Interview with OptimusSolo on Podcasting Journey

This is the Brain, and you're listening to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Yes! There is nothing

wrong with your podcast, player! Do not attempt

to adjust the volume! Hello and welcome to Studio

2009. I'm of course, TFG1Mike and for our latest

podcast approach, we welcome back Optimus Solo.

You heard him in the most rewatched cartoons

episode, which is kind of like backwards how

we usually do the, I usually have the podcast

approach first, then do whatever other things,

but he is here and we're going to take him through

the 30 questions all about listening to and producing

podcasts in 2011, apparently. I feel like I've

gone 13 years in the past. Pretty much, yeah.

Cause you don't know this yet, but this is also

going to be a telecast reunion. Oh my. I figured

why the hell not put it on both feeds. I hear

you. We don't want to get people's hopes up though,

but you know, future, you never know what's going

to happen. So how the hell have you been? I've

been through... some shit Yeah, you've uh You've

dealt with the depressing home ownership stuff

and all of that you like me moved across the

country and You and your whole family did and

all that and you are finally living in the correct

time zone He is in the eastern time zone everybody.

It's amazing I don't call it the correct time

zone, but it's a new time zone. Um, yeah, so

I moved, uh, 20 hours away from where I used

to live. Um, from July 1st, well, technically

June 29th, whatever it was, from basically July

through the middle of October, we have slept

and we had slept in 10 different beds. Then we

finally Got about a week or two Before our house

closed and then we got hit by a little hurricane

That wasn't so little it was only the biggest

like hurricane states ever seen almost or something

in that realm and The town that we moved to was

directly In the heart of not the eye of the hurricane

but in the heart of the damaging part of the

hurricane So most of the times when you're in

a hurricane, I've come to find out you get hit

by one of the walls Yep, and then you get stuck

in the eye for a while Which is fine because

nothing happens and then you get hit by the other

wall And so you kind of get punched and then

you get to relax for a minute and then you get

punched on the way out Well, the town that we

moved to was in the wall of the hurricane For

the entire time it never got to the eye. So we

hit one Yeah, we hit one part of the wall and

then just traveled down the wall to the other

part of the wall without ever hitting the eye

So it was like the wall of the hurricane for

whatever was like, I don't know how many hours

eight hours six hours, whatever But the house

that we've moved into Basically had no damage.

So that was lucky That's good, yeah. So we moved

into the house and then less than a week or two

later, all got COVID. So it's just been a fun

ride, I guess. It's been a crazy year. And then,

oh, then on top of all that, we had every piece

of my computer was found in the moving except

for the power cord. Don't ask me. And I had to

buy a new power cord to get hooked up for that.

And then I was missing the cord for the microphone.

The two cords I was missing was preventing me

from doing much, but I am back up and running

and maybe getting into some new sense of normalcy

here soon. Well, there's nothing normal about

the state you moved to. So, you know, that's

normal about the state I moved away from either.

So that's that's true. You went from one cyclone

to one hurricane. So, you know, from tornadoes

to hurricanes and back again. Good Lord. Alright,

we are here for the podcast approach, as I said.

Getting started as podcasters, when did you first

discover podcasts and what was the first one

you listened to? You probably know better than

I do. It had to be 2007, eight, nine, somewhere

in there. Let's see. 2007 was my first year doing

that. So it had to be... Did we start talking

in 2008 or 2009? Late. 08 early 09. Yeah late

2008 early 2009 you introduced me to podcasting

by inviting me on to a little thing called Tooncast

Yes, I think that came first before ever. I don't

think I had been on Well, yeah, you you were

in a part of the big episode 16 of TF2 one because

you and I did the the transformers and movie

thing and I don't Remember without looking at

it to see Yeah, I'd have to look but it was like

the Transformers guest spot on the anniversary

thing and then tune cast that that project started

and and then for the longest time I really only

Recorded Hosted co -hosted guested on podcast.

I didn't really listen in the beginning. So I

guess in the early stages I figured it was Something

that you just made, not something that you listen

to. Well, that's the greatest thing about when

I started doing this, this little mini series

with Insight Studio 2009. It's like, oh, I'm

going to get everybody's podcasting jury that

wants to come on, whether they listen to them

or produce them or whatever. Yours is backwards

from. All of us because you never listened before

you started. Yeah, I just came in cold turkey.

Just said let's record stuff and the rest we

spent. So much time planning and so much time

recording and so much time behind the mic that

I guess I just never thought about using any

time to listen to it because my time was taken

up at that point. I don't think it was. It was

years later before I started listening. Probably

when we started getting it. When Dan and I started

doing more of the movie stuff, I started listening

to a half a dozen movie podcasts, true romance,

simplistic reviews, in -session film, film spotting,

things of that nature, and really got into that,

was listening to those nonstop because I basically

had some time at the beginning of my day before

work, before anybody else got to my work where

I was alone so I could listen to an hour to two

hours maybe in the mornings. And I would listen

like if I was mowing my yard or doing yard work

or things of that nature. So I had really started

listening to those and then that transitioned

into eventually starting to listen to wrestling

podcasts for some reason. And I bounced around

a lot at the beginning because I was trying to

find one that I liked and I didn't, I liked bits

and pieces of them, but none of them were really

hitting home for me. I listened to the old version

of Jim Ross's podcast. I think the original one

maybe. I listened to a little bit of Sean Waltman's.

I listened to a little bit of Stone Cold's and

they were all just, they were okay. I'm not saying

they're bad, but it wasn't what I was looking

for. And then I found, you know, 83 weeks and

something to wrestle with and grilling JR in

my world with Jeff Jared and all of these that

have been done by Conrad Thompson and his group.

And that was more of what I was looking for where

they were just actually picking out an event

or a person or, you know, a certain thing and

just kind of reminiscing and going through all

the ins and outs of that. I can't do much of

the watch along stuff because I'm usually not

in front of a TV or computer when I'm listening

to podcasts. Yeah, the, the watch along stuff

now see the kids today. Call it watch along and

even the old people today that do podcasts call

it watch along their review podcast if you're

sitting there and discussing it is a review podcast

and yes your listeners will watch along with

you unless you know the show frontwards and backwards

nobody if you're you know like us diehard transformers

generation one fans you can go and listen to

the tf1 podcast right now without having to watch

any single one of those ninety eight episodes

beforehand. Yeah Main reason I don't watch what

happened when with Tony's or don't watch don't

listen to what happened when with Tony Shavani

as much even though I probably would enjoy it

it requires me to be in front of a computer and

actually be Watching the stuff to understand

what they're doing and like I said, I'm just

usually I'm in the car or I'm at work or I'm

in the yard So it's very rare that I'm in front

of a screen while I'm listening because if I'm

in front of a screen I'm probably doing creating

myself. So yeah Yeah. Yeah. And it's just, it's

so strange that this whole like audio video,

audio video, let's do it all together. Let's

separate it out. Let's do this. Look, and I'm

not throwing shade on anyone who does video podcasting.

That's fine. If you want to do that, if you want

to, you know, have it be that way for you, I

can't, I can't, and I won't. I have to do audio

because like you're saying, if you're moving

around, if you're going here, if you're going

there, I can't, I could, we'd be here all night

counting the car crashes people would have if

some video podcast was up on their Tesla heads

up display and they crashed their car because

they were trying to watch somebody throw an elbow

or something. I don't know. I hope there's no

elbows being thrown. Well, talking about wrestling,

you know what I mean? Yeah. Like I'm saying you

and I were throwing elbows. No, no, we did that

years ago. We're too old now. Here, take it.

Just take it. It's over here. No, but if you're

sitting in your car, you can listen to something

and it's fine. You can still concentrate on the

road or whatever else. But if you have one of

these futuristic cars that has a heads up display

in the front of your windshield, that's what

you're paying attention to versus paying attention

to the road, which is what you should be doing.

There's going to be some stuff. So we did tune

cast and we kind of plan that together. And I

mean, we did plan it together, but I'm trying

to set up this question because it's difficult

with how your journey is. So question three is

what was your plan getting your podcast off the

ground? First of all, Steve and I already had

the network established and Steve did most of

the background stuff with the website and everything

else still does. And he's awesome and all that

good stuff. Right. But like for us, it was like,

Oh, let's just. Sit here for seven hours and

decide on everything. We want to talk about I

think you Originally had the plan for Tooncast

before me in a way because you had invited myself

and another Gentleman on to be a threesome Trilogy

of hosts. I guess you could call it and obviously

that didn't pan out and we kind of like On the

fly scene, I think on the fly we seemingly reformatted

the show in a way. We didn't really reformat

the show. We just didn't invite that person back.

But I mean, then once it was like the two of

us, then I felt a lot more instead of me just

being like the. Third, we did invited other host

of, you know, a third, a third, a third where

you don't feel as strong, probably sharing opinions.

Then it was just the two of us. And it was much

more like I am now, uh, you have unleashed my

creativity now, and I'm going to offer a lot

of suggestions and ideas. And now it's just the

two of us. So I feel comfortable doing that.

I mean, there was, well, the tune cast specifically

we had. M wire was the M what movie we can review

at the time when Steve and I started it when

Steve and I decide on if we're going to do something.

We don't know which one of us is going to take

it and run with it. And usually it ends up being

me that takes it and runs with it. And when,

when I was doing, when we were doing M wire,

it was like, I can just look at my DVD shelf

and I can make up a, I can list a hundred films.

And boom, there's two years of our lives with

Tooncast. It was more of. What do you want to

cover? How do you want to do it? What do we want

to do with this? And this, that. So you had a

hand in the plant. Like you both had a hand in

the planning of how that, that can't cause half

the time it's okay. What cartoon do we want to

do this week? How much time do we have to watch

at least 20 episodes of a 65 episode show where

we can just talk about it really quick in an

overview and just have fun discussing it. And

that's what it was. And I think the difference

is, is when you put the words cartoon and optimist

solo together, that the ideas are going to start

overflowing. The possibilities are going to be

so many that you could not possibly finish it

all because I have, I'm not trying to sound arrogant,

but I have a breadth of knowledge when it comes

to cartoons and what I've seen and what I've

been exposed to and what I've researched, what

I've studied, what I've watched. And so I made

you watch all kinds of obscure stuff that you

may not have watched otherwise. And I do not

feel bad about that. There was some stuff that

I had seen that I'm like, why are you making

me watch this crap again? Nobody gives a crap

about mysterious cities of gold, except for you.

