Search and Replace

Our Podcast Taxi team worked hard all summer, so our first original podcast series, “Search and Replace” could launch as planned this morning.

Every episode covers a single decision our guests made to improve their lives. These changes aren’t always massive in scope, but they each made a significant impact. In some cases, we cover simple changes that led to surprising results. Others include stories about gradual shifts on a path toward an extraordinary life change.

I’ve wanted to work on a project like this for a few years now. Nicole Hubbard’s been running point on all of our guest booking and research, so we’ve been able to deliver compelling new episodes three times every week. Right now, we’re planning on “six weeks on, two weeks off” so we can give ourselves enough bandwidth to do these shows right.

We’re following a pretty tight format — seven minutes per episode. Even before the pandemic played havoc with everyone’s schedules, I’d become a little worried that the trend toward long-form chat-casts left out a huge audience that wants sharp, focused pieces. Personally, I’ve been using a “Hot News” playlist in Overcast that pulls up about 20 minutes of short news and business podcasts every morning.

The name’s a close cousin to the “Find and Replace” command you might see in a word processor or a code editor. When I first started kicking this idea around with a focus on life hacks and productivity tips, I thought we might hear more from guests about how they swapped small habits into their daily routines.

For some reason, when I registered domains for the show, “Search” got stuck in my head instead of “Find.” I like it better, since it suggests that we’ve got to dig a little deeper to discover the things in our lives that we’re tired of tolerating.

I’m most proud of the roster of guests we’ve lined up for what we’re calling “Season One.” They’re diverse, clever, and opinionated. Many of them have never been on a show like this. The folks who’ve even been on my previous shows (or on other radio shows in general) even noted that we’re covering questions nobody’s ever asked them.

I hope you’ll make some room on your own playlist for “Search and Replace.” You can find us on our listener website, on Apple Podcasts, and by asking your smart speaker for our latest episode.

P.S.: If you’ve got a story you’d like to share on the show, contact Nicole and the rest of the production team on our support hub.