Local podcast grows friendship, shines a positive light on the community
CHILLICOTHE— If you are looking for something new to enjoy this summer check out Feels Like Home —a podcast hosted by local community members Mike Throne and Marty Ford.
Each week the two interview local business owners, community leaders and important figures in the community.
At the beginning of their friendship, the pair would hang out and go to concerts, during this time they would have amazing conversations. Ford says he would leave the car rides thinking more people needed to be involved in those talks and hear what was being said. He approached Throne with the idea of starting a podcast and after some convincing Throne agreed to join. Now in season three of the show, the pair look back and see how as the podcast has grown so has their friendship.
"We are way closer now than when we started this thing," said Ford.
The pair's love of music came in handy when searching for a name for the show. Both hosts felt a connection to the song "Feels Like Home," by Cory Breth, who is originally from Chillicothe, and knew it would be perfect as the opening song and name of the podcast.
After finding a perfect name Ford and Throne did research on how to create a quality podcast. They knew they would be able to sit down and talk but they still needed to figure out how to make the podcast sound good, how to edit the audio, and how to post it. They also had to figure out how long the podcast should be as Throne was determined to keep every episode under 30 minutes long but Ford did not want to limit any of the conversations. Once the details were figured out the pair was excited to finally be able to sit down and record.
The original episodes of the podcast were only Ford and Throne talking, however, they soon realized that bringing on guests not only increased downloads but and bettered the conversation. The hosts agreed that guests should be important members of the community who have unique stories to tell. While interviewing guests Ford and Throne highlight what the guest does while also showing what makes them different, giving listeners a new perspective that they may have never heard before. Throne said they wanted to "add to the conversation not just talk."
When talking to guests Ford and Throne like to make it feel like a normal conversation between friends, like the ones they had while going to concerts. Marty says the goal is to make guests forget they are sitting in front of a microphone. One way they do this is by making general conversation before jumping into questions, this is easy to edit out afterward and helps guests relax and be more open. Throne, who will often do most of the talking, also makes sure to not gives a list of questions to guest ahead of time as they don't want answers to be rehearsed. While they want to help promote the community they don't want to entire podcast to sound like a commercial.
"We really wanted it to be organic conversation," said Ford. "That is where we had seen success in our own conversations."
Each host plays a unique role in creating the podcast playing to their individual skillsets. Ford is the one who records and edits the podcast, making sure the audio sounds good before sending it out. Throne is often the one asking most of the questions while recording, though Ford has led a few of the interviews. The pair have found that catering to their strengths helps create a much better end product.
"Mike is the play-by-play guy," said Ford. "I am the color."
Overall Ford and Throne enjoy delivering "good local stories" to listeners. This podcast has allowed them to spend more time together finding similarities that connect them and get to know each other on a different level all while highlighting important positive aspects of the community.
New episodes of Feels Like Home are released Monday mornings wherever you get your podcasts. You can also like the podcast on Facebook.
Shelby Reeves is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. You can email her at SReeves@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @Shelby_Reeves_
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Local podcast grows friendship, shines positive light on the community