No, they don't. They cared about it so much that

they rebooted it. Anything that gets rebooted

had some fan base. So, um, adventures of live

a koala. You know, yeah, I made you watch that.

And no, but you didn't make no, you didn't make

me watch that. I remember I like I have a various

like with my cartoon stuff. It's more of like

I remember seeing an episode of that in between

like 20 of Jim or 20 of he man or 20 of Transformers.

I remember Adventures of Little Koala. What you

did was you created the outtake. Because you

pointed out, you know, the whole wet thing, which

I then turned into this, which it didn't really

go viral, but I tried to turn this into this

viral outtake, because that cartoon is very adult.

Now people, listen to the 30 second... 30...

Fuck! Listen to the 33 second clip. Listen very

carefully. It happens every time when a boy tries

to show off for his girlfriend. If you take it

out of context, yes, but So yeah, so then there

was countless nights where we were planning upon

planning upon planning upon planning hours and

hours and hours and Millions of episodes and

we haven't hit the million mark yet, but maybe

someday you're close. I Know I'm at least over

3 ,000. I think but no, I just mean to cast episodes

in general Well, no that show will I'll be dead

before that hits a million. Okay. Yeah Where?

No, no, not at all. Right now we're about to

approach 300, I think total between Tooncast

and Tooncast Beyond. So, so, so yeah, that's,

that's what's going on there. So you prefer audio

podcasts and all that good stuff and everything

else. What kind of setup did you have when you

first started podcasting and what do you currently

use now? So what microphone, headphones, that

kind of stuff. It's almost the same setup actually.

Maybe originally like right when we first started

for that first like little bit, I probably was

using a random assortment of whatever I had.

I think I bought, oh I remember now, I bought

a headset that had a microphone attached to it.

That was the first thing. And I ended up, it

wasn't one of those cordless doohickeys like

we have nowadays and things of that nature. It

was plugged into something and I am not good

if I'm plugged into stuff because I ripped that

out of the, I don't know, I broke it somehow.

I think I... tried to move and I was still connected

or something. I don't know. I remember there

being some type of damage that I did on my headset

and then I immediately bought a Blue Yeti microphone

and I've been going strong with that since. It's

still holding up pretty well. I probably could

get a little bit more advanced with what I have

on my ears because I'm currently using my wife's

pink headphones. And I probably could get like

some some in -ear things or something that's

a more modern look or feel. Do you mind having

things in your ears? No. The only thing that

I worry about when I have these things on my

ears is that most headsets that sit on your ears,

to me, make noise. As you talk, as you move your

muscles, they just creak and they do stuff, which

probably I can only hear. I always worry that

some of that comes across the microphone or,

you know, it's just not as seamless. So I would

prefer probably having something straight in

my ear that I don't have to worry about the movement.

Okay. Cause I'm one of those types of people

that I can't, can't have things in, like I ha

I've had, and I tell the story every episode.

I have the JVC H X something or other they're

wired. But the cord is long enough to where I

don't even need most of it compared to where

I sit and where I'm where the microphone is and

all that. And they're just awesome. They just

basically encad their noise canceling completely.

They, you know, I don't, unless it's a car honking

or unless it's a train crashing into something

or, you know, yes, I hear like, I don't, I don't

think you heard, but I was, as you're talking

about, oh, the headphones make noise. Like I

was sitting here trying to adjust them on my

ears, but. I heard the noise, but I don't think

it came through on the microphone. And I know

mine doesn't either. It's just more of a self

-conscious thing where I'm like, oh, I can hear

stuff, so I don't want to do that. And I have

a nice noise canceling wireless Beats headphones

that my wife had got me for birthday or Christmas

at some point. But I can't figure out how to

do that. And the Blue Yeti, the wireless part

of the headphones, I'm not smart enough. I'm

sure it can be done. I'm just not very smart

because I do have those on when I'm listening

to stuff that's playing on my computer. Let's

say if my wife or the two -year -old is sleeping

or something like that, I will put those on and

listen to stuff that's playing on my computer.

But when it comes to recording, it causes some

type of weird conflict. It shouldn't. I'm sure

at some point off air I can take you through.

It should not cause any kind of conflict. That

would be more ideal because right now what I

have happening is my headset is also It'll connected

to my blue or the Blue Yeti microphone. So it's

all going into one feed. So that's the, that's

the trick. Yeah. I mean, if you have wireless,

they should, your computer, your computer should

just automatically, like once you connect it,

it should automatically figure out, Oh, these

are wireless headphones or, and I don't know,

cause I don't use wireless because I find I like

them for. Like you said listening for anything

else like for moving around I sit here on my

butt for two and a half hours recording with

people I do not need a wireless headset. I would

rather have the Consistency and logistics of

having it plugged in and And all that so but

we can figure all that out later Yeah, I think

most of that comes down to the fact that when

I'm we're starting to record I usually have like

A minute to prepare because I procrastinated

or I'm coming in late or I'm coming, you know,

busy, whatever. So it's like, I don't have time

to mess with it. Usually I'm just like, Oh, I

know this works. So I'll just do this. Yep. Yep.

Yep. Yep. So not to jinx anything or anything

like that, but if your equipment eventually breaks

down or fails or whatever, are you going to go

out and get the same stuff or are you going to

upgrade? I mean, I think the Yeti is pretty good.

It is. I mean, I, Obviously, there's probably

upgrades and different setups that you can do

and that people that are more professional use

It would probably just be a cost thing. I would

whatever makes the most sense from a cost standpoint

That's not gonna break the bank. I would probably

just go with whether that be another yeti or

whether that be something that's Upgraded that's

not a fortune Yeah wired or why I mean wireless

headphones depending on how good they are Like

I know the Sony XM fours are like 350 bucks.

Yeah, I'm not doing that Those are the those

aren't even the most recent those are like one

generation previous the headset that I mentioned

earlier that I have I actually have two of them

I could probably just send you the other one,

but well my headsets fine like my headsets good,

right? My beats ones are fairly expensive and

good for a microphone though if I needed if it

broke down and I had to get one like I'm not

spending more than like Over the last 14 years

since we've been doing this I've spent exactly

150 bucks and each time I've bought the same

microphone three different times. Right. The

CAD U37 condenser mic, depending on where I found

it, it was anywhere from 50 to $70 each time.

So I've had three versions of it in 14 years.

And the funny thing is the other two versions

they had upgraded or they changed. I'm still

on the same damn one. I was on 14 years ago.

This thing still, just like me, it's a machine.

Something like that. Yeah, something like that.

I thought you were gonna say, just like you,

it's old and not willing to change, but you went

a different direction, so I appreciate that.

Uh -huh. Alrighty then. I think this whole series...

Proves that I've changed in podcasting in the

last 14 years Hopefully the listeners got the

gist from our First couple of questions that

we've been doing this together a long time. So

there's long time built in sarcasm and Busting

of balls and things of that nature that I'm not

just some like random person he invited on and

I'm being a dick like And so I have that I have

built in ability to be a dick and not be judged

by it Oh, I judge you anyway, so it doesn't matter

whether you're being a dick or not. I'm gonna

judge you Good one. Next question. Next. Speaking

of all this time, did you think you'd be podcasting

for as long as you have? Hmm. Honestly, I didn't

think one way or the other about it. So I didn't

think I would be or I wouldn't be. But does it

surprise me? I would say no, because a lot of

my hobbies are long standing. decades and decades

long hobbies that I don't necessarily give up.

Now, if you had told me that I would have been

podcasting for 13 years now, I would have hoped

that I would have made more episodes than I had.

Granted, I've been on over 500 or whatever, however

many it's been added on since we did that episode

podcast. There's been a lot of life stuff that

gets in the way that prevents some time being

used and this, that and the other. I would have

loved to have been on season like eight of telecast

right now or something like that. And that didn't

happen. Um, and I would have loved to have already

done review shows of all of GI Joe and all of,

uh, whatever, you know, thundercats, silverhawks,

turtles, you know, et cetera, et cetera, but

we just haven't got there yet. Yeah, it's still

in the works. Yeah. So, you know hasn't gone

away. It just hasn't happened yet. Hey, we made

it through human. Yeah Are we sure you made it

through mask? No, you well Yeah, technically

I made it through mask you tapped out I listened

to that recently. I listened to couple episodes

with mask. Yeah fun trip down memory lane Some

people really like that show. I mean, it's fun

times. We had fun doing it. Just that show, man.

Like I don't, I used to sort of defend that show

a little bit more than I do now. And now I'm

just like, The theme song is kind of where it

stops. The theme song is good and the toys are

good. Well, okay, yes, the toys. The idea behind

it was good. The characters are good. Some people

out there like that show though quite a bit.

More power to them. Yep, absolutely. So how have

your podcasting goals changed in the last 13

years compared to now, you know, starting compared

to now? I think this is probably going to be

similar to what you and Steve would answer this

question with. I'm just going out on a limb and

guessing that. But in the beginning, we, I mean,

in the beginning, there were, there were so much

stuff that we hadn't done. So there was a thousand

ideas and we were just doing stuff left and right

and just trying to just record all the time because

we had too many ideas and so why not record and

just get as many of them out there as possible?

