Podcast Naming Conventions and Building Your Unique Show

Hi, this is John Delancey and you are listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Unleash the geek

in you. Everything going okay in the Phillips

household? No kids got dropped on their heads

or anything like that? Oh, you mean face planting

on a laminate floor? I remember those days. Yeah,

he was swinging on the countertops. Oh, Lord.

Yeah. The good old days, folks. We are here,

as you can tell by the title, whatever the hell

I'm going to title this, I don't know. I actually

have at least as of the recording, and I know

this is too long and you'll cringe at this, but

what's in a name? That podcast we titled must

not be the same. So I got a little Shakespearean

in my blood when I was trying to figure out a

catchy title and obviously... You know, what's

in a name, a rose by any other name should smell

as sweet from William Shakespeare. And recently,

historically, but recently, we've come across,

I don't want to call them names dealers, but

people who aren't searching podcasts name. Let's

just call them lazy people with an idea that

they like. It's because, because when I am looking

for a podcast name, I do the research. The only

time that we've ever screwed up on this one,

and it was a variation, it wasn't even the same,

was back when we started the network. 2008, when

we started dreaming up the names and then 2009

when we first launched the podcast before the

network, technically. we started the podcast,

Geetcast Radio. Do you remember that there was

a podcast called The Geetcast, but not Geetcast

Radio? On the website, it said Geetcast just

because we were trying to fill a minimal amount

of space. I added radio to it just because, but

it seemed to pacify the guy at the time and neither

one of us owned it. He had a tech podcast. We

were covering geek culture. It was totally different.

Even then, I was willing to change it because

he just said, just throw another name in there

and you're fine. I was like, oh, okay. We'll

go that route. Really, all we did was we put

a space. Seriously, I just put into Google...

capital T, the, Geekcast, no space. So capital

G, capital C. And you know what the funny thing

is? First thing that comes up is all of our stuff.

Because years ago, they faded out. Oh, they did?

Okay. I wasn't sure if they were. Because there's

a new one. There's a network called geekcasts

.net. Okay, or the geek cast which was Aaron

Krakow Remember that yep. Yep. I remember. So

anyways, yeah, so the The the website geek casts

is Something I don't know. It's been around a

little bit. I don't know how long yeah, but Regardless

a lot of the geek websites have crappy websites,

but that's neither here nor there Uh, the, the

geek cask faded out in 2015. Oh, wow. Really?

Yeah. Wow. So I think he went, I think he sold

it. Okay. It went a different direction and then

they just kind of kiboshed it. But regardless,

we've had probably five shows get the name stolen

over the last six years and had to go and argue

with the people that no. We've had it before

you. The show is still going. I see this happen

all the time. It's not just our stuff. It's other

people's stuff. I see it happen all the time.

It's getting to the point where you end up in

this almost quasi -legal battle because where

you could get sued. And regardless of what happens,

whoever owned the name first is technically the

one that gets it. There are legal things you

can do. You can trademark the name, but it's

only for the one instance or the one name. And

you have to trademark the name separately from

the logo. It's not like a copyright where you

can do different things. Trademaking means that

they just can't use the name at all. Copyright

is kind of subjective. Like you can either register

it with the National Copyright Office or you

can put the copyright logo. Like you can put

the R for registered trademark if it's physically

trademark or like a registered copyright or something

like that. And the C for just, you know, you're

claiming the copyright on it based on, you know,

time. available. So anyways, recently, all things

Transformers, somebody was like, hey, somebody

stole your name on Twitter. And one of our avid

listeners of the podcast and was like, yeah,

they're stealing your name. And so I went and

did research, looked at it and I was like, oh,

yeah, they have. And they've been publishing

under it for a good six, eight months. And I

went over to there because it was like all things

transformers podcast or something like that and

it was it was on Just YouTube Yeah, see originally

when you showed this to me, I thought it was

just what they titled the video No, they had

different different programs on their network

Okay, and on their YouTube channel and all things

transformers was one of them and I I I did the

nicer thing in this instance. I couldn't find

their contact info, so I created a claim with

YouTube based on the fact that it's a name. I'm

like, look, we've got content dating back to

2008 with this name. I just said, all I'm requesting

is a name change on their behalf, and I will

drop the point where I'm going after them. And

I said I would have emailed directly had I had

direct email which I did get their actual email

from from doing that with YouTube and Super cordial

super nice guys It went really well, but it was

still kind of Yes is is all things transformers

kind of a cop -out. Yeah pretty much because

It pretty much means that I own the corner on

that title Yeah. And the thing of it is, is I,

like when we started, I was, I'm, I had the podcast

before you were even in the picture. So right.

