December 25, 2024 • 31 mins
Happy Holidays to all!
Episode 175 is a special bonus show to be found under your tree on Christmas morning.
It has been the best year yet for the podcast and this episode will review the year that was. This includes a countdown of my own picks for my Top 10 favorite segments of 2024.
We also will take a look ahead to 2025 with a bit of a preview of segments to come and a few possibilities on the horizon.
Most of all this episode serves as a thank you to all who have been tuning in and who helped to make 2024 the best year yet for this podcast.
Thank you all so very much. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
For more great content become a subscriber on Patreon!
Helpful Links from this Episode
- The Lady of the Dunes.com
- Purchase My New Book Cape Cod Beyond the Beach!
- In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)
- Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
- DJ Williams Music
- KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
- Christopher Setterlund.com
- Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
- Subscribe on YouTube!
- Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
- UPDATE: Bonnie Bickwit and Mitchel Weiser Case - Rolling Stone.com
- Webcam Weekly Wrapup Podcast
- Cape Cod 1929 Podcast
Listen to Episode 174 here
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, world, and Merry Christmas.
Welcome to the In My Footstepspodcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 175.
Yes, it's very Christmassy,very festive.
(00:31):
It's a different sort ofepisode of the podcast.
It's a bonus episode.
I haven't done one of those ina while, meaning it's shorter
than most of my episodes.
Typical episodes are 50, 55minutes.
This one's going to clock inprobably a little short of 25
minutes.
It's a little something specialunder your Christmas tree.
At first, I wasn't even goingto do a show because I was
(00:53):
thinking, what if I put a lot ofeffort into a show and release
it?
And then because it's theChristmas holiday, no one
listens and it's kind ofpointless.
But it's been such a great yearfor the podcast, for my content
creation, that I kind ofcompromised and said, okay, I'll
do a shorter episode so there'ssomething.
And it's going to be kind of ayear in review and a preview of
(01:17):
2025.
Even though it's a bonusepisode of the podcast, of
course I wanted to start offthanking all of you for tuning
in, whether it's on ChristmasDay or the week after if you're
on vacation.
The biggest thanks go to myPatreon subscribers, Lori, Mary
Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Leo,Marguerite, Neglectoid, Crystal.
(01:41):
Thank you all so much forsupporting me, supporting my
content.
For other listeners out there,I have a growing free tier on
Patreon at In My FootstepsPodcast.
If you want to go and check outsome of what that's all about,
but without having to pay asubscription.
But that being said, it's only$5 a month.
(02:03):
You get access to bonus podcastepisodes, early access to the
main show, to YouTube videos,sometimes early access to blogs
that I'm sharing.
So here we are, we are at theend of 2024, the year in review
for the podcast.
There's been a lot that's goneon with this show, with my
(02:24):
content in general.
When I started the year, wewere on episode 126, which
featured things like obscureadvertising mascots and the
television show Rescue 911.
And here we are now, episode175.
I try to do them weekly.
And typically that's the way itgoes with the show.
(02:45):
Maybe holidays I will skip.
Like I said, I was going toskip this week, but I kind of
was like, no, I want to givesomething to you who have been
listening.
I don't want to just not leavea present for you.
It's interesting though, at thebeginning of this year, I was
still doing the Cape Codcentric, New England centric
(03:05):
podcast thing.
Because that was how thispodcast started back in the fall
of 2020.
I was combining everything thatI liked.
And I like local history, localtravel.
And as much as I still love allthat stuff, I started to
realize that local travel andhistory has a local interest.
(03:25):
And although I know a lot ofyou out there who listen are
from New England, from theNortheast, any content creator
wants to expand their audience.
So I started to lean more intothe nostalgia, the Gen X
nostalgia, people of my agegroup, 70s, 80s, 90s.
And that's where we are now.
I even changed the name of thepodcast.
(03:47):
I changed the logo.
One thing that I've noticedwhen it comes to putting
together podcasts full ofnostalgia and pop culture is you
really never run out of ideas.
Because as time goes on, Morerecent things become a part of
distant history.
Think about it.
(04:07):
Things from 2004 are now 20years old.
