More bald bravado from Tom and Rob including Political Heights, Placards, Cold Callers, Form Party Manifesto, Concert Shoes, Popcorn Glory Hole, Garbage Pale Kids, Corpse Flower, Replacing Religion in Schools, Dream Fraud and Karaoke Consequences.

Tom and Rob discuss butt plug cheating, standing ovations, Gertrude the flamingo, despotic/spartan DIY, Gamesmaster, bad guys bootcamp, emailing receipts and karaoke consequences.

New season, new format but the same old stupidity for your aural pleasure. Join Tom and Rob as they navigate their way through Speakers Corner, Dead Donkeys, Iguana's Igloo, Back in my Day, Tomorrow's World, Misanthropic Meltdowns and Karaoke Consequences.

Tom and Rob discuss toxoplasma gondii, til death us do part, gravy boats, gurning games, mouse subbuteo and play a who is older game. Last episode of season 1… season 2 coming soon.

Tom and Rob discuss grow clothes, phantom haemorrhoids, dinjuries, Desmond Potter, 48hr deodrants, belly pillows, winter glasses, holograms and happy ending massage shop idea. This show's quiz is enough to make your knees crack.

This episode Tom and Rob discuss the fruit juice from dreams, Orc mindfulness, Christmas movies, caffiene, alcohol, smoking/vaping and are we amusing ourselve to death. Rob quizzes Tom on common myths.

This episode Tom and Rob discuss the sycamore gap tree, The Beatles, Roger Waters, horticutral terrorism, esoteric sports, Rob's new invention idea, the Somerset gimp, care home lap dances, hospice hedonism and there is a toilet break. Tom quizzes Rob on fetishes.

Tom and Rob shatchit in this episode, discussing the meaning of life, employing an ex-terrorist, personality types, sweet tea, wiping your bum with your other hand, Tom has another moneymaking idea, Rob thinks he's come up with a new app and why certain foods give you wind and what was the first UK number 1 single of the 90s?…

This episode is all about Ben Johnson's bulging eyes, peachy teachers, hope for heroes, car buttons, scooter terrorists, Rob's song and Tom's painful quiz.

Tom and Rob share ideas on how to make the world a better place… and possibly make a few quid along the way.

Tom and Rob discuss social media conspiracy theories and why this might be.... and there is of course the pop quiz at the end. This episode was lovingly edited by Rob

Episode 2 - Rantallion* Tom and Rob discuss Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Madeline McCann, Nicola Bulley.... and there is of course the pop quiz at the end. *Rantallion: A person whose scrotum is so relaxed as to hang so low as to exceed the length of the flaccid penis

We're excited to bring you another special News Guest episode this month featuring former New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet and The Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith, who spoke at last year's Independent News Sustainability Summit about the future of local watchdog journalism — and how national newsrooms like the Times can support it. P…

We're excited to bring you a special News Guest episode this month featuring Charlottesville Tomorrow CEO and editor-in-chief Angilee Shah and The Markup editor-in-chief Sisi Wei, who spoke at last year's Independent News Sustainability Summit about how to reimagine newsroom culture and build more sustainable workplaces. P.S. Our next in-person eve…

The pilot episode. Tom and Rob discuss Eric Gill, cancel culture and forgotten Russian heros

With stories to edit, websites to update, and social media accounts to maintain, it’s easy for revenue work to fall by the wayside, unless it’s part of your daily routine. Our guests in this episode have ideas on how to keep you focused on getting dollars in the door in 2023 and beyond: Kyle Constable is the director of membership and digital innov…

When you’re a leader at an independent news organization, it’s easy to feel like you need to wear all the hats – or that you can’t take a day off because your audience and advertisers depend on you. In this episode, you’ll hear advice about how to identify burnout in yourself and your team — and what to do about it – from two experienced news leade…

News organizations sometimes get so busy doing the work that they forget to track their impact or tell their story to stakeholders, including the people most likely to support them financially. In this episode of News Guest, you’ll learn why and how you can make time for this important work with insights and advice from: Angie Cirone, former direct…

A formal education may prepare us well for a lot of things, but being a manager often isn’t one of them. In this News Guest episode, you’ll hear from two people who have been on both sides of newsroom management about how independent news publishers can be better managers. Samantha Ragland is vice president of journalism programs at the American Pr…

