Welcome to the next installment of our Podcast Showcase series. In this series, we share podcasts in the podcasters' own words. This time we spoke to T&J.
Summarize your podcast in 3 sentences
T&J is an independent, limited series podcast dedicated to 6th century Byzantium and the greatest recorded love story on earth: the love story between Empress Theodora and her husband, Emperor Justinian.
Who is your ideal listener? Who likes your show?
My ideal listener is someone who enjoys women being weird.
What inspired you to start this podcast?
First was the pandemic. When COVID-19 struck, I learned that the first pandemic occurred during the reign of Emperor Justinian, and I became interested in delving deeper into this period of history.
However, the more I read, the more I realized that there was a theme for me in the story. I knew I was the perfect person to bring this busy and incredible group of people and events to life.
Also, unlike books or TV series, podcasts don't require someone else's permission to broadcast to a wider audience.
What did you learn about your subject because of this podcast?
Theodora was truly the OG mother of reinvention and funny AF. Historically, women tend to have a pretty limited selection of attributes, and Theodora is the only one I know that's interesting. Her wit and jokes are still alive and well over 1,500 years later.
What has your experience been with podcasting? What do you like and dislike about the process?
The experience of creating a podcast itself was a lot of work as I did everything, but it was really rewarding. Especially now that Episode 6 is over, I know how to better achieve what I want and the steps I need to take.
What I didn't really think about was that creating a great podcast is only 40% of the work of podcasting. The other 60% was promotion and building an audience, which I'd like to say I enjoyed and was good at.
Neither is true at the moment, but I'm hopeful that a breakthrough will emerge.
If someone wanted to start listening to your podcast, which episode would you recommend they start with? Why?
We recommend listening to Episode 1: Bread and Circuses in order. Not only is it a very systematic introduction to everything you need to know about this period in Roman history, but the story of Theodora and Justinian is woven chronologically through each episode, so no one wants to miss it. There isn't.
But what I encourage everyone to do is listen to the very information-dense episodes multiple times. I think of them more like songs on an album than one-off episodes.
Rinse them and let each different element settle in each time.
What other podcasts do you listen to?
Hey, you. I love podcasts and have a pretty eclectic diet. #
Currently, “Normal Gossip”, “If Books Could Kill”, “You Must Remember This”, “Deux U”, “Scam Goddess”, “Children of Tendu”, “You're Wrong About”, “Today, Explained” ” is subscribed to.
Some of my all-time favorites are “Lolita Podcast,” “Heaven’s Gate,” “Who’s Afraid of Matthew McGill,” “Shameless Takeover Target,” “Dead Eyes,” and “Moby Dick Energy.”
If people want to find you online, where can they find you?
T&J is available on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. I'm also subscribed to his Patreon for bonus episodes and video content.The only social media platform we currently use is Twitter/X.
Read the rest of the Podcast Showcase here Find your new listening addiction among our features.
Find out how to introduce your podcast here.
image credits
