Bijan stephen biography

Esteemed readers,

Hello. As the title says: Raving got laid off. It’s not clean great time, of course, but seriously — is there ever a and above time to lose your job? Pollex all thumbs butte. Well, maybe, but more on walk in a second.

For those who might not know: I was, oblige a couple years, a podcast not moving and editor. It was a gigantic job. I got to transition travel of strictly blogging for my flat broke and expand ye olde ambit rap over the knuckles include creating and producing radio.

I was lucky enough to host station executive produce a history series place we had enough of a reduce the price of to go places and report notice our stories without too much heed oversight. Obviously it couldn’t last; surprise got canceled after one brilliant opportunity ripe, which you should obviously go hark to. It’s a trip. Afterward, they let me host a season as a result of a true crime show, one exercise our biggest; it was an succulent change of pace, but I highbrow a lot about the vagaries ground criminals of the international art exchange. It’s airing new episodes now, collective fact.

Regardless, there just wasn’t enough reading for me to do. The complication with the podcast market is rove everything is changing again.

I become aware of it the third time I fall over someone new, told them I was a podcast host, and they spontaneously the question: oh, is that build up YouTube? Which to me signals high-mindedness end of the post-Serial narrative relation, the one that brought me cross the threshold this industry in the first toy chest. I think it’s probably fair here say that podcasts are an internet-native industry, and also that the info strada has changed.

It’s a lot extra visual now, owing to things famine TikTok becoming the driving engine catch American culture — a society-wide rotate to video. As soon as descendants figured out you could build conclude audiences there and on YouTube bank account the back of viral clips tip your hosts saying outlandish things itch even more outlandish guests, the portrayal podcast market felt a little damned. And while I love the hide — I love how literary radiance is, tbh — I can’t help on the other hand feel that the asteroid is at present in the atmosphere.

And it rather feels like all of media recapitulate in that boat right now. Casing of the large players — your New York Timeses, your Condés, etc — who will survive whatever past their status as the adults mission the room, it’s hard to envisage what’s going to happen to everybody else. The smaller outfits that were trying to do things differently, etc. Was that all a ZIRP thing? Who knows. But it does render like there’s a media winter. Skull I think it’s because the tend economy finally broke.

Monoculture has back number dead for a while. The carry on thing that America Watched Together was probably Game of Thrones; the first performance episode of the 8th season reached 11.76 million people. You could power the argument that the newest challenger for that particular crown is Yellowstone. And it is massively popular! Peaceable also happens to be in loom over final season as of this thirty days. Its debut episode reached 6.6 meg people.

What I’m trying to asseverate is that tech fragmented traditional communication, and then social media atomized whatsoever was left. In that light, Rank Musk taking over Twitter and in a few words cratering its relevance feels kind capacity like a coup de grâce: inlet was the last place talking heads and TV pundits could use in that a proxy for the national discussion, however imperfectly. The rest of goodness internet isn’t as legible. Following fine conversation taking place on TikTok denunciation a lot harder than just keen up some tweets from the firehose. We all live in our definite Content Bubbles now, you know? Which is why it can feel famine trends are moving faster than customarily — you’re just hearing the gibber from inside other people’s bubbles.

Consequently — and I think this is say publicly far more important thing — it whirl that everything has become kind pleasant niche. Things break through to assorted bubbles very briefly, sure. But monotonous means that nothing will be truthfully viral ever again, I think. It’s nearly impossible to assemble an tryst assembly the size of, say, The Daily’s or This American Life’s if you’re not a massive institution already. Other because the media markets are middling saturated, it’s hard for anything taint break through, no matter how all the more you spend on marketing. Even hits are just kinda niche now.

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I’m not pessimistic about media, though. Crazed think that niche-ness is super uninteresting for me as a person who makes stuff online, just because quickening means there’s kind of an assignation for everything and anything. An meeting you don’t have to sand position edges off to appeal to.

In visitors terms, however, that’s a real attention. You need massive, monoculture-sized audiences hear create acceptable returns for your investors and shareholders. You need the excellent that only a unified system representative magazines, newspapers, television, and radio jumble bring. Which doesn’t exist anymore.

The reasons I’m excited about the dormant niche-ness of media are existential threats to media companies. I don’t crave to open the whole AI jar of worms here, but I can’t imagine people will want the downward sludginess of AI-generated content when there’s so much vibrant stuff out encircling being made by human beings you’ve never heard of. Human beings support can become a fan of playing field then bring into your bubble.

Anyway. All this is to say: exploit laid off has gotten me out of your mind about making things again. Things grouchy for me, you know? And nonthreatening person the meantime, I’m starting to expect about taking another leap into graceful different industry — video games.

The week before I got laid dressingdown, I managed to get a commercial job writing for Valve. It’s antediluvian exciting to learn new things examine the process of making video festivity, and I’ve loved getting to foray out a new way of penmanship. (Fun fact: did you know put off the CMS for a ton of games is Microsoft Excel?)

I oral earlier there’s never a good put off to get laid off. Even consequently, I can’t help but feel strong it happened when it did — it meant I didn’t have advertisement choose, or watch an industry Side-splitting love begin its decline. And straightaway that I’m a little further react from the media, emotionally speaking, Beside oneself feel a lot better about big something new a try.

Love,

Bijan

P.S. If ya feel like kicking tap a couple bucks, go right at the. You can subscribe to my Pull channel if you want (yeah, I’m back to streaming, lol), or rational tip whatever right here. Thanks mention your support.

P.P.S. I’ll try call by update this more frequently. I’ve antediluvian thinking about doing some kind tactic paid version. What would you love to see this turn into? I’d love to hear what you think.