Vlog #33: Hilarie and Denise

Give a warm welcome to Podcaster Denise (as we know her =] ) who will soon be hosting the fabulous Southern Gothic Productions Podcast!

But since that isn't up and running YET, go visit her One Tree Hill Podcast in the meantime.

[Hilarie and Denise are sitting at a restaurant table]

Hilarie Burton: Well, good morning everyone! I don’t know if it’s morning where you live, but it’s definitely morning where we are! It’s Hilarie, hanging out here with Denise Gideon, known as Podcaster Denise on all of our sites.

Denise Gideon: Well, yup, most of the time. I did get a new one from my syndicator.

HB: Okay!

DG: Are you ready?

HB: Yeah.

DG: Podcaster Rock Star.

HB: Well! There it is. She’s got a tour bus and everything. You should have seen her when she pulled up into town. It was ridiculous. You have been taking such good care of us, and really promoting us, and that’s even before Southern Gothic took off, you know, you were taking care of me way back on One Tree Hill and have been such an advocate for everything we’ve been doing here in Wilmington. I’m so appreciative of that, and we’re really stoked to have you on board kind of guiding our Southern Gothic Productions podcast. Do you want to tell everybody at home kind of how the podcast world works?

DG: Well, you go in and you do the recording, but you’ve got to make it pretty and make it sound pretty, right?

HB: Yeah, that’s all you. I just show up and run my mouth, man.

DG: We had a little bit of a test run. The fans are going to be able to hear two podcasts when we finally get it launched. Oh gosh.

HB: Okay! What is that, like, three hours of programming?

DG: No, the first one was 50 minutes because we had a lot to say.

HB: Yeah.

DG: Right? We had a lot to say. And the next one was 30, that’s going to be our format.

HB: Okay.

DG: 30 minutes a time. Don’t want to spill too many beans at once, right?

HB: And then, I’m constantly traveling around and having to go here and there for work and stuff, and so, we’re doing everything over Skype, which is cool. What a neat invention! Technology’s crazy!

DG: Also, you gotta be able to have that mixing board just right, you know?

HB: Yeah.

DG: I got my new stuff to make it sound so pretty.

HB: How did you learn to do all of that?

DG: I taught myself.

HB: Awesome. Dude, I don’t know, computers. [waves hand]

DG: I was supposed to be a writer. I was supposed to be, you know, media relations and write pretty words.

HB: Is that what you went to school for?

DG: Yeah, communications and journalism and somehow I found myself speaking into a microphone. A year ago, right? You were just on that One Tree Hill Podcast’s 1^st anniversary…

HB: Yeah, man.

DG: … and so, you helped us celebrate a year. I started all of this on May the 20^th, 2008.

HB: Awesome. You’ve come a long way in a year. You’re syndicated for two shows now?

DG: Well, when we sign the deal! [laughs]

HB: Well, we’re working on it. For anybody at home that doesn’t understand syndication and stuff like that, walk them through this last year a little bit. You know, you decide to start doing this podcast, you just started doing it on your own, and then at what point do you get a phone call where it’s like, this is bigger than it used to be?

DG: Well, I was going through Podbean, and all of a sudden… I was using the free version… and then all of a sudden, it exploded, and I started having to pay for it. Right after the 4^th of July, I get a call, and the guy goes ‘Are you the host of this podcast?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’ I was thinking, ‘what did I do wrong?’

HB: ‘Am I in trouble? I didn’t say anything I sware!’ [both laugh]

DG: And so, and then all of a sudden, he says ‘hey, my name’s Jeffrey, and I’m co-owner of FarPoint Media, and we would love to syndicate you. We’re not pressuring you, but we would love to.’ ‘Okay, no problem.’ And then they tell me ‘you need to step it up a little bit. You’re just talking about the show, and you need to step it up.’ ‘Step it up? Okay. Well, music is a big part of the show, I’m going to start this Artist’s Alley.’ ‘Hey, why don’t you just go big, and start big?’ Called and got in contact with Jarrod Gorbel from The Honorary Title.

HB: Yeah, awesome.

DG: And he was my first guest, and, you know, interviewed two people you may know, like, you know, Ben Wysocki from The Fray.

HB: Oh, yes, it’s just the Fray, no big deal.

DG: It’s no big deal.

HB: None. None at all. And then, you know, you came and visited us on One Tree Hill, and got everybody while you were there, and so, yeah, as we truck along with Southern Gothic…

DG: Well, everybody but you. Because, I don’t know if you know this, but it was a joke that, you know, it was kind of my goal to have you on my podcast…

HB: [laughs] Girl, I was holding out until I got a show of my own.

DG: Exactly!

HB: [dances] And now look what happened? Check me out!

DG: [laughing] That’s exactly what it was! But, you know, I learned patience, and learned that no really doesn’t mean no, it just means someday.

HB: Just not yet! But here we are now, hanging out at a bar in the morning, shooting our very first webisode, and getting ready to launch this podcast series. I’m really happy you’re here. Thank you for being a part of the Southern Gothic team.

DG: No problem.

HB: And yeah guys, we’re going to be bringing you all sorts of fun stuff so stick around! Bye!