Generally Speaking Production Network

The Generally Speaking Production Network (GSPN) is an online media production company founded by Cliff and Stephanie Ravenscraft on December 16, 2005.

Background

History

A fan of the television series Lost, and inspired by Leo Laporte and his this Week in Tech podcast, Cliff Ravenscraft began with a Lost-discussion podcast after only finding one other on the subject in 2005. Ravenscraft began the podcast as a hobby with no experience in broadcasting, radio, or television; in a June 2007 interview with Podcast User Magazine, Ravenscraft confessed that "he didn’t put a lot [of] preparation into the show at first, and that his audio was poor, but [...] the content was in high demand." Ravenscraft gathered thousands of listeners in only a few weeks, and quickly added his wife Stephanie to the podcast.

Soon thereafter, they launched a second Lost podcast, followed by podcasts discussing faith and family issues, and one about Cliff's life (originally titled My Crazy Life). In December 2008, Cliff Ravenscraft had worked in the insurance industry for eleven years when he left his $87,000 per-year job at Jack Lillie Insurance (his stepfather's firm) to begin podcasting full-time. Though Cliff had to withdraw $14,000 from his IRA in 2008, he claims that since October 2009 GSPN was producing "more money every month that [he's] ever made in [his] life."