In Podcasting, What You Say Sticks Around. Is That A Problem?

On an early episode of our new podcast series, we invited Heather Jay, a Detroit comedian, to be a guest on our show. My co-host at the time, Mike Geeter, had recently taped a performance for the Comedy Central show Kevin Hart Presents: Hart of the City. In the show, superstar Kevin Hart travels from city to city, showcasing upcoming comedians. Mike was selected for the Detroit episode, and the show was set to air soon.

As Mike and I discussed the upcoming show with Heather, I made a joke about Kevin Hart's height. It was a cheap shot, and not a very funny one, but since I am the same height as Kevin, I thought the irony would carry the joke across the finish line. It didn't.

Off the mic, Heather gently chastised me for the joke by telling the story of a stand-up comedian who had moved out to Los Angeles and, at one point, performed an entire set making fun of Eddie Murphy. While the set killed in the club, word got back to Murphy, and this aspiring comedian was quickly shunned by the comedy community. His career never took off.

Heather's message was clear: Be careful who you take shots at, because you never know when it will come back to haunt you.

I came up through alternative rock radio in the age of the shock jock. Howard Stern paved the way for radio personalities who pushed the envelope, like Opie & Anthony, Bubba The Love Sponge and Mancow.

It was the late 90s, before things could easily go viral by being retweeted or shared on Facebook. I think one of the reasons a number of high-profile DJs have gotten themselves in trouble on social media over the years is that shocking and offensive statements on social media can be repeated and spread around in a way that on-air breaks can't. Radio gave these jocks a false sense of freedom to say what they wanted without consequence. When you said something on the radio, it immediately disappeared into the ether; you didn't worry that somebody who might be offended was at home waiting to record your most obnoxious statement for distribution. So a lot of DJs felt a certain amount of freedom in pushing the envelope, including myself.

Looking back, there are definitely things that I have said over the years that I would not say today. (I'd like to take this moment to apologize to fans of Layne Staley, Pearl Jam and Vanessa Hudgens for some of my more egregious comments). But I don't have to worry about it because those comments have long disappeared into the radio wave galaxy.

With podcasts, however, what you say can be accessed later - sometimes even years later. Which begs the question, is it wise to push the envelope with podcasts the way that you can with radio? Or could your words come back to haunt you?

Of course, we'll always be able to point to successful, edgy podcasters like Joe Rogan or Adam Corolla, but they were successful before they started podcasting. What about an up-and-coming podcaster who may or may not find success? Should they be more cautious?

Many stand-up comedians lament the fact that at open mics, everybody's got a camera built in to their smartphone. You never know when a performance might be recorded and posted online. This makes it hard for comedians to find their voice through experimentation. After all, sometimes the only way to discover that something doesn't work is to try it and fail. Comedians need open mics to work their edgy material out and get it ready for an audience.

Like comedians, radio DJs work their material out in front of a live audience. Like comedians, the knowledge that they probably aren't being recorded gives them freedom to push the envelope. But what if every one of a radio DJ's show was recorded and preserved for posterity starting from the beginning? Would that make it harder for them to experiment and find their voice? Or, if they aren't cautious, are they more likely to pay a price for it in the future? Should podcasters be concerned about recording for the same reason that stand-up comedians are?

LISTEN: Hear the latest episode of The D Brief podcast.

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