I think how it's shifted probably just because

of life and the fact that, you know, multiple

of us have gone through, you know, marriages

or births of children or job changes or relocations

and things of that nature that it's now become

a point to me. And I know Steve would agree to

this. I'm not sure if you're in the camp as well,

but I believe you might be is that. I'm only

gonna record if I feel some amount of passion

towards whatever the topic is, or the subject

is, or that type of thing. I'm not gonna record

just to record anymore like we might have done

the first couple years, at least me, where it's

like, well, we're doing this just to say we did

it in a way. Like, for example, Tooncast, all

right, we're covering hundreds of cartoons over

the course of that Tooncast show and Tooncast

Beyond, et cetera. And there was no way that

you and I were both passionate about all... let's

say 200 cartoons, there was going to be some

that came up that we were doing just to revisit,

just to remember, reminisce, see if we liked

it as an adult, etc. So that had a purpose. But

I guess how I'm relating that to it now is if

it came up with one of those shows that I wasn't

passionate about now and you were like, you know,

let's do a review show of that. I'm out. You

know what I mean? I'm only doing stuff that I

feel like I can bring some energy and passion

because the one thing that we have discovered

as we record this stuff is that it's very obvious

to the listeners if we're into it or not, and

it's much more enjoyable for them to listen to

it if we're into it, and it's much more enjoyable

for us to record it if we're into it. So if it's

something up my alley like a Transformers or

He -Man or Turtles or this, that, and the other,

I'm all about it. If you ask me to do a review

of the CGI Masters of the Universe, though, I'm

out. Can't do it. No interest, no passion about

that. He's lying, folks. He's lying. You know

how I know he's lying? Because I asked him and

I asked Steve, you guys want to do the CGI one?

Steve's like, yeah, sure, fine, whatever. And

between the three of us, either, oh, hold on,

hold on, hold on, let me, no, no, no, it isn't

even about, no, it isn't even about that. So

when I asked him to do, no, what, well, yes,

but that's just, let me finish this part. So

when I asked them about this and Steve was like,

yeah, sure. There were things I didn't like or

things I did like, whatever else. I'm kind of

positive about that show. I see the negatives

in it, but it's not as negative as basically

you saying, Oh, I guess I'll show up just to

be the negative opinion of the three of us. That's

essentially what you said. And yes, I know I'm

going to take that stance when it comes to talking

about Netflix is shit raw. The agreement was,

since we've done all the He -Man series, including

the new adventures, which I would never do again,

is the fact that if I'm going to do the CGI He

-Man, then you're going to do the Netflix She

-Ra. Then we'll be able to say everything was

covered. My point was, more so, if you said we're

doing an extensive look into Johnny Bravo or

something, I'm not doing it at this stage in

my podcasting recording because this just wasn't

something I was into. Yeah, and again, what I

have done is and how I've curated this stuff

for me is more so anything I'm interested in,

I'll do it. Right, and I'm not saying like I

wouldn't do it as an episode of tune cast like

a tune cast We were just it was just a snap as

it was a look Yeah, and it wasn't you didn't

have to spend a lot of time with it You know,

we watched sometimes we watched a lot like I

remember when the first Thundercats or episode

came out, you know or silverhawks one of them

I think I almost watched the whole thing. Yeah,

but a lot of a lot of the stuff we would watch,

you know five episodes of Feel for it and stuff

like that. That's not that much I would do that.

Yeah, but I'm just saying like, you know, okay

Let's like a big project like a big project would

be like a top 100 So if you said that, you know,

we're doing you said we were gonna be doing like

the top 100 Flavors of coffee, you know, I'm

not gonna do that because I have nothing to bring

to the table So whereas in the beginning you

might have convinced me to do something stupid

like that Not that specific one, but you know

something like that I don't even drink coffee.

I'm sorry. I can't help but laugh at that because

all I can think of is those stupid Jamaican coffee

kids in the intent things like, that was Costa

Rican butt head. And some people could do that.

You know, some people are coffee connoisseurs

or some people could do like their 100 favorite

alcohols or something or beers or whatever, but

I don't drink coffee. So I don't have anything

to bring to the table. Well, yeah, no. And that's

what I was going to say earlier was that for

me at, you know, the, well, this month. Oh crap.

That anniversary is like in a couple of days

away from us recording this. I'm about to celebrate

14 years of doing this podcast thing. And in

14 years, what I have done is I have cultivated

the point of, like I said a second ago, I will

review anything that I enjoy because that's what

I want to do. I want to talk about the things

that I enjoy. And I cater that those things to

very, like I've cultivated so many people in

so many different things over the last 14 years.

Like. I would never in my right mind ask you

to do something that I know. Like you have no

interest in. I might check with you and say,

Hey, I'm thinking of doing something like this.

If it's not something you're interested in, please

let me know now so I can move forward and you

know, whatever. So the short answer to that long

answer that I gave was over the years, I guess

I've just become more selective. Like in the

beginning, if anybody asked me to guest on their

show or co -host or do whatever I spot on this

episode, I probably would have said, yes, yes,

yes, as long as my schedule allowed it. And now

I'm just much more selective and I try to keep

the passion in whatever I'm doing. Right. Absolutely.

Alright as a weird I mean, I guess technically

you've been doing it for a while now But as a

podcast listener, what defines a good podcast

to you? It's it starts and ends with energy Someone

has energy it comes across like it's just I think

that's something I didn't learn necessarily through

listening to podcast That's something I learned

when I was a teacher because if you are quote

-unquote lecturing or giving a lesson or doing

anything in front of students and you don't have

energy and you're boring and You're not, you

know all in and passionate about it. It's just

a terrible lesson Whereas if you're someone that's

you know, making it interesting making it fun

making it humorous, etc It just goes over so

much better. So I think that's one thing I mean,

there's just little things like as far as technical

stuff that you learn as you listen to Other podcasts

like some are just much better When it comes

to the editing process than others, some just

leave stuff in that you're like, well, nobody's

paying attention there. So just trying to those

glaring things catch sound quality, I think was

something that came across a lot more as I listened

to more podcasts, because you can listen to a

dozen podcasts and you're going to hear a dozen

different levels of quality when it comes to

sound and recording. And I'm not saying that

I'm at the top of any of that, but you can tell

when someone's recording on a cell phone. someone's

recording while they're driving, someone's recording

on cheaper equipment versus okay equipment versus

expensive equipment. Obviously there's professionals

out there that are making a lot of money doing

this and they have a really great equipment and

so you can tell. There's just different stages

of that quality of sound that I've noticed more

when I started listening to it because if you're

always recording... It's hard because you might

listen to yourself back or some of your episodes

back to hear it. But if you don't have something

to compare it to, you're not really seeing, oh,

wait, they sound way better than we do. Or what

are they doing that's making that work and things

of that nature? And I think the other thing is

just ads. Some shows get really hard to listen

to because of the number of ads. Now, granted,

I listen to a lot of the. Conrad Thompson, I

don't know what the name of his group of podcasts

are, I listen to a lot of them and they are Chuck,

unless you do the ads free version, they're Chuck

full of ads. He does do a good job of making

them very humorous though at times. So I don't

mind them as much, but I've listened to other

stuff where it's just like ad after ad after

ad, like they talk for like 15 seconds and then

it's another ad and it's just like, man, I'm

out. Like I can't do it. So just having something

to compare it to, I think is what I learned as

I started listening to podcasts. Yeah. And we

understand that Because our stuff has ads, it's

had ads for at least the last six, seven years

now. For sure. And we get it, but I have worked

my ass off to make sure that the ads that our

provider wants us to have in there are not breaking

up conversation. Yeah. Cause that sucks. That

is the worst thing in the world. Like I just

listened to a podcast today where they did a

nice little preamble intro and then they did

their, uh, you know, welcome to the show. I'm

this host, this host and this host. And as soon

as that third host said their name, I heard the

little sound effect and boom, we were in an ad

and it wasn't even was not even five minutes

into the show. So I've. curated to the point

where you're gonna hear two ad breaks in this

episode, folks. And, you know, that's where all

of the ads will be. So it does not take away

from the amazing stories that Optima Solo has.

Let's not get carried away here. Amazing is an

air quotes, even though people can't see me making

air quotes with my hands. We're not doing the

video. Yes. Yes. Video. But I break cameras.

I don't I don't. Yeah. Anyway, he's not lying.

Shut up. As a listener, what does a podcast have

to have to draw you in? So you listen to an episode,

whether it's a new one or whether you start at

the beginning, what in say the first five minutes

does that show have to have for you to come back

and listen to the next one? I think it just goes

back to my other answer. It has to have energy

off the bat. Like it has to have some type of

upbeat. this, uh, something where you can see

the passion in their voices or you can hear the

humor or something of that nature. Because if

it's just like, if it's kind of like what I'm

doing right now, it's just somebody monotone,

just like, Oh, hello. No, but if I was just like

today, we're going to talk about this over here

and this is what we're going to do for the next

hour and a 15 minutes. And I hope you like it

because we're going to talk about that. And,

you know, if it's something like that. I'm not

going to make it past about 30 seconds and I've

tried because there's been stuff that has been

of similar topics that we've covered or stuff

that we've been researching or different things

that just were related to. Like let's say we're

doing our journey through all the He -Man shows.

You know, I listened to a few other He -Man podcasts

and some of them are well established, you know,

long running ones. Some of them are just kind

of one -offs, things of that nature. And you

know, they're all different levels of quality.

When we used to, I used to try to like, listen

to a few different things when we were trying

to add more shows to our network, we would try

to branch out and say, Hey, you know, we don't

have anything that covers this. Let's go find

a few podcasts and listen to them and whatever.

And sometimes that's very painful. And you'll

see those people have any and it's it's nothing

wrong. Like you guys can record whatever you

want to record. And some people aren't doing

it for listeners, you know, like a lot of times

we're not doing it for listeners. We're doing

it, you know, yes, because some people like it,

and hopefully people will like it. But we're

not like We're not professionals. We're not making

a salary doing this or things of that nature.

So whatever we want to record is fine. It's not

hurting anybody. So whatever. If it brings us

joy, we should do it regardless. And these people

should do it as well. But you could just tell

when you were listening to some of those, you're

like, I don't need to finish this episode to

know that it's not something we want to add to

the network. Yeah. And it's one of those things

where I always say this as part of my story is

that In the beginning, I sounded like the very

first radio announcer you see in Good Morning

Vietnam, the old guy. Today, the weather will

be, you know, the wind will be 45 miles out of

the east or the west or the what, you know, right

before Robin Williams comes into Good Morning

Vietnam. That was me in the beginning. And after

14 years, I think I've perfected being better

than that. Not the best, I'm not the worst, but...

