BlogTalkRadio memories with Black authors, Black historians and Black marketing
While the free podcast hosting site shut down in January, here's hoping the podcasters found a new home on other streaming platforms
This post is part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts.
I clearly didn’t learn my lesson the first time. As I did with Black Expressions book club, I dropped the ball with BlogTalkRadio — and I found out yesterday that I was doing it. When a LinkedIn Connect asked for advice on finding a literary agent, I gave her a long-winded answer about all the ways she could market her book with a copy of “Writer’s Market,” a few arts-and-crafts venues, hotel vendor pop-ups and being a guest on BlogTalkRadio. That’s what I did when I self-published my own books and wanted to market them to a larger audience — in addition to traveling to HBCUs for book signings.
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When I was in marketing mode, a handful of Black BlogTalkRadio podcasters (Black authors, Black marketing exes, Black historians, Black local journalists) reached out to interview me about my books. I was not getting invites to non-Black podcasters platforms or vendor events anywhere near as much as my own skinfolk. My alma mater even set up my own parking space with my name on it! I received all kinds of love — physically and virtually. But once I lost interest in marketing “Change for a Twenty” and “Round Trip,” I stopped listening to BlogTalkRadio. And I don’t even remember why!
It’s not like I stopped listening to podcasts altogether. In fact, I listened to far more podcasts after that. Even when I had a short-lived podcast “Homegrown Tales: An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam,” which was originally recorded on Anchor.fm and bought out by Spotify for Podcasters, I still assumed BlogTalkRadio was around. But when I got ready to send my LinkedIn Connect a link to BlogTalkRadio, that’s when I found out that the site shut down in January and closed its social media last month. Bummer.
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I’d grown so used to watching YouTube and listening to Spotify (in between my music playlists) that I forgot about BlogTalkRadio, which has been in business for approximately 19 years. With its live call-in option via phone, it was sorta like having an Instagram Live or Substack Live Video conversation. With a collection of Black voices on every topic you could think of — from travel to relationships to politics — there were only a few differences between listening to BlogTalkRadio and listening to Spotify for Podcasters (or Apple Podcasts). I now wish I would’ve supported the website more. (Yes, I can always support Spreaker.) However, I can think of a couple of things that they could’ve done differently.