No, absolutely. But I'm saying when I came in

onto it, when I, you know, approached you after

listening to various things and other people's

stuff for years. You know, when we first hooked

up, I don't want to say hooked up, but when we

first got together on Twitter in 2008, I know

why, and we'll say why you wanted all things

Transformers and Altered Geek and other things

later, but it's one of those things where, back

then, I'm old and bitter now, but now I'm more

of like, you know, that's my secret, Captain.

I'm always angry. I used to fly off the handle

back in the day. Oh, I remember I used to do

it too. No, absolutely. But like, okay, I found

this thing. So let, let me, like you just said,

let me approach these people if they have con

and that's the thing folks. Right now, if you're

hearing the sound of my voice and you have a

podcast on YouTube or wherever, and I, this is

a whole other discussion we can get into later.

If you have a podcast and it's only on YouTube,

it really isn't a podcast. Because the whole

point of podcast is it's on a pod catcher somewhere,

not just a video service. Whatever, it's, you

know. And that takes me to another thing that

kind of grinds my gears a little bit. People

trying to network their content. I love how,

whether you're on Facebook, whether you're on

Discord, whether you're on something like that,

somebody comes rolling in your direct messages

or your messenger and private message, whatever

you prefer to call it at this point, but they

come in and they roll up and they're like, hey,

I just want to invite you to this blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah, check out this, you know, and

they're not friends with you. They're not like,

it's like, I don't know you. It's like, yeah,

why? Why even? Like I get you're trying to promote

it. Like, yes, I generally don't care. Like I

don't, I don't have time. I am generally in servers

that. I want to be in. And. What's what's really

odd about it is within the last like week and

a half, I've had two different transformer groups

come after me. Not like after me after me, but

like. To invite me into their their fold. Okay,

and Not that I have a problem with them trying

to grow their stuff but like this one today goes

into all sparks in their direct messaging people

that are like active on the server and Asking

them, you know, like hey You know, sorry to bother

you. I have a transformer server with different

varieties of ranks Would you be interested in

joining that that was like one that I got today

and Okay, I was like what's the focus of it aside

from transformers? Like what is there an association?

What's what's the purpose of it? Like I don't

And so like Some of those things like I just

I don't care like I don't have time I'm on all

sparks. I don't care to be on TFWs I don't care

to be on the other ones because honestly I frequent

pretty much, I pick one transformer site and

that's like the one I go to for everything. Yes,

I use TFW for news, but as far as everything

else, I use AllSpark or I use like once in a

blue moon, like Tformers. I never use Cybertron.

I never use like some of these other ones that,

you know, have been around forever. Even back

in the day, I would pick a different one. So

going over to the others. side of it, like going

to the Facebook one, and you know this story

because I shared it with you. This individual

rolls into my messages and says, he's got two

mutual friends, Flint Dilley and Dennis Moulton.

I think he had like two or three others, but

I think they must have unfriended him or unfriended

me. I don't know. Anyways, his group disappeared

or he marked it private so I can't see it after

Afterwards, but I haven't seen him online either.

So I don't know what happened. Anyways, he rolls

in and he's like, Hey, check out our new TFs

group if you like would would be glad to have

you there. And I says, Hi, do I know you from

somewhere under a different name? Don't think

so, man. Okay, just wondered how you found me

was all I think we may have a mutual friend here."

I said, sounds good. I'll check it out. However,

I run ATTF and have been on that since 2008.

I was on TFWire prior to that. Good deal. There's

not too many of us out there. At least there

wasn't when I began last year. That was red flag

number one. Yeah. I said, well, as far as the

TF podcast, there's quite a few of those, but

I've been around the block for a while. He says,

I've noticed no more than a dozen at most, to

be honest, in comparison with reviewers. Generally,

it's a very small margin. which is why I think

I've had a good amount of success since I reinvented

my content, which is, by the way, his content

sucks. The audio quality is not crisp. There's

a little bit of layers in there when it's talking.

