Episode 346 is dedicated to the memory of Todd Cochrane. Todd was the founder of Blubrry Podcasting, a Navy veteran and electronics technician, a geek and lover of technology at heart, a content creator, a podcasting pioneer, and a consistent friend to the greater podcast community. This week we’re airing our full interview with Todd as a single episode (previously released in episodes 250 and 251).
As we begin this week, Nick and John frame what you’re about to hear with a story from Podcast Movement 2025 where Nick got to meet Todd in person. Listen closely for the shifts Todd made to his company as market conditions changed, and think about the applicability of this strategy for your career.
Original Recording Date of the Interview with Todd: 10-06-2023
Topics – Meet Todd Cochrane, Naval Service and Technical Knowledge, Program Management, An Injury and a Different Role, Getting into Podcasting and Monetization, A Tech Wave and a Shift, Diversification of Focus and Expertise, Corporate and Individual Roadmaps, Leadership and Employee Engagement, Developing a Useful AI Strategy
5:49 – Meet Todd Cochrane

* Todd Cochrane is the founder and CEO of Blubrry Podcasting. Blubrry is a full service podcast hosting platform.

* At the time of this recording they are working with around 100,000 shows / podcasts at a variety of levels (some shows using Blubrry for hosting, some for analytics, some using the PowerPress plugin for WordPress).
* The team at Blubrry is about 17 people, and they have been in business since 2005.
* Nerd Journey proudly uses Blubrry statistics and the PowerPress plugin!



6:51 – Naval Service and Technical Knowledge

* In vocational tech school Todd took 2 years of electronics and then joined the Navy in 1983. His official title at that time was aviation electronics technician.
* Todd also served as a back end operator in specialized P3 aircraft used more as platforms for intelligence collection. Todd tells us he was involved in this kind of work for 25 years.

* During his tenure in the Navy, Todd got exposed to something called special projects.
* People would bring a box for a specific function in the plane (a “box de jour”), and Todd would do the mechanical and electrical designs for these to get them in the planes quickly.


* Todd’s true Navy background was in synthetic aperture radar and involved work with Sandia National Labs.
* To pair with his deep technical knowledge of electronics, Todd started to tinker with other things like bulletin boards and downloading shareware while stationed in Guam.

* This was back in the days of dial up modems.
* “I really was kind of a geek in all aspects of job and life….When the bulletin board era died, I basically became a blogger.” – Todd Cochrane, reflecting on his time in the Navy.
* Todd calls himself a failed blogger, feeling he was not great at it. This was around 2002.
* In 2004 Todd got into podcasting but continued to work another job. After retiring from the Navy in 2007, Todd spent 12 years as a tech rep (basically the same job he had been doing but as a civilian).
* Todd continued to work with and for Naval personnel until 2019 while running his own company on the side.
* “Needless to say those were some exciting years because there was not a lot of free time.” – Todd Cochrane, on working a full time job and running his own company on the side
* Todd has only been out of aviation for about 4 years now but has...