Saying Goodbye - Brought to You By...

This is one of those podcasts I was truly sad see come to an end. It's started out called Household Name with a tagline of "Brands you know, stories you don't". The entire idea was a deep look into one aspect of a brand that was a household name - Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola, Jack Daniels, Whoopie Cushion, etc. The show was produced by Business Insider and the original host was Dan Bobkoff. When Dan left Business Insider in 2019, Charlie Herman became the new host and the show got a new name, though you can see the branding didn't change.

Brought to your by... Logo

Household Name Logo

The content didn't seem to change much either, for which I was grateful, and episodes continued to be produced throughout 2020, for a total of 62 in the show's run. This means if you haven't listened to it yet, you've got plenty of listening to enjoy.

Brought to you by... (aka BTYB) was a business show at the core, something that isn't always a win for me. Some business podcasts are really boring if you aren't actually into finance or a specific industry. But the cool thing about this was that the vast majority of these brands were either ones you actively used, had used, or were familiar with. I've never used an electric scooter, but the episode about the Scooter Wars was relevant because they are everywhere. Pan Am was before my time but learning about their involvement in the Vietnam War was eye opening. 

They also did listener stories about their interactions with various brands. Listener stories have a way of irking me (mostly because I'm somewhat sensitive to certain tones and that seems to resonate more over headphones of any kind) but I found they kept them short, relevant, and generally funny. They also had people who would call in and ask product questions, then a producer or researcher would come on to answer those questions after they found answers. You get the sense that they all enjoyed learning these new aspects about brands and we all know authenticity is a key component to podcasts.

I highly recommend this in both forms. Episode 1 posted on July 25, 2018 with an episode about TGIF being the Tindr of the 60s. The podcast can be found here or wherever you get podcasts. Farewell, BTYB, you're missed.

Current State of (my) Podcast World

For reasons I won't expound on, I temporarily lost access to my phone and had to use a substitute until the global chip shortage allowed me a new one (new phone acquired, order is restored). However, in doing so, I spent a month with little storage or processing space and a phone that could not run some apps, including my Google Podcast app. I love the Podcast app, I like the layout and interface, but for a month, I had to access podcasts on my phone via the web. This showed me exactly how many podcasts I am subscribed to and it's...a lot. 

Most of them are single season investigative reporting or limited series sort of things, which are nearly always my favorite. But they're cluttering my space and trimming dead wood is my current focus, so I want to unsubscribe from them if they are no longer publishing to that feed. As long as I stay on one podcast from each studio, I'll still get the new show updates that I currently get a dozen times over from podcasts that have been done for a few years. 

Before I remove them, though, my sense of completion and desire to get things I loved more visible means I need to review them here. So I'll be doing that and adding the label "complete" to indicate the run is done and unlikely to update (i.e. some of the investigations are ongoing or in courts so those I will keep while they keep updating as developments unfold). 

Also, a note on this - Parcast has decided to move all their shows exclusively to Spotify. As I don't use Spotify, I am no longer listening to anything they put out except International Infamy by Ashley Flowers (of audiochuck) because it's still updating. It's a limited series as well, so hopefully it finishes out on Google. Parcast was always hit or miss since they get very sensational about true crime in a way that can be uncomfortable, but a few of their shows were enjoyable (Cults and Medical Murders were my favorites). I really hope this does not start a trend of moving to exclusive platforms but given Spotify has decided to get aggressive about beating Apple Podcasts, I have to assume this is something we're going to see. 

The other side of this is that Crime Junkie has decided to make an app for their show. It's incredibly well done and I unsubscribed from them on Google Podcasts after confirming it won't hurt any of their metrics. I'd love to see an audiochuck app since I follow all of their shows, but the CJP app is really good if you listen.