I'm not trying to be mean about it, but honestly,

don't come in here and act high and mighty. I'm

not saying I'm the best podcaster or I'm the

best sounding podcaster or the most well put

together, but at least be cordial when you're

trying to pump up your own crap. And so he says,

then again, maybe I'm not noticing a few, a lot

of these folks that attempt them simply don't

have very good speaking voices to begin with.

And I'm thinking, at this point I hadn't heard

him, so I didn't know that he sounded like this

when he's talking out of Bobcash. So I said true,

or they have poor editing, overlay with music

to cover up. the bad audio. I said, there's a

ton of reviewers, but as far as podcasts, there's

quite a few. He says, yeah, even with technical

drawbacks, there's no excuse for a podcast with

bad speaking voice. I mean, who wants to listen

to a weak voice drone on and on? I sent him that

blog .feedspot list, which we happen to have

three of the podcasts listed there. Yeah, they

have TFW as number one, which whatever, they

publish more stuff than a lot of people. I don't

think they publish as much as RFC anyway. But

Transmissions was there, RFC was there, ATTF

was there, Transformers Reanimated, Moonbase

2, Cybertrons, the TF Talk Network, Transformer

Chronicles, Transformer University, just from

some of the main ones there, the Autopod Decepticast,

the Beast Unleashed. This is actually how I found

the G2 podcast that I was listening to. The Transmissions

podcast is there, and then the RFC Newsdex TFG

-1. There's a Transformers Prime podcast, and

there's a couple other ones that I've never heard

of because they're pretty much one -offs. Anyway,

so I listed that, and he says, never listen to

or heard of most of them, to be honest. I've

seen that list, and I says, 85 % of them have

been around 10 to 20 years. He goes, under a

rock maybe. I says, no, they're mainstays in

the Transformers community, TFW, you know, all

things Transformers, Cybertron, Moonbase 2, RFC,

you know, transmissions. They've all been around

a long time. I mean, Radio Free Cybertron was

established in 1999. So I'm getting there and

he says, my man, I've been a part of the online

TF community since 97. Okay, so have I. I've

probably heard of six TF podcasts before I myself

was a podcaster. He says, yes, everyone knows

RFC. I says, I've been around since the same

time, and honestly, these have circulated a long

time. The toy reviewers and YouTubers have come

and gone like no other. I says, I can't stand

most of them. I said, Pia and Vault Matrix are

the few I can watch for reviews on the figures.

Half that list I've never heard of outside of

their websites association. He goes, okay, well.

I'm not going to argue with you about something

you're clearly convinced about. Hope to see you

in the group. If not, take care and good luck

with your show." I just gave the thumbs up like,

okay, whatever, dude. I don't want this. Recently,

I found a podcast that actually reviews other

podcasts. I don't want to get into that whole

thing, but I don't want this episode to turn

into that. No, no, no, no. It's just one of those

things where it's like... You you know you're

having a conversation with this person who says

that they've been around as long as you have

Yet, they don't know any of them any of these

mainstays. I've already had Two of the four or

five. I don't remember off top my head Transmissions

guys on all things. Well, that's the thing. We've

had most of these other guys on Yeah, yeah ATTF

or we've collaborated with them at some point

They've heard of none of us like okay. Maybe

you haven't heard of a TTF. Okay, but the other

ones I mean, yeah, I mean tfw .tfw2005 .com is

I mean, I don't listen to their podcast, but

at least I knew about it because it came out

around the same time as ours Yeah, I mean the

the website the podcast all of that is it like

you said at least I mean I had an account I created

there years ago and I rejoined the site last

year and my account still worked. Whereas like

Cybertron, I tried going back and my account

was gone and I was like, I don't know. Not that

I really cared to be there anyway, but it was

just, I don't know, too much overload. Anyways,

he comes rolling back in like an hour later.

I had dropped it at this point and archived it.

I was like, okay, whatever. I don't really care

to argue either. He goes, to be honest, I think

it's more than a little sad that you've been

in this that long and I haven't heard of you

or many of them. Meanwhile, myself on the other

hand, have been at it about six months and now

have the fastest growing Transformers podcast

on YouTube and Spotify. I says, well, according

to you, it is. I'd never heard of you or your

podcast until today. I've had ties with RFC,

Proto Man, Optibotamus, Piotr, AllSpark, TFW,

et cetera. So good for you. And then like he'd

not even seen that one before he disappeared.

