“I done told you 100 times!” It’s a celebration as theGrio Daily reaches 100 episodes! Michael Harriot gives some insight into what it takes to sustain a successful podcast and shares advice for those who are looking to start their own.
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Panama Jackson [00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black Culture Amplified.
Michael Harriot [00:00:05] Hello and welcome back to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that has done a hundred episodes in a year. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. This is our 100th episode. We started one Juneteenth of 2022 and we’ve crossed the 100 episode threshold. To commemorate this process, this this past year of work that we’ve done. You know, we got to look behind the scenes and tell you all some stories about, you know, what it takes to put you on a podcast such as this. Number one, you don’t live in a racist country. America is racist. Because like living in America, it’ll give you something to talk about us.
Charlottesville [00:00:56] You will not replace us.
Michael Harriot [00:00:57] So living in a racist country is a big help to having a successful podcast. Number two, you’ve got to have a lot of people who don’t think it’s racist, right? Because we got that in America. Cause see, if you lived in a racist country and everybody thought it was racist, nobody would have anything to talk about it. Everybody would agree. Right. So one of the things that this podcast lives off is not necessarily racism, we wish racism didn’t exist, but because racism does exist, we talk about people who don’t believe that it exists. We have to explain why those people are batshit crazy. Number three, the third thing you need to have for a successful podcast is a good host. Well, we couldn’t find one, so we’re 99 for 100. That’s why I’m here. The fourth thing you need is a good staff. Well, the staff of theGrio Daily is great. You know, Regina Griffin, the managing editor of a podcast, everybody, right. Sasha Armstrong, Albert Parnell, the whole team here is great. Even those who have left the team since we started here are great. Because all I do is sit in front of this camera, pin a microphone to my chest, then start talking.
Michael Harriot [00:02:22] I write about this stuff so often, which is why we get to number five. We don’t need a script, right? Like we don’t have a script here. We’re not even, I walk into this room sometimes not even knowing what I’m going to talk about. And so this other thing, but that goes back to being in a racists country. Like there’s always going to be some in America to talk about when you do a podcast about race. Number six is you gotta have some people to listen. Like throwing a podcast up into the wind is not necessary. It’s crazy unless you have people who listen. So I want to thank you, the listeners, the viewers, people who watch us on YouTube and listen on Apple Music and Spotify and wherever people get podcasts from. I don’t know. Jesus. I’m sure Jesus got a podcast. So you need that to make a successful podcast. I think we’re on on the seven. Number seven is you need, of course, some microphones and some equipment. And the reason I say that is because everybody does a podcasts. When you talk to your friends, you do a podcast. It’s when you, uh, when I write articles, I’m doing a podcast, but you can’t hear it, right. Unless you have a microphone or something to record it. We got that.
Michael Harriot [00:03:47] Number eight is you got to know things. Yeah. Like, believe it or not, like a lot of people, just like think well interesting, so I could have a podcast. And I agree, because I listen to a lot of podcasts by interesting people. But for this podcast, specifically, we actually fact check this. We actually have to go like I have to answer questions from our staff. And they say like, “Well, we couldn’t find that there. We couldn’t find that information.”.
Michael Harriot [00:04:18] The nineth thing is you got to have somebody who is telling you what you don’t know. Knowing stuff, everybody knows some stuff, right? Well, one of the things we don’t talk about, for instance, we have never did a podcast about Beyonce music here. Because I don’t know about music or Beyonce, really. I know she exist. I know she’s really famous. And apparently, I don’t even know if you agree with this, but apparently some people think she’s really good at what she does. But I’m not a musician. I don’t break it down. I live in the world of Beyoncé and I’m just using Beyonce as an example because there are a bunch of stuff that you’re never going to hear about on this podcast. We ain’t going to talk about stuff that we don’t know, for instance, like privilege, having privilege, like we know white privilege exist. I ain’t got no privilege. I don’t know what it’s like to have privilege. So we’re not going to do a podcast on Black privilege. We’re not going to do a podcast on, you know, reverse racism, for instance. We don’t know anything about it. We not going to do anything about Black people feeding CRT to white kids because it really don’t happen. So there’s a bunch of stuff that we’re not going to talk about either because it doesn’t exist or because we don’t know about it.
Michael Harriot [00:05:49] The 10th thing, the last thing that you need to make a good podcast is people who subscribe. People who tell their friends about it. People who download some kind of app like theGrio app. We’re a hundred shows strong. We’ll be here for the next hundred. We hope you will be riding with us. We don’t want a ride or die, because like I ain’t kill nobody. So, you know, we want ride or live people at theGrio Daily.
Byron Allen [00:06:43] Michael Harriot over there. Michael. What you doing, man? Acting like you don’t know me. Look at you over there, man. He just texting. What the hell you looking at on your phone more important than this. What you tweeting? Come on, man. Come on, baby. I’m a big fan of yours.
Dr. Baron Davis [00:07:00] What’s going on? Mike, man, I want to take a quick second to wish you congratulations, brother, on your 100th episode of your podcast on theGrio, man. So big ups to you, brother. You do a fantastic and just an awesome job. Keep pushing the issues for all of us, man. So for, on behalf of the Bruhz here in South Carolina and the Bruhz elsewhere, I want to say Roo to the good Bruhz. Congratulations your 100th episode. Be easy, dog. One.
Michael Harriot [00:07:25] I want to thank you for listening. I want to thank you for tuning in for 100 times and I want to leave you with a Black saying. And today’s saying comes from a very special person in my life, my mother, who would always say, “I done told you a hundred times.”
Dorthy Harriot [00:07:48] Dorothy Harriot, mother of Michael Harriot. The favorite thing that momma told me, one of the things we talked about all the time was that if it can be done, if anybody can rig it up, my mom can rig it up. So his mom is rigging this up for my son, Michael. And his grandma prophesied on his life was his best friend. She always said, “Michael, sit down don’t tell you to get up. If you sit down too long, you get lazy and it’s not going to tell you to get up. So You got to get up and finish your task. Whatever you start, don’t sit down in the middle of it. Because sit down will not tell you to get up.” Michael is who he is today because of all the things that I told him. And I’m still telling him every day, “Michael, I’ve done told you, son. Do it this way.” “Michael, I told you, son, do it that way.” But that’s our relationship. He is my absolute best friend, and that’s going to be until one us expire. Michael, have a good day. Your mom, Dorothy Harriot.
Michael Harriot [00:08:56] If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app, subscribe to the show and share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments to podcasts at theGrio dot com.
Panama Jackson [00:09:12] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black Culture Amplified.
