Could we fundraise money to get airtime on a podcast?

[Jaime]

@Greek and other mods have a better oversight than I do for this idea, but would it be in the Foundation and forums’ interest to market ourselves over media such as podcasts? For example the podcasts The Tim Ferris Show, Art of Charm, Joe Rogan Experience, Starting Strength, Art of Manliness are examples of podcasts that young men might listen to. Young men are also more likely to take finasteride/5-ARs, etc. Other podcast targets could be health based, like “Bulletproof.”

An idea I was thinking was to pay the podcast host to be featured in a segment on their podcast. As in talk to the host for about half an hour with an explanation of our condition and symptoms and current science. @awor, or a Foundation member could make the appearance on it. Or, we could pay to advertise and be presented on the podcast with our mission statement. The purpose of the airtime would be to warn young men of the dangers of fin, and let other men and listeners know about our problem.

The podcasts I mentioned are big and probably costly to be featured on, but I know that we could make some noise on them. My SO, who works in tech and specifically podcast advertising, quotes that the industry rate is $50 per 1,000 listeners to advertise. I believe this idea is fiscally tangible, and would be heard by many people like us. This could be funded with either Foundation donations (I know, controversial statement for me to throw out) or our very own, member based fundraising.
Bring on the criticism, that is how we can sharpen our ideas (not being sarcastic)

[Baz44uk]

Hi their
I have quotes from someone that works for the PFS foundation he is also willing to oversee everything.
I have asked questions on this forum a couple of months regarding podcasts the outcome was very negative so negative that I never put the quotes forward.
Personally I do believe they are a valuable asset
I will keep an eye on this thread and can dig out the email and post it here if you would like to see the costs we need to cover to make this a reality.

[Greek]

Hi @Jaime We are looking at a media strategy.

Everything that follows is my personal opinion. To get this out of the way early, I think sponsorship isn’t going to be viable. I don’t think we can afford it.

I know there’s some keenness to use this medium but we need to ask a few questions.

1. who is the podcast for?
2. how do we make the audience aware of the podcast?
3. what is the content of the podcast?

Question 2 is the most important one to get answered. Even if we make the best podcast ever, it’s possible that it would never be heard by anyone outside the forum. Assume we have no media presence at all (essentially we don’t). How do we make people aware of the podcast?

No matter what the answers to question 1&3 are, question 2 is the big one.

I’d be really interested to hear people’s ideas for a podcast. Maybe one or two podcasts rather than a series might be useful to point people towards. What’s the best story we have to tell? The absolute best podcast, the most compelling thing we can think of, the story that everybody would want to hear?

I think the podcasts that have been spoken about before are conversations between people who have PFS for an audience of other sufferers. If that’s the audience, these can be done for zero cost by members of the forum. There’s nothing to stop someone from asking another member if they’d like to speak on Skype, recording the conversation and then posting it. If that’s what people want to do, nobody needs permission, just do it.

My personal view is that we shouldn’t consider spending anything until we can convincingly answer the 3 questions. Remember, question 2 is the biggest one.

No matter what we do, getting a podcast to the intended audience is the big issue, particularly if we are talking about spending money.

If anyone has an idea for a podcast, share it, it might help in forming a strategy.

[Jaime]

The podcast wouldn’t be made by us, we would simply be featured on somebody else’s podcast for an episode, or even a portion of an episode to warn young men about the dangers of 5AR inhibitors and get our stories out there. Other podcasts, like ThisAmericanLife often feature essays written by normal people about heartbreak, death, success, illness, etc.

[Jaime]

Are you talking about making our own podcast or being featured on one? I would appreciate if you wrote the quotes down! It never hurts to inform the crowd how much such an idea would cost, in my opinion.

[Baz44uk]

The pfs foundation did use to run podcasts but due to funds it stopped.
I was talking about getting these podcasts back up and running and this is what i have the quotes for.
I will dig up the email and post it here later on today time permitting.

[Baz44uk]

I will try my best this afternoon to find the email with this information

[Greek]

Ok, earlier you were talking about paying $50/1000 listeners which is why I said that I didn’t think we could afford sponsorship (paying to feature on a podcast).

All the other stuff is because when podcasts were spoken about recently, the conversation focussed on paying to have them made.

If we could get a producer for This American Life (for example) interested it could work, but they’d be doing it because they want to, not because TAL were being paid.

[Jaime]

I’m sorry I was very unclear about that. If you want to advertise on a podcast, the industry rate goes for $50/1,000 listeners the podcast has. So if you’re advertising on a small podcast, it won’t cost you much. But to advertise on a huge podcast (Rogan, for example) it’ll cost way more cause he’s so popular.

I’ll do my part since I proposed this idea and try to get in touch with producers of various podcasts to be on it (for free). Free marketing of the Foundation would be incredible, albeit a long shot…

[Greek]

Well, if TAL were planning an episode which this would fit in with, it could be good news.

I would say that you ought to consider what you’re going to say to the producer. Make their job easy, what’s the story? Is it worth telling? Many, many people will be trying to get media coverage for their cause.

[Jaime]

They’re always hosting heartbreaking tidbits and oddities!