But I think I'm pretty sure that either he booted

me from the group or the group disappeared. I

don't know which one, but I don't really care.

I honestly was going to leave it anyway, but

like it's it's humorous to me that The cocky

behavior of newbies coming in and, oh, I'm a

podcaster because I'm on YouTube and Spotify.

Just for fun, when I was sitting there telling

you about this whole diadrive on direct message

on Facebook, I was doing screenshots just for

fun, just because. So, so I sent you that and

you know, you sent me the term, you know, Transformers

on Spotify. And of course, you know, RFC and

TFU and Triple Takeover. And you know, like,

so I looked up Transformers on, on Spotify as

well. And under the podcast, it showed a bunch

of other people that were not even Transformers

related. But there was RFC, ATTF, AfterBuzzTV,

which I didn't even know had a podcast. I mean,

I've known about AfterBuzzTV. I did not know

they had a Transformers podcast. Yeah, I didn't

know that either. That's what I was getting at.

But it was humorous to me. And so I looked that

up and then I believe I sent you an image from

iTunes. It was a Google search. I typed in Apple

Podcasts, Transformers Podcast. The first one

comes up, ours, followed by RFC. Then I did an

Apple Podcast. I logged into the app. I typed

in Transformers Podcasts. Wouldn't you know it?

RFC, ATTF, or just for shows. Power of the Primes,

TF Talk Network, all of these other shows come

up. WTF at TFW, Transformers Reanimated, Autopod,

Transmissions. I was just going, okay guys, let's

compare notes here. Yeah so transmissions the

transmissions transformers podcast with big c

and darryl the sebertorian beast and jeremy aka

echo and all that they've been around. Nine eight

nine years i think they just celebrated their

nine year anniversary. I've known about them

since lady wreck and i first started talking

because charles used to do stuff on. Moon based

on the under base, which was a splinter off of

Moon base too. So I had known about them for

years. I had just never, because as a podcast

producer folks, half the time, unless I make

the time to do so, I was not listening to hardly

anything as I'm producing the content that we

produce. And I have to say out of all the, all

the transformers ones that I've listened to that

is not our stuff, because obviously I listen

to our stuff when I edit it and things like that.

I love transmissions. I think it's fun. I think

it's awesome. I think it's interesting. I would

say the hottest new transformers podcast right

now triple takeover is triple takeover because,

Oh my God, I have never. Been more refreshed

with a transformers podcast like it's on the

same levels as what tf wire was back in the day

and and other things and it's just so much fun

between six so mad and liam. Absolutely love

that that show. Absolutely love it. But getting

back to the whole name is the same thing when

I started I tried my best I Used to think if

somebody released a podcast episode on the topic

I had to wait Six months eight months a year

what because I don't want We actually did this

ourselves, sadly, during the Amazing Spider -Man

2 release in theaters. At one point, we had three

different episodes all about the Amazing Spider

-Man 2 back when it came out. And you know what?

It was more of a thing out of respect to, oh,

you've started this podcast, I'll wait until

you get whatever it took us forever to do. T

-SOP and LOTDK and all that because my podcast,

my personal podcast experience listening was

I was listening to Michael David Sims and James

Doe on Earth2 .net and their show World's Finest

Podcast and they were going through the entirety

of the DCAU cartoon stuff, Batman, Superman.

Batman Beyond Justice League all that well I

wanted to like I'm like okay well they have that

now and that's fine and I you know whatever we

can wait doesn't really matter and obviously

we've covered various things with those cartoons

over the years but I don't know I just I want

to be respectful in the podcast landscape I want

to be someone that people think that they can

come to for some of this advice stuff and as

far as the naming goes. Like you said, and like,

and I will actually have this video embedded

on the, on the post on the website, keycastradio

.com for those that don't know. You need to have

a unique name that speaks to you, branding that

you can do. You need to not like, there doesn't

need to be six different TFG one, two, three,

four, five, like. Well, there's a bunch of podcasts

now that are reviewing the same content we did.

I mean, they're just giving it a different name.

Right. Yeah, and that's fine. Like, again - Their

spin. Yeah. That's absolutely fine. For me, it

has to be like what I've noticed over the last,

I would say, seven years out of the time that

we've been doing this. I don't wanna create new

shows. If we had an idea to redo something or

revisit something. Okay, that's a cartoon. We

can do a six -episode miniseries on Tooncast.

