EcoTalk's Final Show(?)

This might be EcoTalk's last hurrah as a daily show, but we'll be damned if we won't go out with yet another jam-packed hour of news that will inform the future that us optimists are determined to see through.
If the mainstream media were a little more concerned with concrete plans for our energy future than the cost of somebody's haircut, presidential outside shot Governor Bill Richardson (NM) might have a reasonable shot at the White House this upcoming silly season. David Sandretti of the League of Conservation Voters joins Betsy to outline the big guy's plan to combat climate change. LISTEN (10 min)

Comments

[Alex]

Why bother with the whole radio thing? Just do the podcast, its basically free, and everyone can get it. I don't get why anyone cares about listening to the radio broadcast, I just get the podcast on iTunes and listen to it when I want to. Its great that way.

You would have mininmal costs, and could sell one or two 30 second ad(s) per podcast to make money.

And we would all still get to enjoy the show!

Alex,

Sure Podcasting is fine but in NO
WAY will it cover EcoTalk's Production Costs which are around
$2500 a week I believe.

It sickens me that AAR is
Pay 2 Play, so even if EcoTalk DID
come up with the $250,000 they need
to air for 1 year on the network...
the sad reality is if another
show came along..for ex,some insipid Cooking Show and gave them $300,000 for
the same time slot..guess what?
They would take it in a NY Minute.
AAR is sooo desperate for cash,
they could care less about good
green content.

[Alex]

The costs of a podcast are much lower than the costs of a radio show. The cost to make a podcast is close to $0.

If the Arbitron ratings are correct in the SF Chronicle article, that the show garnered 50,600 listeners... each listener need only have given $5 to keep the show on for an entire year! We weren't talking about a lot of per capita cash here folks.

With respect to the podcast vs radio debate, I would respectfully point out that Betsy's goal was not to preach to the converted... it was to enlighten the masses. A voluntary podcast download is not the same as a national nightly radio slot that even those without computers can listen to.

I feel badly that AAR is in a tough financial bind, but what is happening with the environment is bigger than capitalism. Nature could care less about the almighty dollar. AAR is (was) one of the very few national publicly accessible media outlets where progressive thoughts and ideas could be shared. Unless another startup network comes forth to compete with AAR, I fear for the ability for a show like EcoTalk to gain national traction again.

To quote the SF article, "We love Betsy, we think she's a star, and we'd love to find a way to continue to work with her..." Doesn't that mean assigning a full time marketing director to her show? How hard did they work really? It's not unusual for some of her top guests to pull $10,000 every time they speak somewhere... EcoTalk wanted $500 (per show). I plan conferences regularly, and I know her Rolodex is worth 100 times its weight in gold. And Betsy, well... she's just priceless. ;)

[please]

Please, Betsy, do a podcast for now and let someone pick you up for a radio show. Podcasts are SO affordable, think of it as a bridge to a new audience!