Alex Goldman

Alex Goldman is the host of Hyperfixed and the former host of Reply All.

People miss Reply All. Do you?
Not really, we did our thing and I honestly can’t imagine going back to that show. I’m very proud of the work I did there and there are certainly things I miss about it – especially the budget we were working with – but I can’t imagine revisiting that show or our process or even the subject matter. 11 years ago when we started Reply All, the internet felt vast and unconquerable, and now it feels small and constricting - we have all been siloed to a couple of sites for most of our interactions, and those sites are run by pretty disgusting oligarchs. There’s been complete corporate capture of the social internet, and it’s kind of a bummer, but the byproduct is that the most interesting narratives all come from the same four sites or are locked away on private discords. The world is cast and open so I wanted to open up my process a bit.

What is your personal favorite Reply All episode?
That’s tough to say. The one I’m probably most known for is Long Distance, where I went to India. I’m very proud of The Snapchat Thief just as a piece of self-contained journalism. I learned so much from it. Two of my dark horse favs are Good Job Alex, where I get someone’s website back for them after it was stolen by domain snipers, and The Man in the FBI Hat, a weird little story about a guy who had a knack for lying and stealing that also had a hand in bringing high speed internet to the middle of the country.

Describe Hyperfixed in ten words or less.
Listeners write in with problems and I try to fix them

Where should people start if they haven’t listened yet?
Hmmm. If they’re looking for funny, I’d start with Casey Wants to Believe. If you’re looking for heart wrenching, maybe Two Birds, One Hundred Stones.

What was the aha moment that was like this is my new podcast? How did we get here?
To be honest, there wasn’t an aha moment. I had a bunch of insane ideas for podcasts I was pitching people for two years and no one bit, but I always enjoyed doing the Super Tech Support segment for reply all, and this felt like a natural extension of that. If there was still money in narrative podcasting, I might have gone with a weirder idea. For a little while I was pitching people a podcast where I would violate civil law and when I got sued I would do a season that lasted however long the court case was. I was going to call it “Oops, I got sued.”

How is the result of the show different than you thought it’d be?
It is different than I thought it would be, but that’s both due to my lack of imagination and my inability to predict what my new colleagues would bring to the show.

How long do you think it takes you to make just one episode?
That’s a good question and one we’re constantly adjusting to. We have finished episodes in basically 2-3 weeks, but some have taken months. I feel like they kind of average out to be about 6 weeks each? Maybe a little shorter? Bonus episodes have been a lot looser and sillier. I know I’m talking to a much smaller group of people who have bought into what I’m making and to a lesser degree to my personality, so I find it easy to be more informal and experiment more.

How long do you think other people think it takes to make an episode? 
This is a fantastic question and I would love to know what people think!

Was there anything fun about starting from scratch or has it only been frustrating?
There has been a lot of fun about starting a new show. When you start something new you get to set peoples’ expectations about what a thing should be before those expectations calcify. Finding out peoples’ strengths has been incredible. Amor is a fantastic producer and reporter - great at getting answers, booking people I thought were impossible. She’s tenacious and clever and just an incredibly positive force for the show. Emma is an amazing writer and editor and hears me give a 4 sentence summary of every interview and suddenly knows how to weave them into a story. Sari is great backup in an interview and has a million great ideas. Tony, our engineer, is a secret fourth producer who is not only making the episodes sound amazing but is also working on stories for us, which is very exciting.

What’s the hardest thing?
I don’t like being a boss. I don’t like doing payroll. I don’t like doing taxes. I don’t like being broke.

What’s the recipe for a great Hyperfixed episode?
I think the recipe for any good narrative podcast is a question, some kind of emotional investment, and some movement. A happy moment in a sad story, and sad moment in a happy story. Anything that surprises. That’s the stuff that lands.

What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about?
Sharon Mashihi’s Appearances. I can’t really explain it because to do so will not do it justice, but it’s a family drama if every member of the family was played by one person.

What’s a podcast you love that everyone already knows about?
I find it hard to listen to narrative podcasts because I’m always quietly editing them in my head. I think the podcast I listen to every week no exceptions is Hollywood Handbook, which not everyone knows about, but it has an incredibly dedicated following. The hosts, Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements are comedy writers in LA and play stupid, revolting versions of themselves that insult their guests and try to rewrite their projects. They’ve been described as “two smart guys who pretend to be dumb guys who think they’re smart guys.” It’s so good. (Listen to Alex on Hollywood Handbook here.)

Are there too many podcasts?
Probably. But there are also too many tv shows and records and movies and books. There’s so much out there its almost overwhelming, but it is also exciting because there are hidden gems everywhere if you have the patience to look.

What’s the best way to grow a podcast?
The only way I’ve found to meaningfully grow a podcast is a collaboration with another podcast. It’s hard and a lot of work! But I feel like parasocial relationships with podcasters are powerful and so having someones favorite podcaster endorse you is a great way to get people on board.

Will Hyperfixed ever go to YouTube?
Most definitely. Not as a video podcast, but we’re working on getting our episodes up on there as we speak. I am actually kind of an internet dope these days. I’ve forgotten how to do everything. It’s a real flowers for algernon situation where I learned a ton of stuff about the internet working in tech support and making reply all and it’s done wonders for my sweet brain to forget all of it.

What excites you about audio right now?

What concerns you about audio right now?
How much corporate capture there is of podcasts. It’s stressful.

If you had $100K to spend on Hyperfixed, how would you spend it?
I would give everyone who works with me a raise. Right now, just to keep this show going, we’re all making the same rate and we’re all underpaid. It means the world to me that they believe in what we’re making, and I hope to be able to pay them what they deserve soon as the show grows.

Thanks, Alex!