Presenting... Raquel Lamal! A former Emmy-award winning TV news journalist, Raquel now hosts the Sole Source podcast telling stories by woman, for woman. After a year of releasing weekly episodes, she looks back on what she's learned and offers some sage advice for podcasters at any stage.

Guest Links:

• Sole Source Podcast - Red Shoes Inc.
• Sole Source YouTube Channel
• Sole Source Society - FB Group

Local Places Mentioned in This Episode:

• Red Mill Gift Shop and Wedding Chapel - Waupaca, WI
• Fortitude Krav Maga – Neenah, WI
• Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
• Fox Valley Humane Association

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David Kalsow 0:00

This episode is brought to you by Red Shoes incorporated and its podcast sole source sole source is a podcast made by women for women with a goal of educating and entertaining. For more info and to listen to the show, visit the link in the show notes.

I'm David Kalsow. And you're listening to APC presents where I showcase independent podcasters from Northeast Wisconsin. Today I hopped on a call with news reporter turn to podcaster Raquel Lamal. While I tried to do all the interviews for APC presents in person Raquel was less than two weeks away from giving birth to her first child so he decided to go remote, understandably, and with maternity leave on the horizon, the podcast mic was left at work, but it does not hinder the conversation. Raquel gives us a peek behind the camera at local NBC 26 and what it was like to win a freaking Emmy Award.

While all of her skills easily transferred to the podcast realm. She opens up about overcoming the mental gap of going from recording in a broadcast studio to recording in her home the kitchen. Rebels podcast sole source focuses on stories by women for women and carries lots of influence from her days in journalism. After a year of releasing weekly episodes, Raquel offers some sage advice for all podcasters. Well, I have 100 questions I didn't get to ask her and her intro could go on for days. I'm pleased to present Raquel lamelle.

So do you've been a member of the APC very early on that we sort of helped launch your podcast, but I sort of want to get a an idea of who you are as a person. So can you sort of paint a quick picture of your story?

Raquel Lamal 1:51

How far back do you want me to go, David?

David Kalsow 1:55

I'm interested mostly in your traditional broadcast recording, things like that. And I have some more detailed questions. So if you just want to give us the broad overview, because I saw within want to start doing some research, you have a huge variety of things that you like to do.

Raquel Lamal 2:12

So I would work those during the day I would work NBC in the evenings. And then I decided to go back, you know, I had school started in the fall. And when I got back to school, I got a call that October from the news director. And I had just happened to be a part time position open for production assistant. And they were like, Are you interested? And I was like, absolutely. And I took it it was like I think like eight or $9 an hour, four hours a night, five days a week, weekends and like three week nights after school. But I was like, Hey, is this what the door right? So I started doing that did that throughout my sophomore year took another internship on top of working at the station. My the summer after my sophomore year in college. That way, I could learn how to use the camera and how to film. I wanted to be a reporter. So I wanted to learn those skills. So I started doing some of that on my own. So it would be like 10 to 12 hour days for me working all day as an intern for no pay and then working those goofy hours at night for my apple or something. Yeah, so a little bit of something. And so I did that and then gradually kind of worked my way up the ladder as a TV station. So a production assistant starts off like pushing around the studio cameras. From there I moved to editing shows, so I would actually edit shows on the weekend. So all of the stuff that you see them reading all the video that shows up that was me putting that in there. Then I learned how to use audio board and I was in the booth running microphones.

From there I would start to go out and start using a camera and go film what they call both SATs or voiceovers and sound on tape and so I would go out and just get small little stories and bring those back. And then I started reporting a little bit on the weekends. By the time I got to be a senior in college, I'd have stories that were a little lower in the newscast, I was still learning a lot. And I kind of got into reporting that way. That way. While I was doing that, I got a lot of feedback, a lot of information from the news director, there was lots of learning and growing. And then I graduated, and I signed my first contract with the TV station. So I had worked all these different positions within a TV station, I had a really good understanding of how it works. And then I signed my first contract for $17,000 a year with a college degree as a as a TV news reporter. So I did that three years, then I signed a secondary contract Three years later, went back up to what is a little bit more normal standard pay around here, which put me at about I think it was like 26,000 for the year, which is pretty average for the reporters. And I did that and I stayed doing that for a couple years, got on the anchor desk started to produce a little bit on the weekend. So I was doing that. And then came across red shoes, which is where I am now, the public relations agency, I knew I wanted to make the switch out of TV at some point, I just thought it would be a little bit later in my career than it actually turned out to be. Yeah, I made the switch and got into PR which came with better pay better hours. Better, everything. sanity, yeah. And I still got to work very closely with the media because my job right now is to pitch the media to get them to come cover events. So I'm working very closely with a lot of the reporters that I already have a relationship with. And then I also understand a lot of what they want to do.

David Kalsow 8:00

That's awesome. sort of catch up. There's a lot to unpack there. And hopefully we can do that a little bit. I sort of want to get to the podcasting stuff a little bit later. And I would love to hear a little bit more about you. You said that you were born in a kind of falls or grew up there and sort of so it wasn't too far away. But what maybe besides career, what else sort of makes you keep staying here.

