Every Wednesday at noon, Ryan Schleicher, Evan Rytlewski, and Matt Wild take to the WMSE airwaves to discuss all things Milwaukee. This half-hour fun-fest is called The Disclaimer, so named because none of the oft-ridiculous views expressed on the show necessarily reflect the views of the hosts’ employers. Milwaukee music, Milwaukee art, Milwaukee events, and D.I.Y. lawn care tips are frequently discussed—and rarely agreed upon. The Disclaimer: Talk radio for the sane.
On October 30, ESPN announced it was suspending the publication of Grantland, a sports and pop-culture site founded by Bill Simmons in 2011. The sudden news came as a blow to not only fans of Grantland and its top-shelf writers (including former Milwaukeean Steve Hyden), but to fans of quality writing in general. Preceded by the shuttering of the equally great Dissolve in July, the end of Grantland seemed to spell the very end of meaningful content in an online world littered with nothing but quick-hit filler and click-bait junk.
Or did it? Yeah it probably did. Still, Ryan, Evan, and Matt decide to dive headlong into the end of Grantland anyway, and tease out its larger implications. But it’s not all bad news for quality sites unable to monetize their quality: Matt fills the group in on Urban Milwaukee’s wildly successful crowdfunding campaign to raise a cool $30,000, and The Dissolve crew finding a second life via a new podcast called The Next Picture Show. Other topics discussed: steak vs. sizzle, the emptiness of analytics, John Oliver, being a smart consumer of the Internet, forgiving unseemly ploys for money.
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