2024 turned out to be a pretty good year for this little project the Everyday Dhamma Network of podcasts. It has been a year of steady growth in traffic which culminated in 330,207 listens over the course of the year.
Having spent just under $3000 over the year to maintain all the services and equipment that make these podcasts possible, it turns out that each listen costs EDN about 9/10 of one cent. (Or $0.009) I mention this point because I want to thank everyone who donated over the course of 2024. You've helped to raise ~93% of the costs of the Everyday Dhamma Network in 2024. This is way higher than I expected at the start of the year. And I want you all to know that for each dollar that you've donated, you've paid for over 100 listens of podcast episodes! I think that's pretty good value for money.
On a related matter, I want all the donors to know that I keep the funds for EDN in a separate bank (not just a separate account) and I never withdraw funds for personal use. The only expenses go directly to services and equipment related to the podcast. (And if anyone wants proof, just email me or use the contact form on the website and I'll send you a full years record of transactions for this bank account so you can see this for yourself.)
Coming up in 2025
Mostly I'm aiming to just keep up regular postings on the podcasts. I usually hit difficulty in June and late November / early December as my work commitments get hectic at that point. However, there are a couple of changes that I've got planned:
the Buddha's Wisdom Podcast will shortly end season 2 (the first fifty suttas of the Majjhima Nikaya) and start on season three which will be a topical anthology of the Buddha's teachings based on an arrangement made by Bhikkhu Bodhi. This will be a complete overview of the Buddhist path using the direct words of the Buddha. I think this will be much more useful for listeners.
Some time in 2025 I am going to start adding some guided meditations and sutta study to the Ajahn Brahm podcast. This will give this podcast more content, but also more depth. (And note, that the BSWA didn't publish Ajahn Brahm's guided meditations and sutta study classes prior to 2006, and I'm just starting in to the 2006 talks now.)
Finally, I'm toying with the idea of a new podcast tentatively titled "Modern Meditation Masters". This will be a serialized set of biographies (or autobiographies) of awakened monastics of the modern era. These stories are really inspiring and I've come across a few such biographies which have public copyright (meaning I can republish these books in a podcast format so long as I acknowledge the author and distribute them on a non-commercial basis).
I really enjoy making these podcasts and benefit a lot from doing so. It's just a question of whether I can make the time to do the extras that I'm aspiring to do.
In any case, thank you all for your support in 2024. If you've got any constructive feedback (both negative and positive) drop me a line to let me know. And if you like what you're hearing, then please share these podcasts with friends as I've dedicated $0 for advertising.
May you all be happy, healthy and safe in 2025!