This month’s Pipeline Technology Podcast (PTP) episode sponsored by Pipeline & Gas Journal (PGJ) features podcast host Russel Treat and Michael Reed, editor of PGJ, discussing the launch of a brand-new podcast.

Listen to the first episode to learn more about why the podcast launched, the role of Pipeline & Gas Journal in sponsoring the new podcast, and what you can expect to hear covered in future episodes of the podcast.

Podcast Launch: Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms

• Russel Treat is the host of the Pipeliners Podcast, which launched in November 2017. Connect with Russel on LinkedIn.
  • Pipeliners Podcast is a place for professionals who care about the pipeline industry to discuss the latest information and benefit from each other’s experience. Subscribe to the podcast feed.
• Michael Reed is the editor of Pipeline & Gas Journal (PGJ). Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
  • Pipeline & Gas Journal is the essential resource for technology, industry information, and analytical trends in the midstream oil and gas industry.  For more information on how to become a subscriber, visit pgjonline.com/subscribe.
• Pipeliners Association of Houston was formed in 1953 with the purpose to foster and promote the advancement of pipeline engineering and operating practices for the mutual benefit of the members in the industry and to study and exchange knowledge and ideas relative to the pipeline industry.

Podcast Launch: Full Episode Transcript

Russel Treat:  Welcome to the Pipeline Technology Podcast, episode 1. For this initial episode, we’re going to bring on the underwriter of the Pipeline Technology Podcast, Pipeline & Gas Journal and Michael Reed, who’s the editor. We’re going to talk about what we’re going to be about with this new technology-focused podcast.

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Announcer:  The Pipeline Technology Podcast, brought to you by Pipeline & Gas Journal, the decision-making resource for pipeline and midstream professionals. Now your host, Russel Treat.

Russel:  Michael, welcome to the inaugural episode of the Pipeline Technology Podcast. I’m really excited that we are kicking this off together.

Michael Reed:  Hey, Russel. It’s really good to be here. I appreciate the invitation. I look forward to it as well.

Russel:  For people that are listening, this is the very first episode. What we want to do is just really set some context about what we’re doing and why. This is a collaboration between the Pipeliners Podcast and Pipeline & Gas Journal to create a monthly series on technology for pipeliners.

Maybe I’ll ask this question first, Michael. Why is Pipeline & Gas Journal interested in getting together with the Pipeliners Podcast?

Michael:  We’ve been thinking about what a good idea a PGJ podcast would be for a while now. There’s several reasons for that. One is we see a podcast as a way of not just expanding our audience but better serving the readership we already have.

We feel like a podcast has the potential not just to reach younger pipeliners who have entered the industry in the last few years and prefer receiving their information in different ways. In addition to that, a lot of people my age, or older even, have changed their methods of receiving information as well.

If I go to a live event back when there were live events to go to, say, over the last three or four years, I started noticing how many people I see at conferences and other live events. They’ll be reading or pointing to things on PGJ’s website on their phones or their notepads and asking me about it.

Ironically, in the case of some of these people, they had told me, 8 or 10 years ago, that they would never even own a smartphone. It’s really obvious that this is something we feel like we should get involved with. That’s the crux of it.

Russel:  I would say that from the Pipeliners Podcast standpoint, our primary mission here is to educate and inform. This is a big opportunity for us to expand our audience by collaborating with Pipeline & Gas Journal.

The way this is going to work is we’re going to bring a guest on. It’ll be someone who has authored an article in the magazine. We will take a deep dive into the article with the author and try to ask the questions that those that would read the article might want to ask.

That’ll be what we’re attempting to do. Basically, we’re going to take a deeper dive into articles that the magazine is publishing and get into it with the authors of those articles.

Michael:  That’s correct, Russel. That’s something we’re really interested in as well. We do publish a fair amount of technological information about innovations that are related to pipelines, but we are primarily a construction of pipelines type of publication.

For our articles, our technical articles, someone on the staff generally approaches someone about a topic that’s an expert in that area. They’ll write an article for us, and we’ll review it.

Sometimes, people — I guess because of the reputation of the magazine — they’ll send it on their own, and we’ll review it. I think this is a way to get more information on technological issues to readers who are interested in that.

Russel:  I think one of the things we talked about, Michael, as we were prepping for this kickoff is that the staff of Pipeline & Gas Journal, the expertise there is more around current events and regulatory rulemaking and construction and that sort of thing, not really deep expertise in the various technologies that are utilized in pipelining.

This is an opportunity to broaden what you all are able to do as a service to the industry.

