Introducing Webmasters.fm – A New Podcast  ## Metadata - Author: [[Brian Coords]] - Full Title: Introducing Webmasters.fm – A New Podcast - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: [#WordPress, #podcast, #community, #web-development, #WebmastersFM] - #WordPress - #podcast - #community - #web-development - #WebmastersFM Author: Brian Coords Source: Brian Coords Newsletter Reference: [Introducing Webmasters.FM: A New Podcast](https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/introducing-webmasters-fm-a-new-podcast/?__readwiseLocation=) date created: 2025-05-17 01:28 --- # Title: 🎙️ Introducing Webmasters.FM: A New Podcast for the WordPress Community ## Table of Contents: - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📖 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔍 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - Brian Coords. [Introducing Webmasters.FM: A New Podcast](https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/introducing-webmasters-fm-a-new-podcast/?__readwiseLocation=) ## 📝 Summary: Brian Coords introduces Webmasters.FM, a new podcast aimed at WordPress professionals and the broader web development community. The podcast is set to cover topics like the challenges of maintaining websites, the evolving WordPress ecosystem, and industry trends. The format promises candid conversations, thoughtful analysis, and a focus on both the technical and community aspects of working on the web. Coords encourages listeners to engage, share feedback, and help shape future episodes. ## 📖 Main Content: Brian Coords shares the story behind launching the Webmasters.FM podcast, highlighting a desire to go beyond written content by having deeper, unscripted conversations with experts in the field. The podcast is created in collaboration with other experienced web professionals, each bringing a unique perspective from their roles as developers, educators, and community contributors. Topics will span technical deep dives (e.g., site performance, security), current events in the WordPress ecosystem, and personal experiences maintaining websites for clients and communities. The show emphasizes a practical, conversational approach, steering clear of marketing fluff in favor of authenticity. Coords invites feedback, questions, and topic suggestions from listeners to keep the podcast responsive and community-driven. ### 🗒️ Notes - **Purpose of Webmasters.FM:** - To foster real conversations about website building, maintenance, and the web’s future. - To fill a gap for WordPress-focused, technically honest podcasts. - **Target Audience:** - WordPress developers, site maintainers, agency owners, and community contributors. - **Show Format:** - Informal, discussion-based, co-hosted by experts with varied backgrounds. - Topics include technical challenges, community news, career advice, and ecosystem commentary. - **Community Engagement:** - Invites listener feedback and participation to guide episode topics. - Focuses on transparency, real-world challenges, and actionable takeaways. - **Distinctive Features:** - Not just for plugin reviews or tutorials—aims for thoughtful, big-picture conversations. - Prioritizes the “real” experience of web professionals over hype. ## 📖 References: - Brian Coords Newsletter. [Introducing Webmasters.FM: A New Podcast](https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/introducing-webmasters-fm-a-new-podcast/?__readwiseLocation=) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. **Original:** "I wanted a place to have more candid conversations about the work we do on the web, especially around WordPress, with all the nuance, messiness, and excitement that brings." - **Paraphrase:** Brian Coords expresses his motivation to create a space for open, unfiltered discussions about web work, particularly within WordPress, embracing the complexities and energy inherent in the field. 2. **Original:** "It’s less about polished interviews and more about honest, thoughtful back-and-forth about what it’s really like to build and maintain websites in 2024 and beyond." - **Paraphrase:** The podcast is designed to avoid scripted, highly produced interviews in favor of genuine, reflective dialogue on the everyday realities of maintaining modern websites. ## 📰 Newsletter: 🎧 **New Podcast Alert!** Webmasters.FM has launched—a fresh, no-BS podcast by and for the WordPress community. Join Brian Coords and friends as they tackle the messiness of real-world website building, talk through technical hurdles, and dig into the WordPress ecosystem with wit and wisdom. Forget the fluff—these are honest conversations from people who get it. Subscribe, listen, and send in your own questions or topic ideas at [webmasters.fm](https://webmasters.fm). Your earbuds (and your projects) will thank you! ## ✅ Action Items: - Share Webmasters.FM as a resource with WordPress contributors and new community members. - Feature the podcast in contributor onboarding, especially for those seeking authentic learning and discussion. - Suggest topics or guest ideas that highlight open source governance, DEIB, or contributor recognition. - Connect with the Webmasters.FM team to explore cross-promotion or shared Q&A sessions at community events. - Encourage feedback loops—invite listeners to propose topics that support sustainability, mentorship, and open source transparency. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - Podcasts like Webmasters.FM can boost contributor retention by providing authentic, relatable content. - Community-driven podcasting increases transparency and surfaces underrepresented voices in the WordPress ecosystem. - Honest discussion formats encourage new contributors to engage more deeply than traditional tutorials alone. ### 📊 Methodology: - Survey new and existing WordPress contributors on podcast consumption and impact on community engagement. - Track listener feedback, topic requests, and episode-driven community discussions. - Compare contributor retention rates before and after podcast launch. ### ❓ Questions: - What topics do WordPress professionals wish were discussed more openly in the community? - How can podcasts remain transparent and free of sponsor-driven bias as they grow? - In what ways can podcasts foster inclusion for international and underrepresented contributors? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Long-term impact of community podcasts on open-source project sustainability. - The role of informal learning media (like podcasts) in tech ecosystem onboarding. - Best practices for podcast accessibility and internationalization. ### 💡 Implications: - If successful, Webmasters.FM could inspire similar community-driven learning resources across open source projects. - Expanding podcast accessibility and community input could set new standards for open learning in WordPress and beyond. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: - **Readability:** Written at a college level, but conversational and accessible. - **Visual Learners:** Article lacks images—embed show art, host photos, or workflow diagrams. - **Aural Learners:** Podcast format directly supports auditory learning. - **Verbal Learners:** Strong narrative style, but could add transcripts or further reading links. - **Physical Learners:** Could provide practical follow-along activities or code demos tied to episodes. - **Logical Learners:** Could add structured outlines or “key takeaways” at the end of each show or post. - **Social Learners:** Heavily encourages community participation and feedback. - **Solitary Learners:** Podcast episodes can be consumed individually, but no self-reflection prompts—could add. - **Naturalistic Learners:** No direct nature/environment content—likely not relevant. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - **Screen Reader Compatibility:** Depends on newsletter - Summary: Launching a new podcast, a new website, and hopefully a new look at the open web. - URL: https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/introducing-webmasters-fm-a-new-podcast/ This last month I’ve been working on a series of interviews with some of my friends and acquaintances in the WordPress community. As I said [last week](https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/ollie-and-the-future-of-wordpress/), I need some optimism in my professional life to keep me feeling motivated. After the first interview (with [Mike McAlister of Ollie](https://www.briancoords.com/full-site-editing-and-ollie-with-mike-mcalister/)), I was asked to release an audio-only RSS feed (i.e. a podcast). As someone who personally prefers listening to interviews in PocketCasts over watching on YouTube, it made too much sense to ignore. Wheels started turning. Since putting the [viewSource](http://viewsource.fm) podcast on hiatus, I’ve missed the regular rhythm of talking tech in public with someone smarter than me. The WP Minute has been kind enough to [have me on a few times recently](https://www.briancoords.com/podcast-appearances/) to talk about WordPress and the ecosystem, but I have always been jealous of any podcaster’s ability to coerce total strangers into structured conversations. The downside is that I have a number of disparate content streams that I’ve been trying to coherently wrangle. [Blog posts](https://www.briancoords.com/blog/). [Written tutorials](https://www.briancoords.com/tutorials/). A [newsletter](https://www.briancoords.com/newsletter/market-share-and-version-control/). [YouTube tutorials](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCqvxKqiwxupjn9t0Ztvu-A/). [Livestreams](https://www.youtube.com/@BrianCoords/streams). [Social media accounts](https://bsky.app/profile/briancoords.com). These new interviews. And of course the “someday soon I’ll launch this” [course concept](https://blockeditordev.com/). I’ve been great at starting random threads of content creation, registering domains and subdomains, and then generally feeling overwhelmed. Combine that with the subconscious pressure that any extracurricular effort needs to be leading somewhere more financially impactful. And still the idea of releasing these interviews as a podcast was too good to ignore, so I dove in. I was hoping that adding one *more* content stream could actually help me solve a few problems and make some major structural changes I’ve been pondering over. The new podcast is called **[Webmasters with Brian Coords](https://webmasters.fm/)**. Here’s why I’m doing it. #### What’s in a name? For platforms like blogging, YouTube, and even newsletters, you don’t really have to think about creating a “brand” if you don’t want to. You can just use your name, for better or worse. This is great for building a name in your industry: I want people to think, “Oh, you need a WordPress expert, try Brian Coords.” Traditional marketing advice is to niche down, become a known expert in one area. I’ve been doing that for a while, but it feels like a good time to compartmentalize. I’m