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This blog series chronicles the behind-the-scenes events that make "The Story" podcast happen.
Welcome to the first installment of our "Behind the Story" series, where I delve into the origins and early challenges of my podcast, "The Story." In this blog post, I'll take you on a journey back to the beginnings of my podcasting adventure, sharing the moments that sparked the idea, the hurdles I faced, and the determination that propelled me forward.
So let's get started...
The idea came to me one night after a "Blast Off" open mic in what is now, Cory Paternoster's studio. I was discussing the idea with a friend of mine to start it there in a side room. Originally, it was going to be me and this guy, we'll call him Jay, that would co-host the show together and talk to our friends and musicians around us to get the story behind their careers and music. And thus, the name "The Story" (we were very clever). So I started the all the social media pages in October of 2021 and created the design myself. I very much remember wanting a red neon sign, but I didn't have the first clue how to make one in any art program. So I went to Youtube and looked up a tutorial that was using Blender, a free, open sourced 3-D graphics software tool and after a lot of painstaking work, I had what is now the logo for "The Story."
Now, there were some problems. First and foremost, we did not have any equipment whatsoever, only just a laptop. A laptop was a great start, but after researching into some equipment, to get a somewhat professional setup would cost over 2 grand. That is money I DID NOT have. Plus the rent that would be needed to rent out the space. Oh... and that was another problem.
The second issue was the location. At the time, we were in a seemingly run down building with a motorcycle club beneath us, where big trucks came and went, and people would freely drink and use drugs around. This, in my opinion, was not ideal as I wanted to bring in all aspects of musicians into a professional space. This space would do well for a lot of the gigging type of musicians, but definitely not for those who ran venues, were classical musicians, or anything else. So I did a lot of thinking as to where I could host my show.
In the midst of this, Jay, my would-be partner, got in trouble with the law, so I had to absolutely cut him off from this project and I was all alone. This was a shock and a half for me and a blow to my esteem.
However, the show must go on. As I was looking for a space, I thought of my Alma Mater, Lancaster Bible College. They have a radio station with high quality mics, webcam, systems, and more. Really more than I could ask for. And to boot, they were also willing to let me use the space for the podcast as long as I adhered to FCC rules and the college guidelines! Great, I could totally do that! But there was another problem... I'm a procrastinator and an over-thinker.
I had all these ideas for the show. After the interview, we'd have every guest that had music play live and I would join them on my piano and have a blast. I would have multiple camera angles, and a decent camera that wasn't 720p. I would have a website. I would have software like OBS that allowed me to have overlays for the show so it looked super professional. But I couldn't have those. There wasn't any space and the equipment needed to have people play live didn't exist. I didn't have the money to buy even a single great camera or a website and the school computers, rightfully so, didn't allow software to be downloaded by students. I was defeated. I couldn't have my perfect show. And even if I could, there were other... personal issues.
I was worried. I was, and still am, an introvert, who had never really talked to strangers unless forced to. Nor did I have any interviewing experience or prowess. I have ADHD, which for all my life, made me a big visionary that would never see anything through. I also am a severe germaphobe and I knew that in order to be successful, I had to shake hands, open doors, and so many things that made me feel disgusting and I didn't want to make people feel bad or weirded out because I had to use hand sanitizer after touching them or anything else. I had seen the show "Monk" and it was horrific to think about how some of those scenarios could play out for me in real life. But you see, I had something inside me that surpassed all my worries. I just needed someone to dig it out.
Sometime in January 2021, I met with my good friend Bjorn Jacobsen at the Dirty Ol' Tavern and told him about my idea to start the podcast and that I had a place and everything, but I was just worried about how it wouldn't be what I wanted and I was scared I wasn't going to be good enough and Bjorn stopped me and said "Listen, hardly anyone has started out with everything they needed. Look at all the great bands and show that started in their basement. Even you have a college radio station, that's a lot already! You just gotta do it man. Figure out the rest later. The hardest part, is starting and doing it."
"You just gotta do it man. Figure out the rest later. The hardest part, is starting and doing it."
That last sentence struck me. As mentioned before, I have wanted to do so many things, but I never got to it due to being distracted and unable to focus properly. I had started many things, but gave up. I was told that I would never amount to much and people would say "Yeah, right!" and dismiss my dreams.
But not anymore. I was going to do this.
So, on April 5th, 2022, I started asking my friends to be on "The Story." The first guest being Noah Althoff. The format of the show was to reflect other shows that inspired me like the Joe Rogan Experience or Timcast IRL where they had long 2-3 hour shows and split them up into 10-15min clips.
As for content, I would ask questions that came naturally to me after I asked the simple question "When did you fall in love with music?" and that is how I still start the show today. Although I have decreased the time to a 1 hour show.
And that is that! The Story had begun! Tune in to the next blog where I go over how I dealt with stage fright, nerves, asking people to come on the show, troubleshooting, and more!
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