[Baz44uk]

As promised
The email I received regarding costs of podcasts
This email is from Philip Roberts of the PFS foundation
Personally I didn’t think it was at all out of reach so i put the feelers about but due to negativity I pigeon holed the project
This seems like very good timing to pull the idea back out and show costs.
It would be nice to see some positivity regarding this especially as this would have the backing of the pfs foundation.

Good to hear back from you Baz. And thanks for your feedback on PFS Global Support podcast. It was launched back in (I believe) 2014 by a PFS patient named Adam Held, in Chicago. But after about 9 months, he wants to distance himself from the PFS world, so he gave up hosting. Then another PFS patient in San Diego, Amir Karkouti, took over. But he too lost interest over time. Then Marc Seim took over, but he only lasted 1 or 2 shows – and I never heard back from him as to why he quit. Then Nadar Jawad took over. He did some great shows, but he too also quit after less than I year.

I think part of the problem in the case of all those hosts is that doing even a monthly show is a lot of work. There’s a never-ending necessity to find guests. And after a while, that became too hard for them, as none of them are media professionals.

We at the foundation have considered taking over the podcast, but – and you noted – we don’t have the resources to do it the right way.

That said, for about $2,600 a year, we could farm it out to a pro. Here’s the budget estimate for producing the podcast on a monthly basis:

-Annual BlogTalkRadio subscription: $400
-Host fee: $2,000 ($150 a show + $200 start-up fee)
-Voiceover artist fee: $150. This would be for a voiceover artist to cut a new intro and outro.

If we had such a budget, I could oversee the show as executive producer, and make it an official PFS Foundation production.

If you think you can fund that, let me know as I will discuss with our CEO.

Finally, I checked your email address and we don’t have you on our mailing list. I’d like to add you, but please let me know, just for our records, your age and where you live. If in the US, just city and state is fine. If outside the US, just country.

Best,

Philip Roberts
Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation
27 World’s Fair Drive
Somerset, NJ 08873
proberts@pfsfoundation.org
(856)425-6046

[Greek]

Previously, @Baz44uk, you said that not feeling alone and hearing other people’s experiences were the primary reasons to fund the podcasts.

I think that’s a nice idea, but I don’t know why we need to pay people to present and produce these. You could record your story yourself and share it without any cost to you or the foundation. Any phone and a free SoundCloud account will give you all you need.

Anyone who is looking for information is unlikely to search for a podcast as the first port of call, they’ll end up here and we’ll be able to share links to the podcasts here. We could create a group SoundCloud account where all the stories could be posted so they’re all together.

The foundation is not awash with money by any definition, I think if we want them to spend money on something other than the science to help us get out of this position we need a good reason to recommend it. I personally don’t want my donations to go towards funding the podcasts if we could do it for free because I want a treatment.

If this is part of a wider strategy to raise the profile of the condition and attract other people affected by this, then it’s something I could get behind but we would still need to work out how to get the podcasts listened to by the people we’re trying to reach. Making people aware outside the reach of the forum is the biggest problem in that situation and it’s that which we should focus on, before we consider spending money.

…is my 2c.

@Baz44uk

I consider them very important as it gives people the opportunity to hear other peoples post finasteride experiences this in itself can be a life saver in the early stages when people don’t understand exactly what has happened to them.
Think back to when this all hit you the confusion is unbearable you just don’t know who to turn to for help this leaves you in a state of isolation
Hearing podcasts makes you realise you are not alone.

[Baz44uk]

Personally I think it’s all a matter of opinion mate
I was actually thinking of voluntary donations this way people have a choice if they think it’s worthy they donate if they don’t think it is they don’t pay simple as that really.

Reaching out to others has a multitude of positives i don’t really see any negatives other than the funding which is just part and parcel.

I didn’t want to be a lone soldier in this and I thought that if it was backed by the foundation rather than a single guy it would help towards creating further interest which naturally creates further knowledge.

[Greek]

I wouldn’t disagree that it is a matter of opinion, but I still don’t see why you’d want to spend money on the podcasts that could be free when that same money could be donated to a study that will result in a drug that your doctor could prescribe to you and sort this all out.

[Mark2012]

If the podcasts are to start up again I think they should focus on interviewing PFS Doctors.

Most Doctors still don’t believe PFS is even real.

[Greek]

That could be interesting, I wonder if the doctors would be prepared to answer the questions most people want to ask them though.

As in, “how effective are the treatments you’re charging money for?”

[Baz44uk]

I suppose in reality it comes down to credibility.
What would be more credible a lone soldier or a foundation.

[Greek]

I don’t understand, you said that you wanted the podcasts to show that you weren’t alone and to hear other people’s stories. If people here record their stories, why wouldn’t you believe them?

[Baz44uk]

I’m not getting into a debate it mate
I said I had wished that I had heard these podcasts when i first realised what had caused my symptoms i.e finasteride as i feel it would of helped me to not feel so isolated and alone.
It’s a shock to the system when things go so wrong people take this drug to reap positive benefits not have their world tipped upside down.
like i stated its all a matter of opinion mate
I cant see how the positives outweigh the negatives of podcasts that’s my opinion.