Q&A with Alex Goldman from Hyperfixed

Alex Goldman has been a prominent part of the podcasting world since his days as a producer for WNYC Radio's On the Media from January 2010 to October 2014.

He also co-hosted and produced the highly successful Reply All for Gimlet Media from October 2014 to June 2022; bringing us some iconic segments like “Super Tech Support” and “Yes, Yes, No” and “Email Debt Forgiveness”.

We featured his newest podcast Hyperfixed in Podcast Delivery #368: Reply All Over Again. It expands on some of what we loved about Reply All’s Super Tech Support and extends Alex Goldman’s exploration of internet culture and human stories with his ever-present brand of investigative and curiosity-driven podcasting.

We were fortunate enough to get some time with Alex and had some questions for him.

SO: Well, it’s been a few years since we’ve heard your voice tied to something new. How does it feel to be back behind the mic?

AG: I spent most of July and August thinking, “What are you doing? You don’t know how to do this anymore. You don’t have any juice.” Not a fantastic way to start working on a show. But once the show was announced publicly it was like a switch flipped. I have a much easier time disappointing myself than I do disappointing other people, so once it became public, I was like, “Welp, I can’t chicken out now.”

And honestly, finishing the episodes was great. I can hear all the seams and the things I want to improve and stuff I’d like to do differently as the show continues, but that’s a great feeling. To have something approaching a roadmap. I feel like I have my sea legs under me a bit. Actually finishing something with a bunch of talented people is a very satisfying process.

SO: I get the sense that Hyperfixed represents a bit of a continuation of what you started a decade ago with Reply All. Does this feel like you’re getting to unfinished business?

AG: No, not really. If I’m being totally honest, I think that most podcast premises are just a fig leaf that allows me to do what I like to do in radio. I like talking to people about their lives and learning about their needs and hopes and fears. I like learning about stuff I didn’t know about before. I didn’t have any burning desire to “finish” something from Reply All or prove a point. I just wanted to make radio again.

SO: Mind sharing your thoughts on the inevitable comparisons between the two podcasts? Do the similarities ring true in your opinion?

AG: Reply All had a lot of my personality in it and inevitably this show will also. I don’t always love the comparisons because it sets people up to be disappointed if this show sounds different, but at the same time I’m grateful that Reply All resonated with so many people that they might take a chance on continuing to rock with me while I work on this new show.

SO: So those similarities are there and maybe to be expected but, how does Hyperfixed differ from your previous work? What new challenges has it presented?

AG: I think it’s too early to say how it differs from my early work. If you have ever been a fan of a long running sitcom, you know the early episodes have a sharply different tone than subsequent seasons. I’m still working out what this show is. Inevitably it will be different, because it’s a completely different staff, but it will also just be different as we get our heads around the parameters of what we’re doing, and come up with new ways to break or change it. And of course there will be occasional episodes where we abandon the format of the show entirely and just experiment. So for the folks who like those episodes, stay tuned. For the people who hate them, I’m sorry.

SO: Can you walk us through your process for selecting and researching topics for Hyperfixed?

AG: Right now the way it goes is that people reach out to us with a problem and we interview anyone whose problem seems compelling and might be answerable. Sometimes they’re very concrete achievable questions, and then some are way bigger, more abstract questions. From there, we just follow that to its logical end. One of the hard things about making investigative stories like this is that there are a lot that just end up dead ends. I would say historically I get one finished story from every 10-20 initial conversations. But when we hit on one where we see it telling a larger story about the world, then we know we nailed it. It’s also wonderful working with producers Amor Yates and Emma Courtland because they see stories in things that I might not. There are a couple stories where my instinct was to kill it that Emma has kept alive, and I’m grateful for that because I truly love other peoples’ perspectives when I’m making stuff.

SO: How are you balancing investigative journalism with storytelling this time around?

AG: My weakness as a journalist is not knowing when to stop cramming things into the story. In our most recent episode, there was a whole section we cut (and I alluded to) about how they came up with a better method to calculate the gram. And it was fascinating to me, but it was also math, and let me tell you, if you have more than a couple numbers every few sentences, or you’re trying to describe a device that uses electromagnetism to push a scale in a radio story, people tune out. Unless you’re Radiolab. They have that magic. So again, having co-workers who can say, “Dude, you gotta cut the quantum physics crap. It’s a boring distraction that takes too long.” That’s the way I balance.

One of the reasons I designed the show so that we are answering questions people come to us with is because the stakes are built in. A person already cares. This is already affecting their lives. So someone already comes to you with a story. There are little B-plots and meta narratives in there, but they are always the frame. Like The Princess Bride. I am Fred Savage getting the story told to me by Peter Falk. Our interactions and thoughts around the story make it richer. Does this make any sense? I feel like I’m rambling. Anyhow, what I was trying to say is: story and narrative comes from the person who sends in the problem, and then the investigation comes once I get my grubby little hands on it.

SO: What's been the most surprising or unexpected aspect of producing Hyperfixed independently?

