What do you think of the Marines who got caught smuggling people over the border?
I would say that idle hands are devils tools. This is a question I am asked often about situations like this. All I can say it is a combination of poor leadership, people who have no morals, and sorry excuses for Marines.
Question 2
When are you going to do another Jody Podcast?
Soon. I discussed why I do podcasts about infidelity in the military. Whether military or civilian, infidelity is not a victimless crime. Questions need to be asked when you see someone going through this.
Question 3
What has been your favorite podcast?
I don’t think I have a favorite podcast. There are aspects of podcasting that I really enjoy. My favorite thing is asking the questions that make people think.
Question 4
What do you think Veterans need?
I think need is constant. So whatever the need is, I believe the questions should be focused around connecting the Veterans to resources that already exist. People need to understand that making the connection between resource and Veteran is a difficult task at times .
Thanks to my sponsor Joyce Asack for supporting Veterans!
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.
