Hey there, this is a surprise, very special episode of The Merry Palace.

Call it a fun raising season miracle.

Now, statistically, many of you listening to the show are relatively new to it.

Looking at the numbers, there is a decent shot that you found the show this year, thanks

to an episode of the show Radio Lab that aired over the summer, in which I spoke with

its longtime host Robert Kroch and Chad Averrod about The Merry Palace and played some stories.

And if you are new, I want to take a moment to tell you something you might not yet know.

And if you are a longtime listener, I want to remind you of just how the show comes to you.

Every year at this time, I ask you the listener for money.

It's once a year.

You don't have to give me any.

You can still listen to the show for free, and you can do so in good conscience.

There is no guilt here.

But the way the show works, the way the show is my job, is that about four years ago

after doing the show for something very nearly approaching zero dollars for years,

I joined up with Radio Topia, a collective of independent podcasts found by Roman Mars,

the host of 99% invisible.

Radio Topia sits under the umbrella of PRX, which is a non-profit public media company.

And the way it works, rather the way we work together, is that all of these independent

shows, all of these small businesses, have joined up to pool resources and support each

other as we try to grow and sustain our shows.

Radio Topia XLPSISEL ads, they help with business administration, which, as a collection

...