Why I Stopped Calling ECW a Travel Podcast

For a long time, I described EveryCity Whispers as a travel podcast. It was the easiest shortcut. People understood it immediately. They'd nod and know where to place it.

The problem was it kept attracting the wrong expectations...and the wrong listeners. People who wanted recommendations. Tips. Itineraries. The best ramen in Tokyo.

That's not what this show is (but if you stick around, maybe I'll still tell you about that best ramen spot).

I spent a long time trying to find the right language for what ECW actually does. The closest I've gotten: it's a show about what cities do to people. Not what people do in cities. The direction of influence runs the other way.

Every place you've ever lived has installed something in you. A habit. A belief. A blind spot. A standard you hold everyone else to without realizing it came from a specific street in a specific city at a specific moment in your life.

ECW is about that. About the pressure cities place on us. About whether we adapt, resist, grow, or fold.

That's not travel. That's something else. I'm still finding the exact word for it. But "travel podcast" isn't it — and pretending it was kept the show smaller than it needed to be.

The new tagline I've been playing with is: every city tests you.

I think that's finally right.