Michelle Itkowitz, here. I have news!
A version of this show is now being distributed by a real podcast network. It’s a terrific opportunity that I’m very honored to have.
The name of the new show is “Learn to Live Better, a Housing Law Podcast”. You know how at the end of every episode I say, “the law belongs to you, but your ownership of the law is only as great as your understanding of the law, so let’s learn to live better…” So, the name of the new show is Learn to Live Better, a Housing Law Podcast.
I am now working with the Broadway Podcast Network, a vibrant community of more than 190 shows and 15,000 episodes reaching a global audience of 12 million listeners. BPN is NYC based, it’s young, about 7 years old, it’s got an arts and creativity focus (and that’s a lot of my audience), but there’s so much else on there - it’s business, it’s self-improvement, it’s got awesome scripted dramas. In 2025, one of BPN’s original programs won a Webby, that’s like an Academy Award for a podcast. I think BPN is the right partner to help me help New York City’s middle-class tenants at scale.
Here’s the updated show description, which expresses what I’m trying to do here with this podcast project:
“If things aren’t going right with your apartment, whether it’s something small or something big, it can throw you off in your career, your personal life, and your health. You want your energy going into your job, your business, your art, your family, your spiritual life, and the causes and people you care about, not into grappling with housing issues.”
“Here's the thing. New York City tenants have more rights than tenants anywhere else in America. But NYC tenants also are shockingly uneducated about what those rights are. A right that you don’t know you have is the same as no right at all. And there are so many bits of incomplete information out there, peppered with urban myths about landlord-tenant law.”
“This podcast will change all that. In each episode we look at current legal cases and statutes and the real-life apartment stories they give rise to here in the greatest city on earth. And every episode ends with a “Tenant Takeaway”, so you have actionable information to help you make better choices.”
Thank you. I’ve been completely alone on this project for 2.5 years and more than 50 episodes. I come up with the ideas, I write the scripts, I’m the talent (such as it is), I’m the tech. I never spent one dime on advertising. I didn’t even do social media. I didn’t have guests to cross-market to their audiences. I didn’t even publish on a consistent schedule. I did pretty much everything contrary to best practices and everything by myself. Yet you gave me the stats that made it possible for a real network to take me seriously enough to give me a shot at hosting and distributing the show.
I’ve never asked this community for anything: there’s no Patreon; there’s no merch. But I’m asking you now - if you would find Learn to Live Better, wherever you get your podcasts. Wherever you’re listening now to Tenant Law Podcast, Learn to Live Better will be there. There’s no app, there’s nothing to pay for. It’s just an additional feed. And then subscribe to Learn to Live Better and like it and give it a good review. But don’t stop subscribing here. So that’s what I’m asking, stay subscribed here and subscribe there as well, and please like, review, and share. And maybe mention the program on social media or wherever you think it is appropriate to get the word out to more New Yorkers, so this information can get into the hands of the people who need it.
I’m dropping the first episode of Learn to Live Better here in this feed for your listening enjoyment (and viewing enjoyment if you want to watch there is video now, you don’t have to watch you can just listen), so here is “Breaking your Lease Early - Seven Best Practices.”
28 mins
20 mins