Reading is also something, if you're just reading

stuff, it's not good. Yeah, I mean, if you're

just going to read the Wikipedia synopsis, then

are you really doing a podcast or are you just

reading the, like, look, we get it. You know,

synopsis, if you're doing a review show, you

have to read some sort of synopsis from somewhere

or you have to write one yourself after watching

the thing or doing whatever. And it's fine. I

still read every now and then, and half the time

I'll call myself out on it. I'm going to be reading

this now, just so you know, that kind of thing.

And it's fine, but it is what it is. But yeah,

don't just sit there in front of the microphone

and read aloud. This isn't a book report. It's

a goddamn podcast. Damn it. Right. Absolutely.

As a listener, do you prefer, oh God, this question.

As a listener, do you prefer short 30 minutes

to an hour and 30 minute shows or do you prefer

longer podcast episodes as in two hours or more?

I know a lot of people are very hung up on this.

They will only listen to stuff if it's X amount

of time or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I honestly

don't care. If it's interesting, I'll listen

to a three hour podcast. If it's interesting,

I'll listen to a 20 minute podcast. Like I, it

does not affect me how long it is. I have various

amounts of time. So usually I'm listening to

like, for example, if I'm putting on just throwing

something out there, let's say I'm going to listen

to something to wrestle with Bruce Prichard and

it's about, I don't know, macho man, Randy Savage.

And it's a two hour and 10 minute show. Like

I'm probably listening to that in three or four

chunks. You know what I mean? I'm listening to

it on my way to work. I get about 30 to 40 minutes

in, I listen to it on my way back, get another

20, 30 minutes in, an hour while I'm mowing the

yard and then that episode gets done and I just

click on the next one and I listen to that. However

many days it's gonna take me to finish that one

and then I go on it So it really doesn't matter

to me as long as it's interesting Like I don't

care if that's a lot of time spent on a subject

if it's something that's entertaining me. It's

something that's interesting It's something that's

humorous, you know some one of those things has

to be happening. It's got to be interesting You

know humorous, you know something of that nature

For me to keep listening, but I've listened to

some pie I don't tend to listen to short ones

that much just because the ones that I tend to

listen to happen to be Mostly an hour and a half

to two hours Yeah, but but that doesn't mean

when I see something that's less than that. I

have my oh no, like I'll whatever if it's a 45

minute show I'll check it out and see what see

what stuff Yeah, and I'm kind of the same way.

I mean as long as it's I would say as long as

it's 45 minutes at At minimum, you know, I, and

I have in the past listened to three, four or

five hour shows. We've recorded three, four,

five. Look, look at all 90 ,000 episodes of the

top 100 countdowns folks. That's I think I added

that up recently amongst the seven that are the

six or seven that are currently done. I think

it's just over. Yeah. It's just under a hundred

hours of content for seven different top 100

countdowns since 2011. To me, it's different

than a, it's different than a TV show, right?

Like, if you're listening to a TV show, I'm not,

I don't prefer to stop that in the middle movies.

Sometimes you can, but like a TV show, you'd

really need to watch the whole thing. So if it's

an hour TV show, if it's a half hour TV show,

you got to finish it with a podcast for me. I

don't care where I have to stop. Like if I have

to stop 20 minutes in, and then the next time

I watch 40, listen to 45 minutes and then One

time I'm able to listen to an hour at a time.

It makes no difference. I stop it and I pick

it up right where it left off because they're

just talking about stuff. It's not like I have

to remember what character A was doing with character

B and what the motive between this killer was

or this lover was or whatever. I'm just listening

to people talk about a subject that I like so

I can pick it up wherever and it doesn't affect

me. So it could be a three hour podcast and maybe

I listen to it in three one hour chunks. That's

fine. Who cares? Yeah, and that's the thing with

podcasts is that play pause, play pause or play

stop, play stop. Like podcast listening is essentially

stop and go traffic. There have been times where

I've been listening to one podcast and I'll see

a new episode from another podcast. I'll stop

the one I'm listening to and go listen to the

other one because I'm more interested in it and

I'll go back to the one I was already listening

to, that kind of thing. And the time thing, it

is what it is, but... Again, like we've already

said I get it if it's long for no reason if it's

long and yeah Stop being interesting or there's

too many dead spots or lulls or uninteresting

sections and they're just kind of rambling that's

different Yeah, and I mean there are perfectly

good podcasts out there that do like to ramble

and they will there are plenty of podcasts I

know and I enjoy that do tangents and everything

else and they may not usually if it's comedic

Usually okay. Yes, if there's some level of comedy

or humor. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely and Even we

even I do it plenty of time. Well, I mean you're

not funny but other than that, huh? So getting

back to the time thing in the beginning I didn't

want to do sure I still don't want to do short

stuff, but like you said it basically depends

on what the content is. It depends on what the

hosts have to say. And if after 45 minutes, it's

a good show and it's, we find a wrap up place.

Fine. It doesn't have to be an hour. It doesn't

have to be an hour and a half. Doesn't that like,

why draw something else? You brought up the top

100 and it's very similar because I typically

am steering the boat on the top 100s and trying

to navigate the waters through the listings and

reveal the stuff and this like that. And I'm

throwing it to different people to get their

opinion on whatever has been revealed at this

number and that number. And I, you know, if we're

on a certain number, so let's just say, for example,

we're doing the top 100 animated series and,

you know, Transformers comes up. Everyone's gonna

have a lot to say about Transformers. So if it's

interesting and it's and it's Moving at a good

pace and the conversations kind of bouncing back

and forth, you know I might let let that go on

for a good number of minutes, you know if the

next show comes up and it's Some show that not

as many people on the panel are familiar with,

you know, we might spend only 30 seconds on it

or a minute on it or something like that. So

it's kind of like that same thing. Like so we

might have top 100 episodes that ended up running

really long compared to other ones. You know,

most of them do run long, but we might have,

you know, the difference between a two hour and

a half one and a one hour and 45 minute episode

is how much that conversation was bouncing, how

much it was, there was energy, how much we were

keeping, you know, focus and whatnot. And Not

having to you know ramble into nothingness So

it's kind of the difference between that, you

know steering that boat and trying to decide.

Okay, it's time to move on So I've never thinking

about oh this we need to clock in at two hours

exactly, you know We can clock in 20 minutes

longer shorter. It just depends on how things

were going Again it also goes into planning as

far as like specifically for like a news show

or this show or that news reaction show whatever

it is, you know, when we do all things transformers

or when we do alter geek or whatever even the

cast radio, depending on what the topic is. Usually

I or Steve or somebody will come up with bullet

points and, and I'm specifically talking about

the discussion shows, not the review shows, the,

the overall geek discussion type stuff. Where

it's like, oh, okay. Well, we have enough that

we want to talk about that's going to take us

to about 45 minutes or so as far as the actual

final recording once it's edited and whatever

else. Okay, great. Fine. That's, that's awesome.

Like the, this is a while ago now, but by the

time this comes out, it will be a while ago.

The last episode, the last news reaction episode,

Steven, I did, I think it stopped at like 48,

50 minutes because we were done talking about.

The stuff that we wanted to talk about and that's

fine. I you know, let well, like we said the

whole time thing is It's a weird some people

are some people are very much, you know They

do not want you won't listen to me if you're

looking more than 45 minutes or whatever. That's

yeah, it's fine That's for each of their own

They don't listen to a lot of geek cast radius

Well, you know 100 hours for seven count 700

episodes 700 numbers, you know, that's a lot

As a listener, do you start at the beginning

of a podcast the most recent episode? Do you

jump jump around? Hmm It depends on the topic

like if I'm if I haven't done this but if I was

going to go out and listen to powers of grayskull

or mass mayhem or the tfg1 podcast I'm starting

at the beginning and I'm going episode by episode

in chronological order all the way through because

that doesn't make sense to do it any other way

for me. When it comes to a lot of these wrestling

ones that I was or even the movie ones, you know,

for the movie ones, for example, there are some

I would not listen to most of them unless I had

already seen the movie. So, you know, when we

were able to watch as many movies as we were,

you know, a number of years ago when we were

going to the movie theater twice a week or three

times a week or whatever it was. I was able to

keep up with those and most of the time it was

something that was related to something I'd just

seen so I would listen to it right away, etc.

But let's say they had one and it was one that

I had missed in the theater. I would skip that

one until it was out on DVD. Then I was able

to watch it. Then I would go back and listen

to that episode and things of that nature. When

it comes to the wrestling ones, it just completely

depends on the interest level. So, you know,

if they were doing an episode on Tatanka or Macho

Man or someone like that, British Bulldog, I

would probably listen to that as soon as it drops.

If they're doing an episode on someone I didn't

really care about, like the, I don't know, the

Brooklyn Brawler or something like that. It might

have to sit in queue for a while before I got

to it. And then it just depends on the actual

podcast. Like 83 weeks, I typically, there's

not many of those that I don't listen to. Mm

-hmm, so I'll get to clear that whatever ones

are left in there that I haven't listened to

I'll clear out first before maybe one of the

other wrestling ones that I'm not quite as into

Some of those are more fallbacks like if there's

no 83 weeks or no something to wrestle with then

I'll go to grill and JR or my world with Jeff

Jarrett and see what's new on there and I'll

just kind of scroll through and pick Whichever

one seems interesting to me because those aren't

really there's no there's no sequential reason

to listen to those in a certain order. It's just

random topics. So it just depends on the topic

of the actual podcast. As a listener, how many

hosts are too many on one episode? Man, if I

would have not been a listener, I would have

been able to skip like half these questions.

It depends. I would say probably when you're

getting into the five range That's way that's

probably too many and less than less the topic

just really caters to something and you really

have to have somebody driving the ship in that

situation Oh, yeah, because otherwise people

are talking over each other or there's just not

good direction So if you do have a four or five

or six person podcast You really have to be careful

with who's leading the direction there. So in

general three I think is a really good number

for most shows. Two is can work with a lot of

shows. One takes a very special person and or

topic or just everything has to line up perfectly.

I'm trying to do a solo podcast behind the scenes

and build up episodes and whatnot. And we'll

see if it works or not. But you really have to

be the Energizer Bunny when you're doing that.

be on top of things. So really I'd say two, three,

four, but three is about perfect. Yeah. Three,

three is most definitely the, the evenest of

the odd numbers out there. So that's, that's

what they, that's what it needs to be. When do

you stop listening to a podcast altogether? Most

of the time it's for me so far, it has been three

things probably, I guess. Let's say three things.

