There are some exciting changes that have come to the founders pass membership service but firs, a little bit of history. In 2009 the Mike Church Show was looking for a way to add a membership service outside of Mike’s regular broadcast on SiriusXM patriot channel, but, SiriusXM warned that only material that was created outside of the Mike Church Show could be used. This is when Mike came up with the idea for a new show, a show he called The Post Show Show™!

The Post Show Show™ came on immediately following the regularly broadcast Mike Church Show on the SiriusXM Patriot Channel and in an early showing that Mike was way ahead of the technology curve, The Post Show Show™ was actually streamed live on video and audio on the mikechurch.com website; but, in order to “monetize“ The Post Show Show™ Mike had to figure out a way to do this and so he started what he called the Backstage Pass Membership Service.

The first Backstage Pass members simply got access to the daily Post Show Show™. Later on, Mike added other new features like Project 76 “Webisodes” which were little audio only vignettes. Today, these would be called “podcasts”. Mike made Project 76 “Webisodes about different things that the founding fathers had done that were not very well known. The Backstage Pass remained The Backstage Pass until 2011 and the release of Mike’s third film The Road To Independence The Movie. In releasing the film Mike wanted to add a founding father’s touch to his website and this included the old Backstage Pass Membership. Necessity being the mother of invention, as Ben Franklin reminds us, Mike changed The Backstage Pass Membership Service to The Founders Pass Membership Service and there it remained until late 2015 when SiriusXM decided to not renew Mike’s contract an inevitability Mike had been preparing for since starting The Post Show Show.

There was a discussion at this time on how to best take advantage of a membership subscriber service now that Mike would be on his own and outside of the SiriusXM Patriot Channel orbit. After much discussion it was decided that Mike would keep The Founders Pass Membership Service but would add some new membership levels and so, “Founding Brother”, “Founding Fathe” and the all new “Crusader” membership levels were added. The name “Crusader” was chosen, obviously, to take advantage of the name of the new channel that the Mike Church Show, and all the other original content would be heard on, The Crusade Channel. In 2025 the Premium Listening option was added but the Founders Pass remained otherwise intact.

THAT WAS THEN, AND THIS IS NOW.

In returning the Mike Church Show to its standalone roots and re-orienting it so that it is the featured attraction of all of Mike’s efforts in broadcasting the show, the website and the members service needed an overhaul to once again reflect the fact that Mike Church was also known as “The KingDude” and here’s why that matters. There were over 8000 purchasers of Dude Numbers, the title Mike had chosen to call the loyal listeners of his audience since 2008. These folks were collectively called The Red White And Dude Nation. AFter much debate and discussion it was agreed upon that Mike needed to incorporate the name “Dude” back into the website and The Founders Pass Membership Service but here was the catch just how far could you go with the term “Dude”!?

Well, that’s a good question. Like in the film, The Big Lebowski you could say that the lowest level was just “Dude” and the next level was “El Duderino”, and then the next level might have been “His Dudeness”, we think you get the picture. While these names have some humor and charm to them, Mike’s team didn’t think they sounded like elite membership levels for the new service and direction of The Mike Church Show they were creating. So, after some more thought and deliberation leading to dead ends, it was suggested that an Olympics inspired medal system might be worth looking at but there was another catch: the Olympics only have three medal levels and The Founders Pass has five. It was here that Ben Franklin’s “mother” and “necessity appeared again.

WHAT IS RHODIUM AND WHY SHOULD IT BE THE NAME FOR THE MOST ELITE MEMBERS OF THE RED WHITE & DUDE NATION?

After hearing one of his own radio ads for precious metals dealer Miles Franklin  Mike decided to see whether or not gold was the most precious metal on earth. It was this line of interrogation that led to a shocking discovery. While gold was certainly the most coveted metal on earth, it was not the most expensive and certainly not the most rare! This led to the discovery that the rarest metals on earth are members of what is called the PMG. PMG is the acronym for the Platinum Metals Group. Now, most people know something about Platinum(Pt) but not so much about the other three metals Palladium (Pd), Ruthenium (Ru) and Rhodium (Rh). Of the PMG’s, Rhodium is the rarest and is mined principally in a small area in South Africa. Rhodium is used in very popular industrial applications, for example in the making of automobile catalytic converters. But one small factor about Rhodium really caught Mike and his team‘s attention: Rhodium is actually used to bring out the natural beauty and shine of white and yellow gold in the world‘s finest handmade jewelry! Did you know that!?

Thus it was decided. Yes!, we need to incorporate Rhodium in the new membership service somehow. “Well, that’s easy,” said one team member who continued “we could just name the membership levels after precious metals”. Almost everyone already knows them in order,  bronze, silver and gold. But Mike and team wanted to have a structure that would last the test of time and have an elite, collectible and proud ring to the names, so after an entire day of scribbling and brainstorming, and then tearing pieces of paper up and then scribbling and brainstorming and tearing more pieces of paper up, it was decided in a “eureka!” moment that we would name the new levels after metals and incorporate the word Dude in them!

So, The Founders Pass Membership Service and it’s member level names have served us well, but it is time to open the book and turn the page on a new chapter in the saga that is The Mike Church Show. We are now proud and delighted to announce to you the new membership levels of The red White and Dude Nation Mike Church Show!

Dude Nation, Bronze Level

Dude Nation, Silver Level

Dude Nation, Gold Level

Dude Nation, Platinum Father Level

And finally after all that buildup here comes the biggest and coolest one ever:

Dude Nation Rhodium!

Fun fact: Rhodium is taken from the Greek word Rodon, which actually means Rose, which is how Rhodium appears in a piece of Platinum metal group or!

Whatever Dude Nation member level you’re currently at know this: all of you are special and elite to us! We also hope that you enjoy your new,  soon to be issued Dude Nation Membership Cards, which we will be mailing to every Founders Pass and now Dude Nation Member very soon!

So, Red, White And Blue Nation Members welcome to the next chapter in the continuing media revolution that is The Mike Church Show!