Adam Stacoviak changelog.com/posts

A new era for the Changelog Podcast Universe

Big change. Big vision. Next level.

We’re kicking off 2025 with some big changes. Starting in January, we’ll be focusing all of our efforts on producing The Changelog (News, Interviews, Friends) as the single best developer podcast experience.

In order to do this, we’re stopping production of Go Time, JS Party, Ship It, and Practical AI. But don’t worry—there’s continuation and spin-offs in motion!

This change will allow us to focus more on bringing you even better content, higher production quality, and exciting new features—including full-length video episodes on YouTube.

We’re also starting something new. It’s called CPU.fm (short for Changelog Podcast Universe)—a new network of world-class developer pods you can subscribe to. We’ve extended an invite to our hosts and panelists to join CPU.fm and plans are in the works.

What’s changing and what it means for you

The most important change is that the main thing is becoming the main thing again. Here’s what you can expect from this.

  • More in-depth content: With all our creative energy focused on The Changelog, you can expect deeper dives into the topics you care about most.
  • Enhanced production quality: We’re upping our game to deliver an even more polished and engaging listening experience. If you’ve liked where we’ve been, you’ll love where we’re going.
  • Video episodes: Enjoy full-length episodes on YouTube, bringing you closer to the conversations and making it easier to engage with us. We’re moving beyond clips and shorts and leaning into a video-first production.
  • Consistent schedule: Look forward to a continued reliable lineup—news on Mondays, interviews mid-week, and talk shows on Fridays.
  • More community: We’ll have more bandwidth to interact with you, answer your questions, and feature your insights. Changelog++ members will be getting even more love as well.

About our other shows

For many of our friends out there, this means that your favorite developer pod, at least in its current form, is going away. We are deeply saddened by this and we’ve struggled for some time with making this choice. But, to paraphrase Newton’s Third Law of Motion, sometimes in order to move forward, you have to leave something behind.

However, this is where our vision for CPU.fm comes into play. Spin-offs are being planned and new podcasts will form from this change (and CPU.fm will be there to support them). Here’s what we know so far:

  • JS Party gets a spin-off! dysfunctional.fm with Nick, KBall, and Amy
  • Go Time gets a spin-off! fallthrough.fm with Kris, Ian, and more
  • Ship It gets a spin-off! fafo.fm with Justin and Autumn (Soon)
  • Practical AI moves to practicalai.fm under Daniel and Chris’ leadership (Soon)

Why are we doing this?

Over the years (15 years!!) we’ve enjoyed many eras for The Changelog and our podcast portfolio. We started in 2009 as a side project to chronicle the rapid change in open source. In 2012, we almost pod faded due to day jobs and life changes. In fact, we came close to shutting things down. In 2013, we relaunched the podcast with a new mission and new friends. We experimented with new shows like Request for Commits and AFK and grew the portfolio to the podcasts you’ve come to know and love today. The future was focused on going wide, not deep.

Producing multiple weekly podcasts and shipping daily required us to scale our production operations and workflows. We had to mature rapidly and continuously iterate on our tech and team to keep up with the demands. While we’ve been great at consistently shipping daily for years, this intense production schedule has made it challenging for us to find time to experiment and explore like we had before. Running the production machine has left little room for innovation, and we realized we need to create space to explore new ideas and directions.

This change is all about enabling that. To refocus on the main thing and to improve and expand all things The Changelog podcast.

So, what is CPU.fm?

CPU.fm (Changelog Podcast Universe) is our new home for spin-offs and collaborations. It’s a burgeoning network of developer pods with a big vision, but we’re just getting started.

  • More content: Expect new podcasts to emerge, featuring new and familiar voices and perspectives.
  • More friends: Through CPU.fm, we’ll define an index of developer pods worth your attention. Expect cross-posting and collaboration with our extended pod friends network.
  • More more: We’ll be providing this network of pods with the support they need to continue their shows in their full control and still be connected. This means the content you love continues and gets better.
  • More opportunities: We’ll continue to serve the many amazing brands that reach out to us for help in reaching developers in meaningful ways. CPU.fm will be a new place for brands to get featured and support amazing developer podcasts.

Thank you for continuing to listen!

