The article was about Scott Lobaido. He is an artist, and his mission to raise awareness and advocacy for PTSD. I liked that an artist wanted to do this. Since it was in Weymouth, MA there was no reason not to go.
I went the first night and talked briefly with Scott and Secretary of Veterans Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Francisco Urena. Scott asked me to come back the following night to talk with him more.
Talk with people and Scott
The next night was windy in a way that made recording any audio a real test. There was a guy on a Harley – Davidson Sportster named Anthony. He told me that the VA could have done more for his brother.
I never realized what it does to mother to have her child serve. Conversations like I had with Jacquelyn make me stop and consider the cost of PTSD. It is not the soldier who bears this alone. Family can be asked to pay a heavy price as well.
Scott was gracious to give me some time, and we talked about his work. His art is about conveying a feeling of pride in being an American and loving our great nation. You need to go to his website (http://scottlobaido.com/gallery/) and check out his work. Which piece is your favorite?
The last person I spoke with was Conor Sullivan. Conor is an Air Force Veteran. 19 months ago he got a heart transplant. Two weeks ago, he ran the Boston Marathon. Aim High indeed, well done Brother. Conor is a member of the Veterans Brotherhood Motorcycle Club. It was good seeing these guys at the exhibit.
Scott proves that anyone can do any thing to make change where they are. I won’t look at artists the same way ever again. Thanks Scott.
I met Joyce at a the Brockton Veteran’s Day Parade in 2016. I was getting ride with my Marine Corps League Detachment. Detachment 1115 Ist Lt. Brian McPhillips Metro South. She walked up and thanked me for my service. I had just met Mayor Carpenter so I asked what she was doing here. She whips out her business card and introduced herself as a real estate agent and someone who works in the community. I told her about Oscar Mike Radio, and she asked me for my card. I didn’t have cards at the time and Joyce said I needed to fix that. I gave her the link to the podcast and asked her tell me what she thought of the podcast.
As time went on, Joyce would tell me about podcasts she liked and didn’t like. She told me she enjoyed working with Veterans and wanted to find out more on how to help. Joyce started looking into programs the VA and other providers offered to help Veterans get financing for home loans.
I was getting a crash course in how to market myself and Oscar Mike Radio from Joyce. Knowing what to do to “sell” myself does not come easily, so I took her advice and made changes that worked for Oscar Mike Radio.
About 8 months ago, Joyce and a couple others approached me about supporting this effort in a substantial way. It took me a while to warm up to the idea. Joyce was the first to bring it up and I liked that concept she has of working hard to achieve one’s goals. A simple idea that this Marine could understand.
I am humbled and honored to proudly welcome Joyce on board as Oscar Mike Radio’s first sponsor. It is my desire to keep working and improving to make Oscar Mike Radio the best podcast it can be. Thank you
Sacha reached out to me on Facebook Messenger. She wanted to ask me some questions about podcasting. Here are my answers that I wrote her. This podcast is the oral answers to the same questions, but come off differently. In a way, these are questions that many people have asked me over the course of making Oscar Mike Radio.
Question One: Why did you start making podcasts? What were your inspirations?
When I was thinking
over the concept of Oscar Mike Radio, there was a lot of things going on in the
Veteran Community. There were issues around Veteran’s Suicide, and other
Veterans were trying to build their lives after serving their country. I wanted
to do something that would provide hope, allow Veterans to connect with each
other and tell stories about the military one wouldn’t hear anywhere else.
I liked radio
growing up. However doing a conventional radio show would be costly with no
real idea if it would even be effective.
I met a man named Keith Hayes at the Ist Annual Dale Dorman Media day and he said go for it. We got together later and he showed me how to do podcasting and not quit!
Question Two: What do you think is the hardest part of the process? (uploading regularly? Coming up with content ideas? Finding people to collaborate with?)
Doing anything with
sound is very technical. I did not have an audio engineering background so
learning what equipment did and did not work was frustrating. It is much easier
now, but I am always learning. So I would say learning about making sound technically
good is hard.
The other difficult
part is making a story or situation connect with people that listen to my
podcast. It can be challenging making a story about a military aircraft
appealing to someone who doesn’t know anything about military airplanes.
The rest is simply being adaptable, open to learning, and not quitting. I can’t say this enough. There are times when the process (story search, audio setup, editing, blogging, and promotion) is challenging, but not quitting is the key to overcome any difficulty.
Question Three: In your opinion, what makes podcasts stand out from other formats such as radio shows or blog posts?
I don’t believe
there is any other format that allows someone to connect an idea, advocate for
cause, or tell a story like podcasting. You can take a simple recorder or an
advanced sound studio and tell a story your way. Your way, how you want the
story to be told on your terms. 1 person may listen, or 100,000 people might
listen, but the point is, they chose to listen to what you produced. You can
take a podcast and use it to effect change locally, be that ripple in the pond
that keeps going. Look at this answer now, I don’t know why you reached out to
me, but if I wasn’t podcasting we would have never crossed paths. Maybe,
something I am doing here will allow you to move your podcast forward. There is
a possibility you may learn something from my mistakes that allow your podcast
to shine.
You can’t connect
like this with a TV show or movie. YouTube is one thing, but people get
distracted easily looking at their phones.
Blog posts are
great, and I do one for every podcast, but nothing beats the sound of the human
voice in your ear. There is simply nothing like podcasting.
Question Four: Do you make any money making podcasts? Does your listener count matter to you? If not, why do you still do it consistently?
I do not make any
money at this point in time. That is not to say I wouldn’t like to get a
sponsor or sponsors;). Wishful thinking is I will be the next “King of All
Media”, but I learned something from guest I would like to share with you.
I asked Steve for
some feedback about his experience. I told him it was to improve and grow.
Steve looked at me and said if I approach guests with the mindset of adding
value to their lives, cause, or business, the rest will take care of itself.
Sure enough, when I quit worrying about downloads, subscribers, Facebook Likes,
and ensured my podcasts were about adding value people gravitated to what I am
doing.
This method keeps me
honest and constantly looking to improve what I am doing while having fun doing
it.
Now, I don’t know if this is for real. I haven’t seen where the Marine came forward. So again, I have no way to know if what happened in the article is true.
Many people weighed in on the bride’s question. Some said she was right to ask him to leave, others thought she was in fact an a$$ho!3.
What do you think? Was this bride right to kick this Marine out? Let me know!