On December 14th, 2014, I followed up on a note I had written in my weekly log "check out podcasts- what are they?", and listened to an episode at a history podcast (I googled 'history podcast') titled 'The Djatlov Pass Incident'. I was blown away by the story they told of a group of Russian students who had formed a ski team to trek into the Urals- and they never returned.
I was transfixed. In that 1 hour presentation I found what I had been missing professionally for years- the opportunity to research historical events, to create audio entertainment for curious minds, to give listeners a real sense of true history, and to uncover legends and lore from past human experience. I set myself to work learning how to create a podcast, how to edit, how to add background music and effects, how to interview guests, and all that was needed to create something people would enjoy and want more of. That took months, and years- learning everything from how to pace myself (too fast, Jon, way too fast), how to voice dialog, how to edit sound levels, how to edit at anything above a snail's pace...etc. I think I had maybe 500 listeners after three months- God Bless you for staying with me. It must have taken patience but you did. Our first two episodes were "John Wayne Goes To Harvard" and "Gremlins".
I picked the theme that so many of you have asked about to go with those first episodes and we still use it today. Its called 'A Hero Is Born' by Jon Wright, and I paid for the rights for it. Most podcasters don't use 30 seconds of music (probably a wise decision)but I liked it so much I stuck with it. 570 something episodes later its still here.
I work (if you can call it work) every day at home and I'm very strict about not wasting time or getting sidelined-so I stay off the phone, spend 45 minutes at lunch, enjoy two Clementine oranges at breakfast with coffee, and I have two laptops here in the office, keeping both busy, with one recording radio shows for our radio podcasts, and the other for me recording and later editing audio. It takes two long days to research and write 1001 Heroes, about 2 hours to lay down the audio, and about 2-3 hours to edit an hour long episode. I love all of it- especially the research. I must have been a newspaper journalist in a former life with an eye for mysteries, splashy headlines, cover-ups, paranormal events, and legends.
I was asked once "How did you come up with the name of that podcast? I listed about 25 categories I wanted to research. First, my goal was to do 1001 stories. Then I narrowed my choices down to Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries. At the time, I never dreamed of doing a second podcast. What a terrific journey 1001 Heroes has been!