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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my first podcast, The Fringe Podcast won the 2010 Podcast Award for the best entertainment podcast, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.
“The Academy of Podcasters 2017 winner of best TV & Film podcast goes to…The Blacklist Exposed.” As those words echoed through the Platinum Ballroom at the Anaheim Marriott hotel, I gasped with shock and excitement. I quickly hit record on my phone to capture the moment Troy Heinritz and Aaron Peterson made their way from our row, to the aisle, and on to the stage. It was a huge accomplishment to win the award, and they were deserving of the honor.
The win marked the second podcast award for the Golden Spiral Media podcast network, but I couldn’t take any of the credit. I’d simply given Troy and Aaron a place to host their podcast, they were the ones that had done all the work. Countless hours of watching episodes, recording and editing episodes, building relationships with listeners and forming a devoted community. They worked to build relationships with sponsors, created their own fundraising efforts, even built trusted relationships with the show runners and cast of The Blacklist. It was great to see all their hard work recognized in this way. They were very gracious and thoughtful in their acceptance speech. They even mentioned my name from the stage and shared their appreciation of my support.
A few minutes later it was time to award the winner for the History category. This time I had my phone ready so I could record the entire process. The host approached the mic and said, “The Academy of Podcasters 2017 winner of best History podcast goes to…Ben Franklin’s World.” YES!!! Liz Covart, the founder and host of Ben Franklin’s World started the podcast about early American history in 2014, and entrusted my company for her podcast production the following year. Liz had set a new standard for how history could be taught, and it was amazing to see her recognized. Once again, Liz was very kind and thorough in her acceptance speech, even mentioning my name and company as part of it.
The awards ceremony could not have gone better up to this point, but my night wasn’t done. Jen Briney, host of Congressional Dish, was another of my clients, and her podcast was a finalist in the News & Politics category. I looked at my phone and realized it was about to die. I was certain that Jen would win her category, and there was no way it had enough juice left to record Jen’s acceptance speech. Looking down at the program, I was fairly confident that I had enough time to run up to my room, grab a battery bank, and return to the ceremony before Jen’s category was announced.
I quickly made my way to the aisle and speed walked to the back of the room. I emerged out to the ballroom lobby and set my focus on getting up to my room as quickly as possible. As I put one leg in front of the other, I headed toward the hallway to the hotel. Then from behind me I suddenly heard someone say, “Are you Darrell?” Shocked and puzzled, I stopped in my tracks. As I turned to see the face behind the voice, my mind quickly ran scenarios on who it would be. Surely it was someone from the audience who’d seen my booth on the exhibit floor, heard my name mentioned by the winners from the stage, and wanted to talk to me about helping them with their podcast. My head swelled as I imagined myself as a celebrity podcast producer.
Finally my gaze met his and I replied with a puzzled, “yes?” He replied, “Darrell from The Fringe Podcast?” What? That was the LAST thing I expected him to say. The Fringe Podcast had not been mentioned from the stage. The Fringe Podcast was retired and hadn’t put out a new episode in years. I was confused.
Again with a confused tone in my voice, I confirmed that I was indeed Darrell from The Fringe Podcast. He told me his name and how he was an avid listener to the podcast back in the day. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of meeting many listeners of The Fringe Podcast over the years, and I can honestly say that I have tried my best on every occasion to be present and mindful during those interactions. I want to show them how much I appreciate their support and how much I value them as people.
Unfortunately, that was not the experience I gave this guy. I was in a hurry. I needed to get up to my room, grab my battery pack, and get back to the ceremony. They weren’t going to hold up until I got back, and I did not want to miss the opportunity to capture Jen’s win. I tried my best to be friendly and end the conversation quickly. The conversation was over soon, I raced up to my room, grabbed my charger, raced back to the ceremony, and arrived just before the News & Politics category. Sadly, Jen did not win. All of that rushing around and brushing off of the listener for nothing.
As I reflected on that moment in the lobby, I deeply regretted my behavior. I’d been aloof, distracted, awkward, and impersonal. I couldn’t recall his name or a single detail about our conversation. I felt horrible and wished I could go back in time to show him the respect he deserved. Alas, no flux capacitors could be found. I would have to live with and learn from that regret. But that’s not today’s lesson.
The following year, Podcast Movement was held in Philadelphia. Once again, I purchased booth space for my company in the exhibit hall. One afternoon as I was standing at my booth, a dark haired man with a beard and black glasses approached. He reached out his hand to shake mine and I reciprocated. He told me his name was Dallas. He explained that he was the guy that approached me at the podcast awards the previous year, and he wanted to apologize for his awkward behavior!
