Staff Writer
Podcasting has quickly grown to become a highly competitive info-market. Busy people want information, but need it on demand, on their terms, and podcast listener-ship has grown exponentially due to advances in do-it-yourself technology and enormous access provided by iTunes and others.
At the top of the podcast kingdom are a couple hundred top-rated shows that are largely re-broadcasts of already popular radio programs, such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others. There are also a handful of podcasts that reached the top without any name notoriety, but by simply producing a great show and having it catch on.
One such podcast that hopes to fall into the latter group is The Persistent Conservative. Having published its first show on November 11, 2009, it’s still new and much of its popularity is due to word of mouth from a core group of conservative fans on Twitter.
After a painfully boring, tedious learning curve in how to podcast correctly, Collin Buck and Scot Cerullo managed to find the right software, microphones and working knowledge to put together and publish a decidedly right of center political program that differs from other shows in many ways.
“The idea was to put together a weekly show that was irreverent, informative, almost like a magazine, with content juxtaposed to itself,” Co-Founder Scot Cerullo said. “Recording a funny skit back-to-back with thoughtful content, along with a variety of other entertaining elements, satire and music has been our goal.”
The podcast, which began with two subscribers, Scot and Collin, has grown on average by over 150 new subscribers per month through the iTunes portal and their website, also of the same name, and with conservative fans on Twitter and numerous Google searches, continues gaining strength.
One of the mainstays of the weekly podcast is a segment titled Green Tip of the Week, in which Collin and Scot spoof the political left with “letters” written by listeners, exclaiming how they are attempting to reduce their carbon footprint, make better use of green energy, but always with a politically incorrect solution, and always designed to point out the “lunacy of the left”.
Another show element that sets The Persistent Conservative apart from some of its competitors is Collin Buck’s impressions of Arnold Swartzenager, Bill Cosby, Obama, Sean Connery and many other characters, who are written into loosely-followed scripts that create caricatures and over-the-top scenarios that have met with considerable approval from listeners.
“We want to deliver a message, and to do so we have to keep our audience interested and entertained,” Scot said.” “So the first rule of thumb we follow is not taking ourselves too seriously.”
No one has accused the creative duo of taking themselves too seriously. In one recent episode, they were bragging about their new tinfoil hats and in another how they had recently made upgrades to what they call the “Liberal Defense Grid”, a supposed electronic smart fence that protects “Cabin 1″ from stray liberals who per chance wander onto the property. (Cabin 1, for the uninitiated, is the location from which the podcast is supposedly recorded. It is claimed to be a real cabin set deep in the farmland of Upstate New York).
Both Scot and Collin are intent on growing the show to professional standards, and to keep it fresh with new ideas, new content and input from listeners. “We want to be responsive to what our audience is saying,” Collin said. “We want to appeal to a large demographic but also pay tribute to the guy in the back of the room with some one-off humor and occasional references that only a true political wonk would get.”
The art of “old-style radio” may well be coming full circle in this podcast effort, with the use of sounds, humor, acting, skits, along with good, solid content. If you are interested in checking out this new kind of political show, you can subscribe free at iTunes. Just type in “The Persistent Conservative” in the search box, click subscribe, and that’s it.
*Editor’s Note: Collin Buck is an award-winning sales trainer, possesses a Mensa-level IQ and has a photographic memory. Scot Cerullo is an award-winning sleight-of-hand magician, former delegate in the 1984 election cycle, and likes shiny things.