In defense of saying nothing at all

I’ve been fielding dozens of questions* about why the Cold Oatmeal Podcast has gone quiet. We haven’t released an episode in almost 4 months and our listeners are clearly suffering.

I wish the COP had its own staff so I didn’t have to answer such questions, but since we haven’t been bought by Barstool yet, I’ve become our de facto publicist and spun up some responses for why the Most Listened to Podcast by Capitol Insiders (based on zero empirical evidence) has quite literally gone to sleep.

This image was sent to me by a disgruntled listener

My first instinct was to place the blame on our last guest, Michelle Lange, for torpedoing our pod with her unpopular opinions, but since she is essentially the most popular person in Lansing, that effort fell flat. And there is really no disputing that People’s Kitchen has the best espresso martini within a 60-mile radius.

The truth is, we haven’t had any great stories to tell lately. This isn’t to say that there aren’t compelling stories yet to be told or interesting people to share them, but it just hasn’t seemed like the right guest at the right time.

We don’t want to fill your precious free time with fluff, since we are known for our incredibly intellectual topics and takes. Our listeners deserve only the best curated content based on a structured editorial calendar. Between the 2026 election cycle, the state budget process, the World Cup, and all the other day-to-day news that populates our feeds and brains, it hasn’t felt like there is anything important enough to discuss to interrupt all that other stuff.

Please say you’re still reading, because this is the part where I spin this into a PR lesson, based on our strict editorial blog standards.

Good communications content planning looks like this: 1)Look ahead 2) Have a plan 3) Incorporate flexibility. Don’t push out a communication because it’s on your calendar for the first of the month, if it gets to the first of the month and you don’t have valuable information to share. You can push it out in a few days, or even weeks! This is a great approach, since I don’t know anyone who bases their life around a date on a calendar on which they expect to receive a routine newsletter from a brand, nonprofit or association.

We live on the information overload superhighway. We’ve had clients move from a monthly newsletter to a quarterly one and get a much higher open and click rate. We also work with clients who no longer set a specific date on which to send a newsletter, but instead send one whenever they hit critical mass with content.

Life happens in real time. Information is thrown at us in every form possible during all waking hours. Save the social post, newsletter, or press release for when you have something notable to share, not just because you have a box to check that week on your strategic communications plan.

I’m not trying to put myself out of a job here, but we share a universal human experience in that we all need:

·      More time in the day

·      Less screen time

·      Fewer demands on our attention

So maybe it’s okay for your brand to be a bit quieter this summer. Your audience knows that when you have something of value to share, they’ll hear from you.

And when we have at least five A-list guests lined up for the next season of the Cold Oatmeal Podcast, you’ll be the first to know (if you subscribe!)

*Two people have inquired. One was my mom.