Raquel Lamal 8:25

So I came to the Fox Valley because of my husband. So I've been Appleton, right? Everybody knows where the mall is. So I was a teenage girl, I would come down and Fox river mall all the time. So that was like my experience of knowing Appleton and the Fox Valley for most of my upbringing growing up. I lived in Green Bay, I worked in Green Bay and I was very familiar with Green Bay because that's usually where we were it was just closer to, you know, kind of falls where I you know, like he said, I grew up so what brought me down here was that he lived in tucana. He did not want to come back up to Green Bay. I was very reluctant to move to the valley. But I was like, Alright, fine. I knew I was taking a job down here. I was fully willing to commute back and forth. But he's like, No, no, no, that's dumb. Don't do that. So here I am. I moved down to Kolkata, which is he had an apartment down there. I moved in with him. And then well, four years ago, yeah, we bought a house in downtown Appleton. been here ever since then. Our little family has been growing slowly but surely started with a cat, then a Rottweiler and now there's a baby on the way so.

David Kalsow 9:33

And you guys had your wedding last night? A year ago now?

Raquel Lamal 9:37

Oh, yeah. Oh, man. I don't fool around. We've done all the big life events. I feel like in the middle of this pandemic. Yeah, we we had a wedding in October. Very, very small. We didn't want pakka because he is from wasa and my family is from Green Bay. So it was like right in the middle. And we literally had our parents there as guests and a couple of really close friends. We did it outside of the Red Mill. If people know where that is, we were under the covered bridge and had a ceremony out there. My husband's mother was actually our officiant also cool. So it was just really small and intimate. And it was it was absolutely perfect for us. We didn't have like a big dance or anything like that. But we had a small restaurant, and the chef actually closed down his restaurant that was just ours for the day. So it was awesome. And we had the whole place to ourselves, and just really, really special day. And that was actually where we made our baby announcement as well. We told everybody we were expecting I was three months pregnant on our wedding day. So

yeah, that is awesome. Now you as we're recording this, you're like two,

three weeks away from I am two weeks away from having a baby. He He will be here two weeks one way or another.

That is awesome. Thank you. For we're willing to take this call that so yeah. So you've done a lot of reporting, and that in the traditional sense from your broadcast days, what was one of the most interesting stories reported?

Well, there's, there's a couple of big couple of big ones that I was a part of that usually stand out the most. So yeah, you know, like when all the F 10 protests were going on, I was out at the Capitol for that those ones stick out in my mind just because of the environment that you're in and what you're seeing and the historical piece to all of that. I don't know if you remember, but there were people inside the Capitol that were no banging on drums that was having sit in there. That was like a sea of people just 1000s of people all the way to the road. So I was there for that I was there when making a murderer came out. And all of the riots and things that happened earlier, I guess and what riots were protests that happened outside of the courthouse in Manitowoc, and when Kathleen Zellner came and submitted the paperwork, I was waiting for that and speaking with Steven Avery's family and reaching out to Brendan dassey his family. And though that one is another big one that sticks out as a big story. So those are some of the big moments that I definitely will never forget from my time reporting. And they were, it was cool. It was cool to be a part of history like that, for sure.

Yeah, but I think that one that may stick out to you as well, is your Emmy Award winning. What was it like to win an Emmy? Well, that

was a team award. That was the first Emmy award that NBC 26 had ever won. And it was very cool to be a part of that team. What had happened was, that was there was shootings down in Texas. And I think there were like five police officers that had had died in those shootings. We actually sent a team. It wasn't me, it was two other people photographer and a reporter at a station down to Texas. And they reported live and they took off. So she got down at 10. I think they left them shortly after midnight and drove all night all the next day got down to Texas, and we're live in the show that five, six and 10 that night, and then the rest of our show was localized here in Northeast Wisconsin, was different pieces that were happening in relation to that shooting. We all had a localized story there. And our whole show, that's all it was about was the shootings in Texas. And that was the show that was awarded the Emmy Surely, I think for just the effort that we put in. I mean, that was one way above and beyond what most of the local stations had done with that story. And it was really neat when we got called and found out we won that Emmy. I mean, being the first one in the station is history. It was just the look on everybody's faces and the way that you feel it's like holy cow. We did this, you know. So that was really neat.

What part Did you play in the team?

I was local here. I was actually out i think i think it was that life fest covering a story about like crowds and police out there and how they were handling things to make sure that everything was thing kosher. So I was I was local. I didn't have to go down to Texas, but the team I did. I mean, they really knocked it out of the park. So

you still got to be sort of those follow up stories, the side stories to sort of bolster that the other story on that that same broadcast then. Yep. Awesome. So as I said earlier, there's a lot of other stuff that you're interested in. I mean, just scrolling through your Instagram or your Facebook, you see that? You have varies from the Disney musical fan fanatic. I'm a huge Hamilton fan. To loving dogs, cats and Krav Maga. Uh huh. What are like how is the valley sort of helped fuel those side hobbies and passions that you love to do?

