NEW MEDIA SHOW · CURATED STARTING POINTS
Choose your path to build.
Start with the decision in front of you. These three editorial guides bring together selected New Media Show conversations, related writing by Rob Greenlee and a practical exercise. The episodes offer experience and perspectives to evaluate against your own situation.
Build an audience.
The decision: How will the right people discover your work, and what gives them a reason to return?
- Start with Alex Sanfilippo: human audience relationships · #685. Explore guest alignment, useful conversations and relationships that continue beyond publication.
- Continue with Alban Brooke: distribution and portability · #681. Consider how hosting and open feeds support the connection between a creator and an audience.
- Compare James Cridland’s perspective on discovery and platform control · #688. Availability across apps and discovery by new listeners are different problems.
Related reading: Rob’s perspective on podcast hosting as a wider media operating layer — August 17, 2026.
Try one audience experiment.
Write down one audience problem and select a conversation that helps address it. Share it through one relevant channel with one clear invitation to continue the relationship. Record the starting number of confirmed subscribers, the test dates, available visits and new confirmed subscriptions. Keep platform reach separate from website visits; a view does not establish a lasting audience relationship.
Earn trust. Keep judgment human.
The decision: Which production tasks can AI help with, and which decisions require your review, permission and responsibility?
- Start with Laura Burkhauser: AI editing and creative direction · #690. Examine whether an automated edit preserves the story, meaning and recognizable human perspective.
- Explore Jim Louderback’s experiments with AI avatars and human connection · #689. His forecasts are possibilities to consider, rather than established outcomes.
- Consider Anne Kavanagh’s discussion of voice, likeness and permission · #684. Distinguish owning a recording from having permission for every proposed use of a guest’s identity.
Related reading: Rob’s perspective on AI labeling and human trust — July 2, 2026.
Make a short AI review checklist.
For one production task, record the source material and permissions, the intended meaning, what AI changed, who reviewed the result and what disclosure the audience needs. Compare the final version with the source before publishing. Note time saved and corrections needed; faster production alone is not evidence of greater trust.
Explore more trust and ownership conversations → · Explore practical support at Trust Factor Lab
Grow a media business.
The decision: What should the show support, what does it cost to produce, and what evidence would justify that investment?
- Start with Losh Moodaley: video costs and creator revenue · #691. Consider production spend alongside the purpose of the show and the value of direct audience relationships.
- Explore Roberto Blake’s view of a creator media company · #687. Look beyond the next upload to the audience relationships, intellectual property and offerings a creator can build.
- Compare Dan Granger’s advertiser perspective · #677. Examine sponsor fit, useful integrations and the difficulties of comparing measurement across formats.
Related reading: Rob’s perspective on creators becoming trusted media brands — July 23, 2026.
Build a one-episode decision sheet.
List production hours and cash costs. Choose one business objective and a defined observation period. Record the available baseline and what actually happens, keeping audio downloads, video views, inquiries and revenue separate. Treat an association as a clue to investigate, not proof that the episode caused a sale.
Explore more revenue and business conversations → · Explore media strategy sessions with Rob
Keep going: Search the complete episode library or get the New Media Show newsletter.
Editorial selection: October 18, 2026. Exercises are suggestions informed by the linked conversations, not guarantees of audience, trust or revenue growth. AI assisted the organization and wording of this guide; it does not represent a new personal assessment written or reviewed by Rob.