Stilgherrian

[UPDATE: This campaign has ended, but you can always support my work by heading to stilgherrian.com/tip. Any contributions received before 9pm AEDT on Christmas Eve 24 December 2025 will be eligible for the same rewards as listed here. thanks so much.]

Hello, I’m Stilgherrian, and I’m also on Bluesky. Guess what? It’s time yet again for another seasonal crowdsfunder to support more special-guest episodes of my podcasts The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast, as well as other important projects.

And I’ve finally updated the photo. Anyway, I’m determined that the podcast should never have those terrible, badly-placed adverts. But that means I need income while I produce them. Thanks to your generous support, I’ve been able to do that for several years now. Let’s continue, shall we?

Bonus Reward

Everyone who’s ever pledged more that $20 to my projects — in this or any other campaign or just randomly — will be able to join the SEKRIT list for The Great Unboxening.

Target One $2700 ACHIEVED: Four special-guest episodes in Dec–Feb

The core of this campaign is a minimum batch of four podcasts. They’ll feature special guests to discuss what’s on their mind, current events, and whatever topics you choose for them — just like these recent episodes from The 9pm Spring Series 2025 and earlier. Warning: There’s often explicit content.

I’ve already started contacting potential guests. I’ve already started to pencil in some of the regulars. More will be added. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

• Friend of the pod, Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous will have his update on everything British and beyond — and what a year it’s been.
• Snarky Platypus and I will revisit out bingo cards for 2025 on New Year’s Eve. Some of our predictions actually came to pass!
• As always there will be a look at space with space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk and astrophysicist Rami Mandow, some time early in the new year.... and more to come.

Previous guests have included author and columnist John Birmingham, Sputh-east Asian journalist Erin Cook, satirists Mark Humphries and Dan Ilic, AI sceptic David Gerard, defence analyst Sam Roggeveen on AUKUS, climate communicator Ketan Joshi, infectious diseases physician Dr Trent Yarwood, AI researcher Professor Toby Walsh, and digital rights enthusiast Justin Warren.

Just check out The 9pm Edict in your usual podcast app to see more.

Target Two $4000 ACHIEVED: Two more episodes of the Edict, so six in all

Get us to Target Two and there will be two more of these excellent conversations. That’s six episodes between now and the end of summer. As usual, I will slot in a pro rata fifth episode if we split the difference.

And now that Another Untitled Music Podcast is a thing, as people buy the relevant rewards we’ll make the episodes.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This campaign is shorter than usual, so please act quickly!

Target Three $5300 NOT QUITE: Yes, another two more, so eight in all

Yeah let’s keep it simple for the final day. A similar target to reach, a similar outcome. Plus the special things I’ll announce before lunchtime.

Wait. How does Another Untitled Music Podcast fit into this, exactly?

Good question. It’s confusing. These campaigns have always been about The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast kind of just happened later. In the new year I’ll rework the entire system for crowdfunding these projects so it makes more sense. But for now, the targets are aligned with Edict episodes, and AUMP episodes are slotted in to match the rewards that are bought and the time that Snarky Platypus have available. Stay tuned.

A Note on the Rewards

These are the standard rewards I offer for podcast projects. Further rewards may be added as the campaign progresses. Suggestions are welcome.

Everyone who pledges to support the project will also get access to a secret stash of photographs and other treats. The set-up of this trove is long overdue, but we’ll get there. Sure.

Your contributions will provide me with a net income of $2200 while producing those first four podcasts. Pozible’s fees, bank fees, and other administration costs take about 9% of any total funds raised. On top of that there’s 10% GST, which brings the total for Target One to $2700, rounded up.

The figures for Target Two are calculated the same way, with my net income being $3300 from the gross total of $4000. 

The Fine Print

All up, each regular episode of The 9pm Edict takes a little over a day to research, prepare, record, edit, and post. Based on the MEAA award rate for casual freelance journalists that's about $1100 per episode. As a casual rate, that includes allowances for superannuation, leave, and the like, as well as equipment costs.

I discount this figure by 30% to $770 per episode because some of the work involves copying and uploading files and other mechanical tasks, so I can do other things at the same time. And because I love you all, I discount it another 20% down to $550 per episode. Maybe I should stop doing that.

If you want to see my working, check version two of the numbers (PDF).