Today – Turnbull slams Pauline Hanson over calls for Muslim immigration ban, Abbott calls for the Federal Government to keep the Hazelwood power station open and Jacqui Lambie opens up on welfare cuts.
I started this podcast in February. I always warned that it would be an experiment to see whether something like this would be successful, interesting and engaging.
And it has. Over the past month or so, there has been 4400 hits on my Soundcloud account. On average, 150 people a day have been listening in, which has been great. That’s not bad, given it was recorded in some kind of ghetto studio I set up in the spare room.
I’ve been encouraged by all the feedback from public servants, political staffers, journalists and the occasional MP. It’s a gap in the market that I think could be successfully filled.
I’ve had a lot of fun, although waking up at 5AM has been a bit tough, especially when you’re not getting paid for it.
I’m back at the ABC and so because I’ll be waking up even earlier to get to work, I’ll have to put The Trough into storage for now.
I simply wont have enough time – and it’s something I can’t afford to keep going on a daily basis.
If a news outlet or an organisation was keen on sponsoring this podcast, then maybe things would be a bit different.
But this is simply the state of the industry at the moment.
There were also doubts about whether a subscription model would have been enough to pay the bills, despite the encouraging number of people who said this was something that they would definitely contribute to.
Without long-term institutional backing, without taking a lot of risks, and without a significant financial buffer, it would have been very difficult.
But it may not the end.
This might turn into a weekly wrap of politics – and who knows what could happen down the track.
But it’s fun, it’s been great delivering these bite sized podcasts each morning and proving to the world and to myself that this idea I had two years ago is something that works.
And so, it’s goodbye from The Trough for now.
Thanks for listening, talk to you soon.