500 Episodes Later: What Actually Grows a Podcast

0:05 Good morning podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Tuesday, April 21st, 2026, and today we're celebrating 500 episodes with the voices who built this community, sharing lessons, lasting moments, and tackling your biggest questions about growth, change, and staying true to the show. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button top right hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching this via podcast, YouTube, etcetera, please share this with a fellow podcaster. And now give us about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. The podcasting morning chat is powered by ironic media, helping podcasters launch, Polish and grow great shows and by content creators accountant, helping creators build real business behind their content.

1:21 Good morning again, Podcasting Morning Chat. Thank you for being here. I'm laughing because I didn't unmute at when I started to say hello. And here we are at 500 episodes. You'd think maybe I'd know to do that. I am your host, Mark Ronik, and currently on stage. Well, I can't go over well, who cares? I'll go over every name here. We have quite the full stage. Here we have Ralphie Step, Jonathan Howard, Dr. Fey, Pedro Messiel, Nick Nallback, Sid Meadows, Jason Sercone, Alex Baelish, Dominic Lawson. I'm laughing 'cause I said Howard last time he was here for some odd reason. Well, that's another story.

2:03 We also have James Scott, and Cliff Ravenscraft is on stage with us as well. And a good morning to those of you in the audience as well. I'm gonna, you are all welcome to come up today. Well, you're really welcome to come up any day, but especially today with episode 500. And by the way, we also have some of these fine people that I just mentioned over on the video stream as well. Pedro has joined us and Ralph, as always, has joined us. And Jonathan Howard is on video as well. So if you want to see us, you can go to podcastingmorningchat.com/join us and find all the ways that you can see us via video or Clubhouse.

2:47 If you're on the other side of things and want to come over here. Yes, Austin, this is quite a full stage and you want to come online and see Jonathan's dog because Jonathan has his dog in his lap today. Yes, he does well as he normally has to have that puppy in his lap because I know that puppy is quite rambunctious and also injured. Jonathan, remind us of the injury and how is the puppy doing? He Jack broke his leg about 8 weeks ago but he is fully healed and running around like a crazy like a crazy dog like nothing ever happened. Right, so cool. I'm glad he's doing better. That's awesome.

3:27 Good for you. I'm sure that's a little bit of a relief for you as well 'cause that was that looked like it was quite the effort to have to take care of that pup. Thank God he's little. He's carrying around bigger dog with a. Broken leg would have been a problem. No kidding. No kidding. Well, I'm glad you're here and same with Jack. Glad Jack's here as well. So let me start here. We are going to get to some mailbag questions. I do want to Well, first we owe you a winner for our true Fans dot FM year subscription. This is the runner up to Ralph E Steps Rd. caster duo giveaway that we just announced yesterday. By the way, if we don't hear from the winner within I, I think it was a 48 hour winner, a window we will have to redraw and unfortunately know this person who wins the not unfortunately 'cause you're going to get a full year subscription to true fans their the podcast hosting platform, but you won't get the road caster duo.

4:26 At least that's the way I see the rules going here. But anyway, the winner for a full year that this means that you can upload video audio. It can appear on multiple platforms, including Apple as well. We know Apple's just added video for the to the podcasting side of things, but the winner of the one year True Fans dot FM subscription is, oh, he's, I think he's right here in the audience. Actually, it's Austin Kittleson. Austin, you are. Yeah, that's your last name, right? Congratulations to you, Austin, that we will connect you with Sam Sethi and you will receive your one year subscription. Cool, cool little thing that Sam offered us on Friday when we talked about celebrating #500 So there you go, let's jump back. Well, let's jump officially into the show here. I think the best place to start is a little background first. Pedro.

5:35 As I said, Pedro, he's an old schooler. He was part of the podcasting morning chat team before I ever was, and it was around during the early Clubhouse days, I guess. Officially launched in 2020, and it was only on Clubhouse for several years. It went away for a little while and then Pedro, you had the itch to bring it back. And I think I was doing a little research. I've always been telling people and telling myself that we rebooted PMC together, but I think you were actually doing it for like a week, at least a week or two before I ever joined you. Is that the case? Do you remember? Yeah, it was definitely one of those things that, you know, again, early, early clubhouse days, very nostalgic, very cool. But yeah, I was going, it was probably about a good 2 1/2 three weeks span that, you know, we tried to reboot and get everybody together and bring everybody back, kind of get that that feel like we had before.

6:38 But yeah, and then along came Mark and, you know, we had some synergy. We talked a little offline and kind of like discuss some things and yeah, I'm glad that, you know, keeping the podcast in morning chat alive and well and kicking and. Here we are. 500 episodes in. Yep, Yep. So that Pedro and I officially connected and started doing PMC together on actually. I think it was Valentine's Day of 2022. I think that episode was Avoid Podcast Heartache, I believe, and we were joined. At the time, the mod team was a lot smaller. It was me and you, Kim White, Carrie Zarb, I believe they were our regulars on stage with us and so was Chuck Taylor, who's just joined us here on stage.

7:28 It's so cool to see some of these old profile pictures that I remember seeing for so many years. Like I said, 2022, this is when we rebooted the podcasting morning chat and then this show started January 31st, 2024. As far as a podcast specifically goes, that was our first official episode and we recapped it was part one of two parts of our Pod Fest 2024 recap. So we had several people joining us that attended the event and we talked about it and yeah, broke it all down. So, and actually, why not? I'll just play it for you. I want you guys to hear.

8:09 Now, I can't say this is awful, but I will say this is my very first intro from that February 14th episode and you'll hear. So I believe the music is playing. Side note, I used to just play licensed music when I started the podcasting morning chat. When I would start the show, I would play a little bit of music, a popular tune that I knew would get people going. And I'm going to just jump the line for a second and say hello to Chuck Taylor because Chuck, I think you are the reason why we have our infamous theme song that so many people comment on that they love so much. We never would have had that if it wasn't for you giving me a hard time about playing licensed music.

8:52 So thank you for that. And good morning to you, Chuck. Welcome. Are you able to come off Mike? He might be in a break. If for those who don't know, Chuck is a professional radio personality, has been doing it for decades. And in true fashion, sometimes he can't come off mic. When we call to him, there he is. Good morning, Chuck. Yeah, I'm sorry, I haven't used the app in so damn long I forgot how to turn the mic on. Well, things have moved around since you've been here. Yeah, they absolutely have it. That's a new mic or new app layout U UI if you would yeah. I don't believe in playing license music because you can get fined very huge for it in my line of work.