AG: Oh man, I feel like three kids in a trenchcoat when it comes to the business side of this. So one aspect is that I find the prospect of being a capital-B Boss terrifying and I don’t love it. But I supposed that was expected. This whole thing of starting my own business and funding largely independently was out of necessity, it was not something I was hungry to do. I would say the most surprising thing is just how much people want to help. Not just Radiotopia and Supporting Cast, my partners in making this, both of whom have been great and a pleasure to work with, but just friends reaching out and saying, “Hey, I have this expertise and I’m happy to lend a hand however I can.” I still insist on paying people for their time and work, but a good example is that Jane Marie, a friend and creator of The Dream, among many other things, helped edit one of our episodes and it was just such a pleasure to work on it with her.

SO: How do you maintain your curiosity and enthusiasm for exploring new topics after so many years in podcasting?

AG: I am a terrible student, at least academically. But I’m also a lifelong learner. I love to understand the world better and learn more about how things happen and why. That enthusiasm is genuine, and it’s also innate, so I don’t think that’s going to go away. Also occasionally reminding myself that my job is literally to walk around and satisfy my curiosity about things doesn’t hurt.

SO: How do you decide which listener dilemmas or questions to tackle on the show?

AG: Generally there are two criteria. One is if the question is interesting. If it’s like “My driver’s side car door won’t roll down,” that’s not interesting. Take it to the shop. But if it’s something like ––and this one is made up, but it’s something I think about as my parents’ age–– “My mom just died and I have to settle the family estate,” there’s so much there. So much personal stuff, and so much red tape and I’m sure there’s a million little corners of that world that I could explore that would be absolutely fascinating. A lot of it is intuition. You tend to have a much better sense after recording the intake interview.

Generally it’s just about it being a question I don’t know the answer to and the degree to which that unanswered question is affecting the asker.

SO: What role do you think podcasts like Hyperfixed play in today's media landscape?

AG: I try not to pay attention to today’s media landscape. I never look at making things as trying to fill a niche or speak to some group of people, because it’s just not how I work. I have no idea what role it plays or if anyone even wants to hear it! People may only want to listen to comedy podcasts or true crime podcasts now, or whatever. The important thing to me is making things that I find interesting and fun, and finding risks to take wherever I can. That’s what keeps me interested, and historically has kept audiences interested too.

SO: What's your vision for the future of Hyperfixed and your independent production company?

AG: Right now everyone working on the show is making less than they’re worth and there aren’t enough of us. So in the short term, my goal is to get enough revenue coming in that I can pay the staff more and hire more people. My goal is a staff of 5 or 6. If the show became a smash and the money was rolling in hand over fist, I wouldn’t mind trying to bankroll other shows and creators I find interesting, but that’s a hypothetical for a couple years down the road at the earliest.

SO: Can you tell us about a time when your investigation for a podcast episode took an unexpected turn?

AG: I mean, that’s the gold that I’m constantly panning for. Unexpected moments and surprise turns in stories I can’t anticipate are the rare and valuable essence that keeps a story going.

SO: Tell me more about how Hyperfixation Nation came together.

AG: Honestly I posted a Twitter thread about how I want to make a show, and a couple people reached out. One was Supporting Cast, a company that helped with crowdfunding and to build my website, and working with them has been great. And then Radiotopia reached out and said something too, and they have been insanely cool. There’s thousands of years of industry knowledge at this Radiotopia and everyone has been super cool and helpful.

SO: What exciting things do you have coming up that you want to share?

AG: I’m always hesitant to reveal stories before they’re done. Some of these are going to be banged out in weeks and some are several months in the making and I’m scared of giving too much info on any of them in case they fall through. But I can say that there are stories about massive Canadian food associations, estranged family members, bad habits, valuable lost objects, and Hyperfixed starting its own ad agency.

SO: What podcasts are you listening to these days?

AG: I find it very hard to listen to narrative podcasts because I find myself either editing them in my head, or getting jealous of great choices they’ve made, or getting annoyed at questionable choices they’ve made, so I end up listening to a lot of silly stuff. I will always and forever support Hollywood Handbook, those guys are so funny. I love Your Kickstarter Sucks and Guys. As for narrative shows, 99% Invisible and Articles of Interest both rule. Jamie Loftus’ Sixteenth Minute is incredibly fun, she is so talented it blows my mind. And I am a huge fan of a show called What Had Happened Was. It’s hosted by rapper Open Mike Eagle, and each season he interviews a single person about their recollections of working in the world of hip-hop. He’s done a season on El-P, Prince Paul, Questlove, and A&R Man Dante Ross. So many amazing anecdotes, and it really helped me understand hip-hop history in a way I never had before.

SO: Any advice for those aspiring podcasters looking to create investigative or story-driven shows?

AG: Try and fail. Over and over again. And that doesn’t mean try to make a story and give up halfway through. That means try to make a story and have it really stink. I had to make a lot of those before I got to the ones I was proud of. You learn a ton about storytelling and production from the bad ones. The impulse to quit will be strong. I’ve had it before and continue to have it. But I believe everyone has good stories in them. You just have to make the bad ones first. I think I might have stolen this whole answer from Ira Glass, so credit to him, but he was very right on this one.

Alex Goldman is the creator and host of Hyperfixed, a new podcast part of the Radiotopia podcast network. The show serves as a help desk for life’s most intractable problems.

Goldman is a renowned podcast producer. Known for his engaging storytelling and in-depth investigative reporting, Alex co-founded Reply All in 2014, where he explored the complexities of modern life through the lens of technology and the internet. Before his work on Reply All, he was a producer for WNYC’s On the Media, where he honed his skills in audio journalism.

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