Phone a Community Pt.2: “Traditional” Communication for the “Phone a Friend” Podcast Community
As mentioned in the introductory blog post in this series, in the early days of the Phone a Friend podcast there was really only two ways to interact with the community. One could either send in an email to (potentially) be featured in the answering listeners’ emails segment of the show or interact with the official podcast Instagram page. This blog post will focus solely on the “traditional communication” that is co-hosts George Ezra and Ollie McKendrick Ness replying to listeners’ emails as when this was a main form of communication, the Instagram page was not as engaged with as it is today (learn more about this in the next blog post!).
Before we get into this, allow me to explain what makes this online a community a “community”. According to Muller, members of online communities have a “socially constructed image of their affinity, rather than a commonality based on real, physical interaction” (Muller, 2011). So yes, an online community is considered a community even those the members are not physically close to each other.
Usually around the halfway mark of the show, one of the co-hosts will initiate when they feel like it is time to respond to a few emails sent in by listeners (or “the gorgeous public” as Ezra calls them) of the podcast. The emails are usually about something that was said in a previous episode such as Ezra wanting advice on growing and caring for potatoes or a response to a story or topic mentioned. Many emails are about a listener’s own experience with mental health struggles (or the mental health struggles of someone they may know), advice and encouragement for other listeners, and praise for the podcast.
I know you are curious about the potato advice, so let me explain. In Episode 60 titled, “Anything for a Buzz” a listener named Reese gave co-host George Ezra some advice that he requested in Episode 58 titled, “In the Thicc of it” about how to keep his sack of potatoes from sprouting prematurely. Co-host McKendrick Ness read Reese’s email aloud during the segment and the conversation went as follows:
Ollie: (Reading) “ ‘Hi George and Ollie hope you’re doing well, I’m an 18-year-old lad from the Northwest of England working at a chip shop, so I know my way around a spud, thank you very much. During this lockdown I’ve took on the role of spudboy, meaning I have to cut the potatoes in the morning before the shop opens. Just today, I emptied 14 brimming sacks.’ “
…
Ollie: “Well basically, Reese has given us his credentials, he definitely understands spuds. Um so, he says, ‘Best advice I can give you George: Keep them in a dark environment, roughly 7 to 10 degrees (ºC)…’ Which is substantially colder than you-u your current set up ‘and store them in a paper bag if possible. Also,…’”
George: Okay!
Ollie: “‘don’t wash them before hand, before storing them because they’ll just rot sooner. Hope I was of use.’”
George: “Big time.”
Ollie: “And he says, ‘… love the pod, lots of love from your spudboy Reese.’ Thank you spudboy!”
This silly but useful sharing of knowledge about potatoes demonstrates the influence that can be initiated by an online community and revoke a response from other online community members. This may seem obvious, but since Ezra requested advice about potatoes a few episodes prior, listeners like Reese, felt influenced to want to write an email into the podcast and share their tips.
From this example, it is easy to see the playful tone that Reese wrote his email in that reflects the playfulness of the podcast. Many emails share this same tone and use phrases frequently used by the co-hosts like “low vibes”, “drinks on Bobby D”. “as Ollie’s old man would say. God, did he say it”, “thicc leg”, “Rat A”, “belt of plenty” and much more. Being able to have a shared jargon such as inside jokes and phrases is evidence of a strong community.
As I mentioned with Ezra’s phrase of “the gorgeous public”, many inside jokes and phrases are used in the Phone a Friend online community and many listeners include them in their emails sent in. An email featured in the answering listener’s emails segment in Episode 61, “Labyrinth of Rockers” written by Lindsey demonstrates the use of the Phone a Friend inside jokes while showing how the podcast influences members of the community to share their own mental health experiences with the community.
Ollie: “This email has the subject line: ‘Drinks On Bobby D’ and it’s from Lindsey!
George: Oh!
Ollie: (Reading) “‘Hi George and Ollie! Oh lads, I’ve spent approximately 58 hours over the past two weeks listening to every episode of this podcast in chronological order from the beginning, and let me tell you, I’m absolutely buzzing with joy, gratitude, and with new catchphrases like “shnuggly” and now sadness that I have to now wait an entire week for a new Phone a Friend episode [sponsored by Skillshare].’
“Well, I wish mate, hasn’t been. Not for a while. Get in touch.”
