If you read my blog, you know that Kris and I are launching a new podcast. It’s been an interesting mental process, putting it together. We want to podcast…just to podcast, really. We’ve made friends with a number of folks out there. We talk to them, and they talk back via email, skype, twitter, etc. I think we’d like to keep in touch, more than anything. But neither of us have a big project to market, a book to promote, a business to run. I think we want to talk about life with like-minded folk.

Six months ago, I wrote a bit about “the end of podcasting era.” Hyperbole? Sure. Perhaps it was less a death and more of a maturing. Many more voices have joined the the initial pioneers. In some ways, this is a good thing. In others, it’s a dilution of passion.

Marketers have found ways to “monetize” podcasts, and with that comes drivel, dreck, and all manner of watered down content we’ve come to expect from media companies that treasure the dollar more than the message. Sturgeon’s Law comes into particular effect here. I still hang on to my 10% that is to die for, and try to avoid the 90% of crap out there. I listen to less podcasts than ever now, partially because, without the commute, I don’t have the time, but partially because I find even some of my old favorites are starting to become dull. They are starting to feel insincere and in some cases, tired. As if the host is trucking onward not because of their love of the subject, but purely out of a sense of obligation.

Podcasting has matured, no doubt. More and more it’s part of a marketing toolbox, not a an end to itself (if it ever really was, some would argue). This was bound to happen, it is not surprising, but I do lament. I think that the age of pioneers and passion is behind us now. It is natural. It is normal, perhaps even inevitable. It is also somewhat sad. There is nothing wrong with getting paid for your work, but I think that when it saps your love of the subject, it’s time to step away and start over.

That’s the hard part about planning the show. It’s not about numbers or marketshare or selling ads. It’s not about how best to gather more listeners. It’s so relaxed that I’ve had a hell of a time figuring how what it should sound like. The mental intro I compose and scrap and compose again has gone from something slick and produced to something so simple that I wonder if it’s just too easy. The outro, which is where the major plugging of website and email takes place, is a mystery to me. The content will be…whatever strikes us as interesting at the time.

This makes us hobbyists, not professionals, I imagine. We’re not out there, pounding the pavement, trying to sell ads and boost ratings. I am also idealistic, naive, and foolish when it comes to such things, I’m sure. In the back of my mind, there is something which says “if you build it, they will come.” Not everyone. But the folks that like what you have to say will. It’s that intimate audience that I’ve always loved about the medium.

So…what now?

I have no idea.

And that is so freakin’ cool.

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