Yesterday I described my idea for a podcast series called The Lives They’re Living,

Long story short: for about two years, I sent my pitch out to podcast companies. Half of them said no; the other half never responded. (I needed the backing of a company because I don’t have audio editing or production skills, and I wanted my episodes to be not just a monologue by me or a Q and A, but a produced story, in the manner of a This American Life piece, and for that I needed lots of help.)

Finally, a company expressed not only interest but enthusiasm, and agreed to back me as I made a pilot episode. The person we chose was Newton Minow, a 93-year-old attorney who is famous for one thing but has, I learned while putting together the episode, has accomplished and contributed so much more.

The company ultimately decided not to go ahead and distribute the series. I understood that — there’s very heavy competition to get podcasts out there in the ether — but I really wanted to get Newt Minow’s story out there, if only as a one-off piece on a public radio show or another podcast. To that end, I cut it from thirty minutes to eighteen, but still no luck.

Therefore, I’m sharing both versions of the piece. Here’s the original version.

And click here to get to the shorter version.

Thanks for giving a listen, and I hope you enjoy it.