There are more revenue options than ever available to local independent publishers, from selling ads to launching a membership program to holding events to publishing sponsored content. Of course, having more options also means having to make more decisions — and creating more opportunities for a revenue stream to fail. In this episode, our host Ca…

One of the hardest parts of running an independent news business is building an audience from scratch, especially if you’re trying to do it on a shoestring budget. In this episode of News Guest, host Candice Fortman of Outlier Media is joined by two guests who have worked deep in the weeds of audience strategy to talk about how researching and unde…

It's almost time for Season 2 of News Guest! Candice Fortman from Outlier Media is back to host a series of conversations about some of the most important topics for local news publishers and people who follow the industry. We'll be talking about audience development, revenue, demonstrating impact, preventing burnout and so much more. Subscribe on …

In Part I of this conversation, we talked with Santa Cruz Local founder Kara Meyberg Guzman about finding a sustainable workload and with Gettysburg Connection founder Chuck Stangor about building and managing a tech stack. In this month’s episode, we hear from three more independent news publishers about their advice for first-time founders: Don’t…

Getting an independent local news business off the ground is no small feat, and figuring out how to keep it going can be even harder. So we asked publishers: What do you wish you'd known about launching a news business before you started? In this episode of News Guest, we talk with two LION members about their perspectives on that question and the …

Research shows that solutions journalism can combat news fatigue, build trust with readers, and deliver more impact than reporting focused on problems alone. But can solutions journalism move the needle on revenue? In this episode of News Guest, you’ll hear two perspectives on that question – first, from Flint Beat founder Jiquanda Johnson in an in…

Our hypothesis at LION is that the path to sustainability for independent news businesses starts with a strong foundation of operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact. But what do these three pillars look like in practice? In our latest episode of News Guest, we explore seven ideas to improve news business sustainability tha…

Fall means peak fundraising season for many news organizations — and our three guests today are full of advice about how to build relationships with potential funders, especially those without a long history of supporting journalism. Kimberly Griffin is the publisher and director of revenue for Mississippi Free Press; Kimberly Spencer is the senior…

Scalawag has learned that in-person and virtual events can be a powerful “top of funnel” marketing tool for membership by helping introduce its brand to the kind of progressive, diverse, engaged Southerners who are most likely to become paying supporters. In this episode, Scalawag executive director Cierra Hinton and audience growth and engagement …

Reader revenue often gets talked up as the future of local news, but what about the people who can’t afford to pay? In this episode of News Guest, Candice talks with El Tímpano founder Madeleine Bair about meeting information needs in low-income communities — and how her nonprofit newsroom unlocked a new revenue stream by doing exactly that.…

The 19th* is celebrating its first birthday this month, and there’s a lot to celebrate, from a $12 million fundraising haul to its nearly 11,000 paying members. But co-founder and publisher Amanda Zamora says the high-flying independent news startup has also made a few mistakes along the way, especially when it comes to planning for and managing gr…

An all-volunteer passion project grows into a full-fledged news operation, with staff to manage, contractors to pay, and a business to run. Gabe Schneider and The Objective team have spent the last 12 months charging full speed ahead at this transition, but now they’re about to try something different: slowing down. In this episode of News Guest, o…

Last summer, Luke Baumgarten was one of 24 aspiring news entrepreneurs selected to participate in the inaugural Startups Boot Camp, a partnership between LION and the Google News Initiative. Today, he’s the publisher of RANGE, a solutions-focused local news organization with nearly 1,000 newsletter readers and 100 paying members. In this episode of…

Many news organizations across the country have *talked* about diversifying their teams and prioritizing equity and inclusion, especially in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter protests. The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service has actually done it. Nearly 70 percent of MNNS's paid staff identify as people of color, including its top editor R…

Gator Watch officially began on July 9, 2019, when the nonprofit newsroom Block Club Chicago broke the news of a rare alligator sighting in west Chicago. 30 stories and 4,000 T-shirts later, Gator Watch went down not only as a viral content series, but also as one of Block Club’s most successful fundraising campaigns ever, bringing in more than $10…