I know, it's horrible to hearthat.
I do feel like the transitionto an all-nostalgia podcast has
been working because there havebeen repeatedly new highs being
set for downloads for thepodcast for best day, best week,
(04:27):
best month.
up to and including a couple ofweeks ago, I had my best day
ever.
Part of that comes down to thecontent that I put out, I hope,
but another big part of it comesdown to you who listen and
share and bring more people intomy spiderweb of listeners.
If any of you listening, ifthis is your first time
listening to the podcast and youhear me mention Cape Cod, New
(04:50):
England travel and history, goback into my archives and Up to,
I think, in the early 130s, asfar as episodes go, every
episode there is a Cape Cod orNew England travel and history
segment.
So if that interests you, I'vegot plenty in my back catalog.
It was also this year that Idabbled in subscriber episodes
(05:15):
on my Buzzsprout platform.
That's where the podcast ishosted.
It's like that's the commandcenter, and then it gets sent to
all the outposts like Spotifyand Apple.
Those ended up not taking off,so I kind of scrapped the ones
on Buzzsprout, and I stuck withPatreon, really trying to build
a collection that's worthwhilefor people to check out, not
(05:38):
just subscribers, but the freetier so that you have a reason
to go there and know you cancheck something out and not
immediately be asked for yourcredit card number.
You longtime listeners of thepodcast will know that the
majority of this year I spenttalking about trying to do a
video podcast.
(05:59):
I had had so much fun doing thebonus episodes on Patreon where
I went back to my initialimpressions blog from 2010 to
2012-ish.
And just reviewing my life ingeneral and trying to be the
narrator on what exactly I wastalking about.
They're pretty foolish and fun.
(06:20):
I enjoyed that concept so muchthat I brought back the Initial
Impressions blog back inFebruary.
I called it Initial Impressions2.0 to be very original.
As of the recording of thispodcast, I'm on the 48th blog
entry for Initial Impressions2.0.
There's a link in thedescription of the podcast if
(06:41):
you want to go and check thatout.
My blog this year in general,it was my most prolific year
ever for writing on my blog,which surprised me, but yet it
didn't because I found my oldLas Vegas journal that I wrote
2000, 2001 when I lived outthere.
I also started going through myold poetry that I wrote
(07:03):
beginning senior year of highschool, which was 1996.
And I wrote a long-form shortstory, I guess, about what I've
learned in my 40s so far thatcoincided with my birthday at
the beginning of November.
All of that right there,coupled with initial impressions
2.0, the weekly podcastbecoming a blog post, it made it
(07:28):
where I've got a lot of entrieson that blog.
I will say that an idea thatI've been noodling with a little
to continue with the blog posttalk is I've got probably the
first 100 episodes of thepodcast, so a little more than
half, have been transcribed.
So you could basically read thepodcast.
(07:48):
And I've been debating takingsome of the segments like I do
on YouTube, creating videos, butalso creating blog posts where
I could put photos with them.
It's a lot of looking tosaturate the content market so
that if someone finds me throughthe blog or a YouTube video or
(08:08):
this podcast or a video podcastor one of my books that they
suddenly see, wow, he's got alot of stuff.
Let me check him out.
And then it tips over to, man,he's got too much stuff.
I'm sick of him.
I hope that doesn't become thecase.
But getting back to the videopodcast, I finally debuted the
(08:29):
webcam weekly wrap-up inSeptember.
I bought a ring light.
I bought a selfie stick thatdoubled as a tripod or a stand
for the ring light.
And I also bought a brand newHD webcam so that it looks good.
I like these.
Each episode is 20-25 minuteslong.
(08:51):
It's the video version of theInitial Impressions 2.0 blog.
As of the time I'm recordingthis podcast, there are 11
episodes of the Webcam WeeklyWrap-Up on YouTube, along with
clips from each show.
And I've mentioned also thatI'm collecting outtakes from the
show, so that eventually,likely on Patreon, I'll put
(09:13):
together an outtakes video.
With the podcast itselfswitching over to a
nostalgia-based show, I added insome new segments.
Blinkin' You'll Miss It Retrowas one that I was putting
together for a while.
