1. How old are you and what state do you live in?
31 (Born in ’83), Washington, DC
2. When did you become a member of TYT?
Oct 27, 2005 – Had to look it up in Paypal, it’s not a day I mark on my calendar each year like a weirdo or anything
3. How do you consume the show?
The answer used to be simply “via podcast” but now… the truth? A volunteer working for me has a program set up to automatically download and label just the stripped out audio from all of the political TYT YouTube clips which he then manually categorizes into any one of a couple dozen topics. These clips are then sent to me via Dropbox and I store the clips in iTunes where they stay until I pull out a full collection of clips from a variety of sources on a single topic and listen to them all using the VLC player which allows me to speed through many hours of clips at about 3.5x speed. I listen to all of the clips over and over again, deleting everything that doesn’t qualify as the “best” and then make a show out of what’s left in the end.
Personally, I miss getting to casually listen to the podcast each day.
4. What field do you work in?
Podcasting – I produce the Best of the Left Podcast
5. How would you describe TYT in 5 words or less?
Honest, loud, fun, often correct
6. Do you have a favorite TYT moment?
So many but here’s a random one from at least 2006 if not earlier. A caller had been disagreeing with Ben and Cenk in a spirited debate that ended something like this:
Caller: Anyways, I’ve got to go…
Ben and Cenk sarcastically: Oh, yes, of course. We’re sorry to have kept you so long!
<Caller hangs up>
Ben and Cenk: He’s obviously a very important guy, he probably had Thom Hartmann calling him on the other line!
7. Who is your favorite co-host? Why?
Ben – because he is adamantly, almost militantly, unsure of his own knowledge which translates into being open-minded and willing to hear new evidence. Plus he makes me laugh.
8. What motivated you to take the extra step of becoming a paying member?
I was desperate for Dave Koller to get the podcast up and running back in those days so once he did and said it would be for member’s only, I signed up *right away*!
9. Are surprised that the The Young Turks has grown into a multiplatform network of multiple channels?
“Surprised” isn’t quite the right word though I’m not saying I would have predicted it. I’d already known that I liked the show but after they’d failed to get themselves on TV and opted to start the daily video stream online instead I knew I was dealing with a special kind of people who were willing to do things differently. Cenk’s passion for the show and that willingness to think differently always gave me confidence that they’d make something more-interesting-than-average out of themselves, I just didn’t know what.
10. Cenk often talks about the TYT brand as “truth telling.” What does this mean to you as a member?
I agree with Cenk’s often-made point about focusing on incentive structures. Cenk knows that the value of their brand is based on the trust of the audience so I know that his incentive is to always be honest. That intentionally-created, honesty-promoting incentive structure is a big part of what makes TYT a show worth supporting.
11. Which TYT host would you get coffee with? Which one would you go to the bar with? Who would you have dinner with?
Well, I suppose I would ask everyone how they were feeling and then go with whoever was hungry to get dinner, whoever was tired to get coffee and whoever was, uh, too lucid(?) to a bar.
12. If you were a co-host on the show, which story would you cover? Why?
I guess I’d have to go with climate change as it’s the most important thing to ever happen.
13. Have you ever communicated with other TYT fans? If so, how?
I’ve met some TYT fans at Netroots meet ups and the like. Never look them straight in the eye.
14. Has the show convinced you to change your position on a particular issue?
I remember that years ago the show made me question my thoughts on hate crimes legislation. I’m still not sure where I come down on that one.
15. Have you ever referred membership to anyone? If so, what did you say?
I know I’ve turned a lot of people on to the show and I’m sure some of them became members but I didn’t pitch membership myself.
*****
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