{"podcast":{"title":"The Chuck ToddCast","slug":"the-chuck-toddcast-1551191","podcast_index_feed_id":1551191,"rss_url":"https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c749d540-b5b7-42b1-a855-b33100f844fa/8e017e60-9c2d-418d-97bb-b33100f84504/podcast.rss","website_url":"https://www.iheart.com/podcast/552-the-chuck-toddcast-28968989","image_url":"https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c749d540-b5b7-42b1-a855-b33100f844fa/8e017e60-9c2d-418d-97bb-b33100f84504/image.jpg?t=1754492636&size=Large","author":"iHeartPodcasts","episode_count":502,"summary":"The Chuck ToddCast is back! If you're looking for smart, no-nonsense political conversation, you've come to the right place. The Chuck ToddCast goes beyond the headlines, featuring conversations with top reporters, insiders, and newsmakers from D.C. to the heartland. No scripts, no spin—just real discussions about what’s shaping our politics and why it matters.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T16:20:42.153803+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191"},"episode":{"title":"Interview Only w/ Ashley Trice & Rob Holbert - How a Free Alt-Weekly Became Alabama's Best Investigative Paper","slug":"interview-only-w-ashley-trice-rob-holbert-how-a-free-alt-weekly-became-alabama-s-best-investigative-paper","published_at":"2026-05-06T09:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/interview-only-w-ashley-trice-rob-holbert-how-a-free-alt-weekly-became-alabama-s-best-investigative-paper","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191","url":"https://omny.fm/shows/the-chuck-toddcast/interview-only-w-ashley-trice-rob-holbert-how-a-free-alt-weekly-became-alabamas-best-investigative-paper","audio_url":"https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/claritaspod.com/measure/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/p57137/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c749d540-b5b7-42b1-a855-b33100f844fa/1a6fd85b-74b4-4ff5-a9db-b44101548552/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=8e017e60-9c2d-418d-97bb-b33100f84504","summary":"Ashley Trice and Rob Holbert — co-publishers of Lagniappe, the alt-weekly turned investigative newspaper covering Mobile and Alabama's Gulf Coast — join the Chuck Toddcast to share the origin story of how their independent publication has grown into the region's premier investigative voice. They explain how Lagniappe started as a free paper and has now transitioned to a subscription model behind a paywall, why most newspapers won't even print these days unless they're certain it won't cost them money (and the surprising fact that there's a national shortage of available printers), and how the paper has built its reputation by covering everything from Mobile's local government to scandals in the wealthy parts of town and irresistible animal stories — both of which they say reliably grow audience faster than anything else. Trice and Holbert preview the upcoming Tuberville-Jones gubernatorial race, which they expect to be surprisingly close, and offer a withering assessment of outgoing Governor Kay Ivey's \"very inactive\" tenure. They walk through the political divide in Alabama where coastal Mobile often feels left out of the conversation, the surprising audience appeal of youth and high school sports coverage, and the looming threat of the Nexstar-Tegna merger gutting even more local newsrooms across the country. The conversation broadens into the practical realities of running a sustainable local newsroom in 2026. Trice and Holbert explain that the public has been trained to expect news for free, that reaching younger audiences now requires aggressive use of social media platforms and video content, and that live events have become an increasingly important revenue stream for papers like theirs. Trice and Holbert observe that small businesses are still…","meta_description":"Ashley Trice and Rob Holbert — co-publishers of Lagniappe, the alt-weekly turned investigative newspaper covering Mobile and Alabama's Gulf Coast &m…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2878,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/episodes/interview-only-w-ashley-trice-rob-holbert-how-a-free-alt-weekly-became-alabama-s-best-investigative-paper/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-chuck-toddcast-1551191/interview-only-w-ashley-trice-rob-holbert-how-a-free-alt-weekly-became-alabama-s-best-investigative-paper.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}