Feat. Daisy Alioto & Francis Zierer

Daisy Alioto and Francis Zierer of Tasteland join us to talk about what happens when two distinct media brands—Dirt and Creator Spotlight—collide. We explore how podcasting has become a creative extension of newsletters, how parasocial dynamics shape audience building, and what it means to build brand and community in a fractured media landscape.

Staying Afloat in the Primordial Soup

Key takeaways:

The “Anti-Scene” Scene: Today’s creative connections often form organically—through mutual respect and shared ideas, not cliquish gatekeeping—giving rise to an “asynchronous salon” of cultural thinkers.
Design and Taste as Cultural Signals: Design choices and curation practices influence perception and build cultural credibility.
Building Media That Builds Taste: Tasteland isn’t about telling people what to like—it’s about helping listeners cultivate their own sense of taste, with media that challenges, informs, and inspires.
"You can notice the difference in the approach… and I do wonder if the pendulum will swing back to more structured storytelling, like Serial or S-Town. – Daisy
"The biggest problem with culture plus business is it's easy for dishonesty to creep in. And that sucks. Who wants to listen to someone with no point of view?" – Daisy
"It's like this asynchronous salon of independent figures… where the connections become more connections across them." – Francis
"If your media diet becomes a closed loop… you’ve basically traded one algorithm for another. Our job is to help people develop their own taste." – Daisy
"I read SIC Weekly like a poem… and just click on two links. It forces you to choose—and that’s what develops taste." – Francis

In-Show Mentions:

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The New Era of Media with Tasteland

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