LIVING CYBER:
"Our first online podcast was probably sometime in April of 2008," recalls Shelly B of Shelly, Bruce and Mark from Recovery 101 Radio Show . "The show was originally a terrestrial radio, scripted program on a station out in San Bernardino. The station engineer told the guys that their numbers were way better with the online podcasts they put up every week, so they decided to skip the studio business and start a regular podcast online. That was around June of 2006."
While Shelly was answering my questions about their experience as recovery podcast pioneers, husband and co-host Bruce was calculating for me how many episodes they have posted. "He's on the calculator," Shelly says.
"Oh man," Bruce quips, "Hang on... he says 1,092, best guess; we currently have over 800 shows up."
Recovery 101: these are the people who really should be offering a commentary on online recovery - not me. But in a moment, I'll link you over to AA Beyond Belief where I am guest blogging on why online 12-Step recovery liberated me... Maybe "saved me," isn't overstating it.
Bruce and Shelly continue about my question about the beginings of Recovery 101 - The meeting after the meeting. "The idea for the show came from one night at Starbucks; a friend of ours found a recovery radio show on the air and all the guys went out to his car to listen to it. And it was boring as hell. Everyone agreed that if recovery had been presented to them in that way, they'd still be getting loaded. "'We should do our own show!' TA DA!
"'The meeting after the meeting' idea came from later that same night when they realized that if they put a mic out on the table at Starbucks after the meeting, it would be weird and possibly entertaining. We call going to coffee after a meeting, 'the meeting after the meeting.' Viola'. The show's tagline came to be."
Today "Why We Do This" is the episode name. Last show was, "A Design for Living." Two great meeting after the meeting topics.
"What would you alter or improve?" I ask. "Well, we'd love to get our new mixing board fixed!" Shelly laughs, "We had to go back to the old board temporarily when I managed to mess up some settings. Seriously, we'd love to start taking callers, and we want to host it on our own website eventually, instead of Pod-O-matic."
Almost every week Recovery 101 is ranked #1 on Self-help podcasts in Podomatic's ranking of podcasts.
That's me picking the brains of addiction/recovery pioneers. Of note, their latest show "Why We Do This" was somewhat inspired by the query about Recovery101 beginnings. In this show Shelly, Bruce and Mark reflect on their past and why they do what they do. Over 1,000 podcasts. I can only imagine how many times they thought about quitting. I'm glad they're only a few clicks away. I listen in often. Their dedication continues to inspire me. There are others of course. I love what Chris A says, from Since Right Now/Recovery Revolution. "If there's one person out there saying, 'I heard your show and it made a difference,' that's good enough for me."
Thank-you AA-BeyondBelief for inviting me to contribute. Your team is such a good example of team-building and quality: respect.
If you're a podcaster in recovery, I listen. I don't know if there's any I missed. If you think I haven't heard it all, please don't leave me in the dark. Send me a link, please. High-tech is high-touch in the way online recovery reaches out, bringing hope and building community. Online is great way to criticize, to celebrate, to seek and to share. If you're a podcast fan, well I'm not just another content creator. I'm a consumer. I'm grateful. So, here's my salute to all of you listeners and all of you who share. Check out AA-BeyondBelief here.
Read, listen or join the conversation. AA-BeyondBelief February 5th 2017:
http://www.aabeyondbelief.com/2017/02/05/living-cyber/
Recovery Revolution | AA Beyond Belief Podcast |
Monty Man on Take 12 Radio | Ann David, not one but two podcasts |