► Tell us about you and your podcast
We started Week Zero Sports & Other Stuff in 2019 when Daniel had the idea for a different kind of sports centric podcast. I knew Daniel from his days studying PR in the renowned School of Communication at the University of Alabama - a place where I also studied Finance, Math, Computer Science and other nerdy things. We are both college football fans, but we are also fans of plenty of 'other' sports, music, whiskies, beer and food. To sum it up, we are information junkies and we like to talk, so here we are.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
The show was Daniel's idea and his wife put the pressure on him to get it done - as happens so many times. I knew him to be a die hard, life long Ole Miss fan despite being a Bama alum. That dynamic, in itself, was worth exploring. Neither of us had any broadcasting experience, and that shows in the first few episodes. They're very cringe-y for us. But, our audience has grown with us, so hopefully our lack of experience in those early episodes is somewhat endearing. Our show went from concept to on-air within about 2 weeks. We named the show, grabbed a few sponsors, designed a logo, threw up a website, and just started recording.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
We release our episodes weekly during college football season, and sporadically in the off-season. In the beginning, it was very hard to find the time to record, produce and promote our podcast. But, as we got better and created some internal systems, things have gotten infinitely easier. In those early days, we'd spend about 6 hours recording and editing. That is now down to about 2 hours. We also hit a lot of technology roadblocks that cause lost episodes or shows that were released late. As we mentioned earlier, we reached out to a few friends and found some small local companies that believed in our product, and we gave then an offer they couldn't refuse. To this day, our show always ends with a thank you to those 4 founding sponsors.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
We don't make enough revenue to cover our expenses, yet. We are now growing in popularity so we are hoping sponsors will eventually come to us. This season we've focused on the show, rather than revenue, in hopes that we can drive revenue from our newly gained popularity. Our found sponsors funded our first 2 years in business, now Daniel and I are putting some of our own money into the show with help from Workspace Solutions who is one of our founding sponsors.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We record in different states. So we need a video stream for visual cues to help our broadcast go smoothly. We also need a high quality audio recording so we found that Zencastr gives us the best opportunity to provide a great product. However, there are some limitations with Zencastr, mostly that it doesn't support mobile devices, and that can be an issue for guests.
► How do you market your show?
Currently we have a website, supporting content in the form of articles and curated social posts, and we use word of mouth. We are available on all the major podcast outlets and we partner with other shows to leverage as many audiences as possible. Staying active on message boards, groups and websites that are in line with our content gives us the best results. Talk to people, be nice. It's not as hard as it sounds.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Just start recording. Don't worry about your experience. Everyone starts from 0 in everything. Focus on telling a good story, and that means practicing your delivery. If you tell a good story, the topic doesn't matter. If you need help, this goes without saying, GOOGLE IT.
► Where can we learn more about you & your podcasts?
Check us out at: https://weekzerosports.com
Or send us a question at info@weekzerosports.com