
Show HN: The Program – my series launched on HN, now featured on Apple Podcasts - I-M-S
https://programaudioseries.com/
======
I-M-S
Hello HN! In June 2018, I unveiled a fictional podcast called The Program on
HackerNews [1]. You can think of The Program as a historical podcast set in a
future in which Money, State, and God became fused into a single entity. Each
episode is a self-contained story focusing on ordinary people inhabiting this
extraordinary world. And for them, it is not this future that is terrifying -
it is our present.

The remarkable reception I’ve received on HackerNews (one person called the
show "the best 3 hours of entertainment and critical thinking [he has had] in
a long time") motivated me to invest even more time and energy into The
Program, a labour of love for me and everyone else involved. So I have made
ten episodes in total and officially launched the show two weeks ago.

Five days after the release, The Program has been featured on Apple Podcasts'
New & Noteworthy list in Canada. Less than 48 hours later, it topped the
Canadian Fiction chart, beating out heavyweights such as Welcome to Night Vale
and Gimlet’s newest fiction offering.

This auspicious start owes a lot to the feedback I’ve received here (thanks to
everyone who completed the survey back then!) and the general intellectual
stimulation this website provides. There are full episodes that have been
inspired wholly by articles HackerNews’ readers shared and discussions they
provoked - in fact, some upcoming stories incorporate comments from the
threads almost verbatim [2] [3]. So I wanted to share the show with you and
let you decide if I’m right to believe you’ll find it interesting. You can
find the first six episodes at
[https://programaudioseries.com](https://programaudioseries.com) or simply
search for “the program audio series” (full title) in your podcast app.

Thank you all for making HN such a precious place! If you have comments or
feedback, feel free to share them here so we can continue the conversation.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17425278](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17425278)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15651510](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15651510)
[3]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20666272](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20666272)

~~~
mtlynch
Congrats on the launch and positive reception!

What have you found helpful in finding an audience for your show? One of the
big challenges of a podcast is that it's relatively high friction to get new
listeners, especially for a deep, complex show like The Program. I'm curious
how you get momentum behind it and convince new listeners to check it out.

~~~
I-M-S
To tell you the truth, I'm still trying to find it! xD But so far, Apple
featuring the show as "New & Noteworthy" (in Canada) has been instrumental.
This is a model example how independent productions can succeed if given a
chance to be exposed to wider audiences.

------
hendi_
I've listened to the previous episodes when they were released initially last
year. The promise of The Program sounded intriguing: set in a (dystopian?)
future, narrated by ordinary people, often in an interview style, so I as a
listener was (and still am) unaware of the full setting. And then the series
took a break for about a year, but is now finally back. Finally!

The previous episode was as good as expected, and I can't wait to listen to
the latest one. It's a bit sad that I work from home, I'd love to have to
commute tomorrow so I could listen to it on the train...

The ideas, the writing, the chosen music, and especially the production
quality is top notch. I don't know how he does it or where he's got his budget
from, but this sounds better and more professional than almost all other
podcasts, totally on par (or even better) with content produced by BBC etc.

If Black Mirror went back to its pre-Netflix roots and had an audio version,
THIS would be it!

------
ArekDymalski
Thanks for re-submitting your project! I've started listening to it last year,
enjoyed it a lot and then lost it after switching to a new phone. Couldn't
find it because of rather generic title - searching for phrases like "the
program sf audio drama" helped me to find a lot interesting stuff but not this
one. So I'm happy to bookmark it properly this time :)

~~~
I-M-S
Lovely story! Life sometimes does give you a second chance (which is
incidentally the theme of the episode coming out Jan 1st ;))

~~~
soneca
Nice segway, convinced me you are a good storyteller worth listening! lol

(nah, actually was already convinced by the upvotes, comments, and
description; all episodes on my Play Later list)

------
wishinghand
I was wondering if this was going to continue. I listened to the episodes
about two lovers split up by the war and the one about the militia operating
out of an old Amazon warehouse. I liked them both but the lovers one was
really good. Trying to piece together what the Program was doing and how it
worked along with a really relatable story of two people separated by chance.

------
joshschreuder
I'm glad I saw this... I've had the old feed in my reader all this time,
waiting for a new episode that never came. If you still have the old feed up
it might be worth publishing a small announcement ep to add the new feed?

Anyway, good luck and I can't wait to listen to the new eps!

~~~
I-M-S
my web dev guy tells me I've explicitly told him to delete that feed, so I'm
guessing chances are slim. Sorry about that!

------
mikesabat
Wow, perfect timing. I'm looking for a new podcast and wanted to try something
fictional. I'll give it a go.

I found the show on Google podcasts although it wasn't a top entry. I have no
vested interest, but I've found Chartable worthwhile. They provide a link that
detects the device and then route the clicker to Apple podcasts or Android
etc.

I use it for my podcast called The Chat Bubble. It's about messaging (SMS &
Messenger) as a marketing channel. Shameless Plug -
[https://link.chtbl.com/5aq29ViJ](https://link.chtbl.com/5aq29ViJ)

~~~
hiccuphippo
I use AntennaPod and can directly search for podcasts there from several
sources. I had to search for "The Program audio series" to find it, just
searching for "The Program" brought too much noise.

------
Chirael
I've been in touch sporadically with the author/creator since the original two
episodes in 2018 and he's put a lot of work into it. I remember those two
episodes fondly and for their high quality, and am really happy more are
coming out.

------
tomerbd
Just listening to it WOWWWWW from Israel this is BRILLIANT

------
clockworklauren
This has big Dark Tower feelings. I love it, thank you!

------
desireco42
I can't find it on PocketCasts. Is there a service you can use to publish it,
clearly you want your stuff accessible to others?

~~~
I-M-S
It's definitely on PocketCasts - you just have to search for the full title
("the program audio series")

Alternatively you can copy/paste the RSS link into the search bar in the app:
[https://rss.whooshkaa.com/rss/podcast/id/9740](https://rss.whooshkaa.com/rss/podcast/id/9740)
(I haven't done this myself, but people tell me it works)

------
riku_iki
Maybe you have a chance to submit your podcast to Google Music and/or
Stitcher?

~~~
I-M-S
It is on Stitcher! And on whatever Google is calling their podcast app
today... Fun fact: for all other platforms you manually submit your show,
whereas Google's platform finds it and indexes it automatically.

~~~
bdibs
Just added it to my platform, hope that's OK!

[https://www.podalong.com/TheProgramaudioseries](https://www.podalong.com/TheProgramaudioseries)

~~~
I-M-S
Sure thing! Let me know if you need anything from me

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q_eng_anon
this is nice - good luck to you and yours - definitely going to give it a
listen

------
chabad360
[https://xkcd.com/2237/](https://xkcd.com/2237/)