9:36 So yeah, I gave you a hard time and I will continue to do it if you ever play licensed music. Again, well, I appreciate it and I preach that all the time these days. And I think I was a little loosey goosey with it because it was on Clubhouse and I just felt like no one will care, no one will hear it. But once especially we became a podcast, it was time to change that up. But we had changed it prior to the podcast. This is the intro, the very first intro I did. I would say if anything, you're going to notice how slow and dragged out I make the intro. And this was all before I was really caring more about the timing of the music with my intro, etcetera. But yeah, let me play it for you. Good morning, podcasting, morning chat. Today is Monday, January 29th, 2024 and today we're talking about Pod Fest 2024.

10:39 Jeez. So if you don't mind, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you do that, whether it's a text to a fellow content creator or maybe it's so pushed to somebody you know here on Clubhouse. Just whatever you do, please give it a share. And in the meantime, give us about two minutes and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here. 2 minutes. 2 minutes. Ouch. 2 minutes. Say it. Say it. Yes, give us 2 minutes. That was what we used to do. I used to let the music run are.

11:20 We doing wins that took so long. I think it's Friday. Yeah, it was just, I don't know what what I was thinking there, but I was just dragging my feet. Were you broken? I don't know. Oh, hello, Jason. Was I broken? What do you mean? Oh. I just felt just, it took you so long. It's like you're trying to put yourself back together as you spit that intro out. Yeah, yeah. It really don't know what. I was thinking about. In your defense, in your defense, it was COVID, so people had nothing to do. No, COVID was long over. This was 2020. Four trying to help me. It was long. It was long over, but I think Mark a that intro great. Everybody has to find their cadence.

12:01 And again, starting a new show. Yeah, you do it on Clubhouse, impromptu jumping popcorn style. But the cadence was good. And now you can look back from first episode to 500 episode and see how you've done. And kudos to you, man, Congrats. Thank you. And that's, you know, look, that's I've been podcasting at that point, it was like 15 years and yet still struggled with that intro. So I think there's something important there. I appreciate you bringing that up. Not to call myself out, but more to say, you know what, it can be a new show and we can still struggle. Even if we've got years of experience, right it, we still got to find that cadence, like you said, find that rhythm and flow. And the best way of doing it is just doing it instead of trying to perfect it prior to the first time hitting record on that. Chuck, sorry, I saw you were off mic. Go ahead.

12:53 I was saying my problem with it was the fact that you had been in broadcasting and knew better. Yes, you're right. You're right. I have no excuses, but there you go. All right, So with that, you listen. We've got more people that have joined us, more people from our past and present too, because sometimes they join us. Dominic, I've already mentioned Simona Costantini is here. Simona, good morning to you. Welcome. This is the first time that you've joined us since becoming a mom. So an official podcasting morning chat. Congratulations to you. How are you? How is sunny? Good morning.

13:35 I'm so excited to be here. She is great. She wants to make her debut and cry into the mic. Also I'm in AI don't know if you can hear her, but I'm in a different room for two seconds. But it's good. It's really good. It's been oh. Yeah, I hear her. You hear I'm literally on the other side of the the whole other side. But honestly, it's been really good. I honestly can't complain other than this current moment of her crying, Sure, a pretty good baby, you know? So yeah. How is juggling everything now? Because look, we all joke about Simona and the fact that she is always on the go, move in, has a million things going on. Now she's throwing a baby into the mix.

14:16 So Simona, if you're able, how are things going juggling all that? It's definitely interesting. She had her first trip this this past weekend. We went to a conference that I actually spoke at, which was a bit wild. She's only six weeks old. That was fun. We got to see Sid there, which was so fun, and Sid got to meet her, which was really, which was really good. Definitely. It's definitely made me slow down a little bit, which is nice. But you know, if anyone else in the room is a parent and a business owner, you know that you don't always get to take all the time off that I want. And so I went back to work pretty quickly. So I was kind of thrown back into juggling all of the things. So it's been, it's been a really interesting learning curve.

15:00 Oh my God. But I'm. Sure. Yeah. But congratulations, Simona, and I'm glad to hear that it's teaching you a little bit of the idea of slowing down. I think that's good for all of us, a good lesson to be forced into. So I'm glad, I'm glad you're getting a little bit of that and of course, enjoying motherhood as well. And congratulations to you guys. And I mentioned Dominic a moment ago and I think it's appropriate to say hello to Dominic here because where we were just talking to Chuck when Chuck had to, well, not had to, he made the decision to bow out from joining us regularly here on the podcasting morning chat. Dominic's name was the first person he recommended to take his place, if you will take that seat and be the leader here, and he was.

15:49 Dominic was always contributing to this show as a community member, and it was such an obvious choice that I'm so glad Chuck suggested because Dominic has been a huge part of this community. Yes, he's not here as often, but he's still a big supporter of the community, helping people individually, helping me at joining when he can. And of course, one of the big things that he helped with was the first year of Empowered Podcasting, which I will always be grateful and appreciative of that. So Dominic, good morning. I'm going to actually ask you because I haven't even really gone through my official question to the group, so I'll start with you here.

16:33 What was it about this community for you? What kept you coming back for so long? And anything else you want to share, feel free. Go for it, Dominic. Good morning, everybody. Hope everybody is well. And I just want to say it's so great to see everybody. I was definitely a big fan of Chuck. So I'm definitely glad to see him. And I didn't know that tidbit that he kind of, I did not know that. So I'm deeply honored for sure because I definitely had a lot of respect for all of you, including Chuck. So I really appreciate that. I think what had me coming back is when started podcasting in 2016 and when I was doing that, it was kind of hard to find a stable community.

17:14 And I say stable community because you have Facebook groups and stuff like that. And really all of those places were really like, you know, share your show type of farms, if you will, right? And then people just like, you know, follow me, follow me back, you know, this whole deal. But this was one of the first communities I saw where people were actually sharing ideas, collaborating in that regard. And so it really was just a sense of being able to get out thoughts and, and share thoughts and share expertise. And like, yeah, I got this tool I'm working on or I got this concept I'm working on and to kind of, you know, use those ideas, you know, into your own show or not use it, you know, whatever. But it was just good to know that there were a group of people who were like minded and we're trying to do things in this very empathy industry we call podcasting, which is still definitely much in this embassy.

