Beloved horror news website expands with new Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network
There’s no disputing the fact that horror portal Bloody Disgusting is one of the most important websites for horror film news and reviews and now, the site — founded by Brad Miska and Tom Owen in 2001 — has announced the birth of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network, featuring a wide variety of new shows. The network officially launches with five of the best podcasts available with a little something for everyone. Shows are available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and the official Bloody Disgusting Mobile app.
The Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network’s initial five programs include The Horror Show, a comedy podcast that dissects, mutilates, dismembers, and butchers all the movies horror fans love and love to hate (hosted by Sean Miller and Joe Vitello); and Women In Caskets, wherein Dawn Humphry and Jen Brown pick apart the movies, television shows, games, and everything else that goes bump in the night. The Women in Caskets is a podcast for the feminist in everyone, hosted by horror fans who really know what it means to bleed.
Also featured is Forever Midnight, a joyful discussion of horror in cinema for all horror fans, not just know-it-all nerds – but also for know-it-all nerds (hosted by Jef Overn, Brian Henderson, Josh Staples).
Test Pattern – made in the spirit of the old hosted monster movie shows of our youth – is a little bit spooky and a little bit silly, but always informative. Jacob Jackson and Tabitha Carson have a new topic each week, with a focus on old school macabre.
And finally, there’s Virtual Pros, the least cringe-inducing wrestling podcast on the internet! Al and Mike buck trends and seamlessly weave in brash humor, lifestyle tidbits, and a general sense of level headiness rarely heard from a wrestling podcast.
The brains behind the initiative is The Horror Show co-host and producer Sean Miller and we caught up with him to find out what odd audio fright fans can expect from the Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network.
ComingSoon.net: Why a podcast network now? Was this initiative long in gestation?
Sean Miller: When our show joined the network 9 months ago, nothing was really in place. Bloody Disgusting knew they wanted to get back into the Podcast arena, we knew we wanted to be “partners” with Bloody Disgusting and that was really it. I think in 2017 most media, news, or entertainment sites want to or already do host a podcast network. There’s a ton of benefits in running a network aside from advertising and exposure, unfortunately I think most networks don’t fully understand the business model. To be honest up until a few weeks ago we were still grinding out the business model. Trying to figure out how to make a podcast network benefit both the shows and Bloody Disgusting. How do you pay for hosting? How do you grow shows? How do you decide which shows are worth it? It was a ton of work but when it all came together finally it was really amazing.
CS: What was the criteria when selecting the first 5 shows? Was there a science to it? Were these existing shows or are they all new?
Miller: Tom (Owen) and Brad (Miska), the owners, gave me basically complete control to select the shows. I would submit the shows to them for approval but they approved all of them. They already had our show and Forever Midnight on the network when we started looking so I chose the other three. My thought process when looking for shows is quality, consistency, and work ethic. The shows need to sound professional and come out on-time and on-schedule. But the biggest thing for me that separates shows from others is the work ethic. All the shows I chose have an insane drive and hustle. That is hard to keep up when you’re doing something for free and probably not making a lot of money, if any.
CS: What do you think gives the BD network the edge over its contemporaries?
Miller: Quality and variety. The shows we chose I think are all professional and conduct themselves as such. They all have their own hustles, their own merch, they all work harder then most people do at their jobs. They’re not going to sit around and wait for Bloody Disgusting to advertise something for them they’re going to go after it themselves. That’s HUGE. We’re also looking at different types of shows with different types of hosts. Bloody Disgusting is a horror site but horror fans have tons of different interests. That’s why my first goal was to bring in a wrestling podcast, Virtual Pros, and a show hosted by females, Dawn and Jen from Women in Caskets and Tab from Test Pattern. Podcast listeners love different things and different shows and we’re going to try and satisfy that. Podcast’s are so niche, you may not like every podcast on our network but you’re also going to be exposed to a lot of different and unique topics and hosts and I think that’s important.
CS: Have you been inundated by people doing podcasts trying to get on the network already?
Miller: Dude, Today I got like 30 emails while mowing my lawn and I want to cry (laughs). We’ll probably be sticking with 5 for a little while but we’re always looking for the right show.
CS: What’s the long term plan with the network?
Miller: We’re looking into a lot of original new shows and possibly bringing on some celebrity hosted shows as the network grows. My goal is to create a network with a feeder system that will allow established shows to grow and at the same time their success will allow us to bring on smaller shows or start a brand new show from scratch. As they grow and become more successful the cycle will hopefully continue so we’ll always have shows coming in as other shows end.