Tooncast is already there, it's established,

it's been established since 2009. Whatever we

don't need a whole new feed. We don't need a

whole new this that the other thing and I've

been at our promotions game for the longest time

and most the time it works sometimes it doesn't

but most the time it works and You know, it is

what it is and whatever but you want to make

like with the pullback it took me Well when we

started doing comic reviews here on geek cast

radio, I had started with you and I had started

with Bolt matrix he was doing the spider -man

stuff with me because at the time the dance lot

run was Coming up to issue 700 and that was a

big deal and then obviously you hit me over the

head with jokers Death of the family Batman 13

That was in 2012. We didn't launch the pull bag

until March of 2013 I don't remember exactly

in 2012 because I'm not looking at my computer

right now as far as finding out when the Spider

-Man and the Batman 13 episode was. But I want

to say it was a good six months or more before

I actually came up with a name and figured out

what the basis of the pull bag was going to be.

And I went through all these different names.

We actually have old art. With it being called

the pull list, but there was, there was already

a show called the pull list and, and I think

I put it out on Twitter or maybe I put it on

the GCR forums, the staff forums that we used

to use that a lot of our collaborators would

be on with us and things like that. And I'm like,

I need a title. I need to catch you title and

I need it like now. And Michael Powers came up

with, what about the pull bag? I was like. Genius.

Let me check. Checked. There was nothing called

The Pull Bag at the time. And I was like, okay,

good. And in 2013, I was still living in Louisville,

Kentucky. My local comic shop was called The

Great Escape. And that's how my whole tagline

for The Pull Bag, how all that came about was

Make your great escape into comics and jump inside

the pull bag today, because you're supposed to

be jumping inside a bag full of comics. You're

supposed to be exploring with us, with whatever

reviews we might end up doing. And over the last

nine and a half years, because the pull bag just

hit its nine year anniversary back in March,

has the show expanded and grown? Yes. As far

as the content, yeah, I've changed things up

a bit here and there and I've done various things

with various hosts, but it's still comic reviews

and discussions and the discussions part comes

in with the origins. With those now 30 questions,

cause I had to revamp it in 2019. I wanted to

do a little bit more in depth with the origins

on the pull bag and we've been doing the origin.

I've been doing the origins on the pull bag for

the longest time. So. since you're one of the

pull bag. So it's one of those things where,

oh, cool. I now have this name. I now can brand

this show with, you know, jumping into the pull

bag or making your escape to comics or, you know,

this, that, that thing. And to my knowledge,

no one else has, you know, I, I'm sure that they'll

have like, oh, the, the Wednesday pull this or

the Wednesday pull that, but I'm pretty sure.

Yeah. I just searched the pull bag on Google

and the first thing that comes up is, is our

stuff. Like there is no, wow. The fifth, fifth

or sixth result down the pull bag. Listen to

podcasts on demand free tune in. I haven't heard

of tuning in a long time. I didn't even realize

they were still a thing, but yeah, I mean, and

our shows are everywhere. Our shows. I mean,

we do have the GeekCast Radio Network YouTube

channel that basically, you know, the service

that we use, you know, automatically, as long

as we choose to have them published there, they

go there. But for me, podcast is about listening.

Podcast is about audio. It's about being able

to do the dishes and listen to us talk about.

Whatever it is we're gonna talk about whether

it's batman whether it's superheroes whether

it's what's going on in our lives whether it's

a review show whether it's whatever. You know

and you have to have a name that you want to.

Be able to get to the point of alright this is

my name what's the best way i can promote my

new show. And there are so many podcasts now

in 2022 compared to hell even 2012 when we were

X number of years in at the time. But you know,

2008, 2009, it's changed and the market for podcasts

has flooded. So if anyone can take anything away

from this episode of GeekCast Radio that we're

recording here. Please do your research do a

google search come up with something that is

unique to you that is going to be interesting

for you to do as well as for you to then put

out there to see if people want to hear you talk

about it now i'm not saying that and say no one

wants to hear me talk about stuff for no one

wants to hear us talking about stuff for no one

wants to hear. Joe Schmo sitting next to me talking

about stuff. I'm saying that because the show

needs to be. Something that you first of all

has to be something you want to do. If you're

able to sit down and you know, sit in your chair,

right? And I'm, I'm going to just tap this for

a second, but you know, have your microphone

in the right place. That's the other thing we

talk about in a minute, but you know, have your

microphone in the right place. Have your. voice

ready, take a drink if you need to, take a breath,

go to the bathroom, whatever you got to do to

get yourself ready to sit down in front of that

microphone and press record and just do it. Yep.