18:17 But I think that's what just kind of kept me coming back. It was the sharing of ideas, the sharing of tools, freely open and honestly, all right. And I think that's what made me keep coming back. So it's just really great to see this stage full of people from the, you know, the people who joined recently, like your Dr. and Jonathan and Ralph to Pedro. I definitely remember those early days with Pedro and stuff like that. So it's just really glad to kind of see everybody. It's really cool to see. Thank you, Dominic. Yeah. And we are really blessed and honored that all for all these different people joining and and contributing to this community. And it's really cool, Dominic, that you've been a part of it for so long. You've been able to really become a big influence on so many of us.

19:02 And we're so proud of the multi, multi multi awards that you've received over the years. And we're just proud to be a little small part of that with you. So thank you for being here today and always whenever you're able. All right, So I think what I'd like to do is keep thinking about that question, gang, what keeps you or has kept you in the past coming back to this community? And I will say this, yeah, some of you don't come back as often, if maybe at all, except for maybe today. And that's cool with me. I just want to make that really clear that I feel like a lot of us do move on over time. And a lot of you, most of you, almost every single one of you join this community in the mornings or have joined it really as just out of the kindness of your own heart because you care about community. It wasn't like I was paying you to be here. So I get it that at some point it might run its course for all for a lot of you, a lot of our team leaders. But what doesn't go away are those bonds, those friendships, the community aspect of it.

20:12 You know, like the fact that Simona just shared and she met up with past and present community members in person. This past week at a convention at Military Con, I believe that's right. So the community still lives on and that's what's really one of the most important things to me. So with that, I do want to get to the mailbag here for a second. We have so many. Let me pull it out here. We have so many big voices here that I'm excited to get through some of these mailbag questions to have some fresh perspectives for our audience. So this one comes from Jason. No, not Jason Sirkone, who's on stage with us, Jason M of Columbus, OH.

20:56 Jason says, you all have me thinking a lot about podcast growth lately, and I keep wondering how much of it really comes from getting better at podcasting versus simply being connected to the right people. I can work on my contact, my content, my delivery, and my consistency, but sometimes it feels like relationships and networking open more doors than the quality of the show itself. For those of you who've been at this for a while, how do you see that balance? How much of growth comes from improving the craft and how much comes from being connected to the right people? I see Ralph has his hand up, so let's go to him and then I will check in with Jason Sercone who wants to answer.

21:42 I see several people want to answer. So awesome. Let's go to Ralph first. Go ahead, Ralph. Good morning, everybody. I think it has everything to do with building relationships. I've said that on the show since I joined the show. I think the real secret to growth is not going out on AI and asking AI how you're going to grow your show. It is going to give you bad information. The best way to grow your podcast is to grow it one person by one person by building those relationships. And I honestly think that is the secret to long term growth. It's not quick, it's not going to happen overnight, but you definitely need to connect with people who will put you in front of other people and put you in front of other audiences that you're not currently connecting to.

22:24 So I think that really is the secret, Mark. Thank you, Ralph. I appreciate that. And I'm curious to hear what others think as well. There's a lot of validity to what you had to say. And I'm feeling like some people are going to not necessarily disagree, but they're going to learn more toward the quality of content more. But I'm curious. Let's see, I might be projecting. So I think yes, Jason will go to you and then Nick, go ahead. Jason, good morning. Good morning, Mark. Good morning, everybody. I honestly believe that it's a combination of both. I think knowing the right people and having the right relationships is going to allow you to get more opportunities and open up more doors.

23:04 But I know we've talked about this in other settings. If your content isn't dialed in, it doesn't matter who you attract, you're not going to keep them in the seat for long. They're going to discover other shows that satiate their needs, and getting better at your craft allows you to tell your story better and allows you to amplify those relationships and take them to another level. I'll give a perfect example before I pass the mic. And I'm not one to ever brag about my stuff, but my episode of my show Podcasting Strategy Simplified that comes out Thursday. I did an episode with Courtney Rhymer, who I met at the Empowered Podcasting Conference. We both realized very early in our conversations that we have a lot of like minded thoughts and we wanted to capture that in podcast form.

23:53 And we did her show first, then we did mine. It's one of the best podcast episodes I feel I've ever had, both as the host and just from the conversation alone. I'm very excited to get this out because I want the feedback. I'm thinking on this level of I felt like this was high enough that this will be the episode that I put out for awards and do a lot of marketing around because it really captures the essence of everything we're talking about here. It was built on a relationship, but it also came from 11 years of building a skill set. So my take on it is both are very important. Yeah, I think I lean a little bit that way too. I'm going to bite my tongue just because I know there are several people that are going to want to chime in. I'm going to retract the order for a second that I just teased. So stand by Nick.

24:40 I want to go to Pedro first. Pedro, please share. So what do you think? Is there a balance here? Or does is it content that's king, or is it all about who you know? It's a little bit of bow, but I want to say and push back on what Ralph had said about the AI. Most definitely take one of your episodes, one of your transcripts, put it into AI, ask it how you can get better and compare it to something in your niche that's doing really well and how, you know, give yourself some goals to say, hey, I want to get to that place. What am I doing or what can I do? But yes, your network is your net worth, right? You have to be in the same rooms with the same people that you want to be, you know, associated with.

25:25 But not everybody's built to be a content creator. Not everybody's built to have a voice on a podcast. Maybe you're good at social media management. Maybe you're good at live streaming, right? Trying these different avenues and verticals to, to get the message out there to attract your crowd. And it once you hit that, that one that you know is going good, Hey, I'm dope on TikTok versus me not being dope on Instagram. OK, we'll focus now on TikTok and continue you to put that out there, refine and rehone that story that you're trying to get out and then the community will come. But yeah, definitely, definitely use AI. And I know Ralph, you can respond if you want, because I know Ralph is a big fan of using AII think it's a matter of how you use it. Would that be fair to say, Ralph? Yeah, absolutely.

26:13 And I just want to clarify what I'm saying. I think that relationships and being, you know, present and doing all things is great. My issue with AI is a lot of new content creators go to AI and say how do I grow my podcast? And it's not going to work because I agree with what Jason said about, you know, erfecting your craft. But my point is, if you don't know who you're speaking to in the first place, you've got to start there. So you've got to build the relationships to understand what people are coming to you for. I honestly will take a different approach. I believe you can be a little sloppy with your craft, but if people are making a connection with you, they will let that stuff slide because they're connecting with you. They want to hear what you have to say. You bring value to them.

