So, I listen to a lot of sports radio. A lot. I also listen to a lot of podcasts. This is the reality of being on the road a lot, you need something interesting to listen to while driving through miles of back country looking for a remote gym.
Podcasts are great because they travel with you – I listen on my phone, usually – and independent podcasts don’t have to worry about the FCC or a corporate overlord controlling their message. The best podcasts don’t really follow the radio formula of talking heads, but instead use a method of just ‘having a conversation’. That’s what makes the Pick 6 Podcast produced by SportsTAC fit right into the sports discussion so well. I highly recommend you check it out and I caught up with Devin Edmondson, the creative mind behind SportsTAC and Pick 6, to get the background on their projects and where they are headed. Special thanks to Devon’s fellow Pick 6 podcaster Roger Haynes for putting this together.
What was the genesis of the Pick 6 Podcast? Was it an idea to start a podcast specifically, or was it an organic extension of conversations you were already having among yourselves?
I’m a huge sports enthusiast and so I am always talking about sports and started to frequently post commentary on sports topics on my Facebook page and people were chiming in and they were spawning these very barbershop like discussions on Facebook. Then I decided to take it a step further, I have an IT background I wanted to get into web development, I knew people that want to get involved in sports journalism and management, I knew people who wanted to do more marketing, I knew people who wanted to do writing/editing; it just made sense to start a blog where we could intertwine all these talents and be able to develop our individual skill sets while just doing what we enjoy.
This is what spawned SportsTAC.com, which stands for Sports Talk and Criticism, SportsTAC.com is an interactive community where people can talk about sports topics just like they were sitting in the barbershop. Currently there are two writers myself Devin Edmondson and a talented young lady who is a student at Frostburg University. Also, there is the Pick 6 podcast, The Pick Six Podcast is by far our newest and most popular feature on SportsTAC.com and I take great pride in what it has become.
The origin story for the Pick Six is pretty simple, we are all friends and we talk all the time and one day I just said “man it would be great to be able to put these conversations on the website”. I hopped on Amazon.com found an audio mixer bought a few microphones and the rest is history.
Who are the guys behind the mics?
The voices you hear behind the mics are all my friends and family, I didn’t hire anybody or do any auditions I just asked my friends who have been supporting the site from the beginning and reading my articles to come by and chat on the mic if they had the time. The name the Pick Six comes from our original format of having six guys on the microphones. A lot of the voices are Hampton University Alumni which is where we all met and have been friends since freshman year in 2003 (Myself, Dan, Ryan, Roger, and Eric). The other most frequent voice is that of my brother Justin who at times will bring in his friend and Morehouse Alumn “B5”. We have had several guest some reoccurring and I could give you all their back stories but just know they are all good friends of mine as well (Cam, Darryl, Shields, Toran, Boone, and Coop). We’ve even had some of the girlfriends come join us for a segment or two, it’s really been great to have the support of my friends.
Is it a rotating panel or is everyone on each episode?
There is a rotating panel but that’s not necessarily on purpose though it seems to work really well. The way it seems to have rounded out is with me, Dan, Ryan, Justin, and Eric as the regulars and we rotate in a friend that can make themselves available for that week’s recording. Because nobody is being paid, other things will sometimes take priority so I may need to replace one of the regulars with a friend that can make it if available as well.
Are there any subjects that are off limits? the focus is sports, but you guys dip into pop culture, music, and a range of other topics. What are the parameters for topics?
Limits? Have you heard the show??? No seriously, we don’t pull punches when it comes to subject matter we’ll talk about whatever is on our minds. We just try to avoid being vulgar and offensive in language. I think we have a great benefit right now of not having any paid sponsors, endorsers or having to comply to the FCC that we can get away with talking about anything we like. We just try to not get overly vulgar and cut off an audience when we are in the process of building one.
How often does the show come out, and is there a specific release schedule?
Unfortunately we do not have an editor so I end up doing all the editing as well and this process can be done in a day or several days depending on my work and personal schedule so I try to get podcasts posted on Thursday or Friday.
What is the plan for the future?
The end goal is simply to build an interactive audience and continue to have fun. Financially if we could get sponsors that could simply pay for the hobby that would be great, we all have good jobs and make good money so we aren’t necessarily looking for some big break. However the dream scenario would be to land a radio gig that would pay us a salary that we could live off of.
What’s the best way to find your Podcast?
You can find us 3 ways, SportsTAC.com every time a new episode is posted it will be the first thing you see or you can click the link that says “The Pick Six Podcast” at the top of the screen. You can search us on iTunes by looking for “The Pick Six Podcast” or going on Podomatic.com and searching for “The Pick Six Podcast”. We also have a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/Sportstaccom that updates on all new postings and you can also follow any of the show personalities on twitter.
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You can find out more about SportsTAC and the Pick 6 podcast by following Devin Edmondson and Roger Haynes on Twitter, right now.