Well, I mean, cats and dogs. I just kind of came with getting older and having a place where I can have them getting out of an apartment. We adopted a cat that His name is pison he is a tuxedo cat. He acts so much more like a dog though, and he So actually finding him is a funny story because we, I was actually going for a kitten that was like a little Siamese kitten. And I called the Humane Society. And I told him I was interested. They're like, Yeah, no problem come down, literally. So I come after work like main society was in Green Bay. That's where this kitten was. So we drove up there to go get it. Literally the walk up to the desk to go get the kitten. The guy next to me with adopting that kitten. I was so mad and Christian, my husband was there. And he felt so bad. He said, I was like a sad little puppy. I was just so like, mopey, because like I was, this is what I was looking forward to all day, right? So then, you know, we walked around, because they're like, Oh, well, there's other cats for adoption, right? So we walked around, and I'm looking at the other cats, and none of them are really doing it for me.

And they go, Well, we have another store the pet supplies plus in Green Bay, works with the Green Bay Humane Society. And so they said, Well, we have some cats there if you want to go check. And so on our way over there, I pulled up, you know, their website to see what they had. And we saw the picture of piston and I went, Oh, he's kind of cute. I had a black cat as a cat. And I was like, No, he's all right. But I didn't really like I wasn't super excited about it. When we got there, and he was kind of like being all weepy and sweetness cage. And so we took them out Christian's like, well, let's just look at them, you know. And so we brought them in a room to try to play with them. And he was like, like, crazy, relax, like, I could do anything I wanted to this cat. He let me pet his stomach. He would per all the time. And he just like wanted to play and so we ended up adopting him and brought him home that night. was not at all the way we planned. But that's how the whole pet situation started. And then we were on a waiting list for a dog Christian wanted a Rottweiler really bad and yeah, I had caved and said, Okay, fine. And she is now I'm so much more dog person. Like I love the cat. But I am such a dog person. So she is like my best friend. She

doesn't work at home.

Oh my gosh, both of them did. But yeah, she's been right by my side to the whole work at home thing. And she's just turned three and she's a good puppy. So yeah, we got her and then yeah, that's that's kind of the cat dog story. And then as far as Krav Maga goes, Yeah, exactly. So I don't know if people know what karma God is. It's basically like an Israeli martial arts self defense type of things. type of training, I guess. shorts. Yes. Yeah. And I found out about it actually, from the HR lady who works at Red Shoes. Her name was Carol and her son took. So at the time that I started. The Krav Maga school was inside the karate school that her son attended. So he wanted to take the Krav Maga class, she was scared to go alone. I said, Well, I'll go with you. Like, I'll try it out. And so we went together. And that's how it started. And then I stuck with it for a while. And it's really kind of neat. The things that you learn, and the school that I went to is called fortitude Krav Maga, they moved out of that location, and they're in their own place now in downtown Nina, the husband and wife owner, it's Joe and Tamra Ellen Becker, they're fantastic. And the whole school is very much like its own little community. And you go through the training, and there's belt tests that you have to take, and you work hard to level up. But it's just really, really neat. And this might sound a little weird, but I'm kind of I don't know if this will work or not, but I'm kind of hoping to use so they teach you like, you know, the whole point of taking the test to get your belt level is to like wear you down, like my last test was like a three and a half, almost four hour test. They really, really working hard the first hour to get you tired, and then they start testing you on the things you need to know hopefully when you're exhausted and you want to give up the whole point being to continue pushing through and never stop. Right. And so I'm hoping to use that mindset here as I'm about to have a baby. I'll be interested to see how like it's a two kind of tie together because it's kind of like where I'm going mentally so we'll see.

Yeah, don't give up keep on going. Yeah, sure. I don't have a good myself but I I've only heard stories from people and had lots of friends that have have had kids. So the best of best of luck to you with that. And I hope you don't have to use any anything other than the mindset for raising a child but Krav Maga helpful have nonetheless. So, a couple more questions on this first part before we move on to talking a little bit more about sole source as a whole. Yeah, let's talk about musical event. The Pac a few times. What got you interested in musicals?