26:57 But my issue with the AI, Pedro, is to just, I think a lot of people just dump in the AI and say, well, whatever it tells me, that's what I'm going to do. And I think it leads to a lot of heartbreak. Oh yeah, most most definitely concur with that, Ralph. And again, it's what you're feeding the AI to give back to you and not just going off of that, doing market research and actually, you know, practicing your stuff. It's not a end all be all, OK, I'm going to take this and be successful, you know, use it as a tool to help elevate the message and what you got going on. I agree. Thank you both. Appreciate that. I see Simona here in the chat on Clubhouse asks, how do you do that? How do you raise your hand? Yeah, it's been a while, Simona, and things have changed a lot.

27:37 Yeah, just go ahead and tap my face here on Clubhouse. You'll see some emojis pop up. And then all you got to do is click a Simona, click the hot pepper. It's as easy as the script. It's no problem. No problem and I just want to say that she when she did her. Evaluation of her life, it took more than three breaths. And I think that alone shows you the power of having a kid because normally it would have taken her one breath, the whole entire thing. Thank you, Alex.

28:17 Oh my God, I had a baby and then I had to get coffee and I had to go see Sean. Oh my God. And then I had to go do a podcast. Oh my God, It was just so amazing. Oh, I have to go. I have to go figure out the script. That was one of the that was one of the beautiful things of having Simona in the mornings regularly as she really helped pick up the energy of the room. Yeah, go ahead, Simona. You're all picking up my energy this morning. Can I chime in? I don't want to. Sure, sure. Go ahead. I wasn't. Sure, I wasn't sure how to do this and when you're like, you know, we're all pretty good at tech, but this thing's got me through a loop over here. I'm like, where is the emojis? How do I react to people's comments? I'm like, what's going on here? In any case, I think it's really interesting because the question that the person asked was like, you know who or that Jason asked was that you're we're talking about growing the podcast through who, you know, right.

29:02 So I think that's a really interesting perspective because it's not always like, yes, it matters who you know, but even if you know, whatever people you think, quote UN quote will get to the next level, those people may not be listeners of your podcast, right? So that's where we think about like in the agency, something we've prioritized for over a year now is everything coming up with the all the like large language models, right? So it's how you are searched, how people find you, how your content can get found that matters equally as much in my opinion, as you know, your social media marketing strategy, your, you know, podcasting growth, like guesting growth strategy, your go to a conference and talk about your podcast on stage strategy.

29:44 Like there's so many different ways to grow your podcast. I think all of them very much work holistically and you need to have an overarching strategy to do that instead of just one or two lanes. Yep. Thank you, Simona. Appreciate that. And I do want to take a moment to shout out Chris Vaglio, who's also an old schooler in this community, was here way before I rebooted it with Pedro. So good to see you, Chris, formerly of the Chris and Amanda Show, no longer the Chris and Amanda Show. But yes, I think some of you will remember Chris in that regard. And then another Chris, Chris Wagen, welcome. Great to see you here as well. A regular listener of this community has had some stuff go on in his life work that's making it more difficult to join us, but I know he tries to join us when he can. And a big shout out to all of you here this morning joining us.

30:38 And I'm especially impressed to see Rich Perry here, who always my one of my business partners for Empowered Podcasting. He always gives me a hard time that we do this show way too early and so he's usually not here for that, but more to come on that. By the way, I do believe we do have a time change coming up here in the PMC. And as I've also teased for some of you old schoolers who may not know this, please don't get upset or sad, but we are going to be changing the name from Podcasting Morning Chat to Podcasting Morning Show because it does feel more like a show these days. What? Yes. Oh my God, OK, I'm not sure I like change Mark, but I'm just. Kidding.

31:23 Well, trust me, I don't either. Yeah, I hesitated for a long time on whether or not I wanted to make this change, and it was for that very reason 'cause I know how people respond to change, and a lot of times, not so well. So I've thought long and hard about that, but here we are. This is what we're going to do. All right. I've stalled long enough, not intentionally. All right. So with that then Jonathan, do you want to be the final answer to Jason Ms. question about balancing? Is there a balance growth with growth as far as content networking? What do you think? Yeah, balance doesn't exist. So I mean, you just got to try what you got to try.

32:04 But what I wanted to say was don't forget about all the foundational stuff. The things like who are you reaching? Who needs to know what you're talking about? How are you helping them? All of that foundational stuff is the stuff that you can build your craft on, but make sure that you have it because that's going to help you grow. Yes, it's a mix of the content. It's a mix of knowing people but also have the foundation solid. Yeah, fair enough. I can appreciate that. I think where I fall on this is I do think it's a balance because when I think about this very show, I was doing a lot of the things, the strategies to help it grow and it was growing, but it was pretty slow in the early years, in the first, let's say couple of years. It wasn't until I really started embracing community and networking and going outside of our little bubble that I started to notice a change, right?

33:01 And I do believe you've got to have the good content. You can network and meet a million people, but if you're putting out content that is of no interest to them, it's not going to matter. You might see some spikes here and there with your content, but you're not going to see steady growth. So that's why I say there is a balance there. I think that you got to put together a quality show and then you need a community behind you to support it or to support you, right? That doesn't mean they have to be listeners of your content or viewers of your content, but you can learn a lot from your community. You can get a lot of great insight that's going to help you improve or help you with your growth or help you with whatever your goals are.

33:43 You know, I saw somebody in the chat earlier saying something about how if I'm in a room full, if I'm the smartest person in the room, I'm in the wrong room. So I think it is important to surround yourself with people that are doing big things and that can help lift you up and your show up. So I think it's really a matter of both. All right, let's get back to our community that's here today. You're welcome to answer that question about what kept you coming back to this community for so long. But also I'm going to throw out another question. Is there a lesson about podcasting or maybe even about yourself that being part of this community helped you learn?

34:27 It doesn't have to be about your podcast. And in many ways, I think I've learned a lot about myself, maybe more about myself than podcasting being a part of this community. But Sid, I'm going to come to you first on this one. Go for it. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. I hope you can hear me pretty well. I'm driving to the airport this morning. But wow, how cool it is to see all these amazing faces. Pedro, I have not heard that voice in what seems like come on to Sunday. So welcome, man. It's really good to see you and Chuck and everybody else here this morning. You know, this community is responsible for so much of who I've become as a podcaster. And I remember the first time I came in the room and a man divided me up on stage. And I'm like, no way I'm going up on stage with all those experts.

