The Final Episode of the Podcast: Reflections on a Seven Year Journey

In 2019 three of us sat in Tommy Adlard’s living room downtown with a bottle of wine, a few microphones, and no plan, and talked with Aaron Foster for two hours. Seven years and 220 episodes later, this is the last episode of Fresno’s Best.

My friend Dustin Maddox sat across from me in my living room on East Harvard to talk it through. I could have recorded this alone like a journal entry, but I don’t always trust myself to be honest without someone asking the questions.

We talk about:

• How it started: cold-emailing strangers from my personal Gmail, and being surprised that people said yes
• Why I did it: I was new in town, wanted to meet people, and had a chip on my shoulder after Southern California friends held a quasi-funeral when I moved to Fresno
• What Fresno taught me: a literary scene I didn’t know existed, and a city where if you want to change something you go from the sidelines to running the thing almost overnight
• The friendships and businesses that came out of guests listening to each other’s episodes
• Why it’s ending: burnout, the pull of the algorithm, the show drifting into advocacy and fights instead of celebration, and starting to see myself as a brand instead of a person
• What I hope you take with you: a different picture of Fresno, and more curiosity about the people around you
• What’s next: The History of California Podcast, my monthly book list, and making strange coffee in my front yard for neighbors
• Turning the tables: Dustin finally asks me my own questions. Where I’m eating, my verdict on Me-N-Ed’s after seven years of asking everyone else, and what I’m reading

Thank you to every guest and every listener. It’s been a joy. Go be a good neighbor, and maybe read a book instead of a podcast.

Chapters
00:00 Where it all started
02:00 From three hosts to one
04:45 The format: where to eat, overrated vs. underrated, books
07:30 What I learned about Fresno
10:00 Getting sidelined in Pasadena vs. thrown in the deep end in Fresno
12:00 Being a connector
13:00 Why it’s ending: burnout and the algorithm
17:00 The tree fight and mission creep
18:30 The pull of the History of California Podcast
20:00 When you start seeing yourself as a brand
22:30 What I hope listeners take away
26:30 Leave the party early
28:00 Coffee in the front yard
29:30 Where to find me next
31:00 Tables turned: where I’m eating
33:30 Me-N-Ed’s: overrated or underrated?
35:00 What I’m reading

Mentioned in this episode

• Satay (Thai), Shepherd & Walnut area
• The taco truck at Shields & Palm (Tuesday–Sunday evenings)
• Me-N-Ed’s Pizza
• Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
• David Graeber & David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything
• Marlon James, The Disappearers
• Being Thomas Jefferson
• The History of California Podcast and Substack
• Sets on Harvard (Instagram)