Sometimes you can have, if you want to have a

format, have a format. If you don't want to have

a format, don't have a format. Whatever is going

to work for you is what you should do first.

Number one. Now there are shows that will go

through and say, Hey, what would you like to

hear? What would you like to hear us talk about?

Or we're thinking about these three things or

those three things or. You know, stuff like that.

And we've done this. We've done things on, but

I don't always rely on that because at the end

of the day, it depends on what I want to sit

down. And spend my time discussing with whomever,

not just you, not just, you know what I mean?

Like if you're not into it, then you shouldn't

do it. Yep. But the naming convention thing,

yeah, not all podcasts should be the same. Not

all podcasts should, you know, have the same

things going on and. Uniqueness. We all have,

we all remember the clicks in high school, the

jocks, the this, the that, the whatevers. We

can all get along. Exactly. We can all get along

and we can all, this isn't high school anymore.

And it shouldn't be made to feel that way. And

I'm not saying anyone is making us feel that

way. I'm just saying that. With how large the

podcasting space is you have to figure out your

corner. And if your corner grows into a wider

circle or triangle or insert whatever shape you

want it to be here great same thing with us even

though we've been at this since let's just say

since the network inception june of two thousand

nine i'm still back then. I want i want to record

with you kevin michael and maybe one or two other

people and that was it. X number of years later

i'm like i need to talk to everybody i don't

care who it is that's why i started. It's now

the gcr and origins cuz i'm you know explored

and applied the origins comic questions to multiple

other things obviously all things transformers.

We've got toy collector with toy cast questions

and, and all this and all that. So. You know,

things change over time and you know, you do

this long enough. When you find yourself needing

to be refreshed, you have to find yourself something

that is going to give you a new kick in the ass

and. Having a kick ass name for a podcast is

the best way to start when you start a podcast.

As long as it isn't like anything else that's

come before or whatever. Anything else with the

naming or the overall advice for doing podcasts?

I would just. ask that people just do their research,

do a Google search, do a Spotify search, do a

Apple podcast search, because sometimes people

don't submit their podcasts to multiple platforms.

Sometimes they only use Spotify, or they use

Anchor, or they use anchors tied into Spotify.

Check the big players, like check Google Podcasts,

check Spotify, check Apple Podcasts. Just do

the Google search. Just double check, because

there's no reason why there should be multiple

podcasts with the same name. Yeah. And again,

you want, like I've already said, that whole

separation of, like I said, you can have a format.

You don't have to have a format. It's not key.

My buddy Desmond Reddick, he runs Dread Media

over on Earth2 .net. And back on in February

of this year, he did a whole Twitter thread of

his top 15 podcasting tips. And I asked him,

I said, Hey, can I turn this into a blog post

on the website? Obviously I'll give you credit

and obviously I'll link to the thread on Twitter

and whatever else. And again, you know, his,

his tips are pretty much some of the same stuff

I've already said, but. Consistency is key. Be

as regular as possible. Don't overshoot your

intention. And he says, he also says that pod

fading is real. See number one, I've done it.

I've also not done it. It's pure will that presses

a podcast forward in a regular fashion. Remember

that all the big celebrity podcasts and most

of the small ones have a staff podcasting his

work. You know, don't eat. All the things that

we used to do, don't do them, folks. Looking

in, playing video games while you're recording?

