Obituary: Todd Cochrane

Todd Cochrane was born in Quincy, Michigan. Given a strong work ethic by his parents and grandparents, he graduated from a small, country high school in a class of less than a hundred.

In vocational tech school Todd took two years of electronics, and then joined the Navy in 1983. His official title at that time was aviation electronics technician, and he worked in electronic warfare, synthetic aperture radar and intelligence collection on P-3 Orion anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft.

After serving 21 years in the United States Navy on active duty, Todd retired in 2007 as a senior chief. In 2011, Todd attained a bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Always interested in technology, Todd started to tinker with things like bulletin boards and downloading shareware while stationed in Guam. He launched his own Wildcat dial-up bulletin board in the late 1990s. As the world of the BBS began to fade, he launched a personal weblog in 2001, and in 2002 he developed a popular technology news website, Geek News Central.

In June 2004, Todd was badly hurt in a swimming accident during a deployment in Bahrain - described as a “life-changing injury” - which grounded him from flying. In recovery, he spent time in Waco TX doing contract enforcement, and during that time, he spent the evenings on his laptop surfing the internet where he stumbled upon Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, one of the early podcasts.

Bitten by the podcasting bug, he returned home to Hawaii and told his wife. “I got the look,” he said. “She figured it out pretty quick. ‘You got two years to figure out how to make money with this thing’, she said”.

For Geek News Central, he was one of the first to podcast, in October 2004 - from “a little desk in a hotel room in Waco, Texas, and with a $14.95 microphone from the Walmart across the street”. Go Daddy became a sponsor of the show in 2005, and, after his show gave Go Daddy 370 customers in the first month, the company remained the sponsor for twenty years: the longest known podcast sponsorship. Todd began running one of the first podcast networks, the Tech Podcast Network (TPN), with twelve shows.

People listened to Geek News Central. Once, he posted feedback on a few issues he was having with his Mac. His phone rang: it was Steve Jobs, keen to learn more about the issues he was having. In the end, he was sent a new Mac for his trouble.

He wrote Podcasting, the do-it-yourself guide for Wiley Publishing in 2005, which was one of the first books written about podcasting. “Podcasting represents a new way for individuals to communicate about things they love,” he wrote: “They can broadcast content that comes from their hearts and are able to communicate with other people in a new and exciting way.”

While still working for the Navy in 2005 - “burning the candle at both ends” - Todd launched RawVoice, a media agency and the parent company of podcast hosting company Blubrry (“fresh organic media”). Never taking funding, the company was built with small investments from each business partner. He also started the Podcast Awards that year. He continued to work with naval personnel as a civilian until 2019.

He was inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural 2015 ceremony. “Todd is a fierce advocate for podcasting and the principles it was built on,” said Podcast Movement’s Dan Franks at the time, who organised the event, “and he makes sure to stand up for the independent podcaster.”

A fierce proponent of open RSS and building your podcast on your own website using his PowerPress podcasting plugin for WordPress, Todd started streaming his Geek News Central podcast show live in 2009, and was a keen advocate of podcasting free speech, accurate podcast metrics as a strong advocate of the IAB podcast measurement guidelines and “Podcasting 2.0”. Ever willing to help progress the industry, Todd was always interested to learn and make friends with anyone in podcasting. A regular fixture at podcast events - particularly at the bar in the evening - Todd shared his expertise, and his gossip, with as many people as he could.

Todd’s weekly 13 year running New Media Show, co-hosted by Rob Greenlee, was a must-listen for those in podcasting - often described as the show where you’ll “get a PhD in podcasting”. The show was a mainstay live on main stages at Podcast Movement and Podfest Expo for many years.

Todd was one of the first financial supporters of Podnews, and the first advertiser in the classifieds section - spending more than $500 in the first 24 hours of the service going live. He did this even though Blubrry runs Podcaster News, a long-running podcast news website. He was as kind and generous to us as he was to others.

When at a conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he not only took part in panels on stage, but also made himself available for one-on-one meetings. Most people saw the public Todd - brash, confident, no-nonsense; but I walked past him having a quiet chat with a hijab-wearing Saudi woman. Half an hour later, he was still quietly talking. “She wanted advice,” he said, later. “She wanted to do a podcast about domestic abuse, and wondered how she could remain anonymous.”

“I’m not a Joe Rogan, nor will I ever be. But what I am is a guy that grew up in the country with humble beginnings, high school education, followed by a bachelor’s degree late in life in a field that I’m not even working in right now. And by God, if I can do this and succeed and grind and put out a show - anyone can.”

A proud grandfather, he died suddenly on Sep 8, 2025 while travelling back from seeing family on the West Coast. He was 61.

Todd is survived by his mother Cherie, sister Chantal, his four children Ray, Natalie, Chris and Anna, and his former wife Shoko.