Wallstrip

Wallstrip was a daily business satire news video podcast launched in October 2006, a year before the US stock market reached its peak. The initial concept was to highlight publicly traded companies whose stock was trading at or near an all time high. As the bear market set in, the show dropped the niche criterion and would feature other companies as well as make commentary on the economy at large. In May 2007, the program was acquired by CBS's interactive unit at an estimated value of US$5 million.

The Show

A typical show would last a couple of minutes. As the host presented the show, a corner of the screen would continually display a series of wacky photos that were loosely related to the narration to add humour of the content. Interviews with heads of various companies, industry insiders, and even the general public during on location shows were common.

Timeline

The podcast was launched on October 16, 2006, but two teasers were released two days beforehand. Creator Howard Lindzon, a small-sized hedge fund manager, described his vision for the show in the first teaser. This was followed the next day by the first appearance of the show host Lindsay Campbell who held the post for five quarters. In May 2007, the program was acquired by CBS's interactive unit at an estimated value of US$5 million.^[1] On the episode of January 14, 2008, Campbell announced without warning at the start of the show that she was leaving Wallstrip and hinted that the new show host Julie Alexandria would be starting really soon. After that sudden and short announcement, she launched into the topic of the day (Open Text Corporation) and a three-second clip was shown, at the end of which the new host Alexandria, wearing an identical dress had already taken her place. The change over was done without a break. At the end of the broadcast, Alexandria joked that she wanted to redo the first part of the show again. A one-minute segment followed where Campbell recalled her experience on the show and announced her new career at political news podcast MobLogic. Campbell made a sudden guest appearance wearing the same dress as Alexandria during a memorable second anniversary episode on October 15, 2008, entitled "2 Legit 2 Quit". They shared a cake and a cocktail while presenting a mashup of scenes from the previous episodes. Alexandria wished for another fabulous season of Wallstrip but it was not to be.

Current status

Just two months short of the two-year anniversary show, the offerings of episodes stopped abruptly with no prior announcements after the final episode on December 12, 2008. As the podcast was not generating the anticipated revenue, despite the popularity of the show, it appeared that CBS would no longer provide on-going funding.^[2] In all, around 500 episodes were produced during the 26-month period.

Hosts

References

External links

• Wallstrip Website
• Wallstrip on YouTube