Uh -huh. Yeah, I've been guilty of that. We got

a couple of ... We all have, yeah. I mean, you

used to do the clicking to begin with, but I

... Oh, yeah. I still do, but yeah. I mean, I

do it occasionally, but I don't ... When they're

hearing the ... Like this. Was playing I was

playing a video game while I was recording which

is not No, it's not okay and Even though podcasting

Still to this day remains a free Thing if you

want to just do it as a hobby Just do it as a

hobby if you want to be a machine like me be

a machine like me although My gears are very

rusty right now But you have to also invest a

little bit. Even though the whole hobby of podcasting

and the whole art of podcasting in general is

free, if you really want to take it seriously,

get a good microphone, get a good set of headphones,

and get an excellent web designer like Steve

Megatron. Steve at geekcastradio .com if anyone

wants. I try. I will admit the website is a little

dilapidated and that's because just life has

just beaten me up and I haven't had time to actually

do what I want with it. Yeah. But I mean, that's

the thing. And that's another reason why I wanted

to do this recording now with the whole thing

that we've already talked about. But you have

to find people that are each good or can get

good at things. Well, that's the other thing

that bothers me about some of these like these

newer podcasts their art is terrible And it's

not like in it in like I don't have a problem

necessarily with some of the naming But like

the art is just it just looks really bad And

and I'm not trying to beat up new newbies at

this is I mean sign up for a service like Canva

And they have templates that you can kind of

mess with and tweak. That's what I did with the

new Altered Geek logo. I actually used Canva

because I was trying to find something totally

different. Because once in a while, as a designer,

you get stuck in your own head. And you're like,

well, I've done this before, and I've done this

before. And I kept going back to the same font.

And I really liked the font. And granted, I still

like some of the older logos. But I was looking

for something totally different and yeah It was

able to give me some of those layering and dynamics

that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise and

so I would just say you know for people to check

that kind of stuff out because Some of those

services although you may not think that they're

going to help you all that much They're very

helpful when you're in a bind and you don't know

what to do Yeah, and my thing about bringing

this up is is that I have one set of skills You

have one set of skills we kind of even though

I learned the editing thing over time Because

in the beginning I was like nope. I'll sit down.

I'll press record. I'll talk you do all that.

Yeah, I hate it eventually Well, it's funny because

we went from from separate recording tracks to

Mesh sky recording tracks to separate recording

tracks again. Yeah, but the technology is so

much better than when we started because we hadn't

recorded on our own ends, whereas now they're

all browser -based. Yep. Zencaster, I love you.

I love that, and I love Discord as well. I don't

want to sit here and dish on Discord, but it

is what it is. Well, the problem is Microsoft

bottom. There you go. That was the problem with

Skype. Stay away from Zencaster. No, no, no.

Don't stay away from ZenCaster. Oh, yes. Microsoft.

Don't you dare. Leave ZenCaster alone. Wait a

minute. Oh, right. He's talking about that. I

have tried learning art. I've tried to learn

art since elementary school. I just can't. So

that's kind of my point in saying I have one

set of skills. You have one set of skills. Let's

bring them together. You know, form Voltron,

become a Power Ranger, whatever you want to call

it, but let's combine our talents and make the

best sounding, the best looking thing we can

make, whether it's art or whether it's audio

or whatever. And, and yeah, I mean, it all. boils

down to doing what you want to do, but putting

in the work of figuring out what is going to

be so unique for you and for your listeners.

There are not just the celebrity ones, but even,

even the indie, like, like we already said, I

can name at least. Ten if not twenty of course

and I was kind of my toes but I can name at least

ten podcasts that are transformers based including

us. That talk about the news now not every transformers

podcast talks about the news in the same way

but most of the time if we're trying to keep

up. We all like the recent has bro whatever it

was twenty twenty two virtual panel thing. Every

single Transformers podcast I pay attention to

released an episode about that fan virtual event

or whatever the hell it was, even us. So there

are plenty of voices in the podcasting space.

You have to make sure that yours is unique enough

to stand out and get noticed. And that's one

of the reasons why, again, I absolutely love

Triple Takeover because I've never heard a transformers

podcast the way that those guys do their stuff

and so cool so fun. The name of the game is podcasting

folks and you know make it unique make it interesting

and keep the content coming if that's what you

want to do with it if you wanna publish weekly

do that if you wanna publish by weekly do that

if you wanna be a monthly show do that. As I've

already said, consistency is key. All right,

I think we've jabbered on. Beat that with a shovel?

Shovel? Who would kill you to raise a shovel?

What you doing with that shovel, buddy? I was

in Philadelphia! Anything else you would like

to say, anything else you have on your mind that

you want to bring up here on Geekcast Radio,

sir? No, I think that we're good. Okay. That's

going to do it for us here on Geekcast Radio.

Where can the people find you online, sir? They

can find me on the Twitter, at SCP -21. I am

at TF2 and Mike. You can also follow at Geekcast

Radio for all the other network updates. And

unleash the geek in you. We will catch you next

time. Nobody bye bye. Everybody whoop -de -woo.

All right, folks. That's going to do it for us.

What the hell I'm doing anymore? Respect my authority!