35:13 My question will be really stupid. But you know, because of this community, I have a better mic. Because of this community, I have headsets. I remember Pedro told me to go buy some headsets and I couldn't figure out which one. When I was at the store, I had dropped all the way across the other side of the Metroplex to the music whatever store. And I'm texting him like, which ones do I buy 'cause there's too many. I'm so confused. Have them back because of this. I have a road caster because of this community, but most importantly, I think one of the things that this community really helped me do was really, really believe in myself as a podcaster and a content creator. So it's one of those moments in my life that I'm forever grateful that I walked into this room and I met this group of people that really helped me lean into something today that I truly love to do.

36:00 And proud to say that I am a podcaster and a content creator. So for all you old guard folks, you had a lot of ripple effect, including me. You're starting with me, and I know it ripples down throughout the podcasting industry. So thank you all very much. What a beautiful share. Thank you so much, Sid. And yeah, I think one of the biggest things to date that I see from you, Sid, is the fact that now you're preparing to speak on stages, helping fellow podcasters. I think that is really exciting. It's cool to see that. Look, Sid being one of our longest running members, we, you could say maybe this community has run its course for him being a part of it for so long.

36:43 But clearly it still has gifts to give, and Sid still has gifts to give us. So it's really special. It's really powerful, and I so appreciate that, Cher. Sid, thank you. I see that we have several people Jonathan wants to share, Simona. Dominic, Alex, I'm going to mix up the order a little bit. Dominic, I'm coming to you next. I believe maybe you want to answer this question. What's a lesson about yourself about podcasting that being a part of this community helped you learn? I think the biggest thing for me is, you know, it is as a podcaster was honestly embracing video, I think for the longest time as a narrative podcaster, that was a big hurdle for me. But, and I shared this with Mark and Nick privately, but I'll share with the group.

37:33 I remember when Nick and Mark first showed the first iteration of Sora and that was the first moment or one of the first moments. I was like, OK, this may be the path to transitioning Black as America into some type of video format. And so we've been able to do that, not necessarily exclusively with Sora, but it kind of gave the idea of what a new iteration of very popular show, very successful show could look in this iteration. And so now the season, we call this the Black as America cinematic era. And honestly, now I'm probably transitioning from podcasting into filmmaking with my first documentary coming now next month.

38:19 And so this community is just a wealth of knowledge and a wealth of, again, just sharing ideas. And I think it just it, you know, I think what I've learned as a content creator is that like, there's never a ceiling. I don't think there's ever a ceiling once you have, you know, the will. I mean, there's a willingness to like to grow and always getting better, stuff like that hashtag Mama mentality, but also at the same time being around people who are collectively trying to get better as a group. And I think it's a very good combination. Yeah. Thank you, Dominic. Very cool. And sorry that we LED you to Sora, which is now no more.

38:59 I know it's all good. It's just again, it opened the idea of what some the next generation could look like. So sometimes things are just like you were saying about Sid and this and the other. And I guess for many of us who aren't here every day, I think sometimes things are just here for a season, right? And but it's also just, you know, important for overall growth, I think. Yep, Yep. Thank you, Dominic. Appreciate that. And I'm going to check in with, you know what I'm going to. I know you didn't volunteer at all yet, but I'm still going to go to some people who are on stage that we haven't heard from. Also some old familiar faces, old schoolers, I should say. I'm going to first say hello to Amanda Yoa on stage.

39:42 Amanda, it's been a minute. Good morning. Good morning. Congratulations on your 500th episode. So happy to be here this morning. Happy to see everybody. How are things going with you now? I believe the podcast is still going. I know that you've seen you on social media sharing that you're doing your stand up. How's everything going with all that? It's been a wild, crazy ride, but it's been a lot of fun, Yeah. I'm really focusing on, you know, booking live events, my podcast. This is season 6 for me, which will be wrapping up soon. And then in true Amanda yo of fashion, we will be revamping, gonna convert to a studio and possibly bring in a Co host. So my podcast now is, you know, really heavily comedy based. Just looking for someone to join in on the fun. So we have that going on that I'll probably launch maybe like the end of summer.

40:38 I usually take like a big long break in the summer to be present with my kids. So yeah, it's been a lot of fun. So did you pick your host yet? Your Co host or is that an ongoing search? That's an ongoing search. I have a few people in mind that probably don't know that I have them in mind yet that I'm going to ask them. But I mean, they have to be committed because it's monetized and it's, you know, it's, they have to show up and it's, you know, a commitment. So we'll see. I don't know. We'll see. Awesome. Well, thank you for being here. And I don't know, Amanda, not to put you on the spot, but if did you want to answer that question, if it was there one thing maybe that you can recall that you learned about your podcast or about yourself that being a part of this community helped you with? Oh my gosh, You know, when you asked that question, I honestly didn't know where to begin because I was like a baby podcaster when I, you know, came into this room religiously. And I feel like I've learned so much about the game and, you know, every aspect, you know, showing up on social media, the use of AII can't really nail down one specific thing. But I will say what I think stands out to me, and I think I've heard what other people have said too, is just the community and being able to, you know, bounce ideas off of people and to take through wisdom, which is for me, you know, you can spout things out, but if you haven't lived things and haven't done things, you know, that's

42:09 where you get the juice, right? The wisdom versus the knowledge. So I know there's many people in here who have that wisdom. So I'm always wanting to learn things from people who have done the thing and say, OK, this is what I've learned through my experience. And I think that's what has helped me the most with podcast Morning Chat. So thank you to every single person in this room. You're welcome and thank you for being a part of this community. We appreciate you and thank you for that answer. I appreciate that. And I want to check in with our resident musician of the community, Jeff McMahon. Jeff, welcome also been a minute since we've talked to you on stage. How the heck are you?

42:49 Hey guys, I am good. I will say that my absence is more often than not tied to the fact that I'm working more as a musician, which means 6:00 AM in my time zones have become more challenging than when I was working more behind the scenes with people and not so much on stage. But yeah, I'm good. Just to kind of build off what everybody was saying, I can say that the main impetus I had from the podcast here was just the fact that everybody was trying to raise the bar, and that was really important to me when all this started during COVID. That was the thing professionally, that was so madding to me during COVID.

43:34 So many platforms, so many podcasts, so many. Facebook lives were. Growing and thriving even though their content was garbage because we all had so much time to fill. And it made me crazy recognizing how people were settling for really bad content. Noisy microphones, poor planning, no planning. People just weren't trying to be good because they didn't have to be. And that was one of the things that I really dug about the room was just the fact that that we were all trying to help one another get better. And we knew that we were not crazy by trying to get better because a lot of people early on didn't have to.

