PicoBlog

Sorry for the dramatic subject line, but I want to make sure all the WT fans who subscribe to my substack see this.

Yesterday the company that owns the magazine that owns my podcast laid off a lot of excellent people. I haven’t worked there myself for more than a year, but Weirdest Thing keeps me tethered to them. I don’t mind this on most days; I love PopSci, and PopSci loves Weirdest Thing, and it’s been a treat to have an excuse to stay affiliated. But I’m sure you can imagine that this connection does not feel awesome at the moment.

Beyond the angst I have about the layoffs themselves, which cut a lot of people I think the world of, this also has a direct impact on The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. I’ve been told we need to slow the cadence of the show down to once a month, to cut down on the time and budget that goes into it.

I want to pause to make it clear that the fact that Weirdest Thing has any planned future at all is thanks to the unwavering support of PopSci’s EIC and a few members of the parent company’s leadership team. I’m grateful that my show wasn’t completely forgotten or abandoned. But I am, as ever, bummed that I don’t have the power to control the fate of the show I created and grew with the invaluable talent of my co-producer, Jess Boddy.

I’m exploring ways I might change that. It feels terrifying to ask a private equity firm to pretty please give me back my IP, but after yesterday I know the conversation is overdue. I don’t have high hopes, but I’m trying. This show means the world to me, and to my immense surprise and constant delight, it seems to mean the world to a lot of our listeners, too. I don’t want it to wither away.

Listeners, friends, and (on more than one occasion) my therapist have asked why I don’t just take off and start my own show. It’s not like it’s never occurred to me. The name of this newsletter comes from a sort-of-joking title I proposed for the completely-totally-unrelated podcast I might launch if Weirdest Thing got taken away from me. But I don’t want to lose most of my audience by switching feeds—or spend the next few years worrying I’ll get sued for infringing on the totally original idea of people sharing weird facts on a podcast. Maybe with Weirdest Thing going monthly I’ll endeavor to start something totally new and different of my own on the side. But it’s a lot of work to make a podcast, and I don’t think I’d love any other show I could make half as much as I love Weirdest Thing.

So for now, we’re transitioning to a monthly episode cadence. I hope to make some WT-adjacent bonus episodes and other content available via Patreon. This newsletter isn’t going anywhere, but I’d love it if you moved your paid memberships over to that platform. I’m hoping it can be a place for the Weirdo community to grow and thrive, and a place for me to give y’all whatever kind of content you’re craving now that WT is less frequent.

Now and forever: Thanks for listening, Weirdos.

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