PODCAST PREVIEW: Roman Mars: “I think of Jon Stewart as a model host”

If you are a young journalist or storyteller, looking for a career path to emulate, Roman Mars likely is not your guy.

In fact, his path to success — and he has had enormous success in recent years — has been quite rare.

Rare is the person who can study science in college and spend years clawing his way into documentaries and public radio while holding down odd jobs to make money.

Rare is the person who become an independent storytelling entity as a podcaster … and raise gobs of money from fans to expand his vision.

And rare is the person who can turn an upstart radio segment about design and architecture into one of the most popular, respected podcasts on the planet.

Mars is the creator, producer, and host of 99% Invisible. The podcast is currently steamrolling through its third season with some of its most inventive episodes yet — witness a recent episode on the cultural meaning of Superman, of all things — and recently launched the most successful journalism fundraising project in Kickstarter history.

His success is extremely impressive — and would be extremely difficult for others to replicate.

His storytelling, though, is both impressive and absolutely worth emulating.

This week, Mars becomes my sixth guest on the “Telling The Story” podcast. We discuss the future and potential of podcasting, the difference between journalism and storytelling, and his advice for aspiring journalists and storytellers (spoiler alert: it mostly consists of, “Keep working”).

He also provides a window into his craft and process. Mars is a master at taking visual subjects and making them compelling and understandable in a non-visual medium. Part of that comes from developing himself as a host — or, perhaps, as a character.

Come back to tellingthestoryblog.com Wednesday at 8 AM to hear my full podcast with Roman Mars. For now, check out this segment where he discusses why he admires The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart for his ability to toe the line between host and character.

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Matt Pearl is the author of the Telling the Story blog and podcast. Feel free to comment below or e-mail Matt at matt@tellingthestoryblog.com.

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