Well, four. We'll go with four. The first one

is the most common one for me, which is I just

have another podcast that is catching more of

my attention at that moment. I was listening

to a whole lot of movie podcasts, which was good,

and I enjoyed them a lot. But then, for a little

bit, I just got into the wrestling stuff and

the nostalgia there. I had an itch that I needed

to scratch there. The wrestling podcast took

precedence and I stopped listening to most of

the movie podcasts. That might cycle back again.

As I get tired of the wrestling podcast, I might

need a change. It's just like when you're eating

certain foods, you can OD on certain stuff and

then you go, especially when it comes to the

junk food or a certain type of chip or stuff

like that. You go for a while where you're just

getting it every time you go to the store and

then you go six months without it type thing.

So it could just be something else as a flavor

of the month for now. That could be one reason

why I just stop listening to it altogether. The

second reason would be probably, and me, myself

specifically, I'm guilty of this in the podcast

that I have been a part of, is the frequency

or the regularity of the releases stops being

consistent. So if all of a sudden... You're used

to checking every Wednesday for it to drop or

every other Wednesday for it to drop and then

all of a sudden it's two months and there's not

an episode. Then you listen to one and there's

three months and there's not an episode. You

start to lose a little bit of the... You get

out of the habit, I guess. of checking that specific

feed. You know what I mean? Chippin' Pot pod

could have made a resurgence and all of a sudden

be putting episodes out in 2022 and I would not

know about it because I stopped checking that

like a decade ago. You know what I mean? But

it would be something where if they were having,

and I know Christopher Stapleton doesn't do podcasts,

but he's in a different walk of life now. But

I would listen to their show if there was a new

episode tomorrow. But I'm not going to know that

because I stopped checking because eventually

I got out of the habit because they just weren't

happening. So just in frequency of, of episodes,

which I'm guilty of most of the time. And then

the other one, uh, sometimes a host just rubs

me the wrong way. So sometimes there it's, it's

like a friendship or a relationship. You know

you everything's good in the beginning So when

you're listening to that podcast and you're you're

new to listening to that host and things like

that Like everything's all good and you might

be giving them the benefit of doubt, but then

you've listened to 150 episodes and now Certain

things that they do are grading on your nerves

So I'm not gonna name a specific podcast But

for example, there was one that I used to listen

to and I have nothing against them or their podcast

but They would continuously use a couple words

that Were not being used properly like they weren't

they didn't understand what the word met So but

they used it a lot as a descriptor and it was

just driving me nuts that they were using A word

incorrectly and you know, just something simple

like that. It could be just a phrase that they

use over and over again It's like, you know those

ticks that you have when you're a speaker in

front of people like thumbs or the I just did

it Sometimes it's a phrase like I used to have

a boss that would say what did he say? Oh god

it's gonna drive me nuts because he used it all

the freaking time like this wasn't what he said

but it would be similar to like saying after

every phrase being saying the words like on that

gonna be moving on to the next thing and then

we're gonna spend 20 minutes onto this and then

on that note we're gonna go to the next right

so if there's just like one of those that's sometimes

those don't even hit my radar but sometimes it's

a grading one so if it's something like that

I'm just not probably you know eventually it's

gonna hit a time where the relationship's like,

now those things that my friend is doing is driving

me nuts. You know, where you have that first

fight with your best friend because you've spent

like 700 nights together with sleepovers and

parties and things like that. And you're finally

like, you're on my last nerve. So it's kind of

like one of those where I'll just stop cold turkey

with a podcast for a while and I might go back

to it later on. But so I guess those are the

main three. I said four, but those are the main

three. Yeah, I mean, it just depends really.

And you know, all those Things that we use to

fill the space. I would rather in the editing.

I would rather just cut the dead air than have

to Cut yeah, yeah, I know this is a like no Some

of the ticks don't bother me like I like if someone

is doing it, but they're staying in Pattern so

to speak or saying and staying in kittens Then

it's not gonna grade on my nerves like what I'm

talking about where I would just like stop listening

to someone. Yeah, so I think we all have had

certain stuff, Dan and I especially, I think,

would have phrases or words that we would say

a lot in the beginning that those never bothered

me. When I was listening to Talking in Circles

or some of his stuff, there was not much that

he would do that would bug me. I might even have

the wrong person. It might be somebody else I

co -hosted with at one point. They did have a

couple of those phrases that they used, but they

didn't do it in a way that... Wrecked the rhythm

of the speech in the discussion and things like

that compared to when it's something where it's

it's just like you're doing that and It's throwing

me off. I can't follow the conversation now and

the funny thing is is and and my biggest thing

with the ums and the ahs and My two biggest things

with that is it infects me because I will start

doing it if people do it and It gets to the point

where It gets to the point where my brain just

fell out of my head and I don't know what the

hell I was gonna say before Well, we know that

but hello I am I am brain damaged but it's one

of those things where it oh, that's what it is

It surprises me that I can have a conversation

with anybody in real life on the telephone hell

without even hitting the record button And ain't

nobody saying um, but as soon as that record

light goes on assume as soon as somebody's microphone

starts blinking at them There I'm going to um

say this on every other um But I think the reason

that happens is because when they're being recorded

they're trying to think out their words very

carefully because of the culture and the society

that we live in in a way and not to get political

or whatever, but it's You can say stuff that

gets misinterpreted so easily or taken out of

context so easily that I think as soon as that

button goes on for a lot of us We're trying to

pick our words carefully. We're trying to think

out our things before we say them But we're more

conscious of the fact that when you're doing

that in real life Like if I'm having a conversation

with you on the phone or in person and I pause

you're not gonna think anything of it It's I'm

pausing I'm thinking about what I'm gonna say

next and it's not awkward. But when we're recording

That same pause we get nervous about subconsciously

that Now there's a pause that the listeners are

listening to that makes us feel like we need

to fill it with something. Subconsciously, not

consciously, but subconsciously. Yeah. No, I

get it. And I understand it. It's just the other

thing for me that really just burns me is if

you're going to do, oh, this movie was... Fine.

Make the damn sound effect. Don't sit here and

tell me it's a goddamn chef's kiss. I cannot.

There's two words in podcasting. I hate besides

um, is chef's kiss. Don't ever say it. Oh my

God. I will edit it out so damn fast. You can

make the sound effect. You can use some other

descriptor, but it just, it's, it's like nails

on a chalkboard to me. All right. Good to know.

Put that in my back pocket. There you go. What

podcasts are you currently listening to? I basically

have already mentioned it. It's something to

wrestle with, and 83 Weeks are the main two.

Occasionally, I will listen back to some of our

stuff, whether it's present or past, if I'm coming

up with ideas or trying to brainstorm about something

we may or may not do, just to refresh my memory

and things of that nature. Eventually, I'll probably

listen to more of the movie podcasts, if and

when I get to watch movies again. That that's

gonna be the interesting thing with your young

two -year -old daughter is that once she grows

up you can Say I could I guess I could do a hell

of a run on some animated movies right now You

want me to talk about trolls world tour? I got

you Luca I can tell you beat by beat so you want

to talk about any of those I got you Nobody gives

a crap about Bruno. I guess not in multiple movies.

They don't like Bruno Alright folks, we're gonna

go to a quick ad break. You're gonna hear some

ads and some other stuff and we're gonna come

back to continue on with Optimus Solo and ask

him all about his podcast production right after

this. Because the world needs another movie podcast.

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Triple Takeover Toycast. We are back here inside

Studio 2009 and we're going to talk about podcast

production. I'm, of course, TF2 on Mike, back

with Optimus Solo. As a producer, do you find

yourself listening to podcasts less and less?

I would say no. I think I listen to them more,

actually. just to see what other people are doing,

what kind of techniques they're using, et cetera,

et cetera. But it's more subconsciously or vicariously

or whatever word you want to use. Like it's not

like I'm actively hunting down people and studying

their techniques. It's just pay attention while

I'm listening to what people are doing and what

I like that I hear and what I don't like that

I hear. Yeah. That question is more of once you,

and you're not, you're not like me. Nobody's

like me. Thank God. But we're basically podcasting

is my life, whether it's listening or producing

or whatever. But when we first started X number

of years ago now, I found myself listening less

and less because I was doing more work on the

shows and stuff. In the beginning I wasn't editing

anything Steve was doing that so I could go listen

to whatever and then I took over the editing

which is fine I like I've never had a problem

with that you know and now I find myself in more

of a mix of You know kind of like equal time

like I'll spend two or three days catching up

on podcasts and I'll spend two or three days

editing seven daily Yeah So we're in 2023 now.

Over the end of the Christmas break, folks, I

edited, I think, eight podcasts to be released

the end of 2022 beginning of this new year that

we're in in 2023. So usually I don't, I haven't

had the stamina to do that since before the top

100 Transformers characters countdown, which

nearly killed me. That's my best shot. So yeah.

It's probably the only shot you're going to get

now. As a producer, are you a podcast planner

or are you throwing stuff at the mic to see what

sticks? I'm a planner to a fault, I would say.

I like to plan and over plan and plan things

that are never going to happen and write things

down and make lists and make schedules and all

that kind of stuff. So yeah. They will happen,

we just have to find the time to do them. That's

the damn problem with life. Time. Father time,

you son of a... I don't know. Alright, let's

see. As a producer, are you a one -man show kind

of host, or do you prefer working with co -hosts?

I kind of enjoy both, honestly. I mean, it's

easier with co -hosts. It's easier to bounce

things off of and keep the energy going and keep

the flow going. I like to somewhat... I like

on the top 100s kind of moderating that in a

bit or directing the flow in a way, not that

I don't add my own two cents, but I kind of like

being the guy that throws it to this person or

throws it to that person or tries to decide when

it's time to move on or when it's time to probe

some more. Like I like doing all that, but I

also have done some solo stuff where way back

in the day with telecast and kind of behind the

scenes on some other things that I've been doing

and it's somewhat fun as well only because I

can do that when I have the time without coordinating

anything. So if I have free time that's unexpected

or spontaneous and I want to be creative or I

want to do that, I don't have to reach out to

anybody. I don't have to schedule it. I can just

grab a camera or grab an audio, you know, mic

or whatever and just have at it. So that's kind

of fun to just be your one man gang at times,

but it is tricky. Yeah, it's I don't like it

because it's more of Oh shit, what am I gonna

do now for me? Like it's like like I'll have

a thought but I want to have somebody there to

discuss it takes a lot more planning and it's

a lot more of Performance isn't the right word,

but you really have to kind of hype yourself

up You have to have the energy like I print.

