► Tell us about you and your podcast
TGI Podcast is a pop culture podcast built around everyone's favorite time of the year - the 'Ber months! Christmas is the main attraction, but we also cover episodes centering around Halloween, Thanksgiving and many others!
Matt is a product of the 1990s and looks back fondly on his memories of sitting around on Friday nights watching classic TGIF shows like Full House, Family Matters, Boy Meets World and Sabrina The Teenage Witch. We look back at these classic episodes and discuss our own history with the particular show and episode and also add a new set of eyes to these classic episodes to determine if they should be deemed a holiday classic!
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
The TGI Podcast was an idea I had mulled over for about a year after becoming a podcast fanatic. After listening to podcasts like Tis the Podcast it helped fuel my desire to make my own podcast. My love of the holidays and classic 90s sitcoms it felt like it made the most sense to make a podcast combining those two things.
My overall goal with the podcast is to have fun. I love the technical side and trying to make my podcast sound better and better each week. Obviously, I would like to get the podcast in the ears of as many people as possible, but I truly love doing this and just hope the people who listen can hear that passion from me.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
Being someone who works from home I have a little more time than others to work on something like a podcast.
During the months of October, November and December we release a new episode every week depending on which holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving and December) we will soon be celebrating. Outside of those months I try to get at least one episode a month revolving around TV episodes that focus on things like the Super Bowl, snow days, Easter, summer vactions, etc. We also did a special Christmas episode in June for Leon Day and had a handful of Christmas episodes for Christmas in July.
In terms of how much I spend on podcasting, it is rather minimal. Anchor offers free hosting and the only true investment was a microphone.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
As I stated before, I primarily do the podcast because it is something that makes me happy. That is not to say I would not *want* to make money from it, but it is more than ok that I don't make money off of it.
I think one of the biggest benefits of the podcast is connecting with other podcasters through the Christmas Podcast Network. I have been able to find a group of people who are more than willing to help when an issue comes up with the podcast and it is an honor that I can call some of them friends.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
When I am doing a solo podcast episode I will watch whatever television episode I plan to cover once through before watching it a second time and taking notes throughout. I will then run through my notes and formulate a script. If I am having a guest on I will jot down some notes about their podcast and some questions I want to ask them as well.
Whenever I have guests on we use Zoom. It is a very easy tool to use and I feel when recording on Zoom it helps cut down my editing because their product works so well. After the recording is finished I use Audacity to edit the program. That process can usually take me an hour or two to wrap up the entire process.
► How do you market your show?
The majority of my listeners use Apple podcasts. Anchor provides a great visual breakdown to get an understanding of where people listen to the podcast.
I use Facebook and Instagram to promote the podcast with podcast-specific pages and also my own personal Twitter account.
Additionally, I share each episode in the Tis the Podcast group on Facebook. I feel like Facebook is one of the easiest ways to distribute promotions for the show.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
I think one of the biggest pieces of advice is to know that your first episode likely won't sound that great. The more you do it the better you will get with your sound and editing. I've done over 30 episodes at this point I cringe at the thought of some of the episodes I put out.
I feel it is important to try to get better at it each week and to find ways to improve your craft.
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
The easiest way to find the podcast is to search for TGI Podcast on google. We use Anchor for our hosting, but we are also available on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, etc.
You can also find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TGIPodcast/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tgipodcast/) or you can find my personal account on Twitter by searching for Matt Eurich.