101. The Last Word - Bigcitysmalltown is Growing: 100 Episodes & What’s Next
This week’s Last Word is a special one: bigcitysmalltown has hit 100 episodes. Host Bob Rivard reflects on this milestone, the journey so far, and what’s ahead for the podcast that tells the stories of the people shaping San Antonio’s future....
This week’s Last Word is a special one: bigcitysmalltown has hit 100 episodes. Host Bob Rivard reflects on this milestone, the journey so far, and what’s ahead for the podcast that tells the stories of the people shaping San Antonio’s future.
From decades in journalism to launching bigcitysmalltown, Bob shares his perspective on how the media landscape has evolved, why local storytelling matters more than ever, and what’s next for the show as it continues to grow.
With San Antonio at the heart of every conversation, bigcitysmalltown has brought together leaders, changemakers, and everyday voices shaping the city. So what’s next? Join us for a look back, a look forward, and a deeper dive into the mission driving bigcitysmalltown into its next 100 episodes.
The Last Word: Bigcitysmalltown is Growing
Bigcitysmalltown released its 100th episode yesterday, Feb. 21, a significant milestone for the small team that makes this podcast possible each week, and the sponsors whose support has enabled me to continue my 36-year career as a San Antonio journalist with a front-row seat on the city in all its dimensions.
I’ve been a working journalist for 48 years, starting with my first job as a sports reporter for the Brownsville Herald on the border and then to four other Texas newspapers and Newsweek magazine, work that has taken me to 60 countries around the world.
Here I am now at Episode 100, still engaged in what is now the fastest-growing city in the United States, the city my family has called home since 1989. I couldn’t do it without our sponsors, Weston Urban and Geekdom, where I keep my office and where we broadcast from the Geekdom Podcast Studio in the Rand building at 110 E. Houston St.
Graham Weston was the first person in 2011 to suggest that I follow my retirement as executive editor of the San Antonio Express-News by launching a blog that would allow me to keep my voice in the conversation citywide. At the time, Weston was Chairman of the fast-growing tech company Rackspace, which he had helped start in 1998. Weston wanted a news source that focused more on issues and opportunities in the city and less on clickbait and crime reporting. He reasoned that a more thoughtful news source would help his team recruit more talented individuals to move to San Antonio and work at Rackspace.
In contrast to Houston and Dallas, San Antonio was more of a big city that felt more like a small town in many ways. Weston told me he had protected the domain name, bigcitysmalltown.com, if I wanted to use it. In the end, my wife Monika and I launched the Rivard Report, reasoning that my name recognition might attract more readers who were unhappy with the decline of the daily newspaper.
Fast forward to my retirement from the Report in 2022, which was renamed the San Antonio Report during the pandemic. Podcasts were growing robustly everywhere. I decided to make a local podcast my next venture. It seemed like the best way to keep my voice in the community without starting another enterprise that would require substantial staffing and fundraising. I asked Graham if he still had that bigcitysmalltown domain, and he answered yes and gave it to me.
So here we are.
We’ve worked to make bigcitysmalltown a platform for a diverse range of voices and interests over our first two years of broadcasts. Some of our guests have been household names, others have been individuals largely unknown outside their immediate circles. All have been engaged in interesting or important work, or ideally, both.
San Antonio may be the fastest-growing city in the country, but local media continues to shrink. There are fewer journalists at work in the city now than there were when my family arrived here in 1989. So even a small podcast can make a difference now and merits support.
Our recently launched weekly newsletter, Monday Musings, gives me the opportunity to hear from BCST audience members, so we invite you to subscribe and send me your thoughts for future programming. Who would you like to see as a guest?
Sign up for the newsletter and let me hear from you. Here’s a bonus: Starting very soon, we will begin to promote local businesses – think restaurants and coffee shops – via the newsletter by offering subscribers the opportunity to win gift certificates. It will be our way of saying thank you for investing your time and energy with bigcitysmalltown. And it will allow us to promote some of the best of San Antonio.
Just go to bigcitysmalltown.com and scroll down to the sign-up box to add your email address. No spam, promise.
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