Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything!

Talking Politics Is Work

It is difficult to contemplate or talk about politics. In Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything! a phrase attributed to screenwriter William Goldman is applied to American politics. The guy who wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men once said “Nobody Knows Anything”. Goldman was referring to Hollywood know-it-alls. In those days as today producers, professors and other so called experts wanted to make people think they knew the ‘formula’ for success in the movie business. The truth is making movies is almost always a gamble because no one knows what’s going to sell before the fact. Nobody Knows Anything.

Nobody Knows Anything And Our Politics

What goes for movies goes for American politics these days. Everyone has a voice. An audience. A constituency. Everyone wants to tell you what is happening. What to do about it and what will happen next. Everyone knows. Except no one really knows anything. From the highest of the high to the lowliest position on a small town board of education. Everyone has a voice they can’t wait to use but what they have to say is empty. In Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything!

Tell Your Audience What They Want To Hear

Social media. Local radio. The Internet. Protect your audience. Tell it what it wants to hear. Get accolades, speaking fees, book sales, click throughs and even election certificates. Commentariat. Bloggers and podcasters. Comedians. Subpar politicians and local political operators. All ply their political but noncontroversial wares to people only too willing to applaud when they hear what they want to hear.

It’s All About Power

For those in what is called the Deep Government where policies are implemented everything is theater. Everything is Pay Back. Get Back. It’s all about power and games. Using your constituency to get what you want. In office. Out of office. All part of the game in the puzzle palace we call government in Washington DC or your state capitol.

The Fairness Doctrine

30 years ago a regulation called ‘The Fairness Doctrine‘ was rescinded by the FCC. The Fairness Doctrine simply required broadcast licensees to both present controversial issues and to do so in a manner that was, in the FCC’s view honest, equitable and balanced. 30 years ago there was no social media. There was no political talk.

Political talk was something you heard on Sunday mornings or read on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. The news was something you heard at the top of the hour. With a technology and media revolution, political talk today isn’t just a virus. Political talk has become a cancer.

Political Saturation

Every political development is dissected, repurposed, rewritten, opinionated, worked over, subjected to satire and analysis. Today’s demons and today’s heroes. They’re only too happy to tell you what will happen tomorrow. The louder the cacophony grows the less we know. The solution isn’t some kind of new Fairness Doctrine. Maybe the cure is more of the disease. We’ll talk about it in Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything!

Nobody Knows Anything

The big talk radio guy speaking at your local political dinner doesn’t know anything. The guy who has the You Tube Channel or the Podcast? Nope. The local radio station talk show? Talk radio now depends on people calling in who don’t know anything to add to the conversation by two guys who don’t know anything either. Clearly the White House doesn’t know. The Pentagon doesn’t know. The people at your state capitol don’t know. The people behind the desk on the 24 hour news channel don’t know either.

Saturation Point

Open your mouth about a political issue on social media and you’re branded. We’re saturated with political talk and political partisanship. Our differences are encouraged by know it alls commanding increasingly misinformed tribes fed a steady diet of what they want to hear. A few sell ‘expertise’ on the US Constitution. Some are self appointed media experts. Many are the founders of popup political movements. Many more are simply political operators selling their wares to the highest bidder, behind the scenes. These are the new carpet baggers.

Hungry For Leadership

Those sold to us as heroes turn out to be pygmies and charlatans. We read their books. We cheer and believe in them. When they are destroyed we move on. In Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything I share with you my utter disgust with the political process in this country. You can forget the labels. They all suck. Republicans. Democrats. Socialists. Populists. Libertarians. It’s all noise. Memes. Rants. Photos. Guest Appearances. Stand Ups in front of the capitol. Everyone wants to be the next Juke Box Hero.

Republicans who claimed to be for freedom and less government continue to expand the scope and cost of government. Democrats who claimed to be for the little guy are increasingly associated with the rich and powerful. Both sides want to increase the surveillance state and curtail your freedoms. Are we reaching a tipping point?

In Podcast 601-Nobody Knows Anything!.

Sponsored by X Government Cars and Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 599-Advertising Your Business On Podcasts

Big Shift

Time to talk about advertising on podcasts. We’re in the middle of a big shift. People are changing how they use media. What about using podcasting to Advertise Your Business? Podcasting is a rapidly growing space. Businesses can use podcasts to connect with their customers. Podcast 599-Advertising Your Business On Podcasts tells you how.

Retooling Your Mind

Entrepreneurial efforts require retooling how we think. Why do small businesses fail? Your business may have developed a great product. You and your team may have discovered a large untapped market. Getting the word out about a product or service is increasingly complex. Not advertising or advertising ineffectively is one of the chief reasons small businesses fail.

Old Ways Don’t Work

Studies say about 30 percent of the public listen to podcasts. I think podcasting is growing at a much quicker pace than the research is picking up. In this environment, it’s easy to see why small businesses might assume the old ‘tried and true’ methods of advertising are best. Print or Direct Mail. Buying ads on radio and television. Hiring an ad agency. Flyers. These are ancient and expensive and increasingly ineffective methods.

New Ad Space

Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization are big topics these days at business conferences. Digital Marketing and SEO are necessary for generating awareness for your company’s website and social media platforms. These tools alone don’t help you form a bond with potential customers. Advertising your product or service on a podcast provides a personal connection with an audience you cannot get in traditional broadcast, print or direct mail, or even social media. Ads placed on podcasts live forever on the Internet. Podcasts can deliver a local, national or world-wide audience. Podcast 599-Advertising Your Business On Podcasts tells you how and why.

