The Only Thing We Have to Fear

created by AJ Szymanowski

Much like agonizing over starting this blog almost 13 years ago, I agonized over a new project.

A podcast.

Well, I published the first episode a few minutes ago.

It's been rolling in my brain for a few months. I love sports. I love sports play-by-play. I'm a historian (an historian? Grammar experts seem to debate that one) when it comes to a lot of this stuff.

Or just a savant. Or an idiot.

Anyway, I got the idea to pick out play-by-play calls from throughout history and break it all down.

My intention is to play the clip (or clips) and place it in its proper time, discussing the top hits (music and movies) of the day, culture, the broadcasters themselves, and whatever else pops into my mind.

I'll also veer away from sports for other moments in time.

To be clear, this is NOT a part of #Project365 (and John Nash, stop being stubborn. It's still #Project365. Missing a day just means post something else. Double up. Or do like I did and create a couple of backup posts).

With the incoming storm (many schools have already canceled classes tonight), I took the weekend to really put the podcasting process into high gear.

In truth, I had been thinking about it for some time. First came the concept, and I think that's still a work in progress. It will evolve for sure.

Next came the theme music. Again, it's a work in progress. I keep hearing jazz on the podcasts that I listen to and felt that highlighting historical audio leaned into the wheelhouse of Duke Ellington and Count Basie and Benny Goodman.

Of course, The Duke, The Count, and Benny would no doubt like a fee for the use of their songs. So I scoured the interwebs for royalty-free music until I stumbled on Swing Has Swung, by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com.

Catchy tune, for sure. I'm still not sure if it's what I want, and that's one of the many things that I'm open to discussing.

When you have a sound in your head (or a concept), it's hard to get around it.

Next came the title. I really didn't tell anyone about the concept until recently. Then I brainstormed with a few people.

I liked the idea of working in the booth/microphone/headset idea, but booth can also apply to a "radio booth" at a station, and broadcast booth/press box. Tales From The Crypt came to my mind -- a nod to my favorite horror writer  (buy her books here) -- and thus a title was finally born.

Tales From The Booth.

Then I had to submit that to a podcast host. Whooshkaa won because, well, they're free. They're also pretty easy. That matters. Thanks to Rachel Corbett for the suggestion (she doesn't know me, but that's OK. I still give props).

Now it was time to write the script. I sat down with my trusty (not really) MacBook and began writing. Three pages later, I had the foundation of what I wanted to say.

Robcasting Radio, created by AJ Szymanowski

In the middle of writing a script, I realized that I needed a logo. I had my Robcasting Radio/Media logo that AJ Szymanowski created for me back in 2017, but he, of course, came roaring back with what you'll see for the actual show. The Robcasting logo can stay on my profile page.

I needed to pull together that audio that I wanted, so I worked my way through what I had and what I needed to record.

Finally, it was time for me to put the vocal track down. After a few false starts (the outtakes have been deleted), I had a vocal that was ready for editing.

So began the placing of the historical audio and the nitpicking. There was something I left out, so I had to do a little more recording, as well as the recording of other audio (I'm giving nothing away so you have to listen).

With the edits finished, I texted a friend and messaged another. My main point was fear.

"It's too short. It's not that interesting." And so on.

"Nonsense," essentially, was the response.

I thought I'd send them the audio, and let them hear it for themselves, but the Whooshkaa upload process was simple. So was applying to iTunes and Spotify and TuneIn.

Now it's on Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn.

What had I done?

All of a sudden, I was officially a podcaster. It was live.

I felt naked.

This is about right.

I did a list of "thank yous" at the end, and, full disclosure, I forgot some names. Damn. I wanted to thank Susan, Shawn, AJ, and others who have encouraged me. I should have mentioned Mick (who is a fervent blog reader and one of my closest friends. He's constantly making sure that I'm OK, and I owe him a huge apology for not mentioning him. John Nash also, but he's in this whole "Project364" thing, so I'm less forgiving).

Anyway, apologies if I forgot you. I'm quite nervous about it all.

So it's out there for the world to listen to. It's only 16 minutes, and maybe I'll do more. Maybe less. Maybe I'll never do it again. I really don't know.

But I tried.

FDR was right. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Which will likely also be featured on a future episode of Tales From The Booth.

Without any further ado, here's episode one.