Now that its first season has wrapped, the Discover Seward County podcast crew is looking to improve.
Josh Rausch, JJ Metschke and Pat Coldiron star in the biweekly podcast produced by Sweet Tea Media. The goal of the podcast is to show the world what Seward County is, Rausch said.
All three said the chemistry between them was instantaneous.
Coldiron said she’ll never forget walking into the studio the first time to meet Rausch and Metschke. They sat down to “chat and be ornery,” she said.
“It was just like we knew each other,” Coldiron said.
Rausch said Kaitlin Dallman, formerly of Sweet Tea Media, deserves credit for putting the three together. They come from different backgrounds and are in different phases of life, but they hit it off.
The moment they realized they had something good came early on in the Battle of the Brews, Rausch said, when Metschke tried to take Coldiron’s hand as they walked down the street.
Metschke’s mom Amy was recording.
“The first time, Pat looked at me in horror,” Metschke said. “The second time, she hit me harder.”
Coldiron said she decided to try the podcast because she enjoys rural Nebraska and telling its stories.
Both Metschke and Coldiron said they didn’t want to be the host (Rausch fills that role) because that person is responsible to focus the production.
“I love being an occasional contributor,” Coldiron said.
Metschke, who produces the podcast, said the first time he had to do it by himself was terrifying.
“I pretended I knew what to do,” he said. “I was low-key terrified. Crunch time was brutal.”
Rausch said the first season was a lot of guess-work and figuring things out as they went along. Not a lot of podcasts do what DSC does – interviews both in studio and on site, segments featuring Coldiron and Metschke and more.
“The quality is good,” Rausch said. “JJ is top 10 with video, and the internet loves Pat.”
Coldiron enjoys doing the history segments to which she brings a sense of urgency.
“You watch the generations change,” she said. “It’s crucial to start documenting. Some of it’s good. Some of it’s silly. But history only happens one time.”
Rausch said there’s a tension at play between clicks and interesting.
“Content is always a weird thing,” he said.
Metschke said highlights of the first season for him were when the Battle of the Brews went viral and the interview with Trish Johnson about the World’s Largest Time Capsule.
Rausch said the second episode, which was the Time Capsule and Battle of the Brews, drew about 50,000 views. Coldiron said she liked seeing Metschke interview the manager at the Cordova Coop.
“I had fun interviewing, getting people with interesting things to say,” Rausch said.
His favorites included Alexa McNally from William Henry School of the Arts and Robert McEwen of Nebraska Appleseed.
“The highlight was going on the road to the Seward Elementary School library to talk to Jen Flemings,” he said, adding that he’d like to do more on-site interviews in the future.
“I love it when we’re out and about. It’s magical,” Coldiron said.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing, however, the trio said. Rausch said trying to figure out the technical side of YouTube was a challenge.
Another challenge is making the podcast economically viable, which means adding sponsors, he said.
Coldiron said trying to feel comfortable in front of the camera and yet keeping the conversion real is something she’s had to work on.
Metschke said putting episodes together is a guessing game, filled with trial and error.
“There’s no rhyme or reason” to what people like, he said. “You can know what you’re doing and still have problems. You have to adapt to the situation.”
“But we got better,” Coldiron said.
The production includes a high level of complexity, Rausch said, and there are always “ghosts in the machine.”
“It’s something that’s not been put together before at this level,” Metschke said.
Looking ahead to next season, which will start sometime in January, all three said they were grateful to the organizations and businesses that sponsor the podcast.
“I’d love to get out of the studio more,” Rausch said.
“You don’t know what’s around the next corner, but it is exciting,” Coldiron said.
Rausch said he’d like to showcase more of the natural beauty of the county.
“People don’t give the Midwest credit,” he said.
Metschke said he’s enjoyed working on DSC because it’s the first time he’s had creative freedom.
Rausch said DSC has allowed the trio to learn as they go and have fun doing it.
“We’re blessed to have wide viewership. We’ve reached wider than we thought. People want to see what’s real,” he said.
“It’s about sharing Seward and Nebraska,” Coldiron said. “We’ve just touched the surface.”