Yeah for me I've been in some theatrical, you

know community theater type things and You're

the one that has to know your lines, right? You're

the one that has to know your Actions and what

you're gonna do and your movements and placing

and all that kind of the choreography type stuff

So when you're getting ready for something like

that You're somewhat hyping yourself up. You're

repeating your lines in your head your Hi when

I say hype like just really trying to make sure

you have the energy and all that type of stuff

because you are even Though you're working with

a group. You're really responsible for your own

actions And I feel like that's what you have

to do when you're solo recording you have to

do a lot of planning you have to have your bullet

be and then so you have a roadmap and then during

the course of that You have to really make sure

that you're the one that's bringing the entertainment

value the energy the passion behind it Whereas

when I'm recording with say you and Steve or

you and Dan or on a top 100 Outside of the prep

work that goes into the list creation. I don't

have to do any of that because it's a little

bit more of an improv thing when we're with a

group. Like I, I don't have to hype myself up.

I just have to know the general roadmap and I

can just bounce off of each other, you know,

everybody on the, on the record. So it's a completely

different experience, but I kind of enjoy both.

Yeah. And this is the same thing for me. It's

like, for me, I not like. I've always said since

for the last 13 and a half years of the network

of GCRN. Steve overall is the voice is the, is

the guy that people may or may not usually hear

first, but normally what I've fallen into, what

I've tended to do since I have the most time

to dedicate to it is I have become the intro

and outro host. So whereas like I'll start the

show and then I'll hand it off to you or whatever

else, and then you can go ahead, be the host.

do the directing the traffic and especially in

the top 100s. I mean, you do a great job of that.

I can't, oh God, math. Don't even get me started.

You know, so it's one of those types of things

where it's a team effort, especially on a project

like that. Like you can't not want like. Especially

dependent on which group of people were headed

on it. Like it's different if it's you, me, Steve

and Dan or DJ or somebody that we're just used

to recording with when it's a. new person that

we're not used to or two new people and every

record it's changing, that adds a whole new element

because you do have to make sure that you're

not letting them ramble or picking out points

where it's dragging and moving along and things

of that nature. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. How do

you go about finding your co -hosts? No, I'm

just kidding. Technically he berated us and then

we let him on the show. Let him remember those

kind of half years ago or something Once upon

a time at some point, but anyways, I When I was

doing telecast, it was pretty simple I just reached

out to anybody that was part of the network and

I it was more about who had interest in a topic

who had knowledge of a topic versus Wanting that

person or wanting this person when when we do

the top 100? Yeah, it's a little different We

do try to get somebody that has some knowledge

about said subject matter etc But with top 100

it's a lot more about who's gonna bring and the

that like I keep going back to the Whether it

be the humor whether it be the energy You know

something of that nature and that's why DJ ends

up being on so many records because he just brings

a natural energy and humor and passion to whatever

he's doing But that plays a part it depends on

what kind of record we're doing like if we were

doing like back in the day When we were really

getting into like a subject matter and needing

experts That's a different thing when it's something

that's a little bit more fun and yeah Laid back

then it's a different search. So I think it just

depends on what the record is. Yep, absolutely

As a producer, do you feel you need a mixing

board and all the fancy stuff that essentially

would have shown at a radio station or are you

good with a great microphone? At the beginning,

I thought that stuff was going to be necessary.

I do enjoy having a bank of sound effects that

I can put in myself in the editing. It's part

of it. I don't necessarily need it where I can

play it on air or play it while the record is

happening for everybody to hear I'm more of a

going after the words and find where spots are

that I can tick that in or or squeeze that inside

every once in a while I have something planned

so I'm gonna Allow a pause or I'm gonna kind

of throw to something that I know I'm gonna do

ahead of time But I don't I at the beginning

I thought it would be really cool to have the

mixing board and the sound effect board and all

that type of different stuff but the more I did

it I was like, I don't think that's necessary

and it's For me, as someone that's a complete

novice, it just complicates the record, and I'd

rather complicate the editing than the record.

Even if I'm editing, I'd rather have to deal

with it in the end than bog down the flow of

the natural record. I'm not good enough probably

to do it on a fly either. And I, yeah, I, I remember

the days when we would use Pamela call recorder

and we, they, they had a sound effect board and

they had a sound effect board where you could

actually add in. Cause I remember using Daffy's

line from, from the 51st, you smug son of a.

I remember using that all the time, but like

it's much easier and it's much more like you

find a place. Like like you said with the stopping

like if somebody stops and then like if you insult

me or I insult you and then There's a small pause

well in the editing like you just said we can

just take that take the pause out put the clip

in and Move on and be done with it. And it's

still done Right Exactly. As a producer, how

much time do you put in the editing of the show?

So whatever podcast it is, maybe back in the

telecast days when you were editing stuff or

what, you know, cinema geeks, all that stuff.

Like if you record a 30 or 40 or 50 minute show

or an hour and a half show, how much time? It

really depends. It's a case by case basis for

me. When I was doing just a general cinema geeks

episode, it didn't take that long. I could probably

edit that in half hour, 45 minutes, something

like that. Just depends on How many clips I want

to throw in and stuff like that when I was doing

something like a year end or a top list or something

that was a little bit more of a monumental episode

or just especially with the top 10 movies because

I could throw in clips of various movies into

it. So there was a little bit more of that. So

that made it take a little bit longer. Obviously

it can take as long as you want if it was something

I was really passionate about and wanted it to

be like the best episode I could put out then

it's probably gonna take an hour and a half two

hours something of that nature if I'm doing my

stuff on my own where it's just me and ends up

taking a little bit longer than like a general

episode of something just because There's a lot

when it's just me I try to add a lot more other

stuff in there to try to keep the energy and

keep the flow going and so it's not just someone

listening to me straight for 30 minutes 40 minutes,

whatever it might be So I found when I'm doing

my solo stuff, it takes a little bit longer.

And when I'm doing my video stuff, it takes like

exponentially longer. Yeah, video is a whole

other. And I'm still learning that. So I'm sure

if I was better at it, I wouldn't take as long.

But it just takes a while to do that. And I have

to do all that on my phone at the moment. So

that's just it's a smaller surface to work. And

sometimes my fingers are fat. Yeah, exactly.

that's why if i ever do because i've done i've

done youtube videos for years now but i don't

do them very very often and i do them on my phone

as well but i try to make sure i don't need to

edit anything like i'll sit here like i'll i

did this i think before the before we clicked

record on this half of the episode but basically

i have you know like something like this you

know i'm not gonna like if i do a video on that

or if i do a video on this Then I'm going to

make sure I have it set up in a way where I know

exactly what I'm saying I know what I'm doing.

I actually have I use a pocket tripod Pro for

the Google Pixel 6 Pro That's a lot of pros in

those name folks boy naming of phones get don't

get me started But it's one of those things where

it's yeah video is a whole other I would much

rather deal with audio easier anything. It's

so much easier. Yeah, it's and I mean I Take

the approach of I'm going to put like I have

nothing but time on my hands because technically

this is my job You know kind of thing where it's

like I can put X number of hours into something

or I like I have I took a screenshot the other

day I think and I'm only saying this because

it was him who did it but I think Steve sniffled

in the middle of a recording on his track and

I'm like, okay, well edit that out obviously

cut that out and I took a screen cap of the Wave

4 because I was going to send it to a friend

of mine. I'm like, see, this is how I do it.

Because he asked me about a tool, this guy that

actually it's the next episode of this podcast.

Next week I'm going to have Ellis Rovin on doing

his podcast approach and he's an audio guy like

I am kind of thing. He asked me about some audio

tool, like whatever, like not a mouse, not like

a standard computer mouse. And I'm like, well,

explain to me. Oh, that's essentially one of

those bells and whistles kind of, you know, one

of those other audit, like I can't do that. I

just, if I need to see inside the waveform, I'll

just zoom in. So as a producer, do you prefer

in -person recordings or over the internet recordings?

By in -person recordings, you mean. Someone is

sitting right next to you either using the same

microphone or sitting across from you using a

laptop with another separate microphone in the

same room I guess the only time I've ever done

that would be when Amanda and I were both on

cinema geeks as we shared a microphone and All

that type of stuff and it's it's fine. It's a

little bit trickier just because You have to

manage the physical aspect of it. Yep, but from

a Other standpoint though, you can read each

other's body language and you can give each other

signals and things of that nature So that I think

added to our ability to make it a little bit

more interesting. Yeah, very cool. Very cool

As both a listener and a producer Do you prefer

one feed have everything or should each type

of show have its own feed? so by this basically

tune cast is all cartoons, but What if we had

one show that has episodes of He -Man, Transformers,

like if we took all the review shows and put

them all on one feed. I like I'm better separate

myself. I like all the Transformers stuff together,

all the He -Man stuff separately. Anything that's

kind of just one -offs, we're touching based

on this, that, and the other like we did in the

early days of Tooncast, obviously makes sense

to be together. But if it's something where we're

going episodic reviews or something like that,

where there's a series. Most of the time I'm

going to prefer that to be separate with the

exception of let's say back when we were doing

cinema geeks, if we had like a retrospective

on a director or something like that, I think

that was fine to be within the main feed. Yeah,

it's in the scope of what you're doing with the

podcast. I mean, it's all movies all the time

kind of thing. So all aspects of film, whether

it's directors, actors, whatever. And yeah, something

like Tooncast where we're talking about the overall,

like we're not talking in depth. We're not going

episode by episode or season by season kind of

thing. You know, it's much easier, but yeah,

it always bugs me when if you're, if you have

a show that is supposed to be a general, if it's

a general geek show, fine. But if it's supposed

to be a specific thing and then you throw in

like 17 other things, like don't do that, that

have nothing to do with the thing that I came

there for. How do you use social media to promote

your podcast? Probably not very well. I mean,

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to social media

just because I don't spend a whole lot of time

on it. So I'll post a link and maybe a message

on the various platforms. And very rarely will

I post again after the initial posting. I mean,

every once in a while, I'll remember to do like

a boost post or something of that nature. I'm

really bad at social media, so I don't do a swell

job on that. I leave that to you. Yeah, that's

my job. So I mean, the people that are on social

media, like I just I don't understand like what

I get like for your situation, that's different.

