Mysteries & true crime stories from the state of Montana

Hi everyone! I’m Jessica, and I host The Gravel Road. Born and raised in western Montana, I am passionate about my home state and it’s history, and like so many people in the world, I am a confessed true crime addict. So this podcast is a mix of Montana history and true crime, with a dash of autobiographical to satisfy my ego. I focus on lesser known crimes and things that make you go “WTF” (like two undertakers fighting over a body). Although this podcast is about Montana, I’m happy to say that my listeners come from all over the world!
 

I’m morbid, or so people tell me, and I’m really into true crime and ghost stories and things like that. A lot of what I come across as a listener are well-known incidents that have been recycled and retold, and I just kept thinking that I wanted something new—a story that I hadn’t already heard. So I decided to create a podcast dedicated to lesser-known crimes—ones that have been buried in the newspaper archives for decades and largely forgotten. I’ll admit, I started researching for this podcast about a year ago, but only got up the courage to record my first episode a couple of months ago.
 

I fund this podcast myself, and with all of the free or close-to-free resources available nowadays, my overhead is around $20 a month. I consider podcasting a hobby, and I aim to release a new episode every two week. By far, the research is the most time consuming part of what I do. On average, I comb through at least 35 articles for each episode, and that’s a lot of information to whittle down to 45 minutes. So from the time I hit upon a case that interests me to the moment I finish editing the audio, each episode takes about a month to produce.
 

Right now, I am using this podcast as motivation to write. I am one of those people that needs something outside myself—a deadline, an audience—something to keep me motivated. This is a labor of love, and I am not looking for sponsorship or looking to make money from it just yet. If I decide to keep going forward with it, I’m sure that will change.
 

This is a one woman show, so the setup is pretty simple. I threw together a small studio using some blankets and boxes, propped a microphone (JLab Audio Talk Go, for anyone who’s interested) on top of an old bin, and I started talking. I do write out each episode before I record (saves me time during editing). Then I edit, EQ, do all that good stuff using TDR Nova and Audacity software.
 

I market through social media (of course), and the show is starting to pick up some positive word of mouth. A solid 60% of our downloads are from iHeartRadio, and the remaining 40% are split pretty evenly between Spotify, Stitcher, Deezer, Apple Podcasts, and Listen Notes.
 

My best advice is to pick a topic you are passionate about (you two will be spending a lot of time together) and start making episodes.
I would invest in a decent mic, and decent doesn’t mean top of the line. I spent about $40 on my first mic (I got lucky and found a $20 bill on the street the day I bought mine, so that paid for half of it!)

Take advantage of free stuff that is creative commons or in the public domain. freesound.com and pixaby.com are two great resources for sound effects and music.

And just go for it. I had a lot of anxiety before I published my first episode, but the best way to calm those nerves is to get on with it. You’ll learn as you go.
 

You can find me on Twitter at: twitter.com/TheGravelRoad1
And at: thegravelroad.buzzsprout.com
And I can be reached by email at: thegravelroadmt@gmail.com