We're launching the next phase of The Realignment. Get in early.
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Support the show by subscribing to The Realignment’s paid Supercast membership
This summer, The Realignment podcast will hit three years of publishing episodes. We started out with one episode per week during Summer 2019. This spring, we just wrapped a month straight of daily episodes covering the war in Ukraine.
The COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 election, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have validated the show's original frame that the United States and the world are undergoing a dramatic realignment, not merely of politics, but business, culture, economics, society, and technology. After three years and 230+ episodes, even though our individual perspectives have changed and specific claims about what a "realignment" would mean for us all have been proven wrong, we've consistently produced good-faith content that helps us and our audience search for answers.
One of our take-aways from March to April's daily Ukraine coverage is that our listeners really like it when we go back and forth the way we do when the mics are off. We're looking forward to adding more discussion episodes moving forward. Still, if it isn't clear already, we're not a pure entertainment podcast. We're not here to help you detach from reality with slasher-crime stories. Rather, we want this show and its surrounding products to become a catalog of resources built for a community of listeners looking to navigate and come to their own conclusions about the increasingly complex mix of domestic and international problems facing us all.
We want to help our audience think critically. And you all have responded positively. To our surprise, not only did our daily coverage not wear most of you out, but we actually doubled our overall listenership. This is such a challenging, curious, and engaged audience of listeners. We're constantly inspired by you, even when you get mad at Marshall for being more "establishment" than you thought.
With all this in mind, the time has come to take this show, this business, to the next level.
Our team, hosts Marshall & Saagar, plus producers Phil, Aaron, and Arman, have been working on plans to turn The Realignment a long-term journey to bring our conversations to more and more ears worldwide.
We can't pull this off with our current funding structure. To level up our production quality, post more episodes, and roll out new products, we need to professionalize The Realignment.
Now, before we turn on ads, or search out new sponsors, we're reaching out to our community for support. As we've said, we see this as a years-long journey together and want to incorporate our listeners into the process.
Different levels of support will give you different levels of access to The Realignment's catalog.
Supercast's subscription model is so important to us because our number one priority has been quality over clicks. Chasing advertising dollars without a proper base of audience support would not only limit us creatively, but it would force the show away from the fundamentals that make us unique.
All this said, we are aware of the fact that we have a significant high school/college-age audience that isn't exactly rolling in dough. Our number one priority when we decided to expand our content was avoiding just throwing up a paywall and cutting off access to our work. So if you can afford to support our expanded work, know that doing so helps others who can't afford to do the same.
Per the headline, this is a soft-launch before May. We'd appreciate your thoughts and feedback at realignmentpod@gmail.com or replying to this email.
Thanks so much,
Marshall & Saagar
Thanks for the Ukraine coverage Marshall! I really liked the guests and the conversations. Today, there is really a lack of trust in institutions in general (media, federal gov, CDC, etc.), and I find myself sticking up for, not the institutions per se, but the many honest employees of those institutions who go about their work in good faith. I am constantly arguing against friends who have fallen into this very cynical view that these institutions are all lying about everything and they are actively working against the interests of the people who they are supposed to be working for. I like your more nuanced takes on this subject where you acknowledge there are some bad actors or there are some foundational problems with institutions (example MIC), but that is not a reflection of the vast majority of the people working in those institutions who care about the country and its people and are not intentionally working against them. I think this lack of trust is one of the fundamental problems in America today, and we need strong institutions that people can trust. I'd appreciate more content where you have conversations with people who work in those institutions and they have the opportunity to show that they are good people doing honest work and they are much more aligned with the average American. Too often, the institutions are faceless and nameless, and so it is very easy for people to forget that there are real people behind these institutions that went to college, specialized in an area, and got a job to do what they are passionate about. A couple other notes....one hour is enough in most cases, but I found myself wanting a little longer episodes on some of the topics. As for paid memberships, I get it, but from the consumer perspective, you are competing against all of the other paid entertainment. For example, I have a youtube tv subscription, a youtube premium subscription, netflix, etc. If all of the pods I also listen to were to go to a paid model, I would quickly be back to the $150 cable bill I used to pay and loathed. Anyway, I like the pod and thought I would post a comment to provide feedback.
Marshall's Ukraine coverage rocks. I've been going back and revisiting interviews as the situation changes. This is how history should be taught and conversations should grow. Thanks for all the hard work.