Back in 2015, Producer Megan Tan started recording her experiences about coming of age and self publishing them as a podcast. She called it 'Millennial.' Megan’s personal audio diary quickly became something so much bigger – a series of stories that spoke to the era. The show took off, launching Megan on a public speaking circuit and into a career producing for networks like LAist and Audible.
Ten years later, Megan has returned to 'Millennial' with the idea of re-inventing the show for this moment. Signal’s General Manager, Jemma Brown, called up Megan to hear about what she’d learned.
Jemma Brown, General Manager, The Signal Awards: Can you introduce yourself?
Megan Tan: my name is Megan Tan. I live in Los Angeles and I’ve worked in audio for over ten years. I’ve done everything under the sun, from being an editor to being a host, writer, producer and putting on live shows.
Jemma: You’re perhaps best known for creating the hit show Millennial back in 2015, which means I’ve been following your work for a decade! So it’s 2025 now, and you’ve started publishing this show again, now under the title Dear Millennial. What made you want to reopen the topic of the millennial experience now?
Megan: It was 2024 when I was first asking myself this question and realized, here we are, 10 years later. You don’t stop coming of age, right? And so I was like, how interesting would it be to reconnect with listeners and to talk about the things that we’re experiencing now as people who are in our 30s or our 40s? And let’s just see what happens. It truly was a bit of an experiment to relaunch the show, and also to be in front of the microphone and do it all independently,
Jemma: So much has changed from 2015 to today in the podcast industry. In a way, you’ve created this perfect test case. Same show, same host, new year. What’s changed about the landscape and making an independent podcast since you started out?
Megan: Whether you’re in podcasting or music, it’s always difficult to do anything independently. It’s not difficult to create necessarily, but it is difficult to maintain. When I started Millennial the market wasn’t as saturated. It was much easier to just focus on the quality of the product and then for it to stand out. And now, because the market is so saturated, you can make a high quality product, but if you don’t have the marketing resources it might get lost.
Jemma: I just listened this morning on my way to work to your episode titled Los Angeles: An Unexpected Love. It’s this very beautiful sonic love letter to Los Angeles. What was your process of making that episode in particular?
Megan: The luxury of having an independent show is you can do whatever you want with it. So much of this process for me is really about letting go.
When I was initially making Millennial I was such a different person. I was obsessive. I was in this place of having to prove myself and nothing sounded good enough. So now when I’m making a piece I say, okay, Megan, let’s do something so, so simple. Let’s have it be mostly encouraged by music to create an emotional feeling. Let’s really let the words do a lot. So that’s what I’m working on. Just letting go.
Jemma: Sure it’s a lot simpler from an editing perspective, but you’re leaning entirely on your words when you work like that. There’s no smoke or mirrors at all.
In our pre-interview emails you said you could share a bit of your philosophy behind sound. Can you share about your philosophy, especially in the process of crafting a piece like this?
Megan: My usual approach to sound is very very minimal. When I’m making Dear Millennial I’m not even in a closet. I don’t even have sound padding. It’s very light and scrappy. I like to lead with sound first, instead of having someone say something and then the sound comes in because it creates tension. And pacing is in its own art form. Pacing is life. When the sound comes up and when it comes down and how it exits is like a dance. It’s like choreography.
This approach has really challenged me to not be a perfectionist. My philosophy now is: don’t be precious.
Jemma: Alongside your practice, you are also a judge for The Signal Awards Judging Academy. What was that experience like?
Megan: For me, it was interesting to hear all the stuff that’s out there. What I was listening for was, was the audio capturing my attention? It may sound basic, but I was focusing on does this sound like something I’ve never heard before? The type of person talking or how they’re talking or how they’re explaining something.
There’s a lot of stuff out there and it’s hard to sift through it. So people need to know what’s good. Shows need spotlights and listeners need curation. They need to know what to listen to when they can’t sift through it all.
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In addition to Millennial, Megan Tan’s credits include hosting and creating Audible’s Now or Never: How To Find Love When Love Feels Impossible, LAist Studios Snooze which was shortlisted for the 2023 International Women’s Podcast Award, and WILD (Season I and II), named “Best Podcast of 2021” by Spotify and The Atlantic. In addition to writing, editing, and hosting, Megan was the Senior Producer and Sound Designer for California Love (Season I), awarded the “Best Sound Design” by The Webby Awards in 2020. That same year, Megan was named Adweek’s “Producer of the Year.” You can learn more about Megan’s work and approach to storytelling at megantan.com/