still using my real name, but I’m going to try to grow something that has its own identity and could eventually become more of a communal property. It’d be nice to be able to scale- maybe build a community or find ways to collaborate with other creators. I’m not really sure, but it felt time to make a separate “thing”. #### Decoupled WordPress My online niche the last few years has been explicitly WordPress. And not just any part of WordPress- this subset I annoyingly call “modern WordPress”, a.k.a “close to core” or just “anyone who is willing to place their bet on Gutenberg”. My tutorials have been about building blocks, learning React, grappling with full site editing. I’ve never cracked open a page builder like Bricks or Breakdance and I don’t give marketing advice. One rule of content creation is that you aren’t supposed be too broad in what you talk about online- it offends the content gods. There needs to be an underlying theme that can help an audience decide if they belong. For me, that’s been WordPress, with a focus on where I think WordPress is *going*, not where its been for the last twenty years. WordPress is a bit like a religion, though. Once you’re part of the community, you don’t really want to leave, regardless of forces internal or external. It starts to feel a bit confining and we can become *too identified* with it. This made more sense when we thought of WordPress as something “owned by the community”. But that’s not the way to think about it any longer. #### Into the great wide open (web) To be clear: I’m not changing topics or leaving WordPress, I just want to leave the door open in the name. That’s why this podcast will not be called “WP Webmasters”, “Wizards of WordPressy Place”, or anything like that. (Ok, and the current trademark drama didn’t help.) What’s important to me is the *open web*, the place that my younger self knew could exist just beyond the AOL Keywords and AIM. WordPress has been an important player in the open web, but it tends to get a bit high on its own supply. The truth is there are amazing things happening across the entire internet that embody the same philosophies we value: sharing knowledge, building communities, breaking down silos. So I’m hoping to gain a broader perspective, much like Aurooba and I did with the second season of our [viewSource](http://viewsource.fm) podcast. I don’t have it fully mapped out, so it’ll be a bit of a journey. I’m still focused on WordPress for right now, but I’ll be experimenting with format, with topics, with production, and so on. Just going where the conversations take me. If there’s one central thread beyond “WordPress” it’s that the people I’m talking to are *masters of the web*. The entire internet is the “world’s public square.” You don’t need any permits or permission to build something amazing and share it online, you can just do it. And WordPress is still a huge part of that, even if it is facing the biggest “Innovator’s Dilemma” the web has ever seen. I’m not leaving WordPress by any means, in fact I’m writing a separate blog post about how and why I’m self-hosting this podcast entirely through WordPress. But I do want the chance to start including guests from outside my WordPress bubble to see what else we can learn about the web, about creating content, about how new technologies like AI are going to change our entire industry. So check out [the new website](https://webmasters.fm/) (designed with a huge amount of help from the team at [Ollie](https://olliewp.com/)) and subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Or just follow me on my [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianCoords), where I’ll be posting as well. And [reach out](https://www.briancoords.com/contact/) if you’d like to be a future guest. **[Visit Webmasters.fm](https://webmasters.fm/)**. #### A few links for the road… Earlier this week Matt Medeiros and I covered the WordPress 6.7 release, the new default 2025 theme, and what it’s been like coding with AI + Cursor. **[Is WordPress 6.7 Good? With Matt Medeiros at The WP Minute](https://www.briancoords.com/is-wordpress-6-7-good-with-matt-medeiros-at-the-wp-minute/)** Are you on Bluesky? I’ve been enjoying it. It just feels like a less angry Twitter with an open source identity. It’s at a critical tipping point right now and could use your voice. [**Connect with me on Bluesky**](https://bsky.app/profile/briancoords.com). There’s a lot of fun new apps being built around the Bluesky APIs. If you’re looking for something to share your WordPress posts automatically, [**Introducing Autoblue by Daniel Post.**](https://autoblue.cc/introducing-autoblue/) With open APIs, there are tons of other great Bluesky apps being built. An interesting one is Sill, which surfaces the most shared links from your network (similar to an old Twitter app called Nuzzel). **[Try out Sill Beta.](https://sill.social/)** As a result of current unsteadiness in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory, Andy Fragen has made some updates to his tool: **[Git Updater Lite](https://thefragens.com/git-updater-lite/)**. Is Creativity Dead? Why does everything on the internet look the same? A brief but worthy video essay: **[Is Creativity Dead by Kirby Ferguson](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/opinion/social-media-algorithm-creativity.html)**  **Brian Coords** Modern WordPress Development, Introducing Webmasters.fm – A New Podcast, Brian Coords, 01je9mzh8y56tw7y7cjax02h2d.