44:19 They just had to show up. So yeah, that was kind of what brought me in. And then I got to know Chuck personally, got to have coffee with him. And Simona's a real face friend. And Chris is back. Hello, Chris. He snuck back in on you, Mark. So yeah, that's kind of what brought me in. And I appreciate, Mark. You reaching out, let me know that you were going to be celebrating this sedan, to be a part of it. I love it. I'm so glad you're a part of it, Jeff. And real quick, what's the latest gig? What are you up to? It's musically. I'm working most weekends with an artist named Chris Cagle, who had some number ones and top 10s in the 2000s Maddie True, who some of you will remember. I know Simona does because Simona. I think Simona and Maddie have established their own little girlfriendship.

45:13 We're getting ready to work towards the release of her first full EP, and she just had some big owners thing and in context with the room, Maddie and I just got through hosting a bunch of interviews at the Country Radio Seminar, doing interviews of other artists, which is an offshoot. Either things that I learned through this community or interest that were certainly watered in this little garden of podcasts. And yeah, that's kind of what's going on here. Love it. Thank you, Jeff. Congratulations on all of your your return to music, if you will. I know you certainly never fully stopped, but as far as professionally goes and running around, being on stage instead of behind the scenes, that's really exciting.

45:57 And I'm so happy that you're here. Thank you for being here. I want to keep it going because we have lots of familiar faces here. And let's check in with James. James is across the pond and that might be a familiar name to some of you because he used to have a Sports Network, all the podcast related called Across the Pond. James also recovering from a little bit of surgery, I hear from yesterday and might be a little intoxicated from those that from that medication. So I'm curious to hear you, James. But good morning to you, Sir. And yeah, if there was a lesson about podcasting or yourself that being a part of this community has helped you learn, I'd love to hear it.

46:39 Go for it. Yeah, the pain meds are definitely kicked in. So play #9 to know lessons, Wow. I mean, Pedro, Sid, Ralph, Amanda, Chris, they taught me so much about podcasting, not just podcasting, but how to grow your podcast, how to get the right. Sound. I mean, there's just so many lessons I learned because I'd only been podcasting 6 months. And by the time Clubhouse came around and I jumped into the rooms and I just learned so much. And then it must have been about maybe six months down the road from that, people started asking me questions. And that's when I got real scared because I was like, why are people asking me questions?

47:24 I'm still new at this. But I think as well, one of the big lessons was around collaboration. Like so many people from podcast and Morning Chat were guests on one of my. Shows or many of my shows. Mark, you were on the NFL show. But one of the most fun collaborations that I ever did was actually with Simona when the WNBA came to me and offered me media credentials for a game interval Toronto, an exhibition game that they were going to have pre season. And I went to Simona and I said, how do you fancy going to WNBA game? And she was like, I'd love to. Now obviously this was late at night for me, so it's like 3 AMI think by the same.

48:07 The game finished, but it was just so amazing to be able to collaborate with Simona. And I still have the picture. She took a picture on the court after the game. Still have that. It's one of my prized pictures because whenever I was given media credentials for anything, it was something I kind of treasured and made sure that people got their flowers for that. And like, we got to go to the White House as well. I didn't personally, but like, we did the WNBA game, we did the White House because when a sports team wins their championships, you go to the White House and shake the hand of the president and that kind of stuff. And so. I've done so much in the four years that I owned across the pond Sports Network like and I've seen so much stuff being so many places like Nike headquarters, super. Bowls like phenomenal, but I always go back. I could not have done it without the podcast in morning chat because I learned so much here and the roots of podcasting and how to reach out to people, how to talk to people, which was something I wasn't very good at before. But as you can hear right now, whether it's the drugs or not, I'm.

49:21 Quite good at talking. But yeah, I learned so much and I cannot be ever more thankful for Pedro and the gang when they first started the podcast in Morning Chat and Chuck too. Chuck's, Mcguy and Jeff. I wouldn't be into to country music now if it wasn't for Jeff. I love it. I love all the different types of ways we influence one another. That's awesome. And James, what a great story. Thank you for sharing that. I see Simona put in the chat that this one, that opportunity was one of her favorite podcasting moments since she's been in the game. So very cool experience, very cool story, and particularly excited that you're here, James, today. Thank you for making the effort to be here despite a little bit of surgery, despite a little bit of medication. Love that you're here.

50:09 Thank you for being here. And I got to keep it moving because we have so many people to get to. So let me get right to it. I'm going to say hello to Chris Baglio. Chris, welcome back. And please share a lesson maybe that you've learned through your time. Hey, what's going on? Everybody, Can you guys all hear me? OK? Because I'm in the cars. No problem. OK, Cool. Thanks. Yeah. I was just thinking about it and listening to everybody. It's so awesome to hear James and Jeff and so much. It's just so great to hear all these voices again, because it's been I feel like it's been forever, but it's but also doesn't feel like it's been forever. I was just thinking back. I'm like this community when I joined. I remember when Pedro started it and it was back in 2021. So like the power of this community, I mean, it's 2026 and this thing was going has been going on since 2021 and it's just awesome.

51:01 I mean, for me, I just at that time, you know, I was podcasting already, but being in a group like this was just, it just helped me level up. Plus, it was also like a mastermind group, too. So it was like there was a lot of the accountability and just everybody wanting to help each other out. And so, you know, it just got me better with techniques and from the technical side. And of course, if it wasn't for this group, I wouldn't have met my partner in crime who I got to do a show with for five years. Miss Amanda Sharp, who, you know, Yeah, We start off Chris and Amanda's show, then went the song swap showdown. And, yeah, the show's evolved. And, you know, Amanda decided to take a step back from the show and I wasn't sure what to do, but we kept the show going. And now I do the show with my wife and we've rebranded it Vinyl Verdicts, so, but we're still, you know, doing it live. We actually did our episode last night and pumped to keep it going.

51:52 I've still been pretty active and a ton of stuff. If anybody follows me, I'm also, I took a little bit of a career change for a bit. I'm working now at a rehab facility with adults with traumatic brain injury and shocker, I'm producing podcasts over there. So I've got a podcast that I host with another with a client and we interview a lot of the folks there who are in recovery and it's been doing really well actually. It's amazing how fast that one's taken off. I'm having fun doing radio shows with them doing that and also on the radio side. I hasn't been formally a Nash yet, but I'm officially taking over Radio Garden State. Really. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah. MM has decided to pursue other endeavors and I am, yeah, formally, I am taking it over.

