Prices are going up! Up! UP!

Get it while it’s cheap.

Average BARPod episode

We come bearing news. After five years and over 400 episodes of this podcast—covering everything from fascist furries and anarchist alpaca farmers to the hostile takeover of our nation’s queerest cafes and Jesse’s 17-part investigation into what is Keffals (still not sure)—we’re making a few changes.

Don’t worry, the theme song isn’t going anywhere (you win that one), but we are going to give you more of what you want (us) and less of what you don’t want (other people). Katie will keep doing one solo episode with a guest each month, but otherwise, it’s going to be just the two of us. So that’s the good news. The less-good news is that we are increasing the minimum subscription price from $5 to $7 a month (as always, there will be a 10 percent discount for annual subscribers).

We know, we know: The timing isn’t great (thanks Obama!), but the cost to make this show has risen significantly since we started, both in terms of fees and production, yet we’ve continued to charge 2020 prices. We realize this is a risk, but it’s a necessary one, and raising the price will allow us to continue to bring you high-quality reporting and analysis of the dumbest shit possible. It will also allow us to bring on some extra help so we can widen our aperture and bring you stories that better reflect this bizarre American moment.

That said, we want to give you more for your money, so in addition to current perks available to all BARPod Primos, we’re adding one more: live video chats, which will be recorded and released for Primos later. We did a trial run recently, and it was great fun once we figured out how the mics work. Sometimes these chats will be the two of us, sometimes we’ll bring along a friend, and sometimes you’ll get one of us solo. These conversations are very interactive, so if you’ve ever wanted to know what we think of the de Broglie–Bohm theory or get our thoughts on the Dyatlov Pass incident, this is your chance. And, yes, Moose will be available to take questions.

As a reminder, here’s what a Primo subscription gets you:

—At least seven episodes a month (that’s twice as much content!)

—Our entire back catalog of 400+ episodes

—The ability to comment on episodes and participate in weekly open threads and the BARPod chat

—Early release of the weekly episodes

—Early access to BARPod events

—Exclusive access to Jesse’s parties (Katie does not party)

—Access to our annual BARPod Personals (one marriage and counting!)

—Membership in one of the last non-shitty communities on the internet

—And now, access to our live video chats

You get all that for less than the price of one venti half-caf extra hot oat milk caramel latte with 12 pumps of vanilla per month. It’s a good deal!

The change will take place on June 15th, but we’d like to give everyone a chance to lock in one more year of BARPod at the current price between now and then.

Here’s how you can do that, depending on your current subscription level:

Current Freemos: If you’re a free subscriber, you have until June 15th to upgrade and lock in a one-year annual subscription at the current rate. Simply go to http://blockedandreported.org/subscribe and voilà.

Current monthly subscribers: If you want to lock in the current rate for the next year, go to blockedandreported.org/account and hit “Change.” Here’s how that page looks for Jesse’s subscription to our archenemy podcast, The Fifth Column:

Once you hit “Change,” you can upgrade to an annual subscription.

Current annual subscribers: This one is slightly more annoying, and we apologize. Substack—WHICH WE TOTALLY LOVE IN GENERAL—simply lacks the functionality we need here, so we’ll have to give you a coupon code manually.

Here’s how it’ll work. First, figure out when your plan is about to expire, which you can do by logging into Substack, clicking here, and looking in the “Status” box. Then, some time before your account actually renews (give us at least a few days’ notice), email us at blockedandreportedpodcast@gmail.com with the subject line “Renewal coupon.” We will reply with a discount code that will allow you to purchase a fresh subscription at the old, discounted rate. We wish there was an easier way to do this, but there isn’t, so in true BARPod fashion, it’s a process. (UPDATE: Sorry if this wasn't clear. If your subscription ends BEFORE June 15th, you'll be able to renewed (whether auto or manually) at the current, lower rate, and don't need to do anything else. If your subscription ends between June 16th, 2025 and June 15, 2026, send us an email when your renewal is coming up and we'll reply with the coupon. to let you re-up at the original rate.)

Our Primos make this podcast possible but we don’t want money to be a barrier for anyone, so if you truly cannot afford $7 a month (or 10 percent less for annual subs!) for this show that we put hours and hours and hours of our blood, sweat, and occasional tears into, we do offer a one-year scholarship program, which you can apply for, no questions asked, right here.

As always, we are immensely grateful for you—our listeners, our community, our people—for keeping this little machine running. We could not do it without you. And, really, why would we want to?

To five more years of internet bullshit,

Katie (CEO) and Jesse (Jr CEO)