“And what if one of the gods does wreck me out on the wine-dark sea? I have a heart that is inured to suffering, and I shall steel it to endure that too. […] So let this new disaster come. It only makes one more.”
— Odysseus, in Homer’s The Odyssey (E. V. Rieu’s 1946 prose translation)
Day: September 30, 2026
Modern Publicity 101
SOME STORIES DON’T build to a big finish. Like this one.
Earlier this month, I acquired the app and the gumption to begin grinding out 15-second podcasts. I printed a copy of all the “Pithyisms” on my blog so as to have a ready, checkoff-able script, and am currently recording them; I’ve done ten so far, with another eighty or so in the hopper. From small acorns mighty oaks grow, and all that.
The podcasting app (Spreaker Studio) belongs to iHeart Media, whose parent company curates a selection of worthy ‘casts whose inclusion is a big-time traffic-booster for big-time podcasters – specifically, the 5,000+-downloads-a-day crowd.
With a what-the-hell shrug, I applied anyway. To be honest, in the past 30 days I have racked up a whopping 16 downloads; but faint heart never won fair lady, and all that.
A few days after applying, I received a Microsoft Teams call from one of iHeart’s interviewing/vetting reps. We began by chatting amiably about shared geography, the weather patterns of Sonoma and Connecticut (the rep’s home base), and other trivia.
She then asked me what my podcast was about, and I told her that it was a varied selection of pithy comments on a variety of topics. She looked over my online catalog of episodes-so-far (without, apparently, listening to any of them) and made some useful comments about titling and formatting for maximum audience exposure. When I asked her what would make a good title, she asked me if I’d ever used ChatGPT. My long-established animus to that particular brand and type of cognitive surrender is well known to all, but when I politely said no, she said, “I’ll walk you through it.” And she did.
“What should I type?” I asked.
“Whatever your podcast is about,” she said.
So I typed out “How AI is taking over the world,” and pressed Enter.
In response, the Animated Insolence (copyright 2026, by me) spat out paragraph upon paragraph of corporate-speak which would have been amusing if it hadn’t been so absolutely, inaccurately, and unashamedly wrong.
“Wait a minute,” I objected. “This isn’t what my podcast is about at all. It’s a varied selection of pithy, 15-second comments on a variety of topics.”
“You mean they’re soundbites?” she asked.
“YES!” I exclaimed. “Exactly! Soundbites!”
“Oh,” she said. “We can’t help you with that. But keep on doing what you’re doing, and if we can be any help in the future, please let us know.”
“I will,” I replied.
We hung up. Evidently, my reach exceeded my grasp. And all that.