An overdue update from Rick on change at MI

TL;DR To ensure our host/producer avoids permanent burnout, we’ve moved to
3 episodes a month, trying out something new with one of them

How long has it been since I last wrote you, dear patron? Short of a pandemic, there’s really no excuse. Seriously, though, what a time to be alive. What a time to be making media.

And while there’s much to commiserate over during COVID, permit me a moment to celebrate our persistence and perseverance amidst these profoundly uncertain times. Where so many podcasts fizzle out after a mere dozen episodes (if that), MEDIA INDIGENA achieved its 250th this past March, the same month we marked our fifth anniversary.

Yet if I’m being honest, there have also been moments where living and working through four successive waves of COVID-19 have proven deeply challenging. And while I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment from the unwavering quantity and quality of programming we’ve delivered—48 original episodes a year, despite a pandemic—it required the better part of our summer hiatus from all-new shows for me to recover.

And as I gradually came up for air, something became increasingly apparent—I was mentally exhausted. Turns out I’m not alone: podcaster burnout is indeed a thing. Now, as ‘burnouts’ know all too well, some portion of that is on the creator themselves. In my case, a good chunk originates with an imperative drilled into me the day I first stepped into a mainstream newsroom: that of relentless productivity, where you’re only as good as your next story. For eager-to-please workhorses like me, such norms of the trade were to be embraced. A norm I would carry with me into podcasting, for better and for worse.

As I’ve written of before, it’s both exhilarating and exhausting to be able to deliver an entire program single-handedly; to do it consistently, all the more so. And starting out, I believed this was simply the price one had to pay to get a show onto people’s radar. But, over time, what that takes to make happen, increasingly takes a lot out of you.

Which is why, 270+ episodes later, the torrid pace that once seemed acceptable no longer feels sustainable. Something had to give. Here’s what that amounts to now in practice for the podcast:

• outputting 36 episodes a year instead of 48, or three monthly episodes instead of four
  
• two episodes maintain the format familiar to long-time listeners, i.e., a roughly 40+ min. ‘deep dive’ roundtable or interview, pre-recorded, often edited for clarity/flow
  
• the other episode is more experimental: shorter, less formal conversations about multiple items, conducted via social audio apps like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, featuring more guest voices, direct patron input, recorded and shared more or less ‘raw’ (i.e., next to no editing)

Regular listeners will note the latter innovation has already been implemented, and the early response to this quicker, lighter format has been both positive and encouraging.

Revising our workload like we have means it is far better aligned with the resources afforded by our current level of support. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m still very much keen to do more with MEDIA INDIGENA—a vision you can see mapped out in our recently revised list of Patreon goals—but only where resources would enable it.

Five years in, it’s exciting to be trying out new things, to infuse more play into our work. It’s frankly also a relief to finally 'right size' our output with our income. The funny thing is, it’s never been our patrons who’ve needed convincing: back in 2019, when asked what they’d think of us releasing an episode every two weeks or so instead of weekly, an overwhelming 89% of respondents said they’d be cool with it. Trust me, no one’s happier than I to override my media industry conditioning and finally start to listen.

Speaking of listening, permit me to close this missive with another massive milestone for MEDIA INDIGENA. At some point during my summery recovery, we surpassed 1,000,000 total downloads, with a sizable portion of that occurring over just the past year, clear evidence of a growing following and presence. On the doorstep of 275 episodes, a million downloads and counting: on behalf of myself and our roundtable regulars—Brock, Candis, Kim, Ken, and now Trina—I want to thank you for helping to make it all possible, and I'm hopeful you’ll continue to support our evolution as an independent Indigenous media outlet.

Rick