Pure Play Podcasting

Small businesses persist in spending thousands of dollars in old media. Pure Play Podcasters like The Bob Davis Podcasts weave the advertiser’s message into the content of our podcast. We talk about a product or service because we believe in it. The Bob Davis Podcasts and other Pure play podcasters are able to combine the best attributes of personal endorsements with digital marketing and SEO to help your business.

Are You Ready For Big Changes?

There is a big change going on. The new smart phone and pad devices are more powerful and run easier and faster applications for media. Podcasters are noticing increases in feeds and hits on our websites as more people come to digital media every day. From an advertising perspective managing your FaceBook or Twitter feed to bond with your customers isn’t enough. Businesses need a closer bond. Podcasting helps you bond with your potential customers.

Clarifying Moment

Big shifts in media usage begin long before the research companies driven by the big advertising agencies and media companies pick them up. AM Radio was overtaken by FM Radio slowly, then all at once. 24 Hour Cable News overwhelmed broadcast TV news in an avalanche. Remember when you listened to the radio to find your favorite music? Spotify, Pandora and podcasts took over that space. We used to watch our favorite TV shows once a week as part of a network schedule. Now we binge watch them on Netflix or HBO Now or other cable ‘Netflix Like’ services. When did that happen?

Tipping Point For Podcasts

Podcasts are replacing broadcast radio, especially talk radio, at a rapid pace. It isn’t being picked up by the research and ratings companies. We have not had what I call a ‘clarifying moment’ yet. A clarifying moment is that moment when it becomes obvious to everyone that things have changed permanently.

There are lots of different podcasts and all of us have different advertising styles and packages. This is an informative pitch for advertising from businesses that want to work with The Bob Davis Podcasts or are interested getting some help with their advertising strategy with podcasts in general. It’s time for small and large businesses to get into the podcast space in a big way. We’re ready for you. Listen to Podcast 599-Advertising Your Business On Podcasts and find out how to get started.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and X Government Cars.

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Podcast 597-Pure Insanity

Trump Sets The Pace

In Podcast 597-Pure Insanity. Controversial executive orders. Cabinet confirmations. A Supreme Court nomination. The robust legislative agenda. Trump’s White House is setting the pace. Media and the partisan left is struggling to keep up. Any action taken by a republican is met with derision and a firestorm of social media reaction. Just mentioning a Trump initiative, executive order or tweet means an argument. Scenarios of the death and destruction caused by all things Trump have reached hysterical levels.

Hysteria and Pure Insanity

Now it’s democrats talking about secession, impeachment and Coup d’etat. What is a coup? Why would the president plan a Coup against himself? There is no evidence of a Coup being planned against the United States government. Clearly those writing such things do not understand what a Coup really is. Dusting off an old French word to make the Trump administration seem darker and less legitimate is the goal. Defining the term and explaining why suggesting a Coup is an insult to your intelligence, is part of Podcast 597-Pure Insanity.

Cal-Exit

Talk of California seceding from the United States generated a lot of coverage. Remember when right wingers talked up secession at the beginning of the Obama Presidency? Now it’s left wingers. Would California secede? Aside from the obvious question of legality, without California’s votes and money the chances of a democrat being elected President of the United States would be very low. So…

…Forget secession.

Trump will be impeached. Uh. No. Not unless democrats gain a majority in both houses of congress in 2018. Is it necessary to remind everyone Impeachment would result in the Presidency of Mike Pence? With no shortage of hate for the Vice President on social media and at protests, one wonders whether the overwrought and bereft left consider impeachment would leave them with an even more conservative president. Unfortunately it’s necessary to point this out in Podcast 597-Pure Insanity.

Why? Because They Can

Some have forgotten history and context and how the Representative Republic of the United States works. Some think cabinet positions are elected. Others don’t understand that while legislative minorities have rights, majorities do entitle control of committees, rules and certain appointments as well as the legislative agenda. Not only do republicans have legislative majorities the party controls the executive branch, many state legislatures and governor’s offices. While opposition and protest are the right of Americans maybe the opposition should be asking how did a supposedly dying GOP managed to garner these majorities? Is it possible some voters agree with them?

There are people in the United States happy with actions taken by the new president. They like his executive actions and his picks for the cabinet and his pick for the Supreme Court. They might even cheer when they hear Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary suggest government schools really aren’t doing a very good job and that competition in the form of vouchers and charter schools is a good thing. They are perfectly satisfied with the idea of cutting regulation and taxes. Despite the caterwauling on the left this is hardly a national crisis or the first glimmerings of American fascism.

Social Media Cesspool

In Podcast 597-Pure Insanity, nowhere is the left’s increasingly impotent rage more apparent than on social media. Memes, videos, live sessions, tweets, angry rants, de-friending and blocking. The Social Media Cesspool, with its misspelled signs confusion about history and how our government works has become a place where people post to live and live to post. A place where anger and extremism are encouraged. People wonder whether it will change. Will it? Why would it?

One thing social media is good for is cat and dog pictures and videos, performances of song and dance and all things pure and real. Maybe it’s time for everyone to take a step back, a break from the day to day news and social media and consider what is most important in life. Did you ever think you’d see the day when you would hope to see pictures of people’s dogs or see a performance of a song?

That day has come.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating Of Saint Paul, X Government Cars and Hydrus Performance.

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