Podcast pals spin pop culture
and a couple of comedy songs

What happened to the “Bob and Betty Sanders” radio format of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, when housewives, taxi drivers and office workers tuned to the soothing sounds of the husband-and-wife radio talk show team? It’s merely morphed into the pop-culture married couple podcast team. No format ever gets retired. It only changes to fit a new medium.

Just as Bob and Betty Sanders once defined a radio format as the definitive married couple broadcast team, podcasting has produced its own conventional couples. In the case of the newer medium, Bob typically handles the technical duties and runs the show. Betty giggles a lot. Together, they celebrate and dissect pop culture.

But as long as they’re playing my songs — seven times in recent weeks since I placed my music on the Podsafe Music Network — why knock this recycled genre?

It’s just the ‘Mike’ show now

Podcast exes Mike and Michelle weren’t even married, just friends — and wary ones at that. Mere weeks after Mike dedicated
Her Shit Don’t Stink to his partner, Michelle walked out, and now it’s just the “Mike” show. Feeling maligned, Michelle protested, “I know that my shit does stink.”

Listen:   (7:03).

What’s my name?

More recently, the appealingly “Bob and Betty” married team Shawno and Jen featured my new song, The Ballad Of Morris The Cat, on Episode 24 of Hyper Nonsense, a podcast based in San Luis Obispo, Calif. But when it came time to give credit, Shawno spaced on my name.

Shawno, calling on his legit radio background, narrowly pulled out of the dive. Then he and the sweetly empathetic Jen wrapped up the segment with a a brief discussion of talking TV animals, ranging from Morris the Cat…all the way to Mister Ed  (3:42).

More Hyper Nonsense

Two days later, Shawno noted that Hyper Nonsense had recorded 25 episodes in just 10 weeks since its premiere in June. “We’re the show that proves that quantity sometimes is better than quality,” he said.

This time, the hosts remembered my name  (1:41).

Shawno informed the audience that listenership is on the increase for Hyper Nonsense. Privately, he confided: “Prepare to be impressed, Ken. According to the statistics provided to us by our media host, we have 40 listeners. W00t for us!”

Posted in: Podcast Roundup at 8:53 pm Mon, Aug 28, 2006.