The podcast is getting kind of a reset..‪.‬ Odd Dad Out

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 mino