I like to watch oldcommercials.
There are loads of channels onYouTube that have just old
(09:35):
commercial collections.
And what I find is I'll bewatching these commercials from
the 60s through the early 2000s.
And I'll see a product and belike, I don't remember that.
So I'll pause the video andthen I'll go on Google and I'll
search for the product.
I ended up making a long listof products of TV shows that
(09:57):
then get collected into sixpacks.
Blink and you'll miss it retro.
Those are pretty good.
I've got videos on YouTube ofthem.
The other big thing that Iadded more of this year on the
podcast was short film,educational short film, and
employee training video reviews.
Those are just so much fun towatch and share with you, share
(10:20):
clips of them.
There are no shortage ofeducational short films and
employee training videos.
I could do them weekly, but Ilike to kind of give variety.
But don't worry, there'll bemore of them coming up in 2025.
A big thing I wanted to do onthis bonus episode of the
podcast for the year in reviewwas going back to if this is the
(10:43):
first episode any of you arelistening to, I wanted to give
you my top 10 favorite segmentsI did through the year for the
podcast to give you homework,something to go listen to when
this show is done.
Because all of these podcastsare like my children that I
can't choose my favorite, what Idid here with these top 10 is
(11:04):
they're in chronological orderfrom when they appeared during
the year.
The first one is already acheat because I said that I
really enjoyed both of theclassic mall store shows.
Those are episode 129 and thenonly a couple of weeks ago,
episode 173.
I did long-form bonus episodeson 15 classic mall stores on
(11:29):
each episode.
So you're talking about allthese famous stores that people
of my generation would remember?
You've got the famous ones likeSears, Woolworth, Filene's,
Jordan Marsh.
Some slightly lesser-known oneslike Cherry and Webb, Miller's
Outpost, Gadzooks, because Ilike saying that name.
(11:52):
They are a fun trip down memorylane.
They also have clips ofcommercials if I could find them
for some of the stores.
Some of them didn't havecommercials.
Number two on my favoritesegments of 2024 was a
educational short film slash PSAreview from episode 137.
The name of the film was BombThreat Plan Don't Panic.
(12:16):
I remember seeing this movie onthe Something Weird On Demand
channel in probably 2006.
Back then, probably on a dayoff from work, sitting with my
sister Kate and my niece Emma.
I had been looking for anexcuse to talk about this short
film, especially the music, thesound effects with it.
(12:37):
The segment I did was good.
I enjoyed it.
You can watch the full videoyourself, either archive.org or
on YouTube.
The third segment on my top 10is from episode 139.
This is one of the employeetraining videos, and it's the
old country buffet video.
More specifically, the carvingguy.
(12:58):
This was from, I believe, 1992or 93.
Those of you that frequentedold country buffet when it was
around, you'll immediatelyremember when you see the layout
with the carving guy.
I just laugh at the forceddialogue that he has to have
with the customers.
The neat thing about the video,the full video, or at least the
(13:20):
most full version of it you canfind online, is the carving guy
has his own YouTube channel.
I think I said during thatsegment that he has mentioned he
was going to upload the fullvideo, but he hasn't posted
anything in three and a halfyears, so I'm not holding my
breath for it.
Number four on my top 10favorite segments is from
(13:42):
episode 144.
This was 1970s diet andexercise fad fails.
This one was actually made intoa video on my YouTube channel,
so you can go and watch it overthere.
My favorite of the fads was theslender bender, which looked
like a lawn chair that you didab crunches on.
There are pictures in thevideo, but you can also just
(14:05):
look it up on Google, SlenderBender 1970s, and see this
foolish thing.
Number five on my top tenfavorite segments was from
episode 147, and it was thesegment on Mr.
Delicious.
This was the unique middle-agedbusinessman mascot for the Rax
(14:25):
Roast Beef fast food chain inthe early 1990s.
He would speak about all theproblems he was having in life,
divorce, money, even alluding toerectile dysfunction in one of
the commercials that was on TV.
But it would always come backto how even as bad as his life
was, he could go to Rack's RoastBeef and get great deals.
(14:48):
If you look up Mr.
