No Agenda

No Agenda

The No Agenda Album Art
Presentation
Hosted by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak
Genre News  / Politics  / Food & Wine  / Conspiracy Theories  / Comedy
Language English
Updates Every Sunday and Thursday
Production
Audio format MP3
Publication
Debut October 26, 2007

No Agenda is a podcast hosted by Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak and takes place twice a week on Thursday and Sunday mornings. The show is a conversation on recent news and media memes.

The show has no advertisers, instead relying on its listeners to voluntarily donate in either lump sums or a recurring plan (referred to by the hosts as the "Value for Value" model). The show also relies on their listeners (known as "Producers") to provide artwork and audio clips.

In September 2013, the show was nominated for Podcast Awards in two categories, "People's Choice" and "Politics / News".[1]

In December 2009 the show announced they had reached 450,000 listeners.[2]

In 2009 Talkers Magazine featured the podcast in their "Frontier Fifty", an alphabetically sorted list containing a "Selection of Outstanding Talk Media Webcasters." [3]

A primer has been produced for newer listeners, both as an introduction and a discussion of the show.[4]

History

No Agenda first aired in October 2007.[5][6] Its premise was that the co-founder (Curry) and then vice-president (Dvorak) of mevio (until Oct. 2012) would have an unfiltered dialogue. The impetus for starting the show, according to Curry, was a 4-minute phone call made to Dvorak saying that they "should do a show together." Little thought was given to what the show would be about, in fact only the name was agreed upon before the first show was recorded.

The original tagline of No Agenda was that it would be the show with "no sponsors, jingles, and of course no agenda." The show's only sound effect came during the closing minute, where the jazz song On the Seventh Day by the Marriott Jazz Quintet played as the hosts signed off. Topics included the news of the day, restaurant reviews, and family.

The show gradually moved in the direction of news and political commentary. Jingles have been introduced, and have evolved into catch phrases. The show discusses current news and conspiracy theories, with the hosts discussing topics in response to their belief that the mainstream media glosses over what they see as the real facts. Celebrity gossip and other soft news stories are brought up for ironic effect, with the one that has garnered the most attention often being named "Distraction of the week".

Certain numbers are used repeatedly in the show: 33 is the "magic" number, "double nickels on the dime" (55.10) as the donation amount to become a "No Agenda Minuteman", $111.11 as "make it rain (dollar bills)", and $999.99 being the amount of donation to become a No Agenda "Knight". Episode #250 introduced the "Quad Niner" donation level: Whenever someone donates $99.99, Curry is obligated to bark: "niner, niner, niner, niner!"—a reference to his use of "niner" for "nine" in show openings.

The podcast does not accept advertising and is supported by the listeners to prevent conflicts of interest.[4] Through this direct listener-supported model, those that contribute amounts above a predetermined level are referred to as executive producers.

No Agenda was named to Talkers Magazine's Frontier Fifty list for 2011, a list of 'Outstanding Media Webcasters.'[3]

Influences

Curry tends towards a more counter-cultural outlook of the world. He often discusses his perceived links between current world events and a large number of conspiracy theories, most of which center around supposed global plans to bring about a so-called New World Order. Dvorak is much more mild tempered, often referencing his knowledge of history and his own life experience to shed light on the topics of the day, however, he appears to share many of the same opinions as Curry. Inside jokes and references to previous topics recur with great frequency in each episode which may take time for new listeners to fully grasp. The hosts prefer not to provide a recap or explanation of a phrase or anecdote unless necessary, and Curry will often sound an alarm if Dvorak begins repeating something previously discussed.

The show was influenced by the run up to the 2008 Election, the financial crisis starting that September (the September 13th show carried breaking news of the collapse of Lehman Brothers), and the transition to the Presidency of Barack Obama.

Both hosts are self-proclaimed independents, having no allegiance to one political party or ideology. Much of this is attributed to their belief that there is little difference between the two main United States political parties, whether by accident or design. Curry endorsed Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul during the 2008 and 2012 Republican primary elections.

The No Agenda Stream

Starting in early 2009 Curry began to stream the audio production of the show live, with both hosts advertising the beginning of the show via Twitter. During the week of March 15, 2009, Curry began to experiment with running the audio stream 24/7, carrying music when No Agenda was not being recorded. By March 19 the stream contained computer speech integration and an auto-DJ. After a few songs the station would break for podcast promos, news updates, and Twitter messages sent to the No Agenda Twitter account from listeners.

The music and speech integration has since been replaced by a schedule of podcasts currently consisting of the latest episode of the show Tech5, music interludes and DH Unplugged. In 2011 the No Agenda Stream added a new daily live show, Dirty Boxers. In between each podcast are one or two No Agenda jingles or soundbites. On Thursdays and Sundays the loop is interrupted for the Pre-show of the No Agenda live recordings, which most often occur in the morning, thus the catch phrase "In The Morning"; and lasting up to about three hours. During this time Curry plays listener produced novelty songs and voice-overs while reading feedback from and interacting with the audience until he is joined by Dvorak.

In March 2012 the No Agenda stream was handed over to Fral Uk Ltd, a company that was created for supporting the streaming and hosting of the stream. Shows now hosted by the company include No Agenda Show Live, Scot Horton Show Live, Leigh Browns ‘Dirty Boxers’ Live, The Marcoccio Brothers Live, Success Freaks Live, DaDenMan Show, Own My Career, Wizards of Money, King Johnny For President Live, Faroe Islands Podcast, 2nd Prints Podcast, Common Sense Revisited Live, DH Unplugged, No Agenda Producers Update “NAPU” Live, Just Getting Tech, The Geologic Podcast, The Ryno 00 Show Live, and After Tech Talk.

With the turning of the No Agenda stream into 24/7 online radio the duo have added more content to it, including a 2-hour-long show produced by Dvorak entitled "The Dvorak Interlude". This show is a run through of a lot of songs from the last few decades. The show is broken up by Dvorak introducing the songs and telling some short anecdotes.

Recurring themes and catch phrases

References

  1. ↑ 2013 Winners and Nominees, Podcast Awards
  2. ↑ Presenter: Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak, Executive Producer: Steven Pelsmaekers (2009-12-16). "No Agenda show number 157". No Agenda. 97:00 minutes in. Mevio.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Frontier Fifty". Talkers Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Audio: NA-200.6-2012-12-07 Understanding No Agenda". 7 Dec 2012. Retrieved 3 Nov 2013.
  5. ↑ "Audio: NA-001-2007-10-26 @SpokenWord.org". 26 Oct 2007. Retrieved 29 Nov 2009.
  6. ↑ "NA-001-2007-10-26". 26 Oct 2007. Retrieved 29 Nov 2009.
  7. ↑ NA-180-2010-03-07 Adam Curry from Amsterdam, 07 Mar 2010. Retrieved 08 Mar 2010.
  8. ↑ Daily Source Code 848 Retrieved 17. November 2011.
  9. ↑ Bush: Just Send Your Cash (Television production). CBS. 16 January 2010. Event occurs at 0:03. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  10. ↑ A No Agenda Moment - That's a Great Question (Audio Podcast). The No Agenda Show. Retrieved 25 January 2013.

External links