Author Archives » Jeff Ullrich
The Streak Ends
I’m so sorry to all of my The Wolf Den listeners…between Frank being over-worked, Dustin’s first day and Shahruz studying for a final tomorrow, I wasn’t able to record a show today. I promise, no matter what happens, I’ll be back next week…and with some changes too. Nothing big, but I’m going to play with the format a bit and try and make it even better.
Thanks for all your support and time spent listening and please forgive me for the week “off”.
8 CommentsBuilding Up Our Blog
I am so excited to announce we are going to be building up the earwolf.com blog! You can look forward to interviews, featured live shows, behind the scenes pieces, podcasting news and comedic pieces. I’m so excited. It’s been on my list for a while, and when I met and got to know Joel Mandelkorn, I realized I found the perfect person to pull my vision together and make it even better. So I asked him to join Earwolf as the editor of this blog.
Joel has diverse experience in comedy which ranges from working for Tom Arnold to booking his own monthly show here in LA (The Super Serious Show) to starting the very impressive Plop List. He was even a guest on The Wolf Den! Not only will Joel be the editor, he will also contribute. I’m so happy that Joel accepted my offer, understood my vision and agreed to work hard to make it his own.
Our first “official” contributor is the outstanding and well read Steve Heisler. Steve and I met when he booked Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast for the Chicago Just For Laughs festival in 
2010. That alone gives him all the Earwolf cred he should need. He lives in NYC and has written for AV Club, New York Magazine, Variety, GQ and NPR. Can you believe we were lucky enough to snag this guy? Me neither! Steve will also put in his two cents and help Joel with the content strategy, but his main job will be to write great, exclusive content. His first piece is already up right here!
The Earwolf world is a better place for having these two professionals in it. Good luck, Guys, and welcome to the team!
Now it’s up to you…please leave comments with serious suggestions about content you would like to see in the blog. This will help us give you what you want. And if you want to submit a writing sample, please do so through the website and select “Joining Earwolf”. Thanks!
2 CommentsQuestion: How to Grow a Podcast in a Small Town
This is an email exchange I’m posting here. I hope this is helpful to other people starting out. If you have questions about podcasting, please email thewolfden@earwolf.com and maybe I can answer here or on my show.
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for helping create Earwolf! Loving the shows and the content. I was just emailing you to see what your criteria is for picking new shows? I am just wondering. I recently started a comedy podcast in Wisconsin and bring on Wisconsin comedians. www.criticegan.com. I just wanted to get some information from you or how to help get my podcast out there, or the process of possibly getting onto a site like Earwolf. I understand you are probably very busy, so whenever you get time to respond would be great. Thanks Jeff.
Sincerely,
John Egan
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Hi John,
I don’t have any great advice. Exposure is a problem. If iTunes doesn’t pick you out of all the shows to feature, you are out of luck there. Earwolf as a distribution channel isn’t really an option since we, thus far, have only created original programming, so we don’t “pick” new shows in that way. And what success we have had is not exactly easy to replicate given how fortunate we are with the hosts and guests who want to be a part of Earwolf.
I will say this – I truly believe that hard work and smarts combined with great content (content being the main key) is enough to succeed if you give it enough time. The market for podcasts is growing quickly and there will be an even greater demand for content and soon.
Do what you are doing. Record your show. Get the best of the best in Wisconsin, promote shows in the area and ask the clubs to advertise/support you. Maybe you offer to do free ads if they send out of town comedians to do your show when they are in town. That could be a way to gain exposure.
Good luck, in a way I don’t envy your challenges…but in another, I do. Have fun and kick ass.
Best,
Jeff
Happy Birthday Engineer Doug!
Engineer Doug is on vacation but that doesn’t mean we here at home can’t wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
If you enjoy any of our shows, please let the man behind the scenes know you appreciate him in the comments. We love you Doug.
34 CommentsLate Night Gratitude
It’s almost 2am and I’m pretty beat. Today was spent talking to an independant sales rep, thinking long and hard about a potential partnership opportunity, scheduling meetings for the rest of the week and working on v2 of this website. Right now I’m reviewing a proposal that will be discussed tomorrow night during a weekly dinner with Scott, preparing for a call with a potential host of a new show early in the morning and prepping for my Wolf Den recording on Wednesday with PFT.
I decided to stop what I was doing to write a little something. It’s easy to get so self-absorbed and voluntarily busy that you forget why you do what you do. So I just wanted to remind myself and express my gratitude to everyone who goes out of their way to listen to what is recorded in our studio every week. Whether you buy every download, comment on each Facebook update or merely smile occasionally while riding the el train to work…thank you. I love having a reason to stay up so late trying to make things better.
0 CommentsEarwolf on IFC’s "The Grid"
IFC does pop culture right with their show The Grid. It’s a weekly conversation about all things current and awesome hosted by Jesse Thorn, perhaps better known to podcast listeners as America’s Radio Sweetheart. The Grid discusses video games, vintage clothes, action films, food trucks, and most recently Earwolf.
http://www.ifc.com/videos/the-grid-earwolf.php
Our most sincere thanks to Jesse Thorn and the rest of The Grid team. Jesse has been a great friend to Earwolf, often providing his fantasy expertise on Sklarbro Country. You can find The Grid on IFC Thursday nights at 7:45, and you can find Jesse at MaximumFun.org, or listen to one of his appearances on Sklarbro Country. Thanks again!
0 CommentsProject "Tippy Toe"
Earwolf is working on a secret new project called “Tippy Toe”. If you have your own comedy podcast, we want you to get involved! The first step is to please complete this form by 4/18/11. We look forward to hearing from you!
P.S. Please do not send emails, only form submissions will be considered.
2 CommentsEARDROP!
Hey everyone, we’d like to announce our brand new show – Eardrop!
The show will be released daily (yes, that means 7 days a week!) at 10am PST, and will feature a unique format: no host, no moderators. Just all your favorite comics calling into an answering machine and leaving 60-seconds-or-less messages. We’ve invited some of our favorite comedians – and will be inviting more as time goes on – to participate, and are leaving the content of the show entirely up to them!
The show is created and published completely automatically each day, so no one is listening to it before it’s released. Comedians call in, our computer magically creates a new episode from all the calls from the last day, and pushes it out to all of you.
The first episode will be released tomorrow (Monday, March 14) at 10am, and will be available via Earwolf.com as a direct download or RSS feed, iTunes, and the Earwolf iPhone app.
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