Listenership Explodes as Thirst for Political Common Ground Grows

CHELSEA, Mich., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- If Richard Helppie's podcast audience is any indication, the hunger for solution-based bi-partisan content is growing fast. Richard Helppie's Common Bridge, a weekly podcast that started eight months ago, has gained more than 60,000 downloads in recent months. 

"There is clearly an audience out there who wants to reach out and talk about solutions and not just bury themselves in the far ends of the political spectrum," said founder and host Richard Helppie. "Today's problems are all solvable if we meet in the middle and stop limiting our thoughts to only demonizing the other side," Helppie said.

The Common Bridge, which has just finished airing its 56th episode has seen its downloads and listenership grow exponentially since the beginning of 2020, and has included guests from the business world, as well as experts in medicine, health insurance, the environment, law enforcement, foreign trade, and even professional sports.

"Naturally, the last five months or so have been discussions about policy as it is affected by Covid-19, and that had brought out some very interesting analysis from some of my guests. Listeners really seem to really be gravitating those discussions," Helppie said.

Producing the podcast has been a challenge since March as recording was forced to go virtual, with guests, host and producer in three different locations from as far away as Perth, Australia and Hong Kong.  Even through these less-than-ideal conditions, Helppie's audience continues to grow. 

There are nearly 1 million podcasts available across many markets, but most of them tend to drop off before seven episodes are released. Richard Helppie's Common Bridge is set to release its 57th episode next week. "We've seen listenership grow from 10 or so a day to nearly 1000 per day," said Helppie, who is an accomplished entrepreneur and philanthropist.

Helppie added, "One of my barometers, and I share this with my audience and those who are considering listening in, is, you'll probably find something during that episode that you won't like, but listen in because there are things you will, and that's sort of the point, to keep the discussions toward solutions, heading forward."

Richard Helppie's Common Bridge podcast can be found on Apple Podcast, Apple iTunes, iHeart Radio, Spotify Google, and many more outlets.

For more information, contact Brian Kruger [email protected] 313.506.2019

SOURCE Richard Helppie