What is 7 Minute Stories?

7 Minute Stories is Aaron Calafato’s extemporaneous, autobiographical storytelling podcast. This top short story podcast is quick, immersive, and tinged with nostalgia. Each story feels deeply personal and always leaves you with something to chew on—7MS sounds like if Jean Shepherd, Spalding Gray and Paul Harvey swapped notes at a Midwestern diner.

About Aaron Calafato 

Aaron Calafato is a storytelling expert and narrative strategist. His stories have been heard by millions around the globe on his award-winning Podcast 7 Minute Stories, on stage, and on YouTube. Calafato's extemporaneous storytelling style has been compared to that of monologist Spalding Gray and radio legend Jean Shepard.

His breakthrough 2013 monologue, (FOR PROFIT), was praised nationally for its jarring look inside the For Profit educational industry, the 1 trillion dollar student debt crisis, and its vibrant portrayal of the exploitation of the American student. 

In September 2018, Aaron launched the short-form storytelling podcast 7 Minute Stories.

Audience Reach & Growth

• The show has been heard over 30 million times across platforms including the podcast feed, YouTube, and social media clips.

• It has maintained a spot as a Top 50 Performing Arts Podcast in Apple Podcasts, placing it alongside long-running, big-budget storytelling shows.

• The average episode consumption rate is extraordinarily high (over 90% of each episode listened to), which is a rare metric in the podcast world and signals deep engagement rather than casual, drop-in listening.

Aaron’s work has been featured in and on NPR, The Huffington Post, The Nation, Real Money with Ali Velshi, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cleveland Magazine, Cleveland Scene Magazine, Belt Magazine, RT-America, WEWS ABC Channel 5, Portland Press Herald, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Akron Beacon Journal, The Fiscal Times, The Hill and Washington Monthly.

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