The meta interview

Who is this Zach Rodgers person?

After six years and more than 130 interviews, Beaconites creator and host Zach Rodgers (i.e. me) moves into the guest’s chair to talk about his life and the evolution of this podcast.

A few listeners have asked for this episode over the years — and so sure, yes, why not? Beacon AV Lab’s own Jonny Taylor — my creative and production partner during the full run of this project — was kind enough to step into the recording booth and be my interlocutor. Thank you Jonny!

In keeping with our usual format (50% personal backstory, 50% Beacon stuff), we talk about my upbringing in Northern Michigan, journey to Beacon, the origin of Beaconites, favorite episodes and the future direction of this project. I also share the tale of a crushing encounter with Ira Glass, revered saint of public radio, who told a much younger me that I should never work in this field. Never meet your heroes.

I also talk about the accelerated urbanization of Beacon, as evidenced by bigger developments, taller buildings, more traffic. Beacon has always been a city that’s felt like a town. Now it’s becoming a city that feels like a city. My unpopular opinion is that we need to embrace development – though not without guardrails. We should work hard to shape construction by demanding truly affordable housing, which is not the same thing as the “below market rate” units that some developments are pushing.

If we try to resist all large developments entirely, prices will keep spiraling toward the sky and Beacon will over time become unaffordable to anyone making less than $200K. We have a number of great interviews scheduled on development and affordability, so keep tuning in.