Oh, I was a music buff my whole life. It started honestly started in preschool. We sat on the floor. We had the preschool teacher had like a keyboard she brought out on the floor. We're all in a circle, you know, a bunch of four year old kids. And we were singing a song about a peanut on a railroad track and how it made peanut butter. And I remember I watched her play the piano I had so much fun singing that song. I came home that night and told my mom, I wanted to play the piano. And so we started up piano lessons with my preschool teacher who didn't teach piano lessons. But she was teaching me on the side for a little while. And then I took piano through most of grade school. And that tied into choir for me because I really, really, like choir was like, like, that was almost a form of therapy for me in a way like that was like my release. I really liked that. And I did the soul ensemble thing I was in our high schools first musical in 30 years. It was it was just cool. And I follow that stuff all the way throughout. And I've always been into the musical scene, like I love Greece, I think I've seen it 50 times or more. I can repeat every line. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I have a whole bunch of other musicals that I get into I just really, like I have a deep appreciation for the art form. And I know what it takes to pull one off, and I know it's a lot of hard work, and it's just a plus, it's just awesome and entertaining and all of that too. So yeah, Pac the Weidner center I mean, any kind of a show like that I am all for it. I've done there's there's been a couple of like Ice Capades shows where they, before Disney on Ice came all the time. They used to have other shows that would come out to the Brown County arena. One of them was Greece at one point. And they were well let me when it came, I went to one time. Okay, but I really, really like Stephen is by far my favorite. So yeah, it's been something I've always had a passion for, and always liked. And I mean, this last year with all of those shows being shut down. I mean, really kind of, don't get it was hard. And I was really happy when Hamilton wasn't able to make it to Hamilton when it came to Appleton but when that came out on Disney Plus, I was so excited like the data came out I would sit down with full popcorn watching the whole show. It was great. On top

of it, Hamilton is one of those that I have practically memorized at least the first time because it's the better more singable half. Yeah, the Lindsay was like put on satisfied and I'll just pop off every single vocal part. And she's like, how do you do that? I was like, I listen to this musical like in full, maybe 20 times before we actually saw it. It's such a great musical from from top to bottom. So such great artistry so I'm glad you got to see it at least if it was on Disney plus.

Yeah, no, I was it was awesome. So I totally commend you for getting all those words though. There's a lot some of those rap songs are intense.

Yeah, yeah, they are. I wouldn't say okay, maybe I'm over exaggerating, but I can sing the king song. He'll be back from top to finish the other ones. There's just like, I can only sing them with the song. I can't like recall everything and just pull it out of my memory. It's It's weird. I guess I'm just gonna karaoke then.

That King song is the best one though. I love that one. He was great.

Welcome to the podcast fast class. Lesson One was why podcasting? lesson two, we're going to come up with a big idea for your show. Let's imagine you're at a bar sitting at a campfire or grabbing a cup of coffee with your best friend. What do you always talk about? What's that thing? That topic that always comes up? Start with this idea? Hold on to it loosely, though, and go search Apple podcasts, Spotify and Google? Are there others covering the same topic? If so, are they too serious to funny, low quality or any other number of adjectives? Inevitably you're going to talk about the same thing as other people. But how can you bring a different perspective to it? For example, let's say you want to do a chat cast with your friends talking about life, pop culture and everything else in between. There are a million of those out there which are great for moms, but not for trying to build an audience. Instead, do something more focused like a chat cast with the goal each week of coming up with a friendly prank on a budget. Remember, you can't rely on visual cues to get your ideas across. But what's your big idea? Let us know and watch the slower video version of this in the APC members Facebook group link in the notes, back to the show.

We'll get into how you make a podcast but what are some of your favorite podcasts to listen to like what ones inspired your own making of a podcast or that are totally left field and you just like to listen to for no reason.

Oh, I so when I first started doing research on podcasting, I listened to like a whole bunch of different ones. But I was really into Rachel Hollis at first. So I listened to her podcast, the rice podcast a lot. I like the what's the fab podcast too. I feel like we're kind of structured a little bit like that one. That one is a good one. I'm a big Holderness family fan so I listen to them. And then of course I got into as recently some pregnancy ones so like the informed pregnancy podcast has been really nice actually. There's been a lot of really good stuff Or even just what happens to people. So I've been listening to that one a lot. And those are kind of some of the ones but to be honest with you, before I started looking into and researching how to podcast, I did not listen to podcasts, I was a broadcast girl. So I was all about, you know, listening to the radio, and I was one of those people, I didn't even have Sirius XM, or, like, you know, I had like the free Spotify, but I hardly ever used that, like, I pretty much listened to the radio for most of my life up until I started discovering podcasts and learning about them. Now, I've gotten into that world a little bit more, but those are some of the ones that I do listen to. And it's kind of been a growing hobby ever since I started doing it myself.

Yeah, I mean, that does like the, as the creator, you're always looking for inspiration and things like that. And if you're only in broadcast, why would you not listen to that? I think, as the media sort of combines everything together, and they're slowly converging into everything, it's gonna be a little bit easier, I think, to transition. But so you mentioned that as you've had some sort of those inputs, inspirations for the sole source podcast, and that you had this huge plan in place, like everything was gonna be lined up perfectly. And then COVID hit, and he had to sort of redo everything, what was starting a podcast in a pandemic, like?

