Hello, I’m Stilgherrian. Summer is over, so it’s time yet again to organise more special episodes of my inappropriate podcast The 9pm Edict for autumn. We've got the first four funded, but didn't hit Target Two. So I'll do five.

Target One $2300 ACHIEVED: Four podcast episodes in March–May 2022

The core of this project 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 episodes from The 9pm Summer Series 2022 just finished.

I’ve already pencilled in a few guests:

• Evelyn Douek, who knows all about information and disinformation on the internet. Among other things, she's a co-producer of the Arbiters of Truth podcast series.
• Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk, space archaeologist and friend of the pod, this time talking about her work with the International Space Station.
• Journalist Greg Muller, producer and presenter of the excellent podcast series Motherlode about the birth of computer hacking in Melbourne and the back story of a certain Julian Assange.

More guests will be added, of course. I might even get to that long-promised episode about submarines.

Previous guests have included author and columnist John Birmingham, satirists Alex Lee and Mark Humphries, and journalist Andrew P Street. We’ve discussed climate change with comedian Dan Ilic and activist Ketan Joshi, antarctic geopolitics with Dr Elizabeth Buchanan, and neo-Nazis with analyst Ariel Bogle.

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

Target Two $3500 NOT REACHED: Two more episodes, so six in all

Get us to Target Two and there will be more of these excellent conversations. That’s six episodes! And we’re there.

Target Three $4600 : Add a panel show

It's been ages since we’ve done a Public House Forum episode, livestreamed from a pub with a live audience. With Sydney no longer in lockdown, at least at the time of writing, it’ll certainly be time for another one. It’ll sound a bit like this one from 2018.

Target Four: TBA

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but it’d be great to lock in the funding for a few more episodes before the end of summer. I’ll add some more details here when it becomes relevant.

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 I’ll be email all previous supporters with an update on that very, very soon.

Your contributions will provide me with an income of $1920 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 $2300.

The figures for Target Two are calculated the same way, with my net income being $2880 from the gross target of $3500. 

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 $960 per episode. As a casual rate, that includes allowances for superannuation, leave, and the like, as well as equipment costs.

I discount it by 30% to $650 per episode because some of the work involves copying and uploading files and other mechanical tasks. I can do other things at the same time. And because I love you all, I discount it another 20% down to $480 per episode.

A Public House Forum episode takes quite a bit more effort overall, roughly two days, so with the same discount applied that's that's $960 per episode.

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