[Update: We got 91% of the way to Target Two, so there will be five special-guest episodes in this series. Check the Updates tab for details as we go along.]

Hello, I’m Stilgherrian. Spring is in the air! So it’s time yet again to organise more special guest episodes of my inappropriate podcast The 9pm Edict.

Target One $2300 ACHIEVED: Four special guest episodes in Sep–Nov

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 Winter Series 2022 that's wrapping up with three more episodes over the next three weeks.

I’ve started pencilling in the guests. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. But for now we have:

• Toby Walsh, Laureate Fellow & Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Sydney, author of Machines Behaving Badly.
• Economist Umair Haque, author of The New Capitalist Manifesto and Betterness: Economics for Humans, and chronicler of the decline of America. We'll also talk about disco. (Yes I know, we were trying to get him for the winter series but it didn't happen.)

Previous guests have included author and columnist John Birmingham, satirist Alex Lee, and journalist Andrew P Street. We’ve discussed climate change with comedian Dan Ilic and activist Ketan Joshi, antarctic geopolitics with Dr Elizabeth Buchanan, the horrors of cryptocurrency and NFTs with David Gerard, space with Rami Mandow, 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 QUITE: 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!.

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. It's definitely 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 the season. 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).