I Have a Dream

"Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"
-- Chris Baker, er -- Martin Luther King

As you probably already know if you follow any number of blogs or vlogs, since so many have mentioned it, the premier Halloween and haunt related podcast Hauntcast is going free again. After a dalliance with a pay-per-download model (the exorbitant sum of $1 per show, or $12 annually) -- which apparently vastly enriched its creator Chris Baker to such an extent that he can now retire and produce the show at no cost to listeners -- he'll be opening up the podcast again for free.

Or...he was able to prove to advertisers that there was a demand for the product. Seems companies were willing to advertise on the show, but it was either it had to be free or Chris decided he couldn't charge people to listen to ads. Either way there was enough of an economic incentive there for him to revert to the original free download model Hauntcast started with.

From what I've read, there were some 12,000 or so downloads of past shows which advertisers found attractive. So what the g/host is doing is reworking the archived shows with new advertising. That's pretty smart on his part! Plus he gets new advertising too. I imagine that's something that can be reworked every so often, though it's probably a bear of an effort to re-edit all those shows.

As regular readers here know I've been a big supporter of Hauntcast, regardless of the iteration. I had a contest for two subscriptions earlier this year and bought one for a friend at a recent haunt convention, along with my own sub. As I've also said, I was more than willing to pay to support the show and I didn't think the cost was outrageous. And I have no problems now that it's gone back to free. It was an investment in extremely enjoyable entertainment for me.

But now, if you were hesitant about shelling out the $12 bucks to listen to what all the buzz was about -- there was buzz, right? -- now you can just head on over and tune in. For me, I'm happy knowing the best haunt and Halloween related podcast will remain on the air. Free at last!