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Self-service media: Public radio personalities, reality podcasting, and entrepreneurial culture

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the initial seasons of two reality podcasts, Gimlet Media’s StartUp and Stable Genius’ ZigZag in relation to neoliberalism and entrepreneurialism of the self. It demonstrates how these for-profit podcasts documenting the launching of private companies represent the culmination of longterm historical processes in the public media sector and U. S society more broadly. It argues that the leveraging of public radio expertise and capital to launch reality soundwork programs promoting for-profit media companies is symptomatic of a broader shift in American cultural towards entrepreneurship of the self. These programs, and the companies and personalities behind them, are thus emblematic of both a distinct phase in the development of podcasting as a medium and the pervasiveness of market fundamentalist ideologies in contemporary U. S society.