How a Local Podcast Became the Center of a Community

From Local Media HQ · 00:58:43

Show by TJ Larkin

Turn every new subscriber into a sales lead with greetform. Get started free: https://greetform.com/A local podcast. Dinner clubs full of strangers. A six-figure media business. Troy Farkas of Seacoast Stories and Rae Lambert of DNNR join TJ Larkin to explain how a small, engaged audience became a business built on sponsorships, events and real relationships.After producing podcasts for ESPN and Spotify, Troy started Seacoast Stories as a creative side project in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. When Spotify laid him off, the stakes changed. A dinner club experiment with Rae and Ryan Lambert arrived just as he needed a new way to make the business work.Now, Troy combines a weekly audio-only podcast with live shows, dinner clubs, singles nights, social storytelling and sponsorship packages. He says Seacoast Stories is making six figures this year and projects roughly $150,000 by year-end. Rae reports more than $30,000 earned directly through DNNR, separate from additional sponsorship income. That DNNR figure is cumulative as discussed, not an annual revenue claim.In this episode you'll learn:1. Why Troy's first dinner club drew about 40 people with 4,500 Instagram followers and no newsletter, while an account with 500,000 followers sold just 11 seats2. How dinner clubs create ticket revenue and additional opportunities for local sponsors3. How Troy and his director of partnerships, Lucy, package podcast reads, social posts and events into broader campaigns4. Why relevant, locally written podcast ads can hold listeners' attention5. How recurring events help a media audience become a community that knows each other6. Where Troy and Rae use AI behind the scenes while protecting human connection7. Why consistency and a recognizable person matter when building a local media brandChapters00:00 Troy Farkas, Rae Lambert and Seacoast Stories01:09 From ESPN and Spotify to a local podcast05:27 How Troy and Rae met in Portsmouth09:15 A side project becomes a business10:39 The Spotify layoff and the dinner club opportunity12:09 Why River pivoted to DNNR14:30 Building a media company around local stories18:55 A six-figure year with an audio-only podcast19:50 Why follower count does not predict dinner club turnout23:21 Town partnerships and local sponsors26:02 Singles nights, friendship and new event formats30:17 How Troy and Lucy sell sponsorship packages32:51 Creating podcast ads listeners stay for35:51 More events and the future of Seacoast Stories39:32 AI behind the scenes, human connection in public43:11 Why people pay to meet strangers46:15 Advice for starting a local media brand53:25 How DNNR and Seacoast Stories helped save each other54:59 Where to find Troy and RaeGuest LinksSeacoast Stories: https://seacoaststories.com/Seacoast Stories on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seacoaststories/Seacoast Stories on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seacoaststories/Seacoast Stories on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@seacoast.storiesDNNR, branded dinner clubs for your audience: https://dnnr.io/Rae's IRL over URL newsletter: https://irlurl.substack.com/Troy's story, How Dinner Club Saved Seacoast Stories: https://seacoaststories.com/stories/how-dinner-club-saved-seacoast-storiesBuild Your Local Media Businessmainstreet gravity: Run your local media company from one AI-powered system, from website and directory to newsletter, social, events and jobs: https://mainstreetgravity.com/greetform: Ask new subscribers a few questions, show relevant offers and uncover leads. Start free: https://greetform.com/Local Media HQ, strategy, Meta ads and training: https://localmediahq.com/Every episode, with written breakdowns: https://localmediahq.com/podcastAbout TJ: https://tjlarkin.com/ConnectDiscord: https://discord.localmediahq.com/TJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjlarkin1TJ on X: https://x.com/TJLarkin23TJ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tj.larkin

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