Scary. I. So there were parts of the plan. So we put together while I put together then I had some of the team at Red Shoes, kind of look it over and give me some tweaks and feedback. But it was like a 40 page plan. Like I had done some really extensive research in how to get this up and running and how we would launch it and what was successful, what wasn't. So I was like, Okay, and then we set up the studio, we got all this new equipment, you know, we were ready to go. And then yeah, the office shut down. I'm like, okay, and I just thought we'll put some things on hold for a little bit. Well, I didn't know how long we'd be locked down. Well, Lisa Cruz is the owner of red shoes. And she, she goes, we need to start now. And I'm like, we need to start now. Like, I'm at home, I don't have anything. She's like, no, like, now's the time, we need to get this up and running. And I'm like, Well, our plan says we need to do this, I was super paranoid to just start because, you know, it's my name. It's my face tied to it. Like, I don't want this to not work, you know, all of that. And so I was really nervous. But I was like, okay, you know, we got to go, we got to go, right. So started lining up interviews, recorded the first two or three, just from home, I would sit in my living room, I put like a USB like the sole source logo on a USB, plug that into the back of my TV. So that that would show up as like a screen. And then I would sit on a kitchen chair with my laptop on another kitchen chair on several pillows. So it was elevated. That was like that was my studio. That's what I did the first two or three podcasts that we had. And so I learned a little bit more about what was going on with the pandemic and everything. And then we were able to I was able to go into the studio at work and record for a little while. And so I did that. And eventually I was like, how long are we going to be shut down? You know, because I was like, I would be working at home all day, then I would leave and go to the office for like an hour or two, then I would leave and come back. I'm like, Well, I can just and then they will want something edited. And I was why go back there to do it. Because audio is not the same. I'm like, how long are we going to be doing this? Because if we're going to be like this for a while just bring everything home because all of our equipment is mobile and can be moved. So they're like, Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea. I'm like, Okay, so, got the microphone. Yes, brought the microphone and the board and the headphones and all that stuff home. And then started doing podcasts all the time on a regular basis from my kitchen table. So we recently launched the YouTube channel. And you'll see in there like, my kitchen is my background in almost all of these podcasts because that's where I was. And that's where everything was set up. And it felt I was super reluctant to even start doing video because I was like, Well, you know, like, I want to come off as professional right? I come from that background like you, David. So it was like, I wanted it to look that way. And I was like, Well, my kitchens, my kitchen, right? Like, that's not cool. And those zoom backgrounds. I mean, it's great as you tried to just not they're just not that great. So yeah, yeah. So I was trying to figure out like screen. Exactly. So I was like, Well, how do I make this look good. And finally I said, Okay, like, this is what we're doing. And it actually has been working out really great. And it's been fine. And it's actually pretty normal. People don't seem to mind that I'm in my kitchen, like, all these other people I'm talking to are kind of like in their living room or wherever they're recording to. So I actually found out that it was normal. So starting a podcast and a pandemic was actually probably a good thing. But it was definitely scary to start.

He's got everyone trapped at home so they can't say no to when you asked for an interview.

Exactly. I think that might have helped us in getting some of our bigger guests. I mean, my fifth my fifth episode was with ginger z, the chief meteorologist at ABC network like, that's Episode Five. I was brand new still trying to figure everything else out. And she was willing to do it because she was home. And she's like, Well, yeah, I have time. And so she just sat down on her couch. And that's where she was while she was talking to me. So it was, it's kind of crazy how everything worked out and then went that way. But I think that helps in getting guests.

Yeah. Do you think having the home experience was beneficial to sort of building and growing your audience?

Yeah, I mean, I do. I think everybody could kind of relate to that. And I think that that made everything a little more real. So yeah, I do think it kind of helped. When people saw to saw everybody being real, right. Even like your big name celebrities. That's what they were doing. They were doing things from their home. So yeah, I think people appreciated that a little bit.

I appreciate that. You were saying that it was a little bit of a, there was like a gap to cross between, like, Oh, I come from this, the broadcast realm where like we have, everyone gets a microphone, everyone gets a broadcast ready camera, and there's so much moving parts within a studio, and then you're coming home. And like, Oh, my gosh, people aren't gonna like this. Because they only like the news and the broadcast then I think, I mean, with YouTube and everything else. It's proven that people just like authenticity and realness from everyone.

Yeah. And that was something that I definitely learned throughout this. Because I mean, yeah, I've watched YouTube videos, right? I've seen people who were in their home and thought nothing of it and never fazed me. But to get over that hump, in my mind of like, Okay, this is a show. And it doesn't have to be on that professional, like, level like, it's okay. That was hard for me for a bit. For sure. So

you said that you've I mean, you have landed some really awesome and really unique subject matter and unique people that you can interview, how do you choose who to interview and what your subject matter is,