52:40 I am now doing Radio Garden State. Yeah. Well, congratulations. I wish I could come into the group as much as I used to. My work schedule doesn't let me do that as much as I would love. But I still listen. I listen to the recording. So I love everything everybody's doing. I'm just so happy that this community is still rocking and rolling. I really miss all you guys, man. It's great. It's so awesome. I hear these voices. Agreed. And great to hear yours as well, Chris. And great to hear all of the big things that you're up to these days. And you know, that's what I keep coming back to in my head when I hear each of you sharing that haven't been here in a while, just to see the progress that you know, again. Well, I'll say it because a lot of you have given credit to this community.

53:23 It, you know, a lot of this has to do with the influence, the knowledge, the insights of this community, seeing people do these big things here, coming back and sharing all that. It's a little mind blowing and really exciting for me to see how everybody is growing so much. So thank you for sharing that, Chris. Appreciate you. And we should say Amanda Sharp wanted to be here today. And unfortunately, she lost her dog over the weekend. The dog passed away, and it was probably the dog's time. I know her. This was an older dog. And it doesn't really matter because as Ralph said before the show started, Amanda's lost a family member and that is a lot to take in.

54:04 So I certainly understand why she's not here today. And I know that she sends her love as well. And by the way, for those of you who have been around for a long time, I do have a familiar voice who wanted to be here today but couldn't make it. It's our old friend who I think Chris might have mentioned. Somebody mentioned a moment ago Roth wanted to leave a message but he couldn't be here today to do it personally, so he left this. Well, hello there Clubhouse and all the podcast listeners listening into Empowered podcasting. This is. Rafael de Fordia. From Not Your Average Globetrotter and Newbound media.com, I wanted to say a huge congratulations to Mark and the team for making to 500 episodes.

54:49 It's amazing to see what Mark has created and put together building off of the old podcasting morning chat. It's great to see that the spirit of all of this has been kept alive. So really, I'm so sorry that I can't be there with you guys celebrating and enjoying this time. But I'm sure you're having an amazing, amazing session. So enjoy, keep going and I'm looking forward to 1000. Thank you, Roth. Yes, Roth has been a part of PMC well before I was. He was part of the old crew with Chris and Chuck and all the rest. So yeah, good to hear from Roth as well. Roth, not in this country. I don't know where the heck Raphael is these days, but great to hear from him. I want to go check in with Yvonne. Yvonne, welcome back to the stage. And now I know you are more regularly still a part of the community, at least in the mornings. And you haven't been here in a minute because I know you've been doing some traveling.

55:47 So good morning to you. Did you want to share a lesson that you've picked up over your time with this community? So many lessons. Where do I start? First of all, congratulations on 500. Wow. I've been around since the early days pre Mark, and I'm just wow, you, you got to take all this in. This is crazy, right? You've kept this going and I'm looking around at all these faces in front of me and it's just blowing my mind. Yeah, I every time somebody comes to me to talk about starting a new podcast, which happens and freaks me out because I'm like, why is that? OK, I don't consider myself to be a podcasting pro the way a lot of you are.

56:33 So I'm always referencing them here and always referencing them to you, Mark, as somebody to go to. And I don't know if anybody ever knows, but there you go. I was just in Santa Fe. This week, this past week, doing photos and speaking. And that all came from Empowered Podcasting because I was there and met Christina Vitovich in person, who then referred me to Diana Place, who was putting quests together. And while I was there, somebody, another podcast guest who was related to that whole thing invited me to moderate AQ and A for her upcoming documentary film that's coming out because I had interviewed both her and her documentary film subject. So like it all ties into what you asked in the mailbag question at the beginning of this, which is it the content or is it the people?

57:36 And it is all both. I come here everyday because I learn from all of you and you challenge me to get better every single time I get on the mic. So thank you. Thank you, Yvonne, and it's such a pleasure having you part of this community. And I know, you know, you said some a line there that I think a lot of podcasters say, no matter how long they've been doing it, that idea that, you know, I'm no expert and you have the experience that makes you an expert. You have your own experience. You've been doing this for a long time. You've learned lots of stuff. There are many people that are several steps behind you that can learn a lot from you. And I say this to everyone, not just Yvonne.

58:17 So please keep that in mind and remember that we all have something to offer people. It's just a matter of finding the right people to speak to and share our experiences and our insights. Thank you, Yvonne, and thank you all. We're going to keep things moving. I know we're over time and it's a special day. So for those of you if you can't stay, I completely understand. But if you can, would love to to have you continue celebrating with us. First, I want to go to Ralph. Ralph, please share a little. You had a message you wanted to share with everybody, and then we'll get back to the celebration. Yeah, thank you, Mark. I just thought today is a great day to talk about how we can support the show. 1 of the things that I'm hearing everybody talk about is how much the show has meant to them. And this is a great opportunity to promote supporting the show. And you can support the show by going to podcastingmorningchat.com/support.

59:09 That's the kind of support that'll help us moving forward, help us grow the show, have us advertise and really take it to the next level. So again, I would really, I appreciate if everybody would consider that today. Podcasting Morning chat.com/support. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Ralph. I think that's an important one. Yes, please. We would appreciate your support in any way that you can. And let's check in with Cynthia. Cynthia, thank you. I reached out to Cynthia a couple of times. It's been a long time. Cynthia and Alex used to Co host the podcasting evening chat that we did once a week on Friday night nights. That was quite an interesting show, a lot different than what we do in the mornings and it had so much character and energy. I do miss that show and Cynthia miss you as well. Thank you for coming by.

1:00:00 Did you want to share a lesson or something you learned about your podcasting or yourself being a part of this community? Hi, Mark. Let me give a shout out to Mark and Alex and Dominic for giving me the opportunity to do the Friday night evening show. And it did have its own character and it was nothing like this. Good morning, good morning. I have to jet, but thanks for letting me be a part of this. And you know, I think of all of you constantly, but I haven't reached out because I'm going by a different persona now so that I can continue with my book and my book writings and teachings. But let me tell you.

1:00:48 I do appreciate this community. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Bye all. Bye, Cynthia. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And, yeah, just having you here and even hearing that voice means a lot. So thank you for sharing. And yes, being here as well, Cynthia. And cool to hear you're still doing your writing and would love to learn more at some point, so please stay in touch. All right, we're going to Janae next. Janae, please share. Go for it. Good morning and congratulations on 500 episodes, Mark and the community, because you know, it's all possible when we'd work together. I wanted to give a shout out, a big huge shout out to Junior who actually told me about Empowered Podcasting Conference one.

