Wednesday Mar 13, 2024

500 Episodes and Growing: The History and Evolution of the Lean Blog Podcast

My guest for Episode #500 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is me, your usual host Mark Graban. Today, I'm mixing up the format with a solo episode that celebrates 500 episodes over almost 18 years.

I'll share some of the origin story and history of the podcast. You'll hear clips from Episode 1 (with Norm Bodek) and Episode 50 (where Jamie Flinchbaugh asked me about getting started). You'll also hear a clip from a recent conversation where Barry McCarthy, of AME Australia, asked me about persisting with podcasting all these years.

Thanks for listening, whether this is your first time, you've listened to them all, or somewhere in between!

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Notes and Highlights:

More than 500 episodes in 921 weeks, a little more than one every two weeks for 17.75 years
3,276,745 total downloads / listens, although I'm not convinced the stats are 100% consistent
The top 10 most downloaded episodes
The most frequent guests (#1 is Norman Bodek with 14 episodes)
One anonymous guest
Where listeners are from
The origin story and the intro to Episode #1
A clip from Episode #50
My reflections on the clunky podcast name
A shift over time from “big names” to highlighting new faces and their stories
The one time I forgot to record!
In memoriam: guests who have passed away