I couldn’t help but laugh. I told him that I was the one that owed him an apology. I explained all that I had going on in that moment and apologized for not giving him the attention he deserved. Each of us satisfied that we were both awkward nerds, we settled into the conversation. He told me how much he’d enjoyed The Fringe Podcast, and that it had inspired him to start his own podcast. That podcast turned out to be Twenty Thousand Hertz, and I was speaking to the man himself, Dallas Taylor.
I don’t expect most of you to know about Twenty Thousand Hertz, but hopefully some of you do. It’s a groundbreaking podcast that explores sound. It’s expertly crafted and has become one of the most popular podcasts on the planet. For those of you who do know his podcast, it’s probably no surprise that Twenty Thousand Hertz has won 6 podcast awards. I’m writing this episode in mid-May, and purely coincidentally, this week Apple featured Dallas on the front page of Apple Podcasts as one of their Creators We Love. Since that clarifying encounter in Philadelphia, I’ve run into Dallas several times at various podcast conferences. We’ve shared some fun conversations, and we have a great deal of mutual respect for the work we’re each doing.
Here’s what I learned.
In the sporting world there’s something known as the coaching tree. Think of it like a family tree, where coaches trace their lineage back to their roots. For example, in college football Bill Snyder is considered to have one of the best coaching trees in history. Bill Snyder had several assistant coaches go on to become head coaches. Among those assistants was former Oklahoma head coach, Bob Stoops. Bob Stoops has his own coaching tree with names like Bo Pelini, Mike Leach, Kevin Sumlin, Lincoln Riley, Kliff Kingsbury, and Brent Venables. Each of those men have their own coaching trees, and it will go on for infinity.
Like coaching, I’ve been around podcasting long enough to realize it too has trees. I started podcasting largely because of Cliff Ravenscraft. I don’t know of many that have a larger tree than Cliff. He inspired and directly helped start thousands of podcasts. Those podcasters, myself included, have our own trees. My tree not only includes Dallas, but other podcasters like Mark, Jeremiah, Blake, Emilee, Bradley, Robert, Barb, Chris, Mandy, and many others.
When I started podcasting in 2008, I never once thought that I might one day inspire someone else to become a podcaster. In times like these, I like to play the what if game. The quick version of it goes something like this: What if I’d never started my podcast about Fringe? What if JJ Abrams had never created Fringe? What if Cliff had never started his podcast about the TV show LOST. What if JJ had never been brought in to fix the original script for LOST?
In this way, I can say that if JJ had not created LOST, I would not be podcasting today. I wouldn’t have had a podcast to inspire Dallas, a network to host Aaron and Troy, or a production company to help Liz and Jen. Fortunately, those people did do those things. They planted the seeds of an idea that grew and sprouted branches. Those branches dropped seeds that were planted in the hearts of others. Those seeds became trees of their own and they sprouted branches, and the cycle continues to this very day inspiring new people to do new things.
It’s not just the seeds that are planted, it’s the fruit that is grown. When I look at this podcast, I consider episodes like “Making Magical Memories” to be a good example of the fruits of my podcasting labor. But episodes and the content I make is not my very favorite thing about podcasts. No, my very favorite thing is the people. By that, I definitely mean that list of names I mentioned before and the other people who I’ve met over the years that have told me how much my podcasts have meant to them. Of course, I think of Linda, whose story I share in episode 341, “The Arrival of White Tulips.”
So what about you? Have you been thinking about starting a podcast? If so, maybe you’re stuck because of all the what ifs: what if I say something stupid, what if no one listens, what if I can’t figure out how to do it, what if I run out of ideas… Those are the wrong what ifs. What if you DON’T do it? What if you don’t share your story? What if you don’t make those personal connections? What if you don’t exhibit courage? What if you don’t plant your tree?
Maybe it’s not a podcast. Maybe you’ve been thinking about writing a book, recording an album, starting a blog, volunteering at a school, adopting a child, teaching a class, attending church, starting a conversation with the new kid at school, or starting your own business. Stop asking “what if I do” and start asking “what if I don’t.” Then get out there and plant your tree.
I’m Darrell Darnell, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
I want you to be a part of the next Monday Mailbag on July 29th! Monday Mailbag is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can send in questions or responses to my SILY episodes, and I’ll respond to them via Monday Mailbag episodes. You can participate in Monday Mailbags by visiting the Golden Spiral Media listener feedback page.