Roman Mars

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roman Mars (born October 16, 1974 in Oberlin (Ohio) ) is an American radio producer. He is best known for KALW - broadcast and podcast 99% Invisible , and for the establishment of the podcast collective Radiotopia representing an attempt to "extend the radio landscape and to make shows that are not on the conventions of National Public Radio bound are."

In the 2013 overview of the most creative people by the Fast Company executive magazine , he was ranked 63rd.

Life

Mars was born in the small town of Oberlin, Ohio, in the fall of 1974. He acquired at the local Oberlin College completing a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and worked as a postgraduate in the field of plant genetics at the University of Georgia . He lived in San Francisco , moved to Chicago in 2005, and returned to San Francisco in 2008.

Mars has been married to Mae Marecek since the early 2000s. The couple have twin sons who were born in early December 2006. According to Mars, one of his sons was given the first name Mazlo because he liked it better typographically than the model "Maslow".

plant

99% invisible

99% invisible logo and cover

On September 3, 2010, the first episode of the podcast 99% invisible with the topic "99% Noise" appeared. The episode, which lasted a little over four minutes, was about acoustic room design, city soundscapes and the question of how to make the room soundscape pleasant. While the first twelve episodes each contained the name component "99%", it was no longer used in more than 360 episodes (as of September 3, 2019).

Thematically, the episodes deal with the topics of architecture and design and their daily influence on life. The show, which was initially financed by the KALW radio station and the American Institute of Architects , but produced by Mars at home, has been supported since 2013 mainly through a Kickstarter campaign as well as voluntary donations and some sponsors , such as the companies Casper Sleep , Slack or Toyota . According to the company, the podcast could be built into its own company, which now occupies a building in Oakland .

Roman Mars performed at the 2015 TED conference in Vancouver. There he repeated an episode of his podcast about city ​​flags live on stage and explained why these could be the worst designed things. The talk has been viewed over 4 million times on TED's YouTube channel. In response to the video, the city of Cedar Rapids announced that it would have its city flag redesigned. Mars had previously relied on and listed the American Vexillological Association's worst-designed city flags.

The podcast ranks eighth among all podcasts in the iTunes ranking of the most listened-to podcasts and first in the “Art and Design” category. The name of the podcast comes from a quote from architect Buckminster Fuller who said

"Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable."

"99 percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable."

- Buckminster Fuller

Radiotopia

Together with the radio organization Public Radio Exchange (PRX) , Mars founded the podcast collective Radiotopia in 2014 . The task of this collective is to finance, promote and ideally support the affiliated artists. Roman Mars himself sees Radiotopia more as a record label that stands for certain values ​​and a certain worldview, but at the same time also takes responsibility for the podcasters. For example, it was possible to set up health insurance for members from the crowdfunding campaign at Kickstarter.com in 2013. According to his own statements, he had tried that at radio stations ten years before, but was only able to work there as a (self-employed) contractor. In addition, he wants to bring Radiotopia a greater variety in the world of broadcasting, which he called "bunch of white men" (bunch of white men) perceives. For this purpose, Radiotopia has a model fund that can also be used to engage people who have not yet had anything to do with radio.

Radiotopia is funded by around 15,000 volunteer memberships of listeners who paid an average of $ 7 per month in 2017. There are also sponsors such as Babbel , Wix and HelloFresh Canada. With 17 connected podcasts, Radiotopia had around 18 million monthly downloads in 2017. According to the company's own information, this number increased again to 19 million monthly downloads.

According to Wired magazine , the collective is mainly composed of very gently speaking podcasters who give the listener the feeling that the voice is right in the listener's head.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Roman Mars Wiki, Bio, Married, Wife, Girlfriend, Dating, Gay, Salary. wikinetworth.com, August 11, 2016, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c novel Mars. In: kalw.org. KALW, accessed on September 3, 2019 (English).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Eric Steuer: Roman Mars: The Man Who's Building a Podcasting Empire . In: Wired . 2015, ISSN  1059-1028 ( wired.com [accessed September 3, 2019]).
  4. ^ A b Jason Feifer: 63rd novel Mars. In: fastcompany.com. Fast Company, 2013, accessed September 3, 2019 (American English).
  5. ^ Roman Mars. La Ciudad de las Ideas (CDI), accessed October 2, 2019 .
  6. ↑ 99% Symbolic - 99% Invisible. 99percentinvisible.org, August 10, 2010, accessed October 2, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Vanessa Quirk: Disruptive Minds: Roman Mars, Host of 99% Invisible . In: Archdaily . September 6, 2012, ISSN  0719-8884 ( archdaily.com [accessed September 3, 2019]).
  8. ↑ a b The Show. In: 99percentinvisible.org. Retrieved September 4, 2019 (American English).
  9. ↑ Vanessa Quirk: "99% Invisible" Blows Kickstarter Goal Out of the Water . In: Archdaily . August 23, 2012, ISSN  0719-8884 ( archdaily.com [accessed September 4, 2019]).
  10. ↑ a b Radiotopia - Current Sponsor Offers. In: radiotopia.fm. Radiotopia, Retrieved September 4, 2019 (American English).
  11. ↑ TED: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you've never noticed | Roman Mars on YouTube , May 14, 2015, accessed September 4, 2019.
  12. ↑ BA Morelli: Cedar Rapids looks to redesign its city flag after it is dubbed one of the 'worst' designs in the nation. In: thegazette.com. The Gazette, accessed September 4, 2019 .
  13. ^ A b Max Willens: Podcast network Radiotopia is expanding its member-paid benefits. In: digiday.com. 2018, Retrieved September 4, 2019 (American English).
  14. ↑ Radiotopia - About Radiotopia. In: radiotopia.fm. Radiotopia, Retrieved September 4, 2019 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Mars, novel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American radio producer and podcaster
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Oberlin (Ohio) , United States