Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jason V. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jason thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I was working in the radio industry when I started my podcast so I had a leg up on other podcasters. I had access to a professional grade studio for recording interviews, and one of the higher ups at iHeartRadio showed me the ropes with Adobe Audition. As for everything else that it takes to make a podcast run (booking guests, social media, conducting interviews etc.)…I had to learn it all by myself. It was time consuming and I’d get frustrated because my skill level didn’t match up with how I envisioned the podcast.
Knowing what I know now, I could have taken an online course on audio production or read more books about it. 10 years after starting my podcast I still consider myself a novice audio engineer/editor, and I routinely make mistakes when conducting interviews. However from mistakes comes the wisdom and experience to not make them again, so in a weird way maybe I HAD to go the route I did to get to where I’m at today.
The most essential skill needed for podcasting is PATIENCE. Your podcast isn’t going to blow up overnight, you aren’t going to be raking in the dough from the get go, and there will be times you’ll either get ghosted or just rejected for interview opportunities. Take these in stride and understand that if you keep at it, you’ll look up one day and realize where you are now, is where you wanted to be when you started your journey.
The biggest obstacle that stood in my way of learning more was a lack of resources. I was broke when I started my podcast and working on a shoestring budget forces you to be creative and also be content with what you have. Even though I’ve made great strides in my podcasting career, I still have to do everything myself because I haven’t been able to obtain funding to invest back into the podcast (yet)….a final piece of advice, copyright your stuff and get an LLC. That’ll open you up to grant opportunities that may not be covered by your local arts organizations.
Jason, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started podcasting back around 2014-2015. I was working 7 days a week at the time. Monday through Friday I worked for iHeartRadio in Baltimore City, then on the weekends I worked the overnight shift for a news station down in Washington, DC. My schedule was like this for about 2 years straight, and one day it all caught up to me. I was falling asleep at work and once my shift was over something told me to take a nap, but I was more concerned with going home and making breakfast.
I got on the road and drove from DC back home to Baltimore. When I got inside the city I was at a red light and an instant later I snapped awake and found myself driving across the grassy median into oncoming traffic. Thankfully I didn’t hit anyone else, but my car popped the curb and I slammed into a traffic light pole (which by the way cost $600 because the city billed me for it). I was knocked unconscious for a few moments and when I came to, I had to shove my car door open. But something felt…off. ‘
As I stepped out of my car I tried to move my right leg but I couldn’t. I looked down and saw my ankle was completely broken; my right foot was at a 90 degree angle so the bottom of my foot was “pointing” to the right, I sat, then lie (lay?) down on the ground and eventually went into shock.
One of the silver linings about my accident, I was right by UM Medical Center’s Shock Trauma unit. I was taken to the hospital and from there had surgery to fix my ankle. After staying in the hospital a few days I was released and went home. I couldn’t walk, drive, and so I couldn’t work. Most of that summer was spent in my studio apartment, watching Netflix and using other drugs to substitute the opiates they gave me (and I ended up flushing them after I found myself taking more and more to help me sleep).
I was a big fan of NPR at the time and had listened to some of their podcasts like Hidden Brain. I had a podcast app installed on my phone so I started browsing and eventually landed on a podcast called Startup. It told the story of a radio journalist who left his job to start his own podcast company, and it inspired me to start my own.
Being from Baltimore (County), it always frustrated me when I travelled and told people where I was from. Baltimore is a beautiful and dynamic city but we are cursed with the “single story”, and certain HBO shows have given us a certain reputation. I decided to start a podcast that’d tell a more positive story of Baltimore and show the city in a different light, and thus Local Color was born.
I think what sets me apart from other podcasters is what I’m doing is in service of the city I love. I want the nation and the world to know there’s more to Baltimore than The Wire (which by the way ended almost 15 years ago). I focus on Black artists an entrepreneurs because Baltimore is one of the few remaining majority Black cities in America, and no one is telling their stories. Lately, I’ve expanded to include the DMV region as a whole. I’ve made it my mission to turn Baltimore and the DMV into the next great cultural epicenter.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
How to Win Friends and Influence People and The Art of Public Speaking – Dale Carnegie
The Power of Habit – Charles DuHigg
The 48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene
Steve Jobs – Walter Issacson
I frequently listen to podcasts or interviews with entrepreneurs so I can hear their story and absorb their wisdom. I remember listening to interviews with Ira Glass. He played a story he reported on about some benign topic, corn tortillas or something. In the interview he revealed he thought the story sucked, and this was after he’d been working at NPR for 8 years. He explained that you have to keep going because (if you’re lucky) your skill level will never match how you WANT yourself to sound, but you’ll get to a point where people will be looking up to YOU as a model of success. In short, keep going.
Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
NFTs are a scam, and web 3.0 is shaping up to be a colossal failure because people have too much money and not enough vision. Notice how only extremely lucky people, people that already have a large platform, or rich people were the ONLY ones who could capitalize on NFTs? They were never made for us; it was a digital gold rush and everyone thought they’d strike it rich. Now we have pictures of yellow toothed monkeys wearing a hat, worth $10 and at a time they sold for $100,000.
Contact Info:
- Website: localcolorpodcast.com
- Instagram: @localcolorpodcast
Image Credits
Ijeoma Agwu