https://odddadoutpodcast.com/reboot

(This is the long version of the blog post linked above and written below.)

Time away to think
Being away from the podcast for these last few months has given me some time to think about what I want to do with things. Honestly, the way the world is right now made me seriously reconsider whether or not I should come back to the podcast at all. In the last year I have struggled a lot with, besides just getting content out, coming up with topics to cover on the show. I haven’t listened to a great number of new podcasts lately to offer many new recommendations. Much like Bandrew Scott from Podcastage, I’ve noticed that it’s become increasingly difficult to avoid political topics when covering any type of news. And when I do find news to cover, I get accused of racism because of the ethnicity of the people in some of the stories.

Just as a tangent: I don’t care if you’re black, white, brown, green, orange, purple, red, yellow, blue, or polka dot. (But for some of those you really may want to seek medical attention.) If you do something seriously humorously dumb, I’m gonna make fun of you. It’s not about YOU it’s about the stupid thing that you did. Next time, don’t inject fruit smoothies into your veins and I won’t make fun of your dumb ass, ok? I’m not going to avoid making fun of someone over their race, the same as in not going to choose to make fun of someone because of their race. And if you think I’m being biased or discriminatory based on the news I cover, that’s your opinion, and you’re free to have it. (Unless you live in one of those places where having the wrong opinion can cost you your job or your life.)

But it’s fun and funny to me pointing out some of the completely idiotic things that people do sometimes, and it’s something I intend to continue doing for as long as I can still find news stories of people being jackasses.

Things were getting stale

Honestly, I feel like, in 2020 the show got stale. I covered less news. I featured fewer podcasts. There were next to no guests all year. And, I really didn’t have much to talk about besides home schooling through Covid and gardening.

I don’t really feel like most of the episodes of this year were very good. To tell you the truth, one of my favorite episodes this year was my mini bonus episode for International Podcast Day. Hearing all the podcasting stories from people was just fun. But for most of the year, I was just too tired and stressed to give the show the attention it needed to be entertaining. I neglected the news and the recommended listening segments in favor of just long ramble sessions, and I made no effort to secure my previously regular guest conversations.

Starting fresh while keeping things the same
I don’t have a date yet for when the podcast will be back. But I can say that while some things will be changing, the core of the show will stay the same.

I’ve been working on creating a new original theme for the show. If you’re a long time listener, you’ll have figured out that I like to tinker with different creative outlets. Recently I’ve been trying my hand at making music. I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years, but have never really tried writing my own music, so this is both exciting and super scary.

Along with the new theme, I’m intending to create new bumpers for the different segments of the show.

At the same time, I’m planning on keeping the same core segments of the show. I’ll be working harder to ensure that every episode has a podcast review/recommendation and at least one news story to make fun of. Although I’m probably going to drop the jackass of the week title. And of course I will still have my personal catch up stories and adventures. But I may also start digging into some parenting articles and giving my snarky assessment of them, just to add a little more “Dad” to the show from time to time.

All of those parts are pretty minor, but I’ve saved the most drastic for last.

The big changes

Around the start of the year, I’m going to be doing a kind of purge of the website. Purge may not be the right word exactly. I’m going to do a sort of reset of podcast features and I may be removing and archiving some of the early episodes from before the format was more established.

With the restart I’m going to start my podcast features over from scratch. Over the years, many of the shows I’ve featured have drastically changed, or ended completely, or I simply don’t listen to them anymore. So I want to give a fresh review to many of these shows for those that may not have heard me talk about them before. With that, I’m also planning to start writing out my podcast feature reviews as a separate post on the website for better accessibility. I may also start doing more traditional reviews for shows that I may not be subscribed to personally but were suggested to me. I may even open up things to review submissions from others. There could even be a rating scale… Or not…

Schedule change
The biggest change may or may not be permanent. For the time being, with the relaunch of the show, I am going to be taking the show to a bi-weekly release. This will give me more time to collect news to “discuss” and to write more complete show notes and those new longer podcast reviews. It also will help reduce the stress of having to do all of this while still working and being a father and husband. (That’s gotta come first after all.)

It’s all for the best
Being away this long has been very difficult, both because I miss doing the show but also because it’s made me question whether or not I should bring it back. Ultimately I love this podcast too much to give it up completely, but I had to find a way to continue with it and still maintain my sanity. (Or whatever passes for sanity from me.) I know I need to take it more seriously if I want the show to grow at all. It’s a labor of love, but it’s still a lot of labor. If the show is going to survive, I’ve got to make it work, and right now these changes can make it work better.

So, long story short, the show is coming back with changes and a new schedule that will hopefully make it better for everyone.