Ep. 48 - The Infinite Seat Theater Conversation with Jeff Revilla - Assorted Conversations

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_06 (00:00):
Thanks for tuning in.
Remember, hit that like, afollow, or subscribe button
wherever you're listening rightnow so that you don't miss any
of the great conversationscoming up.
Thanks, and here's this week'sepisode.

(00:25):
Everyday people following theirpassions.

SPEAKER_03 (00:29):
That's probably like one of the highlights of my life
so far, just being able to becreative like that.
Something I've always wanted.

SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
And then I decided to get another hive, and that
turned into a lot of hives.

SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
As long as I can do that, I want to be a good
citizen, help people out.

SPEAKER_06 (00:49):
Putting themselves out there, taking chances, and
navigating challenges along theway.

SPEAKER_07 (00:55):
I I absolutely identified with having stage
right because, you know, anytimeI went on stage, I just felt
like I was having a hot attack.

SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Very first lap, very first practice session, I
crashed, turned the car upsidedown, made a spectacle of
myself, and I got back on thathorse and started riding again.

SPEAKER_06 (01:12):
As they pursue what makes them happy and brings them
joy.

SPEAKER_02 (01:17):
As long as people are having a good time and I
have the opportunity to putsmiles on people's faces, I love
what I do.

SPEAKER_04 (01:24):
I have done things that I never thought I could do.
To have somebody tell me howreal it looks and how, you know,
from their actual memory.
Because that's telling me Icaptured what I was trying to
get.

SPEAKER_06 (01:40):
Welcome to Assorted Conversations.
I'm your host, Helen.
Hello, hello, hello.
The first episode of 2026.
Hard to believe that just fiveyears ago, Assorted
Conversations was just in theplanning stages and not even a

(02:03):
reality yet.
Are you into making New Year'sresolutions?
Me, not so much, but I am aplanner and I've got lots of
podcast things planned for 2026.
Within the first six months ofthis year, I'll be sharing
conversations that span puzzles,kung fu, aphrodisiac foods, just

(02:26):
in time for Valentine's Day, andeven a conversation about
bananabol.
If you've never heard ofbananabol, Google it and watch
some YouTube videos.
I promise you won't bedisappointed.
I'm also working on a brand newpodcast project tentatively set
to launch in March of this year,and it's a complete departure

(02:49):
from assorted conversations.
However, it is something I liveevery day, and the reason you
didn't hear from me during 2024and the better part of 2025, so
stay tuned for that one.
Now jumping into this week'sepisode, I had the opportunity
to sit down with a gentleman whohas created a way to connect

(03:12):
folks looking for affordable,fun, local entertainment and
podcast fans around the worldwith podcast creators in a live
podcast setting.
His infinite seat theaterconcept is starting to shape a
new direction in podcasting andlive entertainment.

(03:32):
So take a listen to this week'sepisode, and I'll see you on the
other side.
Today's guest is an expert inleveraging technology and

(03:53):
creativity to build vibrant,community-focused events, having
dedicated over 20 years todigital marketing and a decade
each to podcasting and livestreaming.
He hosts the entertaining andeducational Stuff I Never Knew
podcast, challenging listenerswith fun trivia and unique
insights.

(04:14):
On top of that, he's thevisionary mind behind PodDuty
Live, a transformative podcasttheater and live venue located
in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaniaarea, where he continues to
innovate and bring peopletogether through dynamic live
and virtual events.
I am excited to welcome JeffRavilla to Assorted

(04:35):
Conversations.
Hi, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01 (04:37):
Hello, hello.
Thank you for having me.
How are you?
I'm doing great.
It's a nice Thursday night.
It's for we're having uh thisalmost summer weather in the
winter in the northeast, whichI'll take.

SPEAKER_06 (04:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Same here in Boston.
So you are quite accomplished inthe digital marketing, the
podcasting, and live event incommunity in support of
communities.
You're so accomplished in all ofthose areas.
I want to find out what happenedfirst, what happened next.

(05:12):
So, where did this all start?
Where did your entrepreneurialspirit come from?

SPEAKER_01 (05:18):
Well, that's going to take you way back to maybe
when I'm 14 years old, eighthgrade area era.
I was way into skateboarding.
And when I got intoskateboarding as a kid, I knew
that I wanted to someday open myown skate shop, open my own
skate park, and we had DECAclasses, which were like
business classes in high school.
So I immediately signed up forthat.

(05:40):
Every year we had to do aproject on business.
My business was a skateboardshop and a skateboard park.
I did every it's all I thoughtabout.
I drew ramp drawings all thetime to how to build the park.
I was just obsessed with thisidea of doing something that I
loved.
I loved, I was all in onskateboarding.
I did that for 20 years of mylife.
And I just wanted to be in thatcommunity.

(06:03):
I wanted to immerse myself init, and I wanted to give back.
And that's that all came fromthat those business classes when
I was like 14 years old.
Just as a kid who lovedskateboarding, who wanted to do
that his whole life.

SPEAKER_06 (06:16):
What a riot.
So did that ever translate intoanything?

SPEAKER_01 (06:20):
It did in 2000.
So I I graduated in the 1900s.
Uh me too.
By two 2001, I was uh actuallythe year 2000, I started buying
skateboards in bulk and sellingthem out of my parents'
basement.
And like people would be comingto the house at all hours of the
night, three in the morningsometimes, to just grab a couple

(06:42):
of skateboard parts because theywere out filming or doing
something.
So I'm sure the neighbors, youknow, thought I may have been
doing something, you know, notreputable, but here I am just
supplying kids with skateboardsso they can go have fun out on
the test.
Right.
And that grew and grew.
And I grew out of my parents'basement in about a year, and I

(07:03):
found this building, and Ioffered this guy eleven thousand
dollars for the entire building,and he took it, and he's like,
Yeah, that's a good deal.
And I was like, Okay, wow, itwas like 8,000 square feet, and
you know, it had its years onit, but it was it became a skate
shop, my mail order hub.
So I built a mail order companyout of this building, and the

(07:24):
other half of the building wasthe skate park.
So you know, by the time I was25 years old, I had you know
really achieved that 14-year-oldboy's dream.

SPEAKER_06 (07:34):
Yeah, yeah.
Wow, you were living the dreamthat young.

SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
Yeah, yeah, I got a taste of it early.

SPEAKER_06 (07:41):
Yeah.
Now, how how did you go fromskateboarding to digital
marketing, podcasting, and thenyou know, uh developing your
your live podcast theater?

SPEAKER_01 (07:55):
It really was the skateboarding, once again.
While I was there in 2001through 2008, the internet was
really becoming a thing.
Social media was becoming athing, video was becoming a
thing.
E-commerce was the where I grewup in, and I'm learning ad
words.
I was building my own socialnetworks, I was producing my own

(08:18):
videos, I was taking photos, andI was doing email marketing.
I kept I built lists of like20,000 local skateboarders that
was emailing all the time.
And it turned out that thateight years of running the skate
shop and skate park andimmersing myself in being
progressive with digital mediawas the best education I ever

(08:39):
had.
It was better than going tocollege because I will when I
had to close the doors in 2008,whenever people couldn't pay
their mortgages, well, they alsostopped buying skateboards.
So I I kind of got wrapped up inan expansion and then the
economy kind of collapsed.
And I'm sitting there like, Ican't sell skateboards to
anybody.
What am I gonna do?
And I started just talking topeople and they're like, Oh, how

(09:00):
do you do this?
And I would tell them, Oh, it'sa simple thing.
You just go da-da-da-da-da, andit's done.
They're like, Well, I couldnever build a website before.
I don't, how did you do that?
Like, I don't know, but I'vebeen doing it for like eight
years, and that skill set that Ilearned was a very valuable
commodity on the market.
And and I have I've had two jobinterviews since I closed the

(09:21):
skate shop, and both of them Iwent in with a pitch, like I was
an agency.
I said, Hey, you're gonna hiresomebody?
Here's what I can do, here's myslides.
And back then I actually printedout the slides and handed them
like a staple packet.
And both both times on the wayhome, they called me to come
back to give me the job.

(09:42):
So my my last job, I'mcelebrating 15 years there now
as the marketing director of alarge auto group in western
Pennsylvania.
It's the greatest job, it's thegreatest work balance, the
greatest family that I've workedfor.
And I really I just love it.
Like I love I'm still doingthat.
I still have that playgroundwhere and I'm still selling
things on four wheels, and I'mjust having a great time, you

(10:05):
know, during the day.
That's my daytime life, and justhaving fun pushing the
boundaries, progressing.
And you know, I my team thatI've built, we're kind of
regarded in the auto industry asthese creative thought leaders,
as the people who are arepushing video boundaries.
We our channels, for if youthink about a car dealership,
nobody wants to watch videos onYouTube of a car dealership, but

(10:28):
we we have over 75 millionorganic views of our channels.
So it's just a testament to howgood the team is and the type of
content that we're putting outthere that we're all in.
We're immersed in this, this isour life, this is what we do.

SPEAKER_06 (10:43):
Oh, that's fantastic.
So your entree with the wholeskateboard experience and then
parlaying it further with theautomotive experience.
I'm assuming, but I don't wantto assume, podcasting became
part of something that supportedthe business venture.

SPEAKER_01 (11:01):
Well, I mean, creating media was part of it.
I like I've created a I had aYouTube version for
skateboarding in like 2006.
I had a message board in 2006.
So those are old things, or itwas just a I think of Reddit,
you know, but more chaos back in2006.
And that that idea of pushingthe boundaries of what can you

(11:23):
do?
What you know, what what can youdo to build community, those
things were always present.
And over the years, I getmarried, I have kids, and you
know, trying to raise the kids,and you just focus on career,
family, kids.
But at a certain point, Jeffloses himself.
You know, he's not beingcreative, he's not pushing those

(11:44):
boundaries as much anymore.
And and one of the things thatgot me through the skate shop
was I in 2006, and I'll show youmy little I got my uh first
color iPod.
Oh wow, it's even engraved 2007.
I I I was I just fell in lovewith podcasting very early on,
and I I saw the potential, Iloved the independent nature of

(12:06):
it.
I loved how you could createsomething, you own it, and you
produce it, you put it on theworld, you don't answer to
anybody.
And that had that skateboardingand that punk rock mentality
that I always loved.
And here I was, you know, about20 2010 to 2015, just kind of
you know, immersed in family.
You know, I love I got two greatdaughters who are growing up now

(12:27):
and well married and I'm goingto work all the time, but I'm
not fulfilled creatively.
Right.
So that kind of circled back tolike, okay, how does Jeff become
Jeff again?
Like, I I you kind of loseyourself when you're raising a
family, not not in a bad way,but your focus is on different
things.
You tend to focus on yourselfless.
And as they got older, theyneeded me less and less.

(12:50):
And you know, I went like, okay,what am I gonna do now?
I got you know, I need to dothings, I need to get some of
these thoughts out and to getsome of this creativity out.
And and I went marchingheadfirst into podcasting.

SPEAKER_06 (13:02):
Oh, what a riot.
So it really didn't haveanything to do with the
business, it really was more ofa self-fulfillment avenue for
you.

SPEAKER_01 (13:10):
Yeah, it was very much of a passion project.
It's a lay, it's still a laborof love.
You know, I I love putting ashow together and and that that
nature of be being your ownmedia conglomerate.
Yeah.
I create something, I producesomething, I answer to nobody,
and I put it out there, I putout the creative vision that I
see, and I can release that.

(13:31):
And I don't have any creproducers knocking on my door.
I'm not taking notes, you know,from the the uh president of the
corporation who wants a yo, canwe work in some more Tide
commercials or something?
Right.
You know, I can do what I want,and I and that's my product.
I own it start to finish.

SPEAKER_06 (13:48):
Yeah.
It it's funny, it's part of whatdrove me to do, you know, what
I'm doing.
You know, I just the thecreative fulfillment in an
avenue outside of my day-to-day,outside of my job, outside of my
family and friends and you know,other hobbies that I have.
I I really I love talking topeople.

(14:09):
And everybody's got a story, andand every story needs to be
heard.
And I'm probably the worstperson to sit next to on an
airplane.

SPEAKER_01 (14:18):
So that yeah.
Well, it makes the flights goshorter if you have someone to
talk to.

SPEAKER_06 (14:23):
Yeah, well, you know, if you want to be talked
to, yes, absolutely.
Looking back over your 20 plusyears of all the digital
marketing that you did, whatmoments do you think shape the
way you approach creativity now?

SPEAKER_01 (14:39):
Uh having the the like all the lab, right?
This the skate shop lab, thatreally is freeing.
And I think that mentality ofbeing a skateboarder, of of
looking at objects differentlythan most people, looking at
stairs differently than peoplelook at, or benches or garbage
cans or curb cuts, or you know,you you look at the world
differently because you're askateboarder.

(15:01):
You're looking to expand theboundaries of what a park bench
could be, because most peoplewould just see it and sit on it.
I'm trying to ollie up it, grindon it, slide on it, tail slide,
no slide, you know, do all theseother things and have a
different vision.
And all that, all that thinkingand and reimagining things

(15:22):
always transfers over tocreative sides.
If you look at graphic designersand marketing people and
advertising, a significantportion of them come from
counterculture backgrounds.
They do come from skateboardingand they come from music and the
punk rock mentality, that DIYmentality, because they look at

(15:43):
the world differently.
They're they're born to thinkoutside the box.
And and that's where all thatcame from for me is those
moments of I th I saw something,can I recreate it and make it my
own?
Or you know, I'm influenced bysomething, but I don't want to
just copy it.
I want to learn how they did it,pull it apart, and then put it

(16:05):
back together in my own vision,my own imagination.
And and that mentality is whatcarried through into those early
days of marketing and that thelab mentality that I had.

SPEAKER_06 (16:17):
Yeah.
No, I that's a great point, youknow, about the skateboarders,
that they look at stairsdifferently.
They look at curbs there.
It it it it really makes a tonof sense.
And I think that's why reallygood marketing, you know, where
people are always looking forsomething to be eye-catching and
attract attention and beengaging and be meaningful.

(16:40):
And sometimes the same old, sameold just doesn't do that.

SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Yeah, it's it's amazing as I get older now.
The the people that I meet, whenI meet, the more creative people
I meet, the more of them havesome sort of this counterculture
background.
It's a it's like a breedingground for adult creativity.
Yeah, it's a true andautomotive.
I meet a ton of creativeskateboarders and that were
formerly skateboarders.
We're not all skateboardersanymore, but on the graphic

(17:08):
design side, they they alwayslove you, watch skateboarders,
they always like to draw littlepictures and logos and emblems,
and that becomes a skill setthat they develop.
They go to school and learngraphic design and layout.
Yeah, and it's they're justfilled with the creative people
tend to be those those peoplewho thought outside the box a
lot when they were kids.

SPEAKER_06 (17:27):
Yeah.
Oh, that's that is so awesome.
What does podcasting allow youto do creatively that
traditional media doesn't allowfor?

SPEAKER_01 (17:37):
Yeah, everything.
I'll start with the obvious,right?
I mean, there's you have anidea, you can you can work it
out over your lunch, you cancome home and then put that idea
down and and start to work withit, play with it, edit it, you
get some feedback, you know,show it to a few people.
You you start it's always likethat that big box of marble, and

(18:00):
you have to find out what'sinside that marble, and you
start chiseling away, and all ofa sudden it's a statue of David.
It's this world-renowned pieceof art, right?
And that's what podcasting is,it's an it's a box, and you can
build whatever you want out ofthat box, you can chisel it
away, you can make anything youwant, and and that power you
don't get in in traditionalcorporate media.

(18:22):
If I wanted to take the sametrivia show that I produce and
we goes to the cable company, ifI wanted to be in the cable
company environment producingthat, I'd have to, I'd have a
boss, I'd have to bounce thatidea off of.
There'd be a creativedepartment, there'd be a uh
probably a boss above my bossthat would say, Well, I don't
know if you sign off on it.
Then that boss sends it to theCEO, and then they send notes

(18:46):
back down, and and then all of asudden, all these little people
have their hands in your vision,and they're chipping away at
your start.
You know, you're now you got theDavid statue with the no arms,
right?
And then all of a sudden theythey take the set off because
they got to get sponsors andadvertisers.
So you get the power to beyourself that you don't get when

(19:08):
you're in a corporateenvironment, a traditional media
environment.

SPEAKER_06 (19:12):
Yeah.
So tell me about your podcastingjourney.
Where you know what what did youdo first and and how have you
moved throughout podcasting toget to the point where you saw
the need for a live theater?

SPEAKER_01 (19:26):
I started my first journey was in 2010.
I started a podcast with a localperson.
We didn't know anything.
Yeah, I think we tried usingSkype, and I think there was a
plug-in for Skype that wascalled like Pamela's and or
Stacy's or something like that.
And you could we were trying torecord audio in 2010, and we did

(19:47):
like three or four episodes.
We didn't know what an RSS feedwas, we just kind of like
uploaded an MP3 file to awebsite and said, Hey, there's
our podcast.
And and she was so talented, sheactually went on within like a
couple.
Weeks of us doing this andbecame like the marketing
director for GerardelliChocolates.
Like very talented, well beyondwhere I was in my career.

(20:08):
And I kind of like meanderedthrough and I putzed around with
stuff.
And then in 2015, I stumbledacross a platform called Blab.
And the internet is kind ofdivided by people who were there
in 2015 for Blab and those whoweren't.
And if you were there, you'llhave a community for the rest of
your life.
You'll have a family of blabbersthat were that if you cross

(20:30):
paths, you're like, oh my god,you were in Blab.
And it was the first likefour-in-the-box live streaming
service.
And it had this amazing socialelement where it would bring you
30, 40 people into your room inthe first five minutes of going
live.
It was just an amazing way.
And people were giving props andlike coins would pop up, but

(20:53):
they weren't real coins likethey do today.
And you could make the screenshake, you can make it snow
during the you could do all thischaotic stuff.
And I decided to I was gonna tryto do a game show.
And I did the first coupleshows, were a disaster like
everybody's first podcast.
And we would do like atournament of eight people
playing trivia until one personremained, and it was chaos, and

(21:18):
it was beautiful at the sametime.
Because at the end of the show,I walked away with oh my
goodness, I just connected 30people across the world.
We're we're having fun, we'relaughing together, we're having
this good communal moment, andthe thing that Blab did that was
kind of ahead of its time isthis whole time it was recording

(21:40):
everything, and you coulddownload the audio and video for
free.
Oh wow, which ended up becomingBlab's downfall.
Right, they had no businessmodel, and it grew so rapidly in
2016, 2017 that it became sounstable, it just collapsed
under its own weight and theyeventually shut it down.
And that's where this journeytook me is there was nowhere

(22:03):
else that replaced Blab.
And for years, people wouldwander around trying to find
Blab.
A few people have tried torecreate it, like get vocal or
go kiki, and it just didn't havethe blab magic.
But what I did know ispodcasting for me became
something so much more than justrecording an MP3 file in my

(22:24):
basement.
It became this community event,it became a way that I could
have like almost like a party.
We're hanging out, we're havinga good time.
It's a social event and it'sfun.
Right.
And that mentality of how can Ido this?
If if no one's gonna build this,well then maybe I can go out
into the world and take this tothe world.

(22:46):
It's got maybe as like a littlebit of the gospel of podcasting,
right?
And I I called it theateranywhere, was the initial
concept.
And I have pictures of it whereI built this thing that could
fit in the back of a sedan.
It was a podium, some speakers,a mic stands, and I could take
it anywhere.
And my goal was maybe I couldjust go to a park, and maybe

(23:08):
like a lot of parks have thoseclamshells, and like I could
rent some park space or alongthe river walk near, you know,
on a trail, hide behind a treeand like pop out and like
interview people, and just takeit anywhere.
Because wherever I go, I realizethat's where the podcast could
be.
I could go to a friend's house,you know, in the basement to
their backyard, and it reallyopened the world for me of where

(23:31):
can you record a podcast?
And at the same time, a friendof mine was opening a coffee
shop, and he said, Hey, you'vegot this whole thing, you're
doing this thing, you're doingthis trivia thing.
And there's a video of thiswhere you could see the very
early days of me performingtrivia live.
And he's like, Hey, I got thisparking lot next to the coffee

(23:53):
shop.
Why don't we set up one night?
We'll do a whole live event.
I'll bring in a taco truck,we'll have coffees and drinks
for everybody.
It'll be a good time.
I said, I said, let's do it.
The problem was we scheduled itfor March 30th, 2020.

SPEAKER_06 (24:09):
Oh, oh.

SPEAKER_01 (24:10):
Which was really bad timing.

SPEAKER_06 (24:12):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (24:12):
Yeah.
And we ended up, we it was like,you know, the world shut down on
I I think it was March 13th, wasthe schools, and then the state
was like March 20th.
And we're like, well, they saidtwo weeks, you know, from the
13th, that's only the 27th.
I think we'll still be good.
Like we should still be able tohave the show.
And obviously, we ended upcanceling it.

(24:33):
And I I kept thinking about thisidea, and we we did reschedule
it, which is what that video.
There is a video of me doingthis, but we rescheduled it.

SPEAKER_05 (24:42):
Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 (24:43):
So I wasn't trying, I'm going on a little bit of a
tangent there.
The this idea of I could takethis podcast and do it anywhere
became something bigger while wewere in lockdown.
It became okay, well, if I'm ifI can't be there live streaming
it, well, then maybe I could beat home, I could have an
audience, maybe in my backyardor have a party and have people

(25:06):
over and live stream it.
And that's when I realized thatyou you're not bound by the
constraints of the the fourwalls that surround you.
Your your theater space nowbecomes infinite.
So even if you look behind me,for I don't know if you I know
you don't, I know you're justaudio, but for those of you who
see any pictures in the shownotes, there the theater has a

(25:28):
40 seats, but it can live streamto thousands.
And and this concept that Ideveloped from all the shutdown
and being away from everybodyand and wanting to be able to
reach everybody became thisinfinite seat theater concept
where you could take this into atown, you need a small piece of
real estate, uh, you know, 1600square foot building, you could

(25:52):
set up 40 chairs, you could livestream to thousands, and and
have be the same size as MadisonSquare Garden.
Right, right.
On these this little real estatespace.
So this little footprint becomessomething so much bigger.
And then all that all that camefrom Blab, from trying to do
live shows, from presenting thisidea at Podfest to doing it live

(26:13):
in a theater, all because I justwant to have fun and reach the
most amount of people.

SPEAKER_06 (26:19):
Yeah.
And that's awesome.
That's awesome.
I love what you do.
I want to backtrack a littlebit.
Now, did the theater come upprior to you doing other
podcasts, or was it the otherway around?

SPEAKER_01 (26:33):
The theater was an idea.
This idea, like that littletheater anywhere idea.
All this started like 2017-2018.
This thing has been in my headfor seven years before I I
finally did it in April of 2024.
So the theater's just about tocelebrate two years old when I I

(26:53):
was turning, I was 48.
I was like, I'm gonna be 50 intwo years.
I am so sick and tired oftelling everybody about the
infinite seat theater.
I'm so sick and tired of talkingabout this.
I need to know, is this a thingor is it not a thing?
And I was like, I'm 48, I won'tknow by I'm 50.
If it doesn't work by the timeI'm 50, great, I'll just start

(27:15):
investing uh, you know, afterthat, I'll just be an investor
or something like that.
And so that that was the reallythe origins.
I had to know, like, is thisbigger, is this idea bigger than
what I think it is?
Right.
And and that's why I decided todo it in in 2024.

SPEAKER_06 (27:31):
So, how has it been so far?

SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
It's been a roller coaster, it's still an expensive
hockey.
We we bring in shows a coupletimes a month.
We have maybe four to five showsa month.
My goal is four to five shows aweek, along with the shows that
I produce, the shows that I sellto the cable company, there's
other income streams, but uh youknow, I'm trying to find an
audience of local people whowant to enjoy podcasting as a

(27:57):
form of entertainment, and I'mtrying to find the talent for
the stage.
So we're attacking this on twofronts.
Right.
You know, where do you find allthe local talent who wants to
leave the comfort of theirbasement studio and go to a
stage and trust me to produceit?
Right.
And then how do you find thepeople who want to come watch
this?
Now we do know that people aregoing to see live podcasts.

(28:20):
We see it with comedians andactors, they're filling up
arenas and theaters, but there'sno can there's no middle ground
between your home studio andMadison Square Garden.
What's that stepping stone formost podcasters?
How are they going to get out oftheir home studio and onto big
stages at theaters and arenas?
Right.

(28:40):
Well, they got to practicesomewhere, and I think small
clubs like this, just likecomedy clubs, are the very
similar business model.
You go from small clubs tobigger clubs, the theaters, the
arenas.
Why isn't it like that forpodcasting?
It's just that it's notdeveloped yet.
But that same structure is gonnabuild itself over time because

(29:02):
people aren't gonna just keeppaying$150 for a 90-minute show
with a comedian, right?
You know, to see to listen totheir podcast.
They're gonna start to needopening acts, they're gonna
start to put fairs together likeLollapalooza or Vans Warp Tour
or Lilith, and they're gonnabring like festivals of
podcasters together.

(29:23):
And these are things that we'veseen in every other industry in
music and comedy.
We know that that's the businessmodel.
We're just not there yet inpodcasting, right?
And I think what I'm buildinghere, you're gonna see pop up in
cities all over the country, andthat'll be that middle stepping
ground, that'll be that middlepoint to go from the basement,

(29:44):
to go to the small clubs, to goto the theaters as an opening
act, and then hopefully you camethrough that system.
One day you'll headline the youknow, Madison Square Gardens.
Right, right.
I love Madison Square Gardens.

SPEAKER_06 (29:58):
How is what your vision is different from like
podcast movement, podfest, anyof those, those other, you know,
podcasting festivals,conferences, networking events?

SPEAKER_01 (30:15):
Yeah, those are amazing events, and I've had a
chance to speak at some of them.
I've I hopefully get to go thisyear to a couple more, and
they're based on verytraditional podcasting models
and very traditional advertisingmodels, which is great.
Like that's that's thefoundation that built this
industry, and they continue tofocus on that.

(30:36):
I'm going a little bit further,I think.
I think I'm a I'm a little aheadof the curve on what a podcast
can be as far as entertainmentgoes.
I think what when people seewhat this stage can do, whether
you're on the stage with a guestor your guest is a virtual guest
from another part of the world,and you're all communicating

(30:56):
with 40 people in front of you,plus people at home watching,
and the people at home watchingare sending in questions to the
stage, and the stage isanswering those questions, and
the people in the audience areasking questions.
This stage becomes like a portalto the world.
You it can be a central hubwhere you're connected to the
not only the people in the room,but people all over the world.

(31:17):
They're watching it.
I'd say the best way to think ofit is like on if you've ever
watched Star Trek and they godown to the room and they say,
Hey, beam me up, Scotty, or beamme down, Scotty.
That room is like a portal toanother world.
And that's what that's what thestage behind me is.
It's a place to go anywhere, toto distribute your message
anywhere, to broadcast anywhere.

(31:40):
You can do that while you'resitting there and be fully
connected to the world in a waythat you can't be just watching
television or Netflix orstreaming.
You're actually really connectedto everybody else.

SPEAKER_06 (31:52):
But you know, it it's funny.
I'm an audio-only podcast, butwhen I interview, I have video
on so that we can connect.
And I feel like I'm I'm it Ifeel like I'm just contradicting
myself because I am anaudio-only podcast where I can

(32:12):
look at my stats and see that,you know, I've I've been
listened to in over, you know,200 countries or territories or
whatever.
But I I really haven't connectedwith them.
So I I I like I like I saidbefore we even started
recording, I love what you'redoing to support the creative
community and and and not justsupport them, but help them

(32:36):
connect with consumers of theircreativity.
I I think it's a really, reallycool concept.

SPEAKER_01 (32:44):
Yeah, one thing that I talk about is and I'm I grew
my first podcast, stuff I neverknew was audio, and I was doing
video too, but I always have anaudio version.
I always have an MP3 filedistributed by an RSS to the
readers.
That's like my that's notnegotiable.
Like I still believe in thoserules that make things a

(33:06):
podcast.
But what I do know is when I Iput an MP3 file out on a Monday,
and then I come back thefollowing Monday, the only thing
I know is I had X number ofdownloads.
I'd I don't know who thosepeople were, I don't know how
they reacted, I don't know wherethey laughed in the show, when
they laughed in the show.

(33:26):
Were they laughing at me?
Did they even pay attention orwere they on their phone, you
know, scrolling the whole time?
But when you're in front of theaudience, when you're on stage,
you're getting real-timereaction, real-time feedback.
You're making eye contact.
They're seeing how you are inthe moment.
So all the pictures they have intheir head of how they've

(33:48):
pictured you, they're now seeingit come to life.
They're seeing you in person,how you react in the moment, how
you handle stressful questionsfrom the audience, they're
getting a new perspective too.
And when the hardest part forthese events that I host is
getting people out of thetheater when it's over.
Really?
Because once the show ends, thatthat hour and a half they spent

(34:10):
on stage performing, it'sanother hour and a half to get
everybody out of the theater.
They are high-fiving, hugging,crying, shaking hands.
They're saying thank you forwhat you do.
I love this episode.
I love this episode you did twomonths ago.
You know, I was having a hardtime, but you know, I it got me
through some stuff that I'mreally glad you produced it, and

(34:32):
it meant a lot to me.
And I came tonight just tosupport you, let you know I'm a
fan.
And that takes hours.
Like people do not want toleave.
I mean, the host is obviouslyyou know exhilarated from
performing.
There's there's a great rush youget coming off of the stage, and
then you're coming off to thestage to all these people who
are fans who love you.
And and it the it just that'sthe it's the most rewarding part

(34:55):
for the host.
Probably the and the probablythe most stressful thing that I
have to deal with.
But if that's the worst thing Ihave to deal with, you know, so
be it.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 (35:03):
So so tell me about some of the great podcast live
podcast episodes that that thetheater has hosted.
What made it such a greatexperience?

SPEAKER_01 (35:14):
A lot of times we have the best ones are this the
rap parties.
We've done a several season onewrap-up or season two kickoff,
like like those in between arethe best because everyone's had
a chance to digest the firstseason, and then they're waiting
for the second season, or youknow, the second season's
kicking off.
So a lot of times these middleones, the the host goes all out.

(35:37):
We've had so much catering inthis place.
They they buy food, they'll buypizza.
They'll we had one guy bring ina full barbecue.
He went down, he got like likebrisket and ribs and pulled
pork.
Oh wow.
It had a whole spread just tocelebrate the you know his
podcast and rapping season one.
So those shows are are so muchfun.

(35:58):
That's a party, that's acelebration with the fans.
It's a true event to to reallybe in the moment, to you know,
be one with your fans and laughand and just hang out with them
and and put you know, they put aa face to that voice they've
been hearing.
Right.
And you get to have a you get tohave an experience that you
can't get from an MP3 file.

SPEAKER_06 (36:18):
Yeah.
Well I I would guess, becauseyou're in the Pittsburgh area,
that you're hosting local uhPittsburgh-based podcasts.
So that you get the local draw.

SPEAKER_01 (36:33):
We do better with the locals.
We've we've tried to book someout of area, and it is very
hard.
Most, you know, a lot of thepodcasts that we're dealing with
have maybe a thousand downloads,two thousand downloads.
They don't have the draw local.
Right.
So whenever I bring in somebodyfrom DC or you know,
Connecticut, it's really hard tomove those tickets because their

(36:55):
whole base in Pittsburgh mightbe 20 people.
Yeah.
And those of those 20 people,probably two of them would even
be eligible or or want to evencome to the live event.
So, you know, the out-of-townersare harder.
The locals are better becausethey bring friends and family
and their local fans and peoplethey talk to and know them, just

(37:16):
like just like bands.
Like if you were to see a smalllocal band, guess who's in the
audience for that small localband?

SPEAKER_03 (37:23):
Friends and family.

SPEAKER_01 (37:23):
Friends and family and local, you know, and local
fans.
And we're we have a better drawwhenever we have more local.
I'd I'd like to get to the pointwhen we get some touring, you
know, comedians and podcastersand actors pop through.
Yeah.
I think we're just on the cuspof that.
And I think 2026 is going to bean interesting year for taking

(37:44):
this to that next level.

SPEAKER_06 (37:45):
Oh, that that's that's awesome.
I I see franchise opportunity inyour future.

SPEAKER_01 (37:53):
I've had a couple offers already, and it's it's
and I I've had offers becauseone thing that we do very
uniquely is there is nomiddleman.
I'm all the men, from the theidea that you have when you
approach me to the landing pageto selling tickets, to
production, to post production,and and to payout.

(38:14):
We handle all that.
We're a one-stop shop.
You don't have to you don't haveto involve anybody else.
It's just me and the creator.
So the some of the things thathave come my way is how does
that system scale?
How does that system becomefranchisable?
That's the franchisable system,is what we built from start to
finish.
You don't need anybody else.

(38:36):
As an independent creator, youcould approach us, you know
exactly how it works, and westart and we finish, and that's
that's the agreement.
That's how that's what we worktogether.
You don't need to bring in amanager, a lawyer.
Uh, you know, you don't have toget like 10 people reviewing a
contract.
It's a very simple handshakedeal.
End of the night, we walk away.

(38:56):
If you like it, we'll do itagain.
If you didn't like it, we'rehey, we tried it and we had a
good time.
And you know, maybe we'll try itagain in a year or two.

SPEAKER_06 (39:04):
Well, to get to where you are now, I know it
sounds like it was smoothsailing.
I'm guessing that you had somechallenges.
What's been what's beendifficult about getting the
theater off the ground and andlearning what you've learned?

SPEAKER_01 (39:19):
Yeah, there are times where I just want to run
through a wall.
Like, I'm like, I can't believeI did this to myself.
Why did I open this thing?
And then there's times I'm like,I am the smartest guy in the
world.
Like, I can't believe I came upwith this idea.
And then sometimes thosecontradicting feelings are in
the same hour of the same day,or it's the highs and lows.

(39:42):
And there are stressful things,like you know, how figuring out
how does this even work?
Like, how do I get audio to goto a live stream and then get
how do I get the audio back fromthe live stream to go to the
house so that the people canhear it?
If I if I if you do it the wayyou think you do it, it just
creates a loop in the system andyou just you right the you know

(40:06):
the the feedback loop that youget and so you know figuring out
that technology figuring out I'mvery shoestring budget like I am
I am bootstrap all the way likeI do not spend crazy amounts of
money I'll I'll go through acouple like items that some of
you may see in the show notesthat there's orange chairs in

(40:27):
the in the audio in the for inthe theater area and I was
looking for I want to get nicechairs I want to have a nice
space for people to sit andwhenever I was looking for them
I would go all these remnantplaces Facebook marketplace I
found a Catholic school that wasbeing liquidated it's going up
for auction and they said heywhatever you want to donate they

(40:50):
had a hundred orange chairs andI was like all right well they
said whatever you want to donateit goes to the Catholic
charities I said great so in myhead I'm like I don't know 100
chairs I've seen what chairscost if I do two dollars and
fifty cents a chair that'sreally low and they'll get 250
bucks and so I said how about250 bucks and she said deal like

(41:10):
immediately and I was like ohman I could have went I could
have did a dollar a chair but Igot so I the the 40 chairs that
are in the theater cost me 80 90bucks I bought a stage off of a
karate school that was just theynever used it they they used to
do demonstrations on it so I gota stage from a karate school we
have a a place that does Amazonauctions where all those returns

(41:34):
go to and I was buying pipe anddrape and lighting and other
tables fixtures all this stuffand I I really put this whole
thing together if you know it'sfunny if you go to like Spotify
at the end of the year they giveyou your recap you're like
here's what you listen to wellthis service that I use for the
Amazon auctions I bought so muchthe year that I opened a theater

(41:57):
that I got a recap like hey yourthe retail value of all the
things you bought was like sixthousand dollars you paid seven
hundred dollars wow so so I'mvery frugal but I want I want it
to be nice if you if you see thepictures of the theater it
really came together yeah in away that I I couldn't even like
have planned better like it justfit together the right time the

(42:20):
right place and those thingsthose things are what make it
work I think it the the thebuilding that we found I was
like where am I going to put ahundred ugly orange chairs well
the building was an old men'sclothing store that has red
carpeting inside like a movietheater it has the ceilings are

(42:41):
painted red the landlord let mepaint all the walls black so now
you're now it's in the now itfeels like you're in a theater
the orange works where there's alot of brown decor so like the
orange and the browns and thereds they all kind of work
together somehow and it justlike I couldn't have planned
that but it worked out that wayand that's one of those moments
like oh I'm such a smartie likethis was a I'm a genius to be

(43:04):
able to put this together butthen sometimes I you know I sit
there and I'll I'll have one ofmy own events and it's
tumbleweeds you know so I'vedone shows where I've just
locked the front door and I justhit record and went on stage by
myself and and performed and didmy show did the recording did
the interview or whatever cameoff the stage hit record turned

(43:24):
off the lights and and it wenthome so so those times are hard.
You know it's a bitter pill toswallow sometimes when you're
you're trying to do things andyou know not every idea
resonates with the public butyou can go from these highest of
highs to lowest of lows and likeI said sometimes it happens in
the same day.

SPEAKER_06 (43:42):
Right right no I hear I hear you I had again I
knew nothing about recordingwhen I started podcasting four
or five years ago I think it was2021 we I and we had been
planning since the end of 2020and then taught ourselves how to
record how to edit how to marketyou know set up our Facebook

(44:04):
pages and our Instagram page andyou know what I found is
everything you think will take Xamount of time will take double
at least so but eventually youget better at it.

SPEAKER_01 (44:22):
So the whole point in developing the theater is
really to support creatives andto support your local community
why is supporting creatives acore part of your mission yeah
it's a it's a DIY mentality it'sthat's what I believe in it's
what I'm doing right and if Ican help other creators the

(44:44):
business model is even no riskto the content creators if you
were to approach hotel and sayhey I want to do my podcast
maybe in one of your ballroomsyou know what does that look
like and oh they said oh greatyou know here's a contract it's
$10,000 deposit it's$5,000 youknow for us to turn on the

(45:05):
electricity if you wantelectricity it's another$4,000
if you want any kind of A V.
Do you want a stage?
That's$2,000 all of a suddenyou're at$20 grand to do an
event.
What I want to do is flip thatscript I've already made the
investment the stage is alreadyset up the theaters already set
up everything's in place.
I want you to be able to come inoff the streets with your idea

(45:28):
and hit record and I don't havea contract.
I said it's a handshake deal Idon't have a minimum guarantee
like you do not have toguarantee me a minimum amount of
ticket sales.
I want you to be on that stagewithout a worry that at the end
of the night you have a bill tocover what we do is we split the
door 50-50.
So if you sold$500 worth oftickets and your your show you

(45:52):
get$250 the house gets$250 andthat's it wipe your hands clean
that's the event that's all wedo.
You're not on the hook for youknow oh you got the there's a
cleaning fee or you know agarbage disposal fee or a worker
satisfaction you know theyalways make up these fees at the
hotels so I want to my goal wasto reduce that risk to almost

(46:15):
nothing make it a positiveexperience and let that DIY
flourish let more creatives comein let more people try to do
this let people just see the joyof live podcasting and how much
different it is and how muchit'll change the trajectory of
your show because you're doingsomething now where you're

(46:37):
putting faces to those insteadof having just download numbers
now these downloads have facesbecause they're they're
downloading the show in realtime right in front of you and
they're you know their faces arelit up they're laughing right
they're crying they're high fivein you at the end and you can't
do that if you're worried thatyou've got to pay a hotel 20

(46:59):
grand for the use of theirballroom right right and so my
goal was to flip that flip thatbusiness model so that creatives
can come in worry free and bethe independent creators that
they are that's awesome.
What's been most rewarding aboutwatching creators use the
theater and your platform forthem it's it's seeing the I love

(47:22):
seeing there's two types ofpeople one are like somebody
like me I can't plan when I'mgoing to go on stage I need to
have bullet points and I'll justhit those notes as I go through
it.
The more I try to script thingsout the more I trip over my
words the more I talk myself outof breath sometimes where I'm
like yeah absolutely like it andso I for me just going up on

(47:45):
stage and talking is no no bigdeal.
Some people are really strictplanners and I try to you know
get them out of that box alittle bit and and I like that
they have structure and they'rethinking about their show in
that way but they're also themost nervous prior.

SPEAKER_05 (48:00):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (48:01):
So what I like to see is I know what they're
doing.
I know all that I can see thatnervous energy when they're
pacing through the aisles I youknow they're going up on stage
or just they're moving liketheir cup like one inch because
like oh the cup doesn't lookright there.
It's got to be one inch over itthat'll be perfect.
Then they go they look at it offstage and they're overthinking
it.
But once the show starts and allthat execution or all that

(48:23):
planning they put into theexecution it all kicks in and
they're just on cruise controland they're they're they're
everything about them changes.
And all of a sudden they don'trealize 65 70 minutes just went
by and the show's over rightlike where did what happen what
happened?
Where did that go?
Where did the time go and thethe just you never met better

(48:48):
people in better moods as when apodcaster gets off the stage for
the first time.

SPEAKER_06 (48:52):
What a riot what a riot I wish I was big enough to
do that.
Because I was thinking if I'mthe risk you are big enough I I
have you know I have a a verydevout fan in Germany that every
episode they've listened to.
And I you know when I look at mydownloads and see where they're
coming from I based on when andyou know conversations that I've

(49:16):
had I can tell who my friendsand my family are that have
listened to it.
And then I'm always amazed thatsomebody in Singapore listened
to the National Santa episode oryou know somebody in Cyprus
listened to the through hikingthe Appalachian Trail episode.
So I mean I I I wouldn't thinkI'd get more than two people in

(49:40):
person out in Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_01 (49:42):
That's what we want that's what we want you we want
you to have two people in theaudience.
And let me tell you there's onething that people don't think
about because a lot of peopleget hung up on the 40 seats or
the virtual seats and and I tellpeople I'm okay if you sell zero
tickets that's not the point ofall this the point is to get you
started so that maybe next timeyou will sell two tickets or or

(50:04):
six tickets.
But what the biggest side effectto all of this is is the moment
you say I'm gonna be live on themain stage at the Padootie
Podcast Theater on January 16thstop down and see me my podcast
headlining the theater all of asudden the friends and family
that you know the friends andfamily are are supportive and

(50:24):
they're usually cordial when youtalk about your podcast but
they're usually not your biggestfans they're usually not
listening to every episode butthey'll they'll tell you oh yeah
I saw your clip on on Facebookbut when you tell them I'm gonna
be live on the main stage thatthat instantly changes their
perception of what you're doingthey understand what a

(50:47):
performance is what a stage iswhat a theater is what
headlining is they're like ohwait a second this is something
serious this is this is waybigger than just a podcast
whatever a podcast we don't wenever know what a podcast is but
this is bigger now this is anevent this is something I can go
to and when you make thattransition from just doing every

(51:10):
episode in a in in your homestudio to maybe one episode a
quarter at a live event and infront of people on a stage that
changes the whole dynamic ofyour show it it adds a level of
credibility that you don't getfrom you know downloads and two
hundred two downloads in 200countries but being live on a

(51:31):
main stage has as much weight asas saying that huh huh I think
I'd be hard pressed to get manyfriends family to drive from
Boston to Pittsburgh.
But well they may not make thecommute and like I said the the
further away the harder it isbut you don't have to come to
Pittsburgh you know if you everwant to talk about doing

(51:51):
something in Boston we canfigure it out there's there's
coffee shops there's barsthere's library spaces that have
media centers there's a ton ofplaces to do this in your in
your hometown I don't you don'thave to just come to Pittsburgh
figure out how to do it locallyyeah all right interesting
that'd be that'll be aconversation outside of the

(52:11):
podcast but um it it does itbegs the question do you help
podcasters solicit folks to fillto to put butts and seats in the
theater yeah butts and seatsthat's I say that all the time
I'm just looking for I'm lookingfor butts and seats and so what
I I do put put ad dollars behindevery episode I I list things on

(52:34):
our local newspaper has anevents calendar my Google My
Business page has my events onit Facebook events we do
Facebook ads we'll do uh Googleads with YouTube we will do we
will support that I I mostlyspend the 50% that I split with
the podcaster on promoting thethe event oh wow I I very rarely

(52:55):
make like more than 10% on ashow.
Wow my goal my goal is volumeturnover momentum that's what
I'm trying to build and I canonly do that if if I establish a
precedent if I keep these showsgoing if I keep delivering on
good shows and I keep bringingpeople in over and over and over

(53:16):
again I need to get that volumegoing and that's that's the
momentum is the hardest part howdo how do you see live
podcasting and hybrid eventschanging in the next few years
and evolving and improving Ithink this is the future without
a doubt that this business modelfor 90% of podcasters is the

(53:39):
right model for people to lookafter or to chase after.
Currently I think if you askmost podcasters why they get
into podcasting they're likewell I'm gonna build an audience
I'm gonna get a bunch ofdownloads and then I'm gonna
monetize those downloads byreading by reading ads right and
the way ads are sold they'rebased on every thousand
downloads advertisers will paysay$20 for a thousand downloads

(54:04):
the problem is when you look atserver logs like from Libsyn or
Buzz Sprout 90% of podcasts donot get to a thousand downloads.
Right.
So how on earth are you going tomake more than twenty dollars
and so I tell people think abouthow long you've been podcasting
how much longer is it gonna takeyou to get the 1,000 downloads

(54:26):
and then if you do you'll need1000 downloads to even make 200
right so that's a lot that's andthat's a thousand downloads an
episode per episode yeah perepisode so what I tell people is
okay 20 bucks per thousandyou're chasing this idea and I
get it it's been sold to you athousand times the media talks

(54:48):
about how much money there is inpodcasting that's what you want
to do and I and I get it.
And that can be part of yourbusiness that your podcast
journey over time but what Itell people is let's rethink
what we're doing if if chasingthat$20 is our goal well if you
were to have an event at mytheater promote it you talk

(55:08):
about it get that credibilityfrom having a live event and you
sold just four tickets of tendollars a ticket that four
tickets$40 you get half of thatmoney four people watching you
is equal to a thousand peopledownloading.
Right.
So my argument for 90% ofpodcasters let's rethink what

(55:30):
we're doing that okay you canbuild that type of audience but
maybe quarterly or once a monthdo a live event maybe you'll
make a hundred two hundreddollars just doing one live
event that's gonna at leastcover your expenses for six
months eight months of yourhosting of your website your
email marketing you can you canthis could be a very fun hobby

(55:53):
doesn't have to be superprofitable right off the bat but
you're building all these assetsyou're you're getting live
experience you're taking photoswhen you're on stage you're
sharing that with social mediayou you're building something
way bigger than just recordingthese episodes in your basement
trying to get to a thousanddownloads now you're peppering
in live events you're you'repeppering in selling merchandise

(56:15):
selling ads on the ticketsselling ads on the shows you
have a sponsor for the showright there's all these other
things that you can do to to getto monetization quicker than
just I'm gonna read ads I'mgonna read ads I'm gonna purple
mattress and me undies here Icome look out and blue chew and
yeah blue chew which is greatlike I and I I love that that

(56:38):
people are chasing that but Ialso think like let's be
realistic and look at ourbusiness model is that a
realistic business model forthese for everybody to be
chasing those top 10% yeah greatthey're living the dream right
90% of us who love podcastingbut aren't gonna make those
levels there's got to be anotherway there's got to be another

(57:02):
thing we can do so we don't justget burned out we don't just why
are we doing this if we if it'ssomething that's hard to achieve
or we may never achieve right orit's a hobby I just keep putting
money in I but then again otherhobbies I have I don't make
money doing them and I put moneyinto them because I enjoy them.
Yeah and that's totally finethat and that's that's not your

(57:24):
goal isn't to read blue chew adsand purple mattress ads your
goal is to have fun makeconnections and talk to people
and that's great some of yourother hobbies were you know it's
very similar it's something youenjoy it's a if your hobby was
ice skating or roller skatingyou go to the roller rank you 10
20 bucks a night get a hotpretzel go around 50 times and
then go home and make skates buyyour outfits yeah that's fun and

(57:48):
that's okay that's that's whatyou want to do and you should do
that and just like podcasting ifyou want to do this this is a
lot of fun like it's more fundoing this than just about
anything else that I do yeahyeah I agree I love this more
than anything and I would dothis even if I didn't have a
theater space if I didn't havethe the cable show like this is
what I do and that's worthputting my money and time into

(58:11):
yeah yeah no I agree I agree Imake no money from this I put
it's probably my most expensivehobby yeah but I love the people
I've met the people I've talkedto I just like I said I think
everybody has a story and allthose stories need to be heard

(58:32):
and I love pulling stories fromfolks I get to connect with on
the podcast and I can tellpeople do listen and people do
enjoy it whether it's thisspecific hobby or topic or it's
just hearing people's journeyshow did you and that's what I
love how did you start what areyou doing what's the journey

(58:53):
been and where do you seeyourself going I think you can
learn an awful lot about peopleand it's always fascinating to
hear somebody's story.

SPEAKER_06 (59:02):
I have one last question from you or for you
what legacy do you hope PodDutyLive and your podcast leave
behind yeah I hope this is thefirst of of many.

SPEAKER_01 (59:15):
I hope I hope people copy this business model.
I I tell people I will show youhow to do it.
I'll pull back the curtain wheremy control room is and I will
show you all the tools I use Iwill show you everything because
I I really want to see thismodel pop up in Cleveland or
Cincinnati or Baltimore Bostonso that Boston so that New York
Philadelphia South Carolina Ican keep I keep going the Miami

(59:41):
and what I wanted is on themaybe on the weekend you have
we're hobbyists right you'retalking you love podcasting but
on the weekend maybe you can goup the Concord I think that's a
place named it is uh Boston youcould yeah you could do a
weekend tour and and hit acouple Spots, do a couple live

(01:00:01):
recordings, and come back homeSunday night and get you know
get ready for your week.
I really think that there'sopportunity to have these little
venues peppered all over theplace where podcasters can start
showing up and start being therefor each other and start going
to different towns and differentcities and performing their show

(01:00:22):
in front of new audiences andbuilding it up from the
grassroots.
And if you know if I become likethe grandfather of you know this
DIY podcast movement, I'll beokay with that.
If people remember me for thisinfinite seat theater idea that
I was pitching for 10 years,that that's good enough for me.
I'm pretty happy with that.

SPEAKER_06 (01:00:42):
Yeah.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Yeah, and you know, you shed awhole new light for me.
I mean, it and just thinkingabout, well, how could I, you
know, connect with more people?
So I'm definitely going to belooking into, you know, maybe
doing a weekend tour and anddoing some live podcasting.
I think it's gonna take a lot ofwork, but I'm up for the

(01:01:03):
challenge.
But the other thing, too, is youknow, it it's providing, I want
to say, affordableentertainment.
That, you know, I'm not spending$200 to go see my favorite band
or$175 to see my favoritecomedian at, you know, the local
casino when they when they blowthrough town.

(01:01:25):
It really is giving uh consumersof of entertainment an
affordable way to connect andand discover new forms of
entertainment.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:39):
So yeah, most shows five, 10 bucks.
Yeah, if we get more towardslike the education side of shows
where they're doingpresentations or workshops, and
those go up to like 2025.
We've had shows higher thanthat, but I would say most of
most of the shows that areentertaining, whether they're
you know comedy or music,trivia, those types of things,

(01:02:00):
are five, ten dollar tickets.
Yeah.
If you have the worst night ofyour life, you know, being out
five bucks in 2026 isn't thatbad.
But you may find something thatyou really love, you may find a
new form of entertainment, youmay find a community of people
who think just like you who alsolike the same show.
Now you just made some morefriends and it only cost you

(01:02:22):
five, ten bucks.

SPEAKER_06 (01:02:23):
Right, right.
Yeah, awesome.
Jeff, if folks want to learnmore about PodDuty or your
podcasts or more about you andget in touch with you to kind of
pick your brain about possiblyeven doing a live show with you
in Pittsburgh, where can Idirect folks?

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:41):
Check out poduty.com, pod uty.com.
Padooty, poduty.com.
That'll have all of our upcomingevents.
It'll have the same exactbusiness model doc laid out for
you.
So you won't think I'm justblowing smoke tonight.
I publish everything that I say.
I believe that my word is mystrongest currency.

(01:03:01):
So if I told you somethingtonight on the show, I guarantee
it's on the website and I standbehind it.
You can email me directly, jeffat padooty.com, pody.com.

SPEAKER_06 (01:03:11):
Jeff, thank you so much for your time.
I have so enjoyed connectingwith you and learning from you
and talking to you.
It's been it's been great.

SPEAKER_01 (01:03:22):
Thank you so much for having me.
This has been a blast.

SPEAKER_06 (01:03:30):
What do you think about Jeff's infinite seat
theater concept?
As a podcast creator and an avidpodcast listener, I love the
concept, especially for ussmaller podcast creators.
After we recorded, Jeff and Ispoke off Mike about different
ways I might be able to recreatehis concept here in

(01:03:51):
Massachusetts and actually planfor a live assorted
conversations recording, whichsounds like a lot of fun to me.
What I loved about his conceptand business model is he's
making live podcastingaccessible to small creators
like myself while filling theaffordable entertainment void

(01:04:14):
for the local community.
It's a win-win for everyone, andI am so excited to see where
this goes and grows.
If you're interested in learningmore about Jeff, live local
podcasting, subscribing to hisPaduti in the News podcast, or
connecting with him by email,jump down to the show notes for

(01:04:36):
all the links.
And while you're there, don'tforget to connect with me in
Assorted Conversations.
Link to my socials and emailaddie are included there too.
Thanks for listening, and if youenjoy the content, please tell a
friend about assortedconversations.
Word of mouth recommendationsare the most popular way folks

(01:04:58):
buy new podcasts to listen to.
Another way to contribute tohelping me grow assorted
conversations is to leave afive-star written review
wherever you download yourpodcast.
The written reviews help thepodcast conquer the algorithm
and get seen by new folks whowill enjoy the content too.

(01:05:20):
Again, thanks for listening, andI'll see you in two weeks.

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Ep. 48 - The Infinite Seat Theater Conversation with Jeff Revilla

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 48 - The Infinite Seat Theater Conversation with Jeff Revilla