Big news from Relay FM today: you can now directly support your favorite shows (including the ones which I co-host, Connected and Virtual) with memberships.

From the beginning, Relay FM has been a community for podcasters, listeners and follow-uppers to share their common interests and passions. Now, with a Relay FM membership, you can directly support the hosts of your favorite shows.

There are two monthly tiers and an annual plan, and initial perks include bonus episodes of every show during Relay’s anniversary week in August, a monthly newsletter, and 15% off anything in the Relay store.

As someone who partially makes a living off memberships, I obviously think this model can work well for podcasts as well – I could argue that podcasts are even more personal than blogs, forming a stronger relationship between listeners and podcast creators.

Myke and Stephen have been working tirelessly to launch memberships, which make perfect sense as an addition to the Relay community. To become a member today, you can pick your favorite shows here.