Podcast pioneer Jesse Thorn built his own business. Now his employees own it.

Channels with Peter Kafka

Vox Media Podcast Network

Business News, News, Tv & Film, Technology

4.4 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jesse Thorn has been podcasting for so long it was called radio. Over time he turned his career into a business - Maximum Fun, a network of eclectic pop culture shows like Bullseye; My Brother, My Brother and Me; and Judge John Hodgman — and relied primarily on listener donations to fund it. But, as Thorn tells Vox’s Peter Kafka, running a business was running him down, and he didn’t want to sell the company to a Spotify or Sirius. So he found a unique solution: He turned Maximum Fun into a worker-owned co-op. That means Thorn still owns a piece of the company he built over two decades, but so do his former employees, who are now his co-workers. And he thinks other media companies can and should do this, too. Featuring: Jesse Thorn (@JesseThorn), Founder of Maximum Fun Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape. About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:59.2	slash voxpod this is recode media peter kofka that is me and today I'm talking to jesse
1:09.9	thorn who is a podcast pioneer.
1:12.7	We used to call him a small business owner. I don't know if that's technically correct anymore.
1:17.1	And we can talk about why. But up until today, he ran a podcast network called Maximum Fun.
1:22.6	I've been listening since 2009. Delighted to talk to him. Welcome, Jesse.
1:27.0	Well, thank you so much for having me, Peter.
1:28.4	I think I probably am still a small or mid-sized business owner. Should we jump right in? First,
1:33.7	right here, let's tell people who are not hardcore maximum fun listeners what your show is and what
1:39.7	maximum fun network was prior to today. Sure. I host three podcasts, two comedy shows and a public radio show called Bullseye.
1:49.7	Bullseye is an arts and culture interview show that I have been doing every week since I was in college.
1:55.8	It's really good.
1:56.8	You should listen to it if you haven't listened to it.
1:59.1	I have been podcasting it since 2004.
2:02.4	And then I do two comedy shows, a very silly vulgar one called Jordan Jesse Go and a more
2:07.5	sincere and feelings filled one called Judge John Hodgman, where I am John Hodgman's sidekick.
	...

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