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(By Josh Whitt) “What did you think about the game?”
That’s the start of a phone call I place to my father after each West Virginia University basketball game. Whether it is minutes after an exciting win or the day following a heartbreaking loss, we have a 10-15 minute breakdown of the game. We talk about who stood out for good (or bad) reasons, the broadcaster that annoyed us most, and look ahead to the next game and the rest of the season. These talks are excuses to keep in touch with the most important man in my life.
Podcasts have been in my life for close to a decade. The first podcast I listened to regularly was The BS Report with Bill Simmons. Bill would sometimes have his father on to….discuss their favorite sports teams! I would download the podcast on iTunes and listen on my iPod Shuffle. As podcasts became more popular, I found and listened to others that focused on sports, comedy, history, and more.
In the fall of 2017, I was looking for a hobby. I was falling into a nightly rut of being glued to the television and Internet for hours before going to bed. I wanted an activity I could do from home in the evenings that scratched my creative itch with little to no financial investment. I realized in my search that my basketball conversations with Dad was basically a unrecorded podcast. A common joke you hear on podcasts is how everyone has one. I was ready to prove that joke true.
Knowing nothing about starting a podcast, I did some Internet research and came across an article on Engadget from Nathan Ingraham entitled “Anchor Lets You Record and Publish Podcasts From Your Phone.”
Perfect! I downloaded the Anchor App on my iPhone. I thought of a title for the podcast. I pitched the idea to family and close friends to see if this was a crazy idea. To my surprise, no one said it was. I announced the idea on social media (with limited response) as a commitment to move forward. On Tuesday, I decided I wanted to do a podcast. On Friday, equipped with only a smartphone, I recorded my first podcast. Six days from deciding to start a podcast, my podcast was available on iTunes!
Fourteen months after that week, I’ve increased listeners from a handful to hundreds. (The regular unrecorded podcast with Dad is still going strong.) I’ve interviewed an all-time great former WVU basketball player on the podcast. I’ve invested in podcast equipment. I have local sponsors in addition to sponsors provided through Anchor. While it will be a challenge to increase listeners from hundreds to thousands, my podcast will continue to be “that hobby” I was looking for. I am proof that ANYONE can start a podcast. It’s not a crazy idea.
Reach out to Josh by e-mail at unreasonabledoubtwv@gmail.com Check out his podcast on iTunes****_ or Spotify._