Bums Corner Coast to Coast

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Claimed

► Tell us about you and your podcast

Tom and I went to high school together, and have been friends since then. It's easy to lose track of people sometimes when jobs and families and everyday life come at you, so we sort of lost touch for a few years. A couple of years ago we reunited for a Bob Dylan concert, and it was like we were never apart, we picked right back up where we left off.

That weekend, we decided we needed to do something creative together, so we decided to try out podcasting. It was an easy way to work together when we were thousands of miles apart (hence the Coast to Coast in the title). We threw around a few concepts, but landed on something near and dear to both of us, mocking people.

Who listens to our podcast? Hard telling. We're not really concerned with demographics, we're more interested in making each other laugh. My brother and a few other people listen on a regular basis, and it's always interesting to read our statistics once in a while to see where these weirdo listeners are coming from.
 

► Why & how did you start this podcast? 

Podcasting seemed like a great medium for us to be creative while in different time zones. Tom will pick out articles, and then we ad lib the rest of the show. It's a great feeling letting those creative muscles stretch.

We're about two years in now, and honestly I'm sort of impressed we've kept at it. I look forward to our monthly recording, because I know it will be an evening full of laughs. I always say that since our goal was to make each other laugh, the podcast is a complete success. If we can make someone else feel better about their life by hearing some of the stupid things other people too, that's just icing on the cake.
 

► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?

We release an episode per month (recently we've been recording our second show, "Imperfect Recall" on the same schedule, so sometimes their staggered). Our schedule is typically to record on Saturday night, and then I edit the following day.

The podcast is a labor of love, and is 100% out of pocket. We don't market at all (yes, we probably should) and really the only investment we've made is slowly getting better equipment. I bought a 4 track recorder and extra mics for recording guests in-person, but we've kept it fairly low key so far.
 

► What do you gain from podcasting?        

As far a sponsorship, we tried inserting the Anchor advertising program in our first few episodes, but I don't think we have the numbers to garner and real profit. Plus, any advertiser that actually listens to the show wouldn't be interested.

I benefit greatly from the podcast on a personal level. Not only to get to hang out with a dear friend once a month, but I've grown more confident in my public speaking and now I can be heard on up to six different podcasts, some self-produced, others are friends that have started their own.
 

► How does your podcasting process look like? 

I do all my editing in audacity. It's an excellent tool, and the price is right where I wanted it to be. For each episode, Tom will scour news wires for interesting articles, and then individually we'll make notes we want to discuss. Except for reading the articles, the whole show is a mystery to us until we hit the big red Record button.

Some guests prefer in-person, so I've purchased the gear to make that possible, while others are okay online. Depending on the setup, we'll either use Skype or Zencastr.
 

► How do you market your show?

Our marketing is terrible, we should put more effort into it, but we're having so much fun just making it that listenership doesn't matter. For me personally, I have no interest in turning this into a career, I think it would take the fun out of it if I knew I had to record all the time on someone else's schedule. I'd rather keep it at the hobby level. Whomever said "love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life" must have had an incredible passion for whatever it was they settled on, because I could easily see just about anything I love doing becoming dreadful if I did it every single day.
 

► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?

Whenever anyone asks how to get into podcasting, I always tell them the same thing, and it doesn't help them at all: just start podcasting. Grab your phone, find a site to host your show (I normally tell them to start with Anchor since it's so easy for beginners) and just talk. Find your niche, find what you enjoy, and go for it. There's no Council of Podcasters that will ban you for being terrible when you start out. Just talk. Maybe nobody else in the world cares what you have to say, but that's what so great about the medium, it's not up to them, it's up to you.
 

► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?

Like I mentioned, my marketing is awful (so if you're just starting in marketing and want to test your skills, give me a call). If you'd like to give a listen to some of my work, you can find my shows on most of the major podcast services. Current shows include:

Bums Corner Coast to Coast
Imperfect Recall
Sounds Like with Mike and Andrew Eshelman (Spotify Exclusive)
Your Island Sucks (Spotify Exclusive)
WTF Did I Just Watch (occasional guest host)