What Comes After the Big Job? with Jody Avirgan

Past Due with Ana Marie Cox and Open Mike Eagle

Ana Marie Cox, Open Mike Eagle, and Andrew Steven

Society & Culture, Business, Arts, Performing Arts

4.6 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Podcast host and producer Jody Avirgan joins us to talk about walking away from big platforms like ESPN and NPR, and what it takes to build something sustainable on your own terms. We get into the pressure to grow, the trap of prestige, and the trade-offs between stability, scale, and creative freedom. In the end, rethinking success might be the real win. Hear the full episode and more at https://patreon.com/pastdue Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Abby's just woken up. It's 731 and she's forgotten to ring the doctor. There's no point
0:05.5	ringing now. She needs to get to work, but she's not worried. She's got an HSBC Premier bank account
0:10.5	with access to digital GP appointments plus two second opinions a year should she need them.
0:15.1	Everything's premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier, HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity.
0:22.5	The doctor will see you now.
0:24.6	Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier status abroad.
0:30.6	What happens when you walk away from the biggest media companies in the world?
0:33.7	Not because you've been pushed out, but because you want to be free.
0:37.0	If you want a capital J job and that's who you are, and that's your goal, like, that's really
0:41.1	good. I have found I'm basically allergic to, like, a corporate environment.
0:46.2	Jody Evergan has worked everywhere from NPR to ESPN. He's helped launch some of the most
0:50.9	respected shows in audio. But his real story isn't about rising through the
0:55.2	ranks. It's about stepping off the treadmill. We make a video podcast, do people sit there and
1:00.3	watch it like a TV show? Like, does YouTube have data on that? And then the person at YouTube used
1:05.5	this phrase that has just lodged into my brain since. But he says, you know, we think of it as
1:09.7	glancable media. If you've ever wondered where the creative freedom is but he says, you know, we think of it as glanceable media.
1:11.1	If you've ever wondered whether creative freedom is worth the uncertainty or whether it's
1:15.5	possible to build something sustainable without burning out, this episode is for you.
1:24.1	The creative economy is broken, but some people are still making it work.
1:28.2	We're here to find out how.
1:30.1	I'm Anna Marie Cox.
1:31.6	And I'm open Mike Eagle, and this is past due. Welcome to this show. We really appreciate you spending some time with us.
	...

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