The Stratosphere Lounge | Episode 340

Bill —

I was listening to this and had some thoughts based on the feedback you were asking for.

In no particular order:

I do most of my political listening on podcasts. Sometimes, I’ll subscribe to a person’s YouTube channel to help support their subscriber numbers, but I usually am “tuning in” to the podcast version while I’m on my long commute. That could be one reason you have so many subscribers but few views.

I also tend to skip The Virtue Signal every time. This is for several reasons. First, it’s too long to be a short show but too short to be a long show. I tend to look for things to either be 10-15 minutes or 45-60 minutes, depending on when I’m listening. The other reason is that I’m not a fan of Zo’s commentary. I’m a Christian myself, but I find his manner of bringing the faith into the conversation to feel both forced and saccharine, as well as highly predictable. I know that no matter what the topic is, Zo will always end up quoting scripture for ten minutes, which I think undercuts the whole purpose of The Virtue Signal, at least as I understood your explanation of it when you were starting it; that is, to reach the young who have no concept of virtue or virtuous living. It’s not that I have a problem with religious content — Catholic Stuff You Should Know, Return to Tradition, Brian Holdsworth, Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World, and Rules for Retrogrades are some of my favorite shows — it’s just that I think Zo’s approach is more likely to turn away the very people who you’re trying to reach (and probably already has, but I don’t know what the views are like for Virtue Signal since you started it).

I actually have so many subscriptions to podcasts that I’ve accumulated over the years, I cannot actually keep up with them all. Right Angle is one of my favorites. I listen to every one, and look forward to it more than pretty much any of my other regular shows. But, because I’m listening on the podcast, I don’t show up as a YouTube view. I used to really enjoy the Right Angle Backstage shows, but since I’ve had to rely more heavily on the podcasts than the computer, I never get to them anymore.

If you want to know how to do the “shorts” well for politics, check out Misha Petrov. I say this because your plan to read the news of the day in the morning does not sound like an effective way to use that format for political commentary. That said, I tend to skip almost everyone’s shorts (hers, Tim Pool’s, etc). I find the format annoying, but then again, I neither tik nor tok, so I suppose I’m not the target demographic for that.

Because of my schedule, I never catch anybody’s livestream when it’s actually live. Even if I can be there for a premiere, I usually pass it up and catch it later. Real Coffee with Scott Adams is another favorite of mine. It normally lasts about an hour or a bit more, which is a good length (45-75 mins). He speaks so slowly that I listen to him on 1.7x speed. I find Jordan Peterson really good, but I almost never listen to his stuff because his interviews are too long. I pick and choose a couple that sound interesting, and leave the rest as “unplayed” to get to later (but I never get to them).  Coincidentally, that’s why TSL never much appealed to me (way too long), but I’ve started listening to the podcast version to fall asleep (no shade — your dulcet tones are good for that — and, hey, I must be paying attention because I got out of bed at 1:30 am to write this to you based on what you were asking. I’ve been a fan of yours since the PJTV days, and I’m totally in your corner, rooting for you).

Timcast IRL is a really good show, but, again, I never listen live. I usually wait until the next day or two when he breaks out his two-and-a-half hour roundtable discussion into 12 to 25 minute blocks by topic, and then pick and choose the segments that interest me. He doesn’t put those on the podcast, though, so I have to watch him on YouTube. I probably end up watching 1/2 to 3/4 of what he puts up. The thing that makes it work, though, is the roundtable discussion, which is not really your format (not even with Zo). Tim Pool’s podcast version does break out sections of those livestreams (I think), but only the parts where Tim is monologuing, so I ditched that.

The Daily Wire shows were at the top of my list for a long time, but not as much anymore. Again, I listen to Ben, Klavan, Knowles, and Walsh via podcast. I’m a paid subscriber to DW (as I am to BillWhittle.com) because I think it’s important to support you guys, but I’m almost never on the website. Nowadays, I always make a point to catch Klavan’s show, which comes out once a week. I’ll check out what Ben or Knowles has to say if there’s something major in the news that I want to find out about or hear some perspective on. I don’t get to Walsh as much as I’d like anymore. I have nothing against Candace Owens or any of the new people, but I never added them to my list because I can’t keep up the way it is.

Some really good people to check out, especially with your editing skills, would be Brian Holdsworth (nothing to do with politics), Misha Petrov manages to be effective even with the talking-to-the-camera-for-ten-minutes format, but some of her appeal (being Gen Z talking to Gen Z…and being easy on the eyes certainly doesn’t hurt) may not be something you can translate to your own show.

If you want broader appeal to Millennials and Gen Z, maybe consider an occasional Meme Review or TikTok review episode. That’s the sort of thing that you could host (or Steve Green, who would be great for it after all that experience with Lightning Rounds).

Also consider animation, especially for topics like you’re trying to cover with Virtue Signal (i.e. not necessarily “current events” but sociopolitical concepts that would still have watch value at other times). I know, I know…another staff member. Could be invaluable, though, and it’s the sort of thing that people need to WATCH. Look to Extra Credits, AlternateHistoryHub, or NativLang for examples of how to make the format work well. I know you just went through hell trying to get the realistic CGI animations working well, but note the simplicity of the animations there. I teach Gen Z kids, and they love when I use those in class.