Michael:  That’s right. We primarily cover construction and maintenance of pipelines, like I said. Our chief concern as far as in-house writing involves things that affect construction of pipelines, regulatory changes, legal changes, financing — things like that. This seems like a good fit for us and a good topic to handle with a podcast.

Russel:  The interesting thing just for the listeners to know is that the way this came up is, I went to a Pipeliners Association of Houston dinner. I sat next to Michael and a couple of other members of the Pipeline & Gas Journal staff. We were just talking over dinner.

Some time after that, they reached out to me. Then through conversation, it led to putting this together. I’ve had a long-term relationship with Pipeline & Gas Journal. I’ve been writing articles for you guys for probably longer than I care to admit, to be honest.

Michael:  You’ve done several articles for us. This Pipeliners meeting, I believe, was the first time we actually met face-to-face, though. We exchanged cards. After I got into the office the next day, I had your card out. I checked out your podcast.

I was really impressed with just the level of sound, the quality of the production. I was especially impressed by the knowledge of your guests and, equally important, your guests’ ability to communicate their ideas well. To me, you were the obvious guy to talk to and at least pick your brain about doing a podcast, if nothing else. I think this will work out really well.

Russel:  Me too. I’m very glad that you guys reached out. I’m very honored by the remarks there, Mike. One of the things that’s unique about podcasting, from somebody who’s doing it, is that you sit down. You have these conversations. You put them out there. If you don’t ever talk to anybody, you never really know if anybody’s listening or doing anything with it.

In the age of COVID, where I’m not going to the conferences like I used to, there’s less interaction and feedback happening. Any of that kind of feedback is always very welcome. It’s always nice to know that you’re having an impact and you’re doing some good work.

Michael:  We feel like through the collaboration, as well there will be an archive of these technological discussions that you’re putting on.

I know from our perspective, as far as the archive online for our web page goes, we have articles that are 8 or 10 years old that could still get tens of thousands of hits a year simply because something about the technological aspect is still of interest to people. They still share the links. I think by doing this through a podcast that same thing can happen.

Russel:  I absolutely agree. I think that’s one of the reasons we wanted to do a technology podcast versus a current events or something like that is because the current events has a shelf life, right?

Michael:  Definitely.

Russel:  Current events a year from now are not really meaningful. Technology doesn’t really have a shelf life, or if it does, it’s much longer.

Michael:  Current events will also change on you before you have your podcast finished. There’s that, too.

Russel:  [laughs] You’ve got to do those on the fly, man.

Michael:  You do.

Russel:  That’s exactly right. By focusing on technology, we’ll have stuff that’s got a bit more shelf life. Like you — I think we share this as a goal — we want to create something that’s going to have some real value to the industry and really provide a resource that people can use to learn and share information in a new and different way.

Michael:  Correct. That’s exactly the point.

Russel:  Let’s tell everybody how to find us. This will be going up as a new channel on the Pipeliners Podcast website. It’ll be right on the home page. You’ll be able to navigate to the most recent episode and find all of the episodes of the Pipeliners Technology Podcast.

Pipeline & Gas Journal is also going to be putting this up on their website and communicating it through their various media outlets.

If you want to say, “Hey, I’d like to hear from the guy who wrote this article,” the way you’d want to do that is go to pipelinepodcastnetwork.com and drop me a note on the Contact Us page. We will be following up and trying to get the folks on to talk about the things they’re writing about that the listeners want to hear about.

I would encourage people to do that. Again, we want to try and create something that’s of value and of interest for the folks that listen.

Mike, any parting comments before we get off this inaugural episode?

Michael:  Not really, Russel. I think that pretty well covered it. Like I said, I’m looking forward to it. The people at our publication are looking forward to it. I think it’s going to turn out really well and be a service to the industry, which is what we’re shooting for.

Russel:  Mike, thanks for coming. We ought to try and do this again maybe a year from now. We can talk about what all we’ve learned.

Michael:  We can do that.

Russel:  [laughs] All right. Look, I really appreciate getting the opportunity to do this and really looking forward to working with Pipeline & Gas Journal. We’ll see what good content we can create.

[background music]

Russel:  I hope you enjoyed this inaugural episode of the Pipeline Technology Podcast and our conversation with Michael Reed. If you’d like to support this podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcast, Google Play, or whatever smart device podcast app you happen to use. You can find instructions at pipelinepodcastnetwork.com.

If you have ideas, questions, or topics, articles out of the magazine that you’d be interested in hearing from the author and some specific questions you’d like to ask, best way to let me know that is to reach out to me either directly on LinkedIn, or you can go to pipelinepodcastnetwork.com to the Contact Us page and leave me a message.

Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you next month.

[music]

Transcription by CastingWords