Jesse Thorn on 25 Years of Bullseye, Surviving Podcasting, and Worker Ownership

The Humble Beginnings of Bullseye

• 💡 Jesse Thorn started Bullseye at 19 as a college radio show at UC Santa Cruz, initially featuring comedy and conversations with a "space whale."
• 🎯 The show quickly evolved to include interviews with admired artists, realizing the difficulty of filling an hour with solely written material.
• 🔑 Early guests included members of the Upright Citizens Brigade and Mike Nelson from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Navigating Interview Disasters and Triumphs

• ⚠️ A disastrous interview with Dustin Diamond (Screech from Saved by the Bell) taught Thorn the importance of only interviewing people whose work he genuinely recommends.
• 🎤 A memorable interview with Bill Withers highlighted the artist's desire for agency and autonomy, stemming from a difficult upbringing and negative experiences in the music industry.
• 🎭 The interview with Michael K. Williams about his early dance video experience revealed the profound impact of opportunity and artistic validation.
• 🧠 Conversations with artists like Pedro Almodóvar and Gangsta Boo underscored the value of discussing the creative process and technicalities of their art, rather than just biographical details.

The Evolution to Maximum Fun and Worker Ownership

• 🚀 Jesse Thorn founded Maximum Fun, a network of artist-driven shows, initially supported by direct audience contributions.
• 💰 He explains that venture capital in podcasting often leads to anti-competitive practices and market capture, contrasting with his goal of audience-supported sustainability.
• 🤝 Maximum Fun transitioned to a 100% worker-owned cooperative to protect the network's mission and ensure its long-term existence, with Thorn now an employee and worker-owner.

The Philosophy of Public Media and Art

• 🎯 Thorn believes public media should treat audiences as citizens, not customers, providing an ecosystem outside pure market forces.
• ✨ He emphasizes that public media's greatest successes, like Sesame Street and Tiny Desk concerts, are radically inclusive and require public funding.
• 🗣️ Thorn advocates for a more inclusive public media that reflects the nation and discusses all forms of art, including rap, with the same seriousness as other genres.
• 📈 He stresses the importance of caring about the audience and creating content that people want to hear, a principle that has guided his work since college radio.