► Tell us about you and your podcast
The Driveway Liberty Podcast began with three regular dudes sitting in their driveway while chatting and complaining about current events, politics, religion, political philosophy, and even a few conspiracy theories while drinking beer.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
Believe it or not, the cast was conceived, born, and birthed in an actual driveway...and that's exactly where we still record over 90% of our podcasts. Credit for the idea goes to Dan “The Grill Man” Matacchiero.
During Covid lockdowns in Florida, Dan, Wes, and Travis along with several other neighbors who had grown tired of the seclusion government forced upon us, would gather in Wes’s driveway. One night after a plethora of beers, Dan suggested we start recording our conversations. Wes, being a musician who just happened to own some recording equipment, agreed that it was a good idea...even after he sobered up the next morning.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
Two of us are small business owners, and the other is in upper middle management in a supply chain company. While we've had a few donations since inception, we've funded the majority of our start up out of pocket. We're now beginning to actually see a path to becoming a full time situation. Which is pretty damn incredible if you think about how we started.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
If we're discussing monetary gain exclusively, we earned our first dollar back in 2020 via fees for hosting and broadcasting an event. At the time, we were averaging less than 1000 downloads per month. Today, we earn cash via patreon, merchandise sales, and the like. We have just begun to actually offer sponsorships as we feel we're at a listenership volume that would serve and advertiser well...which is several 1000 per week.
Other benefits include: being asked to every political event in our area; being able to seek our reputable guests, and us being engaged in the political process.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
Our cast is currently audio only, so we use a table top multi-track recorded (Zoom LiveTrack L-8), regular Behringer Omni-directional mics, and headphones. Wes takes the audio, via SD card from the Zoom. and then uploads it to Adobe Audition for editing. Since we are in a driveway when we record our casts, there is some "cleaning" that must be done via the editing process. If not, you'd hear garbage trucks, folks blowing the debris from their driveways, and kids on motorbikes cruising around the neighborhood.
The majority of our guests come in person, but we have recorded a few via phone in. Fortunately, we have the ability to take calls straight into the board for interviews.
Show prep generally surrounds the subject. If we're doing current events, then Dan generally has several news stories that we've compiled via group text over the week. If it's a guest, we each read up on the individual. Our interviews aren't really interviews...they are organic conversations. Some folks might call them long form interviews, but we're just shooting the sh$t in the driveway while have a few beers. It's very important to us that our shows remain genuine and true to how we started.
► How do you market your show?
We are on all major podcast platforms, have all the socials, a website, a Patreon account, very underutilized Youtube and Rumble channels, and even a tik tok acct.
We're still adapting as we go along, and hope to add more video later...but we really do have faces for audio only.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Our best advice for new podcasters would be that you just need to do it. You don't need the perfect equipment to start. Things are gonna suck some at first, but after a little trial and error, you'll get a clean cast out there. Those first few aren't gonna make you rich anyway...and if that's why you're doing it, just buy a scratch off ticket or two from your local lottery retailer... the chances are about the same.
Be passionate, and do plenty of research. A lot of this stuff is till in its infancy...so, not one person has it figured out yet.