And some other people have similar situations

or different things like that. But for the average

person, like I. Don't understand how they find

the time I guess it's office jobs Maybe and they're

like half paying attention to their job and half

on their phone or on their computer Maybe but

like it's literally impossible like 50 some hours

a week There would be no way for me to post or

check or do anything with social media. So the

people that are posting memes or Retweets like

every hour every day like I I don't understand

that So I know you're not I know you're not that

big into the superhero thing you're more into

the robots and the sci -fi and everything else

but There is an account on Twitter called hourly

Clint hourly Clint is all about Clint Barton

aka Hawkeye and that account posts Exactly what

you're saying like, you know, and there are jobs

people on Facebook though that post like a money

every 30 seconds for like the whole day and I'm

just like you're if you're trying to scroll through

to find something that you Like yeah, you'd scroll

for like 10 minutes in your three hours into

the past and I'm just like I don't get that like

that's not how I use social media Yeah, yeah,

especially on Facebook. I only use Facebook for

connections to people I know that I don't live

near, like family, friends, old classmates, things

of that nature. So like to use Facebook as a

meme posting engine is just something that my

mind doesn't compute. Like I get that on like

maybe like an Instagram or even maybe to a point

Twitter, but like I don't use Facebook like that.

So maybe that's just a different philosophy.

Yeah. They're all tools to me. Whatever I need

to use them for, I'll use them for. Yes, yes,

we know. What is your favorite topic to discuss

on a podcast? I mean, would anybody like to guess?

Cartoons? And then the close second would be

movies. and wrestling and toys and anything eighties.

There you go. Now, obviously, to my knowledge,

and I've known you a long time, but I don't think

you've ever been in radio, but versus like only

Amanda. Oh, Amanda has. OK, well, that's good.

I remember she had. So anyway, what do you see

as the differences between podcasting versus

being on the radio? Radio just from what she

said what i learned about her when she was doing

her saturday night show it's just a lot more

timing on the radio like you have to do a read

and you have. Seven seconds or you have 14 seconds

or you have whatever and you have to get this

much information in in that time And it's on

the fly. It's live. It's not something that you're

able to go back and fix So it's like a lot more

about exact timing and trying to say something

without fumbling over because if you fumble over

you're gonna Miss the mark and then this music's

gonna start playing and you're still talking

and stuff like that. So there was definitely

a piece of that They were also typically I think

most radio stations and most things like that

are required to do some social media posting

and things of that nature which seemed like I

just have to post because it's requirement for

me to post three things every hour to get people's

attention and that just that wouldn't work for

me, but Yeah, it's I don't mind doing the whole

social media thing and I don't you know, that's

that's fine I can do that. That's easy. That's

that's great. It's just keeping up with Oh, did

I post that or not? Like that, that, that for

me is my biggest issue is either remembering

to post something or whatever. That's why I'm

like, you know, certain people are like, if you

want me to post this about your show, you have

to send me a message at least the day of, or

whatever, whenever it's ready. So I could know

when to do it. So, cause I'll forget like, I

just will. Half the time. But radio, there's

just no editing. Oh, no. Yeah, not at all. Yeah,

it's all. Yeah, no, no. And that's the funny

thing is because, you know, I don't know and

you can tell me what your story is and everyone

probably has heard me say this before. But when

we were kids, we were listening to the radio

all the time. We were radio listeners most of

the time and we would whatever and we would interact.

Maybe we would get a chance to call in or whatever

else, even as young adults kind of thing. But.

Man, no, I could not keep up with the pace that

radiates. Because I've been there when she's

been when she was on her show at times, like

we bought her food or something like that. And

it's like, right. It is small time crunches.

And then every once while you'll have a little

bit of a longer break where you can try to get

some something to drink or something like that.

But it's like, you know, you got to be ready

to go. And sometimes it's a lot of words that

you try to have. You have to try to say in between

your little pauses in between songs or. Intro

coming back from a commercial break or whatever

it is and it's like boom Yeah, the only way you're

getting long breaks on the radio is if you have

nothing But a tool radio station and all the

tool songs are like 11 minutes long Yeah, I mean

every once while that it depends on how many

songs you're playing in a row without a true

thing, but yeah This one's gonna be interesting

because I know you have because I've done them

with you But if you've done any interviews with

famous people, which was your favorite? Interesting.

Let's see. We've done Larry Kenny. We've done

Rob Paulson. We've done Maurice LaMarche. We've

done... Do we do Neil Ross together? I think

so. That might have been me instead. I don't

remember, but yeah. I think they've all been

fun to a certain extent because you're talking

to somebody that, you know, is a celebrity, is

a person that you listen to or looked up to or,

you know, know from... from a distance. So when

that wall gets kind of broken down and you're

discussing stuff with them, I think that makes

it fun. I think Maurice LaMarche was a lot of

fun. It might not have been like I was probably

looking forward to the Rob Paulson and the Larry

Kenny one more at that exact time and juncture

in my life. But Maurice was just really laid

back and humorous and fun to talk to. I think

the one time we talked to, it might have been

Rob. He was in a car on the highway. or something

pulled off along the side of the road, so that

made it a little more awkward. I know that happened

in one of the Stan Bush interviews I did, but

I don't remember. I think it happened with one

of the voice actors too that I was on with you,

but not that that took that much away from it.

It was just a little bit of an awkward thing,

but I think Maurice LaMarche was a lot of fun,

but they're all fun no matter what. John Delancey,

I think we did together, that was fun. Yep. So

they're all... A different experience. They're

all unique because of whatever the person's mood

is at that time or whatever their personality

is or whatever their reactions to the questions.

I'm sure a lot of times they do interviews and

they're just bored out of their mind because

it's the same old, same old questions. It's a

mixed bag what you're going to get, but if you

can pull it off right, it's a very fun experience.

And in my 14 years of doing this, because Steve

started a couple of years ago, I always say Steve

is at 16 years at this point and I'm at 14 years

because I just celebrated my 14th anniversary

back in December of 2022. But the thing is, we

set out like we knew in the beginning when you

and I were setting up interview questions for

Tooncast or for whatever it is for the specific

voice actor interviews, let's say. We knew, okay,

yes, we are going to have to take them through

some of their beginnings, but let's do something

like, and this is all your fault because you

threw this in there. What's your favorite type

of voice acting? And then, you know, the next

thing we know for about 15 minutes, we're either

in trouble with Maurice LaMarche or we're made

famous by IGN because that interview, what type

of voice acting do you prefer? Blah, blah, blah,

blah, blah. You know video games animation narration

love is all the funny thing is the video games

is it's just you in the room and i just got out

of the i still remember that like. What felt

like a thirty minute pause it was like twenty

seconds but like he said i just got out of voicing

mr freeze in batman arkham city my jaw dropped

to the floor i edited the i've said this story

so many times recently that that that interview

so fast got it online. Didn't ask him if he wasn't

suppo - like... Usually they're pretty careful

about that. So it's usually they are Yeah, you

know he didn't mess. I mean he's But like I'm

just saying most most voice actors are pretty

careful about it and they know all of their NDAs

and their contracts and stuff like that So yeah,

even if you come close to it, they're like, well,

I can't talk about that So there was no reason

if a voice actor sharing something there's no

reason for us to think well, that's privileged

information or something Well, cuz I remember

like I said, I literally even though it was 11

years ago. I remember it Like it was fricking

yesterday because he said that after you asked

him the question and my like stunned silence,

jaw dropping the floor. My next question was,

can you give us a sample? And he goes, no, no,

no, I can't. Okay. And then we moved on and we

went on with the interview, but that, that question,

what type of voice acting do you prefer? You

don't know what's gonna happen with that one

because that was interesting too because I don't

know anything about comic So I had no idea what

he was talking about I mean, I know who mr. Freeze

is and this that and the other but I had no idea

if it was a game or a Game that wasn't out or

this and the other but I do remember calling

you or texting you or something and being like,

dude, something's happening. Like we could get

in a lot of buzz right now. Steve blew me up.

He's like, Steve was like, what the fuck did

you do? And Steve doesn't usually curse most

of the time, but what did you do? Cause I went

out and went grocery shopping with my mom at

the time. I don't know. I edited a podcast. I

put it online. Didn't do anything wrong. I don't

think obviously, but you know, at the time I,

you know, And obviously I contacted his management.

I contacted him and by the time he replied to

me, he's like, it's out there. There's nothing

we can do about it now. So was there ever a moment

when you were done with podcasting altogether?

No, there's been moments that my life has made

it very hard to do podcasts But there I don't

think there's ever been a time where I've been

like screw this I'm done forever type thing.

There's been a few times where I've been like

screw you I'm done with you forever, but Outside

of that or or different people along the way

that have rubbed me the wrong way that I'm like

Well, I'm not recording with that person again

or I don't really want to be associated with

that person again Or that just didn't work from

a chemistry standpoint or things of that nature

but I don't think there's ever been a time where

I've just been like blah. I mean, there's been

times where it's been more or less of a priority.

Right. And there's been times where my life has

allowed it to be more or less of an active hobby

that I'm participating in, but that's about it.