We know change can be surprising, but it’s driven by our commitment to bring you the best. We’re incredibly grateful for your support over the years, and we’re excited about the future and the next level we’ve about to unlock.

Stay tuned for more updates, and thank you for being part of the Changelog community!

Thank you for podcasting with us!

We want to sincerely thank each and every person who has hosted podcasts with us over the years! You have forever improved our lives and the lives of countless of your fellow developers around the world. 💚

And, of course, y’all have an open invitation to join us on Changelog & Friends!


Discussion

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2024-12-10T00:01:24Z ago

I enjoyed having a single place where I could subscribe (monetarily), and get an ad-free feed of the podcasts I listened to. A nightmare scenario has come to pass: I fear I’ll have to listen to ads on these spin-off shows where I didn’t have to previously.

And yes, I dislike ads that much. Pay for things you care about so they don’t have to be selling to you all the time.

Jerod Santo

Jerod Santo

Bennington, Nebraska

Jerod co-hosts The Changelog, crashes JS Party & takes out the trash (his old code) once in awhile.

2024-12-10T13:44:58Z ago

Sorry to do this to you! Yeah, the spin-offs will each individually decide how their podcasts will work.

I know Fallthrough is planning on a direct support option, not sure on the others…

2024-12-10T15:14:16Z ago

I agree with Gabek, this feels like kind of a rug pull (not cool!) for us Changelog++ folx who pay to not hear ads on not just on The Changelog but also the companion pods.

I hope you’ll consider doing something to integrate the CPU with Changelog++, or I might have to consider canceling my subscription, which I hate to do, but what I’m hearing is less content for the same money… and no, I don’t consider YouTube videos to be “more content.” I could care less about videos I’ll never watch.

Jerod Santo

Jerod Santo

Bennington, Nebraska

Jerod co-hosts The Changelog, crashes JS Party & takes out the trash (his old code) once in awhile.

2024-12-11T14:22:00Z ago

I can see what you’re saying, especially for Changelog++ people who primarily enjoy the shows we’re retiring. We will have to evolve ++ alongside everything else we’re doing. Would a lower entry price point change the way you feel about it?

(Full-video episodes on YT is just one tangible idea we have on making the main show better, btw)

2024-12-11T04:49:45Z ago

Total rug-pull. I truly do not see how the changelog content could possibly improve by cutting it. It feels like you have just given up on the hard parts. Maybe it’s an economics thing. If it is, I feel you, but be honest about it.

In retrospect, I suppose I’m not that surprised. Ever since Mat stopped hosting gotime (I will not speculate why), it had felt like the entire ‘verse had gone in to maintenence mode. Maybe you just got bored, it became to unweildly, or whatever. In any case, I’m bummed and have literally almost no reason to listen to your shows anymore. Too bad. I’ve been listening for many years.

Jerod Santo

Jerod Santo

Bennington, Nebraska

Jerod co-hosts The Changelog, crashes JS Party & takes out the trash (his old code) once in awhile.

2024-12-11T14:29:54Z ago

I truly do not see how the changelog content could possibly improve by cutting it.

We aim to improve The Changelog podcast with this change, not the other pods (obvious, but not sure if that’s what you meant). As for how we might improve the main show, you’ll have to wait and see I guess. Maybe we’re wrong and it can’t get better… (I doubt that)

Maybe it’s an economics thing. If it is, I feel you, but be honest about it.

It’s not an economics thing. We will likely make less money in ’25 than we did in ‘24 with this change. We were 100% honest with the why. Here’s what Adam said in the post:

Running the production machine has left little room for innovation, and we realized we need to create space to explore new ideas and directions.

That’s it right there. Producing 7 episodes a week leaves us with little/no space to explore other possibilities. We discuss this more on Friday’s upcoming Kaizen episode.

it had felt like the entire ‘verse had gone in to maintenence mode

I think that’s a fair statement. When we were on Quincy Larson’s freeCodeCamp podcast earlier this Fall, he asked us what’s new/upcoming for Changelog and I just said something like, “maintaining and sustaining all the podcasts we produce”, because that’s all I’ve had time for of late.

I’m bummed and have literally almost no reason to listen to your shows anymore. Too bad. I’ve been listening for many years.

That bums me out! I hope we’ll win you back in time.

But even if not, thanks for listening all these years! 💚

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