Innovation in Media

Kyle Heimann – Spoke Street Media

“Can we launch on Ash Wednesday?”

We all tried to do the math in our heads.

“That’s in 64 days!”

We didn’t have a website, a list of podcasts, an agreement written up, a plan… but it just made sense. We would offer a podcast-a-day for Lent and invite people to grow in their faith through free, inspirational audio.

We had been working on the idea of a podcast network for more than a year. We hired creative thinkers and a designer to lend their talents in helping us discern and refine our mission, but could we actually launch it in two months? On the other hand, could we continue postponing it?

When Redeemer Radio launched in 2007, the need for apologetics was a priority. We offered programs that explained the faith to Catholics who always wondered about certain things or never knew about others. Then God called us to more. We could not ignore statistics telling us that millennials are leaving the Church in alarming numbers. The most frequent prayer request we receive from our listeners is that their grown children and young adult grandchildren would return to the Church.

Plus, Catholic radio content had changed. Many programs reduced Catholicism to a set of rules and a political party. This divisive and sometimes judgmental tone was turning people away, especially millennials. Plus, people 30 and younger rarely listen to FM radio.

It was time for a “new apologetics.” Time for content that told authentic stories of people loving their neighbor, affirming the good in every person, and inviting everyone to an encounter with the person of Jesus. A podcast network would bring together creators who shared our vision of high-quality, authentically Catholic content.

We chose a small number of podcasts to invite. Some needed our help. Some could help us. And some were good friends. Most were a combination of these. Almost all agreed to take a chance with us; actually, twenty-seven podcasts joined.

The campaign launch went well…maybe too well! We had to pause the campaign because our website kept crashing. We updated the hosting package as quickly as possible!

As Lent began, so did more issues.

In retrospect, I should have begun my day with prayer. Instead, I began with checking email and the website. For the first two weeks, there was a 70% chance I would find a disaster.

Once we got the hosting issue fixed, we got hacked. Junk started popping up, and eventually we got locked out of our own website.

We could either patch it up and try to fix it, potentially missing something the hacker left on our site, giving access to do something devious in the future, or delete it all, and rebuild it clean. We opted for the latter. It would be more work but potentially prevent an even bigger problem in the future.

There were also issues with our podcast hosting service, RSS feeds, and audio quality for some shows.

Could these have been avoided? Maybe. But if we had waited six months, I don’t think we would have been able to predict the stumbles, we would have just delayed the impact we could have.

When it comes to doing something innovative that hasn’t been done before, it’s important to plan as much as possible. But, at some point, you just have to start, expect mistakes, and be ready to tweak. Like our journey to fulfillment with God consists of falling down and getting back up, the same is true with innovation. As C.S. Lewis wrote…

“No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time.”

C.S. Lewis