1:01:31 He's like, hey, there's. This thing happening in North Carolina, you should go check it out. And that's when I first met. Well, that's not the first time I met Mark. I think I've probably met you at podcast. But that's when we really got together. And since then, I've been part of the community, listening and joining in to podcast in morning chat. And it's been absolutely amazing. I'm so glad to be part of this community. It's helped me grow. It's helped me tackle things that I haven't done before. And I'm so glad to be part of here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Janade. I'm grateful that Jr. connected you with the community. And yes, we had met before at previous conferences like Pod Fest, but we never really connected, right?

1:02:14 We met, we said pleasantries, but never really connected until Empowered Podcasting. So I am so glad that you got that tip and that you came and that you've become such a big part of the community. Thank you for sharing and being here today. Let's go to Billy, another old schooler of the podcasting morning chat. Been here way longer than I have. Billy, thank you for showing up today. Thank you for being here on stage. What do you want to add to the conversation? Dude, I beat the buzzer but I made it. So like everyone else has said, man, congratulations on 500 episodes. I have seen a lot of people come through and kind of host and do their, you know, rendition of the of what you have going on here.

1:02:56 But you've definitely took it and made it what it is today. So a lot of work, a lot of energy. And kudos to you man, it's always been good, but this is like the most consistent, best quality content that's come out of this since. The beginning and no shade on anyone else. I just think it's what you do so it makes sense. So really appreciate, appreciate the community and I think it's what I've. Gotten out of this because I've, you know, been in podcasting, been out of podcasting, been on the guest. Side the host side, but just as a content creator and someone who really believes we should all be leveraging our skill sets in a lot of areas, you know, to do what we want to do, it's really just been that staple I can come to.

1:03:37 It's like my morning radio where if I'm here for 5 minutes or 50 minutes, it doesn't really matter. I'm just like, OK, this feels comfortable. This is my safe place to come and, like, be around people who get me in that I can enjoy, you know, their conversation and go, yeah, I get that. I understand those wins, losses, struggles, you know, and everything in between. So thanks for holding space for everybody, Mark. You're a trooper, man. And I look forward to what the future holds for you. Thank you, Billy. I appreciate that. It's awesome. Thank you means a lot. All right, because of timing, I want to keep it going. And Gene has joined us on stage and appropriately so in the sense that here we've been talking about winning Ralph's Road Caster duo, which was inspired by the time that I gave away my very first and the first rendition of the Road Caster Pro, the Road Caster Pro 1.

1:04:28 I did a giveaway and Gene was the winner of that. And I think we did that like 3 years ago. And Gene, welcome to the stage. Gene and I keep up a bit on social media, so it's not completely new to see him back here, but it is cool to have you back on stage here. Gene, good morning to you. What did you want to add? Good morning. Good morning. Hey, I just yeah, that that feels like that was such a long time ago. But no, I'm super excited. I just really wanted to say congratulations on 500. Don't get a chance to get on as much a lot of time because it's so early in the morning. I know you talked about that earlier. But then when I do wake up, it's like, oh, forgot or I try to catch it and then it's like the holiday sign and we're on break. And so I said, well, let me just catch it on the pod. Let me.

1:05:11 Catch the recording. So no, it is, but I'm really thankful for the community. I've actually learned a lot, even about being OK to just take a break sometimes. And I've taken a long break from my Hijack My Life podcast, but I've still been working producing for the the previous college that I worked for. Now I'm producing a new video podcast for this current college that I'm working for, but am rebranding and kind of restructuring, not the name of the show, but actually going through it and working through what my my target customer or target listener that I'm talking to as far as my podcast. So it all coincides with the book that I wrote. I got a new baby on the way. I had one baby. So it's been a lot that's been going on, but. I'm still connected.

1:05:54 I got my. Doctorate, yes, a lot of that. So it's been a lot that's going on, but I'm still connected. I'm very thankful for the community. That's awesome, Gene. Thank you for coming up here, being on stage. I love that we kind of had that full circle moment here having the previous Rd. caster winner. We've got the new one that we just announced yesterday. Very cool. And so cool to to have you up here on stage. And I'm look, I'm glad you are able to be a part of the community through the podcast. That was the big one of the biggest reasons why I decided to to start this as a podcast and not just keep it to a live stream on Clubhouse because there were a lot of people that wanted to be a part of it. But like you were saying, maybe it was too early, maybe it just didn't work with their schedule.

1:06:36 So I wanted to be able to put something out there for everyone and fully on it. Being fully honest with you, I put it out there because here I was a guy who helps people podcast, I produce their podcasts, I coach podcasters. And I hadn't been, I wasn't doing officially my own podcast at that time and yet I was doing a live stream every day that could absolutely serve as one. And it only took me like 2 years to to realize that I could make this into a podcast. And I am so grateful that I did. If today's made anything clear, it's that this show has always been about more than podcasting.

1:07:17 It's been about this, the connection, the perspective, the support and the growth. And that's a pretty meaningful thing to celebrate at episode 500. And it's even more meaningful to me personally to see some of these old faces here today supporting what we do here. I, like I said earlier, I get that not all of you can be here all the time. And just to have you here showing your love, showing your support, not of just me, but of the community and of some of these individuals that are here today, it's so special and I am eternally grateful for what we've built together here. I genuinely do not take full credit for any of this and I'm just glad that you all show up and support in whatever way you can.

1:08:06 So thank you. And a reminder that we're back tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern. Soon that will change that time. More to come on that. And again, like I said earlier, the name is going to change too. It's just one word. I'm removing chat and changing it to show shouldn't jar. Too many people ruffle too many feathers. I hope and looking forward to the future of this show. So tomorrow, like I said, I don't know if I actually fully said it. Tomorrow we're doing news and comment as we have done traditionally for years on the podcasting morning chat. So come join us to get all the latest info and our personal take on that info.

1:08:48 Ralph, do you want to find a word before I officially wrap? I did. I just want to say a big thank you to you Mark. I want to say it personally, since I've come to know you, Mark, it's changed my view on community, it's changed my view on podcasting. And it's very clear to me today what you've built here. And I just want to say personally, and I speak for a lot of people in the audience today, thank you for everything you've done for the podcasting morning chat, Mark. Thank you, Ralph. I appreciate that, truly. And I received that. I have a hard time responding to it, but I do receive it. Thank you. It means a lot. OK gang, until tomorrow, make it a great day everybody. Take care and thank you for being here.