Delicious, you will see a lotof articles and videos on
whether Mr.
Delicious destroyed the Rack'sRoast Beef fast food chain.
Number six on my top tenfavorite segments of the year
was from episode 148.
This is when I told the storyof my cat, my pet growing up,
(15:11):
Solo the cat, and his adventuresthat seemed like they would be
something I made up as a kid,but they were real.
The big storyline, I guess, ofthis event was the fact that
Solo the cat disappeared one dayand was gone for several
months, at least three months.
I was 10 years old.
(15:32):
I would shake the food outsidethe door because that was how we
would call our cats in atnight.
And after many months, Soloactually returned.
And the shocking part wasn'tjust that he returned, but that
he had learned how to use thetoilet.
I mean, he didn't flush, but helearned how to go to the
bathroom on the toilet.
There's a teaser for you tolisten to that full episode.
(15:54):
The seventh of my top 10favorite segments is from
episode 154.
It's an episode entitled TheLady of the Dunes at 50.
This is all about the Lady ofthe Dunes Cape Cod murder
mystery that was solved a coupleof years ago where she was
identified as Ruth Marie Terry.
(16:15):
Long-time listeners know allabout The Lady of the Dunes.
There are eight episodes intotal through the history of the
podcast that have detailedsegments either about The Lady
of the Dunes, the case, orinterviews with the Lady of the
Dunes documentary producer,Frank Durant.
That's how this all started.
You listeners have gotten tobasically live through that
(16:39):
timeline that I went through ofcoming aboard the documentary to
write the companion book allthe way through it being solved.
Number eight segment in my top10 favorites of the year was
from episode 156.
That's the weirdest Atari gamesever made.
This included games likeMangia, where your Italian
(17:03):
mother is feeding you pastanonstop and you have to get rid
of it off your plate before yourstomach explodes.
It was during the research forthis segment that I also learned
that there was a segment ofgames for Atari that were
considered adult.
I guess it just shows you thatvideo games and gaming in
(17:23):
general was way different 40years ago than it is now.
The ninth of the top 10favorite segments of the year
was from episode 169, and thatwas the history of Weekly World
News, the tabloid slash spoofnewspaper.
In this segment, I go through alot of the famous stories and
(17:46):
covers from Weekly World News,Bat Boy, things about aliens,
things about celebrities thathave died but are still alive
like Elvis and JFK.
This segment definitely willhave sequels to it in 2025.
And finally, the 10th of thetop 10 favorite segments of 2024
was from episode 171, so amonth ago.
(18:09):
That was the employee trainingvideo for Crystal Pepsi.
I was dying laughing at thehype around this product about
how it was going to change theworld of soda and beverages in
general, just knowing how itturned out.
And also it had one of the mostquintessentially 90s guys ever
(18:30):
in it going in to pick up a caseof Crystal Pepsi.
Those are my top 10 favoritesegments.
It was hard to narrow it downbecause I don't go into any
episode looking to make asegment or a show that's just a
throwaway.
But I wanted to give you whomaybe haven't listened to every
show or maybe you're listeningfor the first time kind of a
(18:52):
little roadmap of ones to listento to get you started.
But then it comes to what'sahead for 2025.
For me, myself, and more of anoverarching context, there's a
lot going on.
So I am hopefully going to belaunching the In My Footsteps
podcast website.
(19:12):
This is the other thing you'veheard me talk about all year
along with the video podcast.
This website will have all ofthe old episodes in the
archives.
I'm going to try to have everylink I've ever shared through
all of these episodes.
There will be links to myhomepage,
ChristopherSatterlund.com.
(19:33):
I'm on the fence about having amerch shop.
The new logo fits in well fort-shirts, for bags, for buttons,
for bumper stickers.
I've also got my first actinggig coming up in March.
I can't give much away, butit's for Frank Durant's next
(19:54):
film, so likely I'll be filmingthis at the beginning of the
year, and then later, probablylate in the summer, will be when
this film is out.
So that'll be a big throughline for 2025 is how it is to be
in a film.
My other big thing for thefirst quarter of 2025 is
learning about copywriting as apotential side hustle and not
(20:18):
copywriting like in legalownership of trademarks and
such.
This is more copywriting as inmarketing, promoting products,
because I've done it for yearswith all my own stuff.
So it feels like a naturalprogression to try to do it for
others.
So I'm going to be doing somecourses through Skillshare.
(20:39):
There's no rush on making thisa side hustle, but it could end
up being something that becomesa bigger part of my life,
especially as 2025 goes on.
Currently, for the first timesince 2010, I'm not actively
working on or promoting a book.
I've got nine books through mywebsite, which is likely going
(21:03):
to get a kind of a fresh coat ofpaint in 2025.
But that requires actualskilled web designers.
My friend Barry that designedand updates the website.
Be in my Footsteps podcastsite.
It's good.
But I'm not a web designer, soI know my limitations.
But it's weird.
I don't have any author events,speaking events on the horizon.
(21:25):
I'm sure that's going tochange, but I don't have one to
promote.
I don't have a new book to workon.
These are usually the timesthat something pops up that I
didn't see coming.
So that's, you never know.
One thing I do know, though, is2025 will be going into the
fifth year of the podcast cycle.
And I've already got a lot ofideas for segments.
(21:47):
Like I said, nostalgia, it'salmost a never-ending well of
ideas.
For example, I mentioned theweirdest Atari games.
It's a top five list fromepisode 156.
I could literally make asegment about each of those top
five and maybe the honorablementions.
So we go from one segment topotentially eight, nine, ten
(22:09):
segments.
That's the idea with nostalgia.
You can expand on the universe.
In another example, I had alistener reach out to me and ask
me to do a segment on thechildren's music singer Rafi,
which that will be part of nextweek's episode 176.
But I didn't realize thatRafi's been around since before
(22:31):
I was born.
He's been around since themid-1970s.
So he literally fits in thewheelhouse of the nostalgia I'm
looking for, but I wouldn't havethought to do a segment on him
if this listener named Nickhadn't reached out and asked
about it.
Other topics, though, that Iknow are on the horizon for 2025
include, next week also, famousthings that have anniversaries
(22:54):
in 2025 to make you feel old.
First and foremost, the movieBack to the Future is going to
be 40 years old, so you kind ofsee where this segment is going.
I'll also do 1995, the year inmusic, two parts.
One will likely be next month,January, and then part two will
(23:15):
be in July of next year.
I'll be telling the story of mytime in Florida.
It was pretty brief.
That was 20 years ago in thefall of 2005.
Much like my time in Vegas,it's filled with interesting
stories.
I'll be doing a part two offamous musicians that were born
(23:37):
in New England.
Part one was from episode 93.
And the reason I haven't done apart two yet was because my
notes I had for that segmentended up being lost.
I think I wrote over them andthen saved it as a different
episode, something stupid that Idid.
So I went back to look for thatspecific set of notes because I
(23:58):
wrote it out to have two parts.
I said, oh no, now I can'tremember.
But I'll do my research andfind enough for a part two.
And there'll be more follow-upsegments.
There'll be another segmentabout McDonaldland.
Maybe their comic books.
Loads more of educational shortfilms, employee training video
(24:20):
reviews.
More blink-and-you'll-miss-itretro segments.
Me vs.
AI top five.
Weird news stories, more aboutthe Simpsons, the Three Stooges,
Godzilla, funny fitness fads.
The well of nostalgia doesn'trun dry, or at least you've got
to keep digging if it does.
(24:41):
And nostalgia is powerful.
It's like if you're having abad day, a bad week, if you're
not happy with where you are inlife or just it's been a bad
time, nostalgia stays the same.
You find things that you usedto watch or listen to when you
were a kid and it brings youback.
That's part of what I feel thepurpose of this podcast is.
(25:04):
Because as I get older and I'llbe turning 48 next year, I feel
the need to lean back onnostalgia a lot more.
And I'm not saying it's all ofyou out there, but people that
are my age, anywhere from yourlate 30s through your early 60s,
I don't know if you look backand just like, where did the
time go?
So nostalgia is kind of acomforting thing.
(25:27):
An interesting thing about thenostalgia, I may be dipping a
little more into 1960snostalgia.
And that's because when Istarted looking at my year end
numbers, specifically throughSpotify, the majority of my
listeners, the highestpercentage, were people 55 and
older.
So if that's the case, and if alot of you out there are people
(25:50):
that grew up in the 60s.
I'm going to do more to try togive you things that you will
enjoy because it's also gettingto the point where the early
2000s are now considerednostalgia.
So there's a much largersegment of time that I can kind
of mine from for ideas.
So that's some of what's comingup for 2025 for me in
(26:11):
particular and for the podcast.
There are probably other ideasthat I haven't thought of yet
that'll pop in my head at somepoint during the next year, but
we'll cross that bridge when wecome to it.
As we start to wind down thebonus Christmas Day episode, the
last episode of the year, Ijust wanted to really thank you
(26:33):
all for listening.
This began as a passion projectin the fall of 2020 as I
struggled with giving up alcoholthat had been a major problem
in my life for several yearsleading up to the creation of
the podcast.
So in many ways, doing thispodcast is part of what keeps me
(26:54):
sober.
And part of it is I keep addingto my plate with content to do
almost to keep those demons atbay.
I'm not saying if I stoppeddoing all of this stuff that I
would immediately go to theliquor store.
But there's that famous phrase,idle hands are the devil's
workshop.
So it's like, you never know.
(27:16):
I stopped doing the podcast andI'm instantly like Barney
Gumbel from The Simpsons layingin the gutter.
My appreciation extends to thefact that I, yes, I've had nine
books published and I've hadhundreds of articles and blogs
to pat myself on the back forthings that aren't that
interesting.
I have a big social presence.
(27:37):
You know, you Google me, youcan find a lot of my stuff, but
I'm not famous.
So maybe some of you found mebecause you came to book events
or you liked my books.
But a lot of you found mebecause you found my podcast
topics interesting and worthchecking out.
And some of you came, listenedonce and stayed.
(27:57):
All of this stuff, it's beencreated through my mind.
That's my biggest thing.
That's my biggest goal in lifeis to be totally self-employed,
self-sustaining, mainly throughthings that I create through my
own mind.
It's probably a control thing,but it's also the creativity.
It's been something that hasbeen my biggest burning passion
(28:21):
since I was eight years old.
So having you out there a loyalbase of listeners that seems to
be continually growing.
It means a lot because it meanswhat I'm doing is resonating
with you and enough for you toshare with others.
I see my stats.
I know where the majority ofyou are from.
That sounds foreboding.
(28:43):
I know where you're from.
A lot from the Northeast, butthen a lot scattered around the
United States.
I've got people in Canada,England, Germany, Singapore.
My hope is that 2025 is evenbetter than 2024, which has been
the best year yet for all of mycontent.
So my big goal, the biggestthing is to make next year the
(29:07):
best year ever.
So keep tuning in, keeplistening, sharing with others.
Check out the YouTube channel.
I've got hundreds of videosthere.
The Webcam Weekly Wrap-UpPodcast.
You can go to my blog, read allthat content.
I hope you've enjoyed my giftto you on Christmas Day.
(29:28):
But I hope that your day,whether you're listening on the
day or after, I hope it was oris as good as it can be, filled
with family, friends, good food,I hope.
That's always a big staple ofthe holidays.
It was something I said a fewweeks ago on the podcast that
when you're little, the holidaysfeel magical and you don't have
(29:50):
to do anything.
It just is.
The holidays can still bemagical and amazing when you're
older.
You just have to put in more ofthe effort.
That was a big thing when Isaid that.
That was partially why I didthis podcast episode, was to
give you something more.
But until next time, I'll beback on New Year's Day, so
(30:11):
another holiday.
Luckily, I will not behungover, so that'll be good.
If any of you are for thatshow, I'll try to talk quieter.
But until next year, remember,in this life, don't walk in
anyone else's footsteps.
Create your own path and enjoyevery moment you can on this
journey we call life because younever know what tomorrow
(30:34):
brings.
Thank you all for an amazing2024.
I appreciate every one of youthat listens.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,but you already knew that.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
Hello, world, and Merry Christmas.
Welcome to the In My Footstepspodcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,coming to you from the vacation
destination known as Cape Cod,Massachusetts, and this is
episode 175.
Yes, it's very Christmassy,very festive.
(00:31):
It's a different sort ofepisode of the podcast.
It's a bonus episode.
I haven't done one of those ina while, meaning it's shorter
than most of my episodes.
Typical episodes are 50, 55minutes.
This one's going to clock inprobably a little short of 25
minutes.
It's a little something specialunder your Christmas tree.
At first, I wasn't even goingto do a show because I was
(00:53):
thinking, what if I put a lot ofeffort into a show and release
it?
And then because it's theChristmas holiday, no one
listens and it's kind ofpointless.
But it's been such a great yearfor the podcast, for my content
creation, that I kind ofcompromised and said, okay, I'll
do a shorter episode so there'ssomething.
And it's going to be kind of ayear in review and a preview of
(01:17):
2025.
Even though it's a bonusepisode of the podcast, of
course I wanted to start offthanking all of you for tuning
in, whether it's on ChristmasDay or the week after if you're
on vacation.
The biggest thanks go to myPatreon subscribers, Lori, Mary
Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Leo,Marguerite, Neglectoid, Crystal.
(01:41):
Thank you all so much forsupporting me, supporting my
content.
For other listeners out there,I have a growing free tier on
Patreon at In My FootstepsPodcast.
If you want to go and check outsome of what that's all about,
but without having to pay asubscription.
But that being said, it's only$5 a month.
(02:03):
You get access to bonus podcastepisodes, early access to the
main show, to YouTube videos,sometimes early access to blogs
that I'm sharing.
So here we are, we are at theend of 2024, the year in review
for the podcast.
There's been a lot that's goneon with this show, with my
(02:24):
content in general.
When I started the year, wewere on episode 126, which
featured things like obscureadvertising mascots and the
television show Rescue 911.
And here we are now, episode175.
I try to do them weekly.
And typically that's the way itgoes with the show.
(02:45):
Maybe holidays I will skip.
Like I said, I was going toskip this week, but I kind of
was like, no, I want to givesomething to you who have been
listening.
I don't want to just not leavea present for you.
It's interesting though, at thebeginning of this year, I was
still doing the Cape Codcentric, New England centric
(03:05):
podcast thing.
Because that was how thispodcast started back in the fall
of 2020.
I was combining everything thatI liked.
And I like local history, localtravel.
And as much as I still love allthat stuff, I started to
realize that local travel andhistory has a local interest.
(03:25):
And although I know a lot ofyou out there who listen are
from New England, from theNortheast, any content creator
wants to expand their audience.
So I started to lean more intothe nostalgia, the Gen X
nostalgia, people of my agegroup, 70s, 80s, 90s.
And that's where we are now.
I even changed the name of thepodcast.
(03:47):
I changed the logo.
One thing that I've noticedwhen it comes to putting
together podcasts full ofnostalgia and pop culture is you
really never run out of ideas.
Because as time goes on, Morerecent things become a part of
distant history.
Think about it.
(04:07):
Things from 2004 are now 20years old.
I know, it's horrible to hearthat.
I do feel like the transitionto an all-nostalgia podcast has
been working because there havebeen repeatedly new highs being
set for downloads for thepodcast for best day, best week,
(04:27):
best month.
up to and including a couple ofweeks ago, I had my best day
ever.
Part of that comes down to thecontent that I put out, I hope,
but another big part of it comesdown to you who listen and
share and bring more people intomy spiderweb of listeners.
If any of you listening, ifthis is your first time
listening to the podcast and youhear me mention Cape Cod, New
(04:50):
England travel and history, goback into my archives and Up to,
I think, in the early 130s, asfar as episodes go, every
episode there is a Cape Cod orNew England travel and history
segment.
So if that interests you, I'vegot plenty in my back catalog.
It was also this year that Idabbled in subscriber episodes
(05:15):
on my Buzzsprout platform.
That's where the podcast ishosted.
It's like that's the commandcenter, and then it gets sent to
all the outposts like Spotifyand Apple.
Those ended