Jerry Coats spends his Thursday afternoons reviewing stacks of handwritten notes in front of a massive bookshelf. At 72 years old, Jerry Coats records weekly episodes of a Taylor Swift podcast for 36,000 listeners alongside his niece, Angela McDow, according to MarketWatch.
After nearly 50 years in education as a teacher, professor, and college dean, Jerry initially planned to travel the world, spend time with his family, and possibly teach an adjunct course in English or history during his retirement. Instead, his 39-year-old niece—a Taylor Swift fan for 20 years—envisioned a bigger classroom and pitched him on a creative project examining Swift’s lyrics as poems and literature. Jerry holds degrees in English, history, classics, and literary history.
From Teacher to Podcaster
Before launching the project, Jerry was unfamiliar with most of Swift’s work, knowing only her chart-topping song “Shake It Off” out of more than 200 tracks, along with knowing she was dating a football player and was wealthy.
What Jerry expected to last a few weeks has stretched to more than a year and 68 episodes. The duo hosts The Swiftie and The Scholar,
a weekly podcast exploring the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift.
Podcast Draws Listeners from over One Hundred Countries
The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, drawing listeners from more than 100 countries. The audience is 90% female, with the largest portion at 34.2% made up of Gen Z and young millennials ages 25 to 34, followed by 26% aged 35 to 44 and 14.7% aged 45 to 54. The pair also run a paid community on Patreon to bypass copyright restrictions, let members vote on songs for upcoming episodes, and share bonus content.
I was an administrator for 18 years, so it had been a while since I was consistently in the classroom. Now I feel like I’m in the classroom,
Jerry said, adding that he is making more money in a month than he would teaching an adjunct class.
Worth a look