► Tell us about you and your podcast
The inspiration for the Milwaukee Mafia podcast comes from Gavin Schmitt’s book of the same name. Eric knew he had to get Gavin in front of a microphone to share stories he’s researched related to the Milwaukee Mafia and organized crime.
Although listeners will hear tales of true crime from Milwaukee and beyond, Gavin's true passion is helping listeners appreciate history in a way that many often weren't able to in school. As Gavin likes to say, “The crime is the dessert used to hide the history “vegetables”. The history is really interesting, but the element of crime is what leads people to learn the history.”
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
Eric and Gavin are lifelong friends – since kindergarten! Eric loves podcasts, and is a lot more technologically savvy than Gavin, but both knew that podcasts are the future, and they wanted to join in on the revolution. Gavin has been asked for years to start a digital platform to share the research he's done on the Milwaukee Mafia, and having a co-host made the leap much less intimidating.
The podcast started at the beginning of 2021, and has really been an adventure. Gavin had given many presentations on the Milwaukee Mafia, but neither Eric nor Gavin had any experience recording and editing audio. After a handful of rookie bumps in the road, they've got a much better handle on ensuring listeners can focus on the stories, and not on any audio mishaps.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
The Milwaukee Mafia Podcast is released every two weeks on Tuesdays. We started off doing it weekly, but after creating quite a number of episodes, we decided to reduce it to every other week. This gives us enough time to create quality episodes, including bonus content for our Patreon subscribers.
Although we both have day jobs, we don't let that prevent us from achieving our goal of spreading knowledge and information about Wisconsin history. We've committed ourselves to this podcast, and always ensure we make the time to produce it.
Our podcast is self-funded, and it's pretty low-frills. We do everything ourselves, and although it takes longer to build a presence without a marketing budget, we've gotten a lot of satisfaction from the gains we've made. We hope to look back a few years from now, and say "Wow. We were able to do all that with nothing? How did we ever manage it all?"
► What do you gain from podcasting?
We aren't opposed to sponsorship, but we'd want to ensure it aligns with our brand and topic. It can feel inauthentic when shows "force" the sponsorship to fit when it really doesn't make sense for their market.
The biggest benefit to podcasting is being able to connect with new audiences of all ages. Gavin does a lot of presentations, and those are typically local and the demographic is 50+. With podcasting, we've seen a shift in our demographic, and love knowing that we're reaching audiences all over the world!
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We use Captivate.fm and Audacity. Captivate.fm has been super easy to use.
Gavin brings the knowledge, and prepares by taking notes on his notes. Eric represents the voice of the audience, and asks the questions a listener would want to know. Listeners may be surprised to learn that Eric has no knowledge of the topics being covered as he'll openly admit that he hasn't read any of Gavin's books. Eric's willingness to ask questions, no matter how basic, really helps bring the material down to a level that anyone can understand.
► How do you market your show?
Keeping up on our social media presence is the key to engaging listeners beyond the networks that Gavin already had in place. We've recently started tracking our metrics, and they've been invaluable in learning how to better connect with our audience.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Test your audio every time you record. We made this rookie mistake early on, and recorded nearly ten episodes with audio that wasn't as great as it could've been. We now do a recording test every time.
As far as helpful podcasting resources, we recommend connecting with other podcasters and building a community of people who create podcasting content. Additionally, we recommend taking note of what other successful podcasters are doing, and try to incorporate that into the podcast as much as possible.