Why Start a Podcast?
“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
― Mark Twain
In 2019, I started to go crazy listening to podcasts every moment I had. On the train, driving, just leaving something on while I’m running my errands. I’d confidently say that I have spent a massive amount of time multi-tasking with a podcast playing in the background. As with most men, I started with the Joe Rogan Experience as basic as that might sound. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of his comedic style so I was not a fan of him nor was I a fan of Fear Factor and all that crap. What brought me to JRE was his interview with Jujitsu mastermind John Danaher. From there, I fell down the JRE rabbit hole and next thing I know I clocked in hundreds of hours listening to the show.
I mean this little experience listening to their conversation about a sport I was super-interested in really opened my mind about podcasts especially just having real, raw conversations. I was hooked.
Soon enough, as I started to learn more through the conversations on his podcasts, my listening expanded. As his friends, or more, would come onto his show and talk about their OWN podcasts and I will always give those shows a listen. Sooner or later, I’m following 100 over podcasts and finding it hard to keep up with most shows today.
I personally split these podcasts up based on my mood. Sometimes I just want something feel-good or brainless and I’ll listen to Tigerbelly.
Sometimes I’ll listen to something from Lex Fridman or Jordan Peterson.
These podcasts have given me some crazy perspectives that have opened my mind far beyond who I was just a few years before. Mainly because I saw THEIR development as people as well. As hosts, sometimes they go into an episode with a perspective and throughout the conversation, debate, share, and sometimes change the way they think. This was something I was fascinated by and could not wait to listen to.
I then started to look around in the local/regional scene. I was curious as to what people are doing and talking about in this area of the world. To my surprise, there were some awesome people producing fantastic content out there & growing. I personally kept saying I wanted to start one myself but procrastinated due to my poor technical knowledge and the thought of editing, etc just put me off the whole idea.
It was a few months pre-covid that I decided to jump right in. I didn’t have a plan but I wanted to do a podcast whereby we would watch a football match LIVE. Giving live reactions as well as talk about all things football. To be honest, when the match was rocking, like the Manchester United 1–6 Tottenham match, the podcast would have actually appealed to a wide audience. But something we realized was that there was no guarantee that the matches we watched would be good and therefore that episode of the podcast would be dull and forced. So we scrapped this idea due to this challenge as we felt that we’d find it hard to keep going with topics, etc and we also didn’t really have connections to local footballers to maybe make the podcast a little more exciting for fans.
From there, I went to the drawing board to decide on what to do with all that equipment I had invested money in. I called a couple of buddies of mine who I felt could give varied opinions and experiences to see if they would be interested in this. My biggest worry was their reliability and ability to commit at least one day a week for free! A problem I still struggle with today! But seeing that I can’t pay them, it was just an issue that I needed to just keep going and adapting to.
Something I felt was lacking in Singapore was unscripted and unfiltered conversations. Companies like Mediacorp monopolizing the larger industry and IMDA being the driving force policing content they determined was not good for Singapore. Therefore a very paper-cutter format of creating content started to dominate the scene. That’s why when youtube powerhouses started to pop up, their content was consumed so largely most of the OG’s are likely to be multi-millionaires today.
We have become so accustomed to this picture-perfect way of creating things that 9/10 areas of our art/creative scene is corporate focused. So I decided that this would be about adapting, creating and just putting content out there. Money or fast growth was just not going to be a thing we put in the forefront. It would be about experiences, conversations and the people we meet.
The name Drunken Ramblings, was inspired from my co-host Ivan. Who by day, was the most polite, soft spoken and PG 13 in every sense of the word. But throw a couple of drinks in him and he turns into this crazy monster of a human being. Sexist. Racist. Abusive. He basically turns into Hitler on Crack.
Today we are 30+ episodes in. We don’t do pre-interviews. We focus on spontaneity and we have a very low filter on our podcasts. Mainly because we have no expectations or motivations going into each episode, it allows us a lot of leeway and flow during each recording. Overall we want to enjoy, laugh and we want our guests to feel the same. Not only that, we want the people we talk to leaving our show feeling like they have made some new friends.
My other goal is to keep close with other podcasters in Singapore and hopefully once borders open, regionally. I have a personal goal to build a larger podcast community where we will always be somehow or in some way supporting each other for the better.
I can say that we have a lot to improve on as none of us are professional hosts or talks show hosts or whatever, aside from Joel. But it has been an awesome learning experience for each of us and I hope that my co-hosts are learning and trying to improve in their own ways as well. We are all on our own personal journeys after all.
“I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.”
― Alberto Salazar
To me the podcast has grown into a form of networking on a higher and deeper level where I am able to build a stronger and lasting relationship with each person. Thinking back, this has something I have hoped for in every “job” I’ve joined in the past always failed to achieve. For some reason, I just never got that goal checked off my list due to the nature of work here in Singapore. However just by doing this pod, I can say with full confidence that I not only have met the most people I have met in years, but I have also learned a massive amount from each person.
Whatever your goals might be when starting a podcast. I think it is important you are clear and honest about them. If you are doing it for financial reasons, then you have to run and execute things strictly like a business. This is an aspect I am learning will one day explore as well. If you are doing it to grow a community, that’s a different take as well and so on and so on. Each reason is unique on it’s own while also requiring a very different set of expectations in the process to stay motivated. As it’s a very…won’t-see-reward-unless-you-have-a-USP/connections/backed by a bigger company/loads of finances- kinda thing.
I mean if you are not enjoying what you do. Then sooner or later, it will be obvious to audiences. It’s hard to do & I still don’t know what I am doing or if I am right or wrong in any way but my expectations are clear & simple. So I’m happy!
Who cares what people think?
“There are two fatal errors that keep great projects from coming to life:
1) Not finishing
2) Not starting”
― Buddha Gautama
Reach out to us at TDRPod@gmail.com
For feedback, suggestions, anything really.
https://linktr.ee/TDRPod
Ernie