Yeah. What advice do you have for new and veteran

podcasters in the art of podcasting? I don't

know if there's much of advice for a veteran

podcaster. They're probably pretty set in their

ways, but I think there's a lot of people that

it seems like every day there's a thousand new

podcasts hitting the airwaves and whatnot. So

I think it comes down to if you're going to record

something, make sure that it is something you're

passionate about and something you can bring

energy to. So if you can do those two things,

the rest you can probably figure out. But if

you're just monotonous or droning or reading

something or there's just awkward pauses and

things of that nature, then maybe this isn't

the best thing for you. Not everybody's trying

to make money off of this, but if you are doing

it, it should be something that's at least pleasant

to the ear. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. There

have been podcasts that I've found in the last

two years that I didn't even know existed. Like

some that it started in like 2017 or 2018. I'm

like, where in the hell was I in those years?

Like, I don't remember any of them. Obviously,

with the pandemic and everything else and all

that, everybody was like, oh, we're all at home.

We all needed it. Let's start a podcast. You

know, you had all these, you know. Yeah, that's

right. It definitely did blow up. And as more

and more have been popular, like we were in on

podcasts, like way early on, like, oh yeah, saying

like we're the first or anything like that. No,

no, no. We were in it when still the masses weren't

listening to podcasts. It was more of a niche

thing. And now it seems like it's just more and

more evading or invading. Everyday activity of

a lot more people. It's become way more mainstream

and for some people it's obviously become way

more of a moneymaker So then just like YouTube

or you know social media things or whatever it

becomes somebody that is trying to make a buck

off of it as well Or make a career out of it.

So then it becomes a whole different thing I

think the other piece of advice which is harder.

It's easier said than done for sure But if you

want to have a successful podcast that actually

gains traction and builds listeners followers

subscribers, etc We haven't been very good at

this but you have to have consistent releases

like you have to be able to like it is a grind

Sometimes and that's where the balance comes

in because you don't want it to be a grind where

people can tell it's a grind But when I say it's

a grind, it's I mean there is no break like you

have to have a release every week Let's say just

as one example depending on the frequency of

your podcast like yeah in and you have to continue

that there's very few forgiving Aspects as far

as taking weeks months off, you have to have

something that hits that airwaves. Now, granted,

some people cheat and they do a best of or they

do a clip show or they do a repeat thing or whatever,

just like cartoons did back in the day where

they had to run a rerun or a best of or whatever

the case may be, but you have to have that consistent.

If you're not willing to dedicate and to understand

what kind of dedication that is, When you have

your real life going on to produce something

every single week It can be it might not be for

you or you should just be honest with yourself

off the bat and just do a Slower release schedule

every other week once a month, you know type

thing, but that's not gonna build much of a following

Yeah Nobody's as crazy as I am folks like twenty

or thirty different shows all at once and most

of them are either on a weekly by weekly or monthly

basis but that's what I see like like when we

were big time into our movie podcasting and I

had a pretty good circle of other movie podcast

friends and colleagues and you know acquaintances

and things of that nature and let's say there

was eight shows or something like that that I

was actively Listening to or had connections

to the host or the whatever. Basically. You could

tell which one like all of them were building

audiences as long as they were consistent were

they successful they were successful the different

levels and maybe the audience size might vary

but they were all building in those years where

it was all of us releasing episodes every single

week we were all building those connections we're

all building our audience we're all building.

comments and views and likes and subscriptions

and whatever metric you're looking at. But you

can tell as soon as one, you know, then this

one would start being a little bit more infrequent

releases and then this one would start dropping

off and you know, the ones that are still going

have very big audiences and have been fairly

successful just because they've been able to

produce that content week after week after week.

Whereas most of the other ones over the last

10 years have. stopped producing altogether or

do it very rarely or, you know, once every couple

of months. Yeah, absolutely. Over the last couple

of months or last year at this point, because

like I said, this is 2023 at this point beginning

in 2023. I was trying to catalog all the guest

appearances. I've done like not on our stuff.

Like if I called into Simplistic because they

had a call in line or if I was on any other show

that wasn't stuff we were doing, I was trying

to compile all of these and I remember being

on a show and talking about Batman Beyond and

I went to look for it. I found the episode, but

the file isn't there anymore. But the fact that,

you know, website archives, whatever, but the

fact that The post is there and the fact that

I was on the show was called Masters of the Tooniverse.

And yeah, it was with some guy named Brian. I

think he goes by Cartoon Overlord. I'm trying

to reach out to him on Instagram, but he's never

responded, whether he's seen the messages or

not, just to see if I can get that, you know,

that audio file back, not back. So I can, but

like, you know what I mean? Like, so I can. Listen

back to what that was in 2014. Cause I don't,

I remember being on the show. I remember talking

about the cartoon. I just haven't heard it in

a long ass time. And that podcast is now apparently

gone. Like there's no, no nothing left of it.

And yeah, just sucks. So speaking of no nothing

left of it, hopefully there isn't no nothing

left of it, but when are we getting the return

of the cinema geeks or telecast? Dan and I really

were trying to record an episode all of last

year. Cause we got, we were doing our best of

the decade for 2010 to 2019. And then we had

released a number of things over the course of

whatever, 2019, 2020, somewhere in there. And

we had never got to our actual best films of

that decade, which we both have our list done.

We both have everything prepped just between

the two of us and babies and kids and things

of that nature. It hasn't lined up yet, but we're

hoping to release that. I'm hoping to do that

early in 2023. Telecast I don't know. I have

no plans with it as of this moment Just because

I am all in on three other projects that we're

doing and then a fourth one that I'm hoping to

do So it's on the back burner at the moment,

but don't say never but yeah the theme song podcast

that I've been working on behind the scenes and

then my Don't know how you want to call this

but the episode by episode watch through of every

cartoon series that aired in the 80s It had to

take a little break when we moved but I want

to get back into that I think I'm on chapter

like six or seven or something like that out

of those Yeah, and then of course geek showcases

Taking a lot of my time at the moment. Yeah geek

showcases your new YouTube channel and you want

to talk about that? Well, it's just a geek showcase.

So it's a showcase of anything geeky. So I'm

going to try to now it's a little misleading

if you look at the channel now, because there's

a whole lot of like sports cards breaking and

ripping and opening and things like that. That

was just because that was what I could record

the quickest knowing that I had a move coming

up and I could bank a bunch of episodes that

I could then sort of try to keep the releases

on a schedule of sorts, not a strict schedule,

but just, you know, so there was releases happening.

So there's a way more of those than I would.

have planned on it, but there's going to be toy

reviews. There's going to be book reviews as

far as like geeky books and things of that nature.

There's going to be topless. There's going to

be just anything geeky that I can think of the

kind of the banner graphic shows, everything

wrestling, sci -fi, Star Trek, Star Wars, cartoons,

toys, anything like that is going to be featured.

And we're just going to see where it goes right

now. I'm working my way through the ultimate

Saturday morning cartoon lineup. Very cool. Very

cool. Where can the people find your shows besides

geek showcase geek showcase on all things social

media? It's on Instagram. It's on YouTube. It's

on Facebook and Twitter My stuff is optimist

solo and otherwise just search geek cast radio

and you can find most other things that I may

or may not be involved with But it's worth a

listen. Yep. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right,

folks We're gonna go to one final ad break come

back to close the show after this Hey, it's Wes

from Popping Off Toys. Wanted to let you know

about PoppingOffToys .com. We can be your number

one source for funko collectible figures to add

to your ever -growing collection. If you're in

Nashville, Tennessee, we actually have a retail

store that you can come by. 5916 Charlotte Pike.

And for the rest of us, PoppingOffToys .com is

always open. And you can check us out on Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok. And the

name is just simply popping off toys thank you

so much and always keep it popping on the simplistic

reviews podcast we talk movies we talk tv we

talk trying to make our spot sound more exciting

by adding explosions yeah i'm pretty sure you

could have got the point across with sound effects

not the real thing I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that. No, they won't. No, they probably

won't. We are back here inside Studio 2009 on

Optimus Solo's podcast approach. And sadly, there's

been no mac and cheese tonight. Anyway. And yeah,

so any other final thoughts before I run through

the outro sir No, just Looking forward to producing

more content and getting more interactions with

everybody and seeing where everything goes Absolutely.

Absolutely. And like I said earlier in the episode

folks coming up next We've got another podcast

approaching then after that Steve Megatron and

I and a few other people probably Are gonna get

to do some movies. We are gonna be doing a bunch

of TV stuff this year I did want because the

whole point here inside studio 2009 is Steven

i wanted to show i've said this before we want

to show that we didn't have to worry about it

just being a movie show it could be anything

and when i say anything i specifically mean anything

in the audio or visual realm so if you can hear

it or you can see it or see and hear it. We will

cover it so we've been doing a lot of movie reviews

and things like that and in twenty twenty three

i have a goal where we can you know it's kind

of talk about some tv stuff whether it's new

shows old shows whatever there is no real. Real

plan there yet but there will be at some point

but yeah keep your ears peeled and eyes peeled

for some top 100 content coming in twenty twenty

three. Oh yeah yeah yeah absolutely get those

toys ready folks. Thank you for joining us here

inside Studio 2009. If you'd like to get in contact

with us to leave feedback for the show, there

are several ways to do so. Visit the website

geekcastradio .com where you can listen to and

comment on all of our content. Send us email

to feedback at geekcastradio .com. You can check

us out or any podcasting client you choose to

use stuff like Spotify and Apple Podcasts and

all that other good stuff. Podcast addict. Spotify

is the best UI for me. Podcast addict. Yeah,

I tried it once on your recommendation. I didn't

like the user interface, so sorry. Not going

to work. It's great. Nope. Follow us on Twitter

at Geekcast Radio for the network at itsitsstudio2009

all one word for the show. I am at TFG1 Mike.

He is at Optimus Solo and you can also follow

at Geek Showcase everywhere. Become a fan on

Facebook. Go to facebook .com slash Geekcast

Radio Network. You can also check out Studio

2009 podcast over there as well. Coming up next

is one more podcast approach before we get back

to some movies and TV reviewing and we're probably

gonna throw in some video games in there as well

So we've got that coming up with mr. Ellis rovin

at one point. He was a professor of audio He

was a teacher and he was doing not necessarily

a music class, but it was a like a An electronic,

you know audio production thing at some university

he was doing so that was a very fun conversation

So that's coming up next folks For now, I am

TF2 and Mike with... The one that's usually right,

Optimus Solo. You're not wrong. You'll hear us

back in the studio soon.