coe
This recommendation came around when Keelin was asking for a music history podcast on Twitter. Context is king with both of these podcasts recommended. Host Tyler Mahan Coe, for example, sets up the story of Loretta Lynn’s song, “The Pill” with a lot of context in the time it was made, similar songs, men vs. women in country music while barely talking about the song itself and amazingly never getting lost.
And wow to the true crime story of Spade Cooley.
Randall Roberts - LA Times
“the episodes contain so much data and dredged-up Nashville marginalia that you are left equal parts dumbfounded and enriched.”
Top 5 on 9/20-9/26 on GP:
1. Ghostwriter (still on top)
2. Bad Women (holding strong)
3. The Lazarus Heist (announced 2nd season for '22)
4. The Just Enough Family (new for top 5)
5. Brown Ambition (tied)
5. Storytime w/ Seth Rogen (tied)
I noticed The Always Sunny Podcast was in our top 5-10 for the first two weeks and completely dropped to zero. A drop like that is fishy. I am investigating why that happened.
Thanks for a great year on Great Pods everyone. As always stay safe, wear a mask, and get vaxxed!
XOXO
Captain Ron