I have the news on all day, every day while I'm working. So I'm just kind of like listening to it in the background, I get the paper delivered to my house, I'm very much in the realm of like, what's happening in the news. And a lot of like, the talk shows like, like shows, honestly, like, the view or the talk or different ones like that. That's where I'll hear like little nuggets. And I'll be like, Oh, that's interesting. I wonder how we could localize that or, we have a Facebook page to that. It's called the sole source society. And I've had some guests actually request certain topics and want us to talk about certain things. So then I take that I go, okay, like, here's this topic, and I need to find an expert on this topic that has some national or international appeal, or just a little bigger than just super, super, hyper local. So we try to have guests that are bigger because the podcast is international, right? So you want to have people that are relevant to people all over the world, specifically the United States, but all over the world. So that's really what I do. And it's been kind of crazy to find out how many people you reach out to and actually say, yes, and, and it surprised me, because I thought like, I would have needed to have, you know, like, you know, Oprah Winfrey start the podcast, she's gonna have like, 10 million followers in two days, right? Yeah, like, so I was like, okay, like, she just makes a phone call, and she can get whoever she wants on her show. Nobody knows who I am. Right? So I didn't know how well it would work reaching out to these bigger people. But I'm like, well, let's give it a shot. It actually, it's surprisingly, works quite well. And people are usually willing to be guests and be on a show like that. So I've gotten braver and reached out to some bigger people and has had even more luck as this grows, and you start to build that credibility with others. But yeah, it was it was an interesting learning experience, for sure.

Why do you think that is?

Well, I think part of it is, you know, with the pandemic, and things have been a little slower. But then once you start once you get one, and then you get another and every time you reach out to these people, you can send an email that says, I've spoken with this place, this place and this person who are you know, people that have clout have named reputability. And people can look up your podcast and actually see those names and those organizations there, then I think people are more willing to say, Okay, sure. Like, I'll do it. Because if this person did it, that person will do it. And yeah, a prime example of that is I tried to get the Mayo Clinic to talk to me about something a couple months ago, and they, they turned me down, and I was like, Okay, and then I did an interview a little later with the CDC. And I went back to the Mayo Clinic and said, Hey, talk to the CDC about this topic. And I have this other topic, would you be willing to talk to me? And then I got to Yes. So I know that they build on each other because I didn't get a yes before but I got a yes later and then they've actually come back. Both of them have come back wanting to be guests again. So it's interesting how it all builds together, but it works really well when when you can do that and celebrate building credibility.

That's awesome. So what would you tell a beginning podcaster? That was maybe like, Oh, I don't I don't want to reach out to people. They're too big. What would you tell them?

Man? Just do it. Like, like I said, with ginger z. I mean, I didn't have anybody I had just started, I had smaller people on the show that I knew would say yes, that I could get started with, you know, she said, Yes, right away. So my suggestion is, do it and find find every email that I send, when I'm going, especially to a bigger organization, or person like that, the theory that I use is always like, Okay, how is my show structured? Let them know, like, what they're going to walk into, and, and be, what are they going to get from it. And it was always, you know, we have international reach, we have, you know, listeners all over the globe, you know, 1000, several 1000, whatever it was at the time. And it was always like, letting them know, like, here's what you get, and you'll get these links, and you can share them and promote this. And these links live on forever. And so, yeah, it was a lot of like, almost like a sales pitch a little bit to get some of these people on here. But that strategy has worked really well for us.

But I think that's great advice for someone that wants to do an interview show like you, how do you prepare for an interview,

I do research, I start looking up topics, or if those every once in a while, too. So it's kind of takes two lanes, either one, I'll do research if I'm coming up with a topic. And I'm like, Okay, I think this is really interesting. And then I start looking at, you know, articles and news stories and things that have been done on it. And what this person specifically has done. And that's how I start finding guests is, you know, how, how tied to this topic? is this person? How expert are they? And that's one way the other way would be like if someone References So every once in a while, I'll have someone say, Oh, well, you should talk to this person. And I'm like, Okay, well, who is this person? And so I'll reach out to them. And I'll do a little research on my own. But I'm still like, Okay, what is the story with this person? Because they're like, well, this person's great. They have this really cool story, but I don't know them. And that's not online anywhere. So I will actually reach out to somebody then. And I'll do what's called a pre interview sometimes, where I'll talk to the guests. And I'll just kind of feel them out and find out what's going on and, and find a story through talking to them that way. So I've done a few things that way, as well. So it usually takes one of those two paths.

Yeah. So you really put on the pre-producer role as well as the host.

Yep. And I, I have an editor who's helping me right now. But I also did the editing for the most part of the first year as well. So very cool. Yeah. It's about your

first year anniversary of being the podcast host and having the sole source as a whole. So congratulations. That's like a huge thing, especially being so consistent of one a week.

Yeah, no, thank you, David. It's a big milestone for us. It was actually this week, it was Tuesday. What was that the 23rd of March? Yeah, that was exactly one year, that sole source has been around. And we have we have not missed a single week. Every week. Since then we've had a podcast come out, sometimes we'll take a break. And we'll like run some older shows and do a little bit of rerun. And if they're relevant, you know, we've done that, but we have not ever had a Monday go by that show did not come out.

That is awesome. You mentioned that you have a Facebook community. And I remember you had you and I had talked about this cuz Yeah, I'm sort of like, Hey, can I get some podcasting advice? And I said, Sure, I'll do my best. And you asked me like, what do you think about Facebook group? And I was like, don't name your own group? Because you did. And I've seen your group thrive. And I'm like, all right, I was wrong there.

I wouldn't say you were entirely wrong. I mean, we have a lot more regular listeners and subscribers on the show or on the YouTube channel than we do within the Facebook group. I get ideas, I do get ideas I do. It's kind of a place where listeners will actually reach out to us if like, they want to talk to somebody, and we always make a point to respond. So that's what it's there for. It didn't grow as quickly or as big as I had hoped it would with listeners that I saw on the back end of like the actual podcast, right? So you might have been right about something there. But it

has kind of been helpful. But the whole thing is like you're building a community around your show. So you can have that listener feedback within the broadcast realm. It was probably more apt on radio than it was on like the news, where it's like, hey, call in and give us your opinion or text in these days and give us your opinion. It's just one of the many on ramps to be engaging with your audience. Do you have any tips for sort of starting or building that community? Yeah,

I mean, I think it is all about consistency. So keeping a regular pace with with posts of different things. And then also, you got to push it off. You can't always just be like, Oh, it's Monday and this new episode came out and then oh, it's Monday, a week later and this new episode came out and we started off doing that and that does not work. You gotta you gotta get a little more vulnerable with yourself as a host you guys Share some things like I've shared our wedding announcement I've shared, you know, a baby on the way things like that. I did a couple where I just, I think I'm sitting on my porch swing, and I was talking about some stuff that we were gonna be doing on the show and just giving people that like behind the scenes glimpse, you got to give them something different than just what they hear all the time. And I think it's super important to keep it very conversational light, like, don't make it like a business page. Because, I mean, unless it's a business podcast, maybe then it would work. But otherwise, I wouldn't make it like that. Because people are, you know, some of our early posts were very formal like that. And people were actually more like, not willing to comment. I think they felt like it was a little too professional. And the more like, loosey goosey I got with it, the more it got, like, just very, you know, like conversational. People were willing to add their thoughts and talk and, and realize like, Oh, this isn't so bad. And I mean, we've pulled things like that, like I even posed debate questions on there just to see what would happen. One of them being like early on in the pandemic, with the face masks, and I was like, a forum, are you against them? I had, like, I think 50 different people comments on that. And I was surprised people were so willing to be so open and honest about it and how they felt because it was kind of a hot button issue. I actually made a show out of that I reached out to two people who had commented on both sides. And they were like, Yeah, no problem. And we did it called a face mask face off. And we had two people who were like at odds sharing what they were doing and why I had people actually comment that they thought that was super interesting, because they couldn't understand why one side was doing what they were doing. And the other side and here they had both views. So yeah, it was it's it served a purpose in a lot of ways, you know, doing that I find people are willing to share I think I asked the vaccine question wants to find out who was willing to get it and who wasn't. And same thing, you know, lots of people commenting. So it's been an interesting thing to play with. For sure.

I think that that like the face mask thing, it was one thing I wanted to commend you on was, you bring that traditional journalistic mindset to the podcasting realm helps you to sort of take an unbiased, overarching look at something and not just be like, here's my opinion, deal with it, bro, which I think is many podcasters. So I must commend you for that.

Thank you. Yeah, I try really, really hard to keep my opinion out of it, and just share the guests, whoever I'm talking to. I mean, that's what we're there to hear. So it's, it is definitely helps having that that reporter background, because that's what I lean on a lot. So

I want to make sure that I leave some time for you to discuss this because I know it's really important to you and red shoes as a whole that your tagline is by women for women. I don't necessarily know the best questions to ask for this. But I hope that this one doesn't bleed with ignorance or anything like that. But why is it important to make content specifically for women?

Well, I think it's important to make content specifically for women, because you don't just think about this interview, we're gonna do, David, you told me that a lot of the people that you have within the group, the co op are male, and a lot of the interviews you've done are male, and you wanted to have a female perspective. And I think that is the prime reason right there. why it's important to make content for women, as much as women have made strides and have have grown within the world, women are still behind men in a lot of ways. It's still not 100% equal, I mean, a prime example of this goes right down to something as simple as, nah, I'm looking at this because I'm pregnant right now. But this is a great example of, you know, having a kid, you have a kid, as a woman, if you are working and and you have a child at home, a lot of times, you're faced with a lot of guilt, right? for not being home enough with your kid or not being devoted enough to work, you might get a pay cut at work, you might get passed over for promotion, because you have to leave to go get your kids from daycare, things like that. Where a guy, he doesn't have that same stigma and a lot of ways a lot of times guys are able to work and do their job. And if they're leaving to go get their kid Well, they're super devoted, you know, they're a super devoted family man versus the mom being well, you're the mom with your kid and you don't do enough for your job. And so it's two very different ways of looking at things. And I think making content for women, that affects them and taking everyday things that even you seeing on the news and showing women how like, specifically this impacts you and your life, I think is really important. And I think we found a really good niche with that.

Is there anything that you would say specifically to women podcasters that are like, Oh, no one needs to hear my voice? Why is my opinion unique?

Well, I think that that is the question you have to ask yourself before you start a podcast, right? I think that's everybody, but specifically women you have to you have to have a niche and it has to be a very like niche niche a niche like it's gotta be very It specific and once you figure out what that specific angle is, and, and why what you have to say to that specific group, then you can start a podcast. So I think that that question is really relevant to just anybody who's looking at starting a podcast because you can't you don't want to just start and just start talking and be like, well, I'm a woman. So my voice matters, like, yes, it matters. But you have to have something that you're saying to a specific group of people, because, like you said, there's millions of podcasts on an apple 400,000 active, that's still a ton of podcasts. Right? So you've got to you've got to find the group that you're going for specifically? Awesome. I

think that's, that's great advice. I think you've covered sort of answered some of the other podcasts, advice, questions and things like that. But especially after having your year year of doing podcasting, looking back, what's been the biggest challenges and the biggest rewards for you?

The biggest challenges, I think, honestly, the biggest challenges were like getting over my own personal fears. And by that, I mean, like, like I talked about how reaching out to guests scared me a little bit. Starting in a pandemic, we've become more more niche focus as we've gone here. And we got even more drill down specifically toward women. But I was a little scared to do that. And Aly alienate men completely because I was like, well, that's such a large portion of people. And I didn't want to come off as again, the news mindset, but as biased or as leaving somebody out, because I was like, Well, I don't think that's right. And so a lot of these personal hurdles that I had put in place for myself, I think was the biggest challenges to overcome, if that makes any sense. Yeah. And then the most rewarding has been to see kind of letting go of those fears. And, and, and seeing where it's gone, and what it's turned into and what it continues to grow into. And the people that have been willing to be guests on our shows and have wanted to come back. That's that's super rewarding to have major organizations want to come back on your show, because that shows that not only are you being, you know, unbiased and everything with what you're sharing, but it also shows that you have a show that has content that these guys some of them government organizations view as, as good, relevant content that they want to be a part of. So to have had that happen has been really, really special. It's been really neat to be do that. And to see that grow in that way.

Oh, we're coming up on the very end of our recording time here. Is there anything else you'd like to add,

I just want to say thank you for creating the co op David, because there's a lot of really good information in there and being a new podcaster. And just kind of like seeing what you guys do and what you guys put out there has been really, really helpful and just know it's a great like learning tool that you guys have made for people. So it's nice to be part of a community like that to have, you know, the support from others and to just kind of learn and grow with you guys. So thank you.

Thank you for the plug. I have to ask, your other tagline is the stories you only hear here. Who came up with that?

That was honestly that was a team thing. We came up with it kind of together. We all sat down and brainstormed and and that one kind of stuck because I hear hear thing right.

I think after you say it every time I always go like here here after. Yeah, it just it does roll off the tongue. So awesome. Raquel, thank you so much for joining us today. We'll see on the flip side.

Sounds good. David, thank you.

Round of applause for Raquel lamelle. I'm happy to report that Raquel has loved the maternity leave she has been able to spend with her little man Corbyn but she is getting back in the podcast saddle as we speak with even more stories for women. So in celebration next week, right. In this feed, you'll hear my favorite episode of sole source where Raquel interviews the first female president of Lakeland University, Beth borgen, and they talk about breaking the glass and having it all for links and other local places mentioned in this show. Check the show notes. If you want help finding your podcast niche like Raquel suggests, head on over to Apple podcast.com for community support and resources. Don't forget you could win the sweet podcast bundle if you do. If you know someone in Northeast Wisconsin who wants to start a podcast share the show with them. And if you've made it this far, please take a second rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and pod chaser really wherever you can. I mean seriously, print out a copy of your review and slap it on someone's windshield doesn't bother me. I'm David Kalsow your neighborly podcast nerd and thanks for listening. This may not make it in the recording but I remember it was cool that you had done the Making a Murderer stuff he got kicked off Facebook because there's so many things going around about like who's got the information and you were somehow connected to it. So like we're gonna be in your account. I thought that was just the craziest thing.

Oh my gosh, yeah, I Oh, I remember that I was so mad. I'm still mad. That's still makes me mad today. I don't know what happened. I had posted a picture of me being in so making a murder to come out and I was in like a small little screenshot. They have like a little five second clip of me out the courthouse. They took a screenshot of it and I shared it on my post and was like, Hey, guys, you should check out Making a Murderer to here's a snippet. I'm in it for short babies, right? And like the Facebook shut me down. And I tried reaching out to them. I was calling them I had a verified page. You know, the little blue checkmark was just like really hard to get. And it was just like, Yeah, I don't know what happened. I tried to get ahold of somebody, nobody ever got back to me. I'll still get emails from my old account to the email address that was tied to it saying like, Oh, this is like this got posted or this happen. And I'm like, I can't even see my account. I had to make a whole new account. I lost everything that was on there. I don't even know. It's crazy. Yeah.

They haven't shut ya down now so that's good.

Not yet. Anyway.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai