These days running a creative business isn’t easy. Creative Content businesses are the most difficult. When I tell people I am a podcaster, I imagine they think it’s a hobby. Many of us podcasters are blazing new trails in an entirely new business.
Big thanks to the General Manager of the Bob Davis Podcasts, my mom! Moreover I spend a fair amount of time thanking my business networking group in Gratitude-Moving Up-2018-2019-Year End-Bob Davis Podcast 792.
Most importantly, my business networking group will remain anonymous because it is a secret weapon! If you are in business you know until you start networking in an organized group you don’t realize there are other people experiencing the same challenges.
Find out some of the best advice I have heard in Gratitude-Moving Up-2018-2019-Year End-Bob Davis Podcast 792. Similarly clients have also given me great advice over the years. I thank them one by one in this Happy New Year Podcast.
I don’t know about you but it seems like 2018 has been a tough year. Yes, I have certainly had more difficult years. However the challenges of 2018 have been pretty steep. In contrast to those challenges, gratitude has been foremost in my mind every day.
Finally my greatest thanks and gratitude is to the people who have listened and subscribed to these podcasts. Above all the people who have been on board since the beginning. Hard to believe we will hit podcast one thousand early in 2019.
In conclusion let’s not forget Mobile Podcast Command. We will be back out on the road mobile podcasting early in the year and hopefully with more to come in 2019.
In Podcast 585-Goodbye 2016 Guest Andrew Davis and I have a father and son discussion of some of the big takeaways from 2016 and a look ahead to 2017. This isn’t one of those big stories of the year countdowns that populate the media at the end of every year. Just some thoughts about the year from both of us. What we have seen and what we thought was significant.
Of course in the United States, the big story of the year was Election 2016. Father and son talk about the winners and losers this year and how to stay informed going into 2017. The biggest loser of 2016 was traditional broadcast and cable television news and what is generally referred to as the mainstream media. This year though, you could add broadcast talk radio to the list. The biggest offense for these outlets was the penchant for predicting the future, picking a winner and endorsing a candidate.
From the media perspective the biggest winner was social media and You Tube. According to a recent study by Pew, more people got their news from social media and You Tube than ever before. This is a tectonic shift away from broadcast radio news and news delivered over traditional sources like broadcast television and cable television. This shift has provoked efforts to control what news and links people see and hear on social media sources.
In Podcast 585-Goodbye 2016, the biggest surprise in 2016, for traditional media and politics in 2016 was Trump’s Electoral Victory. For political elites inside the beltway and those who believed what old line traditional media told them, the emergence of Donald J. Trump in the primaries, his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate and his electoral victory was a shock. The biggest factor in politics in 2016 were the misconceptions fostered by terrible reporting and analysis.
Late in the election season the Clinton campaign and the White House introduced the idea that the Russians somehow ‘hacked’ the US election. While a convenient explanation for bereft democrats, even at this late date proof of a Russian Interference is lacking. Moreover, proof the alleged Russian intervention resulted in actually effecting the outcome of the election is even more elusive. Father and son disagree on this topic. This disagreement that carried over from the radio show to intense discussions with friends well into the evening.
With change back on the front burner in 2017 our discussion turns to how to get good information. There will be a need to evaluate the performance of the Trump administration and arguments against its initiatives. With so called fake news, opinion journalism rather than good investigative journalism, having good sources is more important that ever.
Once you have goos sources, you also need context. Good sources include source materials such as reports, think tank studies, documents, and live video. Context comes from reading history, source documents, non fiction books on various topics and your interests. Both of us caution against pop culture books which are nothing more than the same type of rehashing and alarmist coverage you see in social media, cable news and talk radio. They are designed to persuade, rather than inform. Certainly one can say think tanks have biases, which are usually fairly obvious, but reliance on source material from different parts of the spectrum and academic interests gives you the background and context to understand the biases without being manipulated.
Finally, the big issues in 2017 to watch will be the Trump Team’s transition, foreign policy issues including the South China Sea, ISIS, Europe, Russia and China, foreign trade, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel’s role in US foreign policy, United States Economic policy. Politically what the 115th congress does and how it does what it does will be significant stories in 2017. Supporters of the new President will be hard pressed almost from day one to defend his actions, and the opposition is treading through brand new territory. Both sides will need objective facts.
Finally, we have a little fun with the millennial obsession with smart phones and the hand wringing over ‘so many’ celebrity deaths in 2016 and thank the sponsored, supporters and listeners to the Bob Davis Podcasts throughout 2016. Happy New Year. See you in 2017.
Podcast 531-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-37. In the final podcast from the EAA Airventure Show in Osh Kosh, we’re live during the reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor; a fitting backdrop after the tumult of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. While the democrats were meeting in the city of brotherly love the air show was in full tilt and so much fun! From camping on the tarmac next to your plane, to the possibilities and difficulties designing, building and marketing the flying car there’s a lot to talk about in this celebration of everything aviation. As we get ready to pack up Mobile Podcast Command comes the realization that the common theme running through all the podcasts from the air show this week has been the passion and fun associated with flying; or the Freedom to Fly. Optimism permeates this gathering. It’s present in almost everyone here, including the people that don’t fly, who come to watch the air shows and admire the planes (like me!). Optimism and passion are two emotions not present in the national political discourse; a fact revealed with one look at social media, cable television news or a moment spent with talk radio. The Freedom to Fly means the freedom and willingness to dream, to connect with your life’s passion. Again, something many people in this country seem to have forgotten. Not here at EAA though. There’s more than enough passion and dreams to go around from the air shows, to the war birds, to the museum, to the experimental and home built planes, and workshops. Optimism and passion are present in the conversations, and especially in the young people. With so many airline pilots retiring and general aviation growing into the future, great opportunities await those who learn to fly. I can’t help but believe part of the economic issues facing our country is a mismatch in skills between what we need, and what our schools are producing. Flying is but one example. So, amid the noise and grandeur of the pearl harbor attack reenactment, jet fighters streaking overhead while I record additional content for this podcast, and my observations about this unique summer experience, this is a little bit of a different Podcast 531-Bob Davis Podcasts Radio Show-37 this week. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Karow Contracting, your Storm Damage Specialists.
