I'm starting to come around to the idea, honestly. If they can muster a little cross-promotion from people like Akaash Singh, who seems invested in them, then they might be on to something. I bet the other hosts are watching pretty closely, and that would especially include the Musers.

I imagine they have been pretty successful from a money standpoint. If someone comes to them and demonstrates a viable option that doesn't include remote spots and 3:30 AM wake up calls, that will be appealing. Gordon has already shown that he wants to push out a little with Twitch and Discord. I don't know how much money he's making of Twitch, but I bet it's a nice little side hustle.

If, and it's a huge if, they can show that this is viable, there's a chance it could be the start of something.

Congrats, but it's weird that they are all going in together as "The Musers".

And congrats to The Wolf's Smokey Rivers, I've tuned back into that station recently now that they are focused on 90s-00's country (and a lot of George).

powerbelly said:

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Ol Jock 99 said:

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And podcasting, sure, there is the potential to make big money. A VERY SMALL number do. But there is also the much more likely potential of just barely squeaking by.

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The high end of podcasting is really no different than radio other than delivery. You need production, engineering, ad sales, etc. The top shows have a pretty large infrastructure. I am not sure Dan is interested in building and managing the required team.

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It doesn't have to be. Guy I followed, for years, had three people on the team and was probably grossing $750,000+ with very little expenses. They've expanded since then, but it doesn't have to be complicated. As far as I know Joe Rogan's operation pre-Spotify was him and his producer and a booker/agent/manager to herd the cattle call of guests. The advertising stuff is all handled by an agency that they contract with. It's why you see the same damn ad reads on lots of different podcasts.


I think the biggest mistake they're making right now is prioritizing Patreon over ad revenue. Obviously in the short term Patreon is going to be the highest source of revenue, but if they want to exceed and radically surpasses what they made at The Ticket, then it's going to be done with ads. That requires more free content. It also requires some level of production for their YouTube videos and shorts, meaning some level of video, because Podcast discoverability is terrible. TikTok and YouTube are the best ways to break out of you're already built audience.

We'll see how it plays out, but if they want to maximize revenue they shouldn't be locked in on the 6.90 subscription long term as they grow ad revenue.

exitone said:

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You have to figure that their highest subscription base will be what they experience in the first month. And from that, there will be a significant drop within the first three months. So its only down hill from here.

I still think the smart play would have been to stay on the sure path with the ticket. And if that starts to decline in the next few years (as the trend seems to be), then everyone move at once to a new platform where they can try and utilize the group as a whole. The Jake and Dan strategy now seems very short sighted. I know some would counter that with saying long term, radio is dying. But I think by abandoning the Ticket now, they quickly lose that association. This would only work if everyone jumps to a new platform at the same time.

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If their first month is their peak i dont think they will be podcasting for very long. They will probably dip and plateau for a while but I think they will create a better and better product and eventually grow their subscriber base. I definitely won't be surprised if they pivot to a format with more national appeal and less Dallas-centricity.

Maybe I'm too optimistic but in reading between the lines in their epsidoes, especially the Akash one, i think they know a lot of people in the space and have enough connections to grow into something bigger and altogether different than a paywalled podcast of a local sports talk midday show. I just dont think these two would aspire to do that and i dont think they'll settle for that.

They've talked about connecting with people in various fields of expertise so I agree with this 100%

Oh, and a new Dumbzone just dropped, they've teased discussing the new Ticket lineup.

It's much easier to build an audience to sell to advertisers via more typical podcasting platforms like Spotify and Apple because the barrier to entry is much lower to grab that initial group of subscribers. Many love Dan and Jake but don't want to pay for Patreon for whatever reason, which hurts their advertising ceiling.

Podcasts are either story-driven or guest-driven, rarely host-driven (even Rogan is guest-driven). The Hang Zone works on radio because radio can be host-driven.

Their strategy was most likely Patreon-first because it gave them time plus a financial runway to build out ad sales and a producer to get great guests. Even if it hurts their long-term upside, it probably was the most pragmatic approach.

Regardless, it sounds like what they're doing now is taking a lot more effort (and certainly more risk) than their former gig at the Ticket. Some people love that grind, but the easier route would be tempting to me. Maybe I'm just lazy.

Jub needs to lay off the extra curricular fun for a day or two. His voice sounds like death

they mention/ask in the dumb zone, but who's producing 10-1 & 3-7? weird that no mention of blake.

Gotta wonder if they are trying to bring Blake in sooner rather than later.

10-1 is actually better for Blake since he has so many commitments during football season.

Jub has sounded like death this entire week, wonder if he's been going at it this week. 3 AM wake up calls come quickly.

Why is the audio so bad this year?

It's scratchy, and the levels are all over the place. I keep having to turn the volume up and down when they come in and out of break.

Jub said on Monday he has the same virus his wife has. So that's why. Plus the party last night

Alright this new guy can get lost now.

AgGrad99 said:

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Why is the audio so bad this year?

It's scratchy, and the levels are all over the place. I keep having to turn the volume up and down when they come in and out of break.

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I had to do that with TDZ a bunch. maybe apple related

I'm enjoying him so far though...I'll just make a point to ignore his A&M opinions

His bio from his last station. His texas longhorns LOL

Jake's yell leader impersonation had some humor to it, today Matt just went with the very lazy "Aggie fans are delusional" bit.

AgGrad99 said:

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Why is the audio so bad this year?

It's scratchy, and the levels are all over the place. I keep having to turn the volume up and down when they come in and out of break.

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It's awful. Guys in studio are like four times louder than those out in California. Fix this sh/t, Rich.

Ervin Burrell said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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Why is the audio so bad this year?

It's scratchy, and the levels are all over the place. I keep having to turn the volume up and down when they come in and out of break.

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It's awful. Guys in studio are like four times louder than those out in California. Fix this sh/t, Rich.

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yeah, and some of the guys are really scratchy/pixelated on some mics.

They're on remote all the time without these issues. Has to be something to do with the setup there.

It helps their short-term revenue and the immediacy of getting near or back to what they were making at the Ticket, but it's actually bad for advertising. Advertisers don't care how many subscribers you have on Patreon, because Patreon is usually used to create an ad-free version of your content. By putting their stuff behind a paywall they're limiting their discoverability, because they have less content to push out to people outside of their fanbase. YouTube and TikTok are the best ways to build audiences. I'd imagine eventually they'll shift their subscription to a lower tier to entice more subscribers on an ad-free basis, keep the current tier for additional exclusive content, and do 4-5 hour to hour-and-a-half long shows posted to all platforms, with clips posted to YouTube Shorts and TikTok.

Norm with the opening pitch tonight. He looks awful.

Glad they finally locked Corby up, he's a menace to society.