The Eclectic Radical - The Year is Starting Well
I am seeing a larger viewership than I have been, and I like it!
1/21
The first two shows of the year outperformed the last show of 2023 by a good bit. For one (a show on red state politics with Seth Sturm of West Virginia) the YouTube boost was small, but the Twitter viewership was higher than I have seen for one show since before “Uncivil Disobedience” went on hiatus. I was really happy! The second, which was co-hosted by Renee Johnston and featured guest Justine Barron, was a show on disability, COVID, and long COVID. This one had a bigger boost on YouTube, and was watched by nearly a thousand people! I’m very happy about that!
This week’s episode streamed today. My co-host this week was Bess Goden, and our guest was Ben Theobald of WEFT Radio Champagne, Chambana DSA, and #NoAmerenShutoffs. Ben joined us to talk about local Palestine activism and to give us some numbers for rental assistance and utility assistance won in IL. We played a clip from an Urbana city meeting that led to a resolution for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, anddiscussed hate crimes against Palestinians and the doxing of Palestine activists.
Despite some audio issues, it was a great conversation and I am reallyglad that both Ben and Bess could join me!
I want to take this moment to remind everyone that COVID isn’t over, once more. Multiple experts are saying this is the second highest surge of the pandemic since it began. At the same time, we have a war with Yemen and a genocide in Gaza in the news. We have landlords committing hate crimes against their own tenants. We have corporate and political shenanigans. It’s very hard to decide, sometimes, what to talk about and whom to criticize or praise.
That’s why I took a little time this Friday to appear on the Leon Trotsky Revolutionary Podcast to talk about independent content creation. I have had the host, Connor Exum, on my show a few times but it’s my first time appearing on his! Connor started out solo with guest Jeff Wiggins, the host of another indy media channel “We Gon Be Alright” and I joined about 35 minutes in. When Jeff bowed out, Connor and I went on for a bit until my wife reminded me to put the lasagna in.
Next week (1/28) the show will stream later than usual. Instead of going live at 8AM PST/11AM EST I will be going live at 9AM PST/Noon EST to better fit the schedule of returning guest Dr. Renee Levant! We will be talking about ongoing developments in Palestine and the UN as the IDF keeps killing Palestinians and calling them terrorists. Keep your eyes open for a newsletter update, as we get closer to the weekend, about whether I will be doing the show with a co-host (and who it will be) or alone!
Great news!
I muddled through with the sound issue but the information is always the thing, so I enjoyed it. And I expect to be there on Sunday.