George: (Laughing)
Ollie: (Reading) “‘Here’s a non-comprehensive list of things I have struggled with: anxiety and “low vibes”, low self-esteem, making new friends as an adult, phoning friends new or old, talking about all of the above, specifically the anxiety. Here’s a list of things your podcast has helped me feel better about: anxiety and “low vibes”, my self-esteem, making new friends as an adult, phoning friends, talking about the old mental health, baby, and saying the word “shnuggly” in everyday conversation (the family is still warming up to this one though). I’ll keep it short from here on out, but I’ve always felt that I needed to show up in life and in friendship unconditionally, meaning I had to be wonderful, anxiety free, selfless, boundary-less, condition-less, objection-less company. If I ever felt/feel “low vibes” I’m quick to self-isolate until I feel better for fear of burdening someone else with these pesky feelings. Self-isolation breeds more “low vibes” and then I’ve caught myself in a nasty cycle of feeling bummed out. That you two can talk so openly and candidly about this and still like each other and still want to talk to each other and even laugh together was absolutely contrary to everything I’ve believed about who I’m allowed to be in a friendship. I’m 26 years old and I’m just now coming to understand that this is okay. Additionally, that you two could talk about serious struggles one second and then dissolve into giggles saying things like, “Bobby D”, “Drinks on Bobby”, “Get your hands in your pockets then Bobby” makes the whole dynamic around mental health chats — ’
George: “Bobbyyy!”
Ollie: “Bobbyyyy! Yeah okay yeah put a bit of that in there.”
Ollie: (Reading) “‘ — so much more approachable. If someone had told me you could joke around AND take mental health chats seriously, maybe I would’ve tried to have them a long time ago. I also want to remark that it has been very interesting listening to these episodes in rapid succession because I’ve been able to listen to both of your year long journeys and some weeks, either or both of you reported feeling “low vibes” and other weeks you were in fits of giggles, but every week you showed up and you chatted and you almost always said that you felt better by the end of it. What a lovely reminder it has been to the ever changing and flowing nature of mental health. And what a cool testament to the power of phoning a friend. And don’t even get me started on the listeners’ emails. I’ve laughed, I’ve gotten misty eyed, have found new ways to describe how I’m feeling. What a cool audience you have. They make me shout “YES! YES! YES! YES!” as George might say — ’
George: Yeah!
Ollie: (Reading) “‘ — at the top of my lungs, or “as Ollie’s old man would say, God, did he say it.”’”
George: “God, God he said it”
Ollie: (Reading) “‘…You two have helped me begin to reframe my relationship with mental health chats, so thank you. I know this email has been long. Did I say I was going to keep short? God, I did try, but I love what you’re doing and I love that people are engaged with it. I’m sending you both warm wishes and good vibes from Las Vegas. Be well and take care and remember “drinks on Bobby D”.’”
This email is quite long however I think it covers many important trends of communication and influence in the Phone a Friend community in one email. As Lindsey mentioned in her email, the podcast and even other listeners of the podcast influenced her to want to send in an email herself and on a deeper level changed the way she is able to cope and talk about mental health. This reminds me of Shea in Episode #74 of Reply All “Making Friends”. In this episode Shea finds a community who is able to help her better understand and explain a mental phenomenon that she is experiencing. This shows that online communities are able to influence other members in ways that may not be possible outside of the community. Similar to the My Favorite Murder podcast and their Facebook groups, the Phone a Friend podcast and their multiple fan/meme pages on Instagram is more evidence that media can impact people in a community (in both of these podcasts’ cases people with mental illness or mental health struggles) in positive ways (Pavelko & Myrick, 2019)
Join me in the next blog post in this series where I will tell you about the newer developed form of communication for the Phone a Friend community; the multiple fan/meme accounts dedicated to the podcast and the users who influence them!
References
Goldman, Alex and PJ Vogt, hosts. “Making Friends” Reply All, episode 74, Gimlet, 24 August 2016, https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/49hr6k
Muller, Amber. “Virtual Communities and Translation into Physical Reality in the ‘It Gets Better’ Project.” Journal of Media Practice, vol. 12, no. 3, 2011, pp. 269–277., doi:10.1386/jmpr.12.3.269_1.
Pavelko, Rachelle L., and Jessica G. Myrick. “Muderinos and Media Effects: How the My Favorite Murder Podcast and Its Social Media Community May Promote Well-Being in Audiences with Mental Illness.” Journal of Radio & Audio Media, vol. 27, no. 1, 2020, pp. 151–169., doi: https://doi-org.manowar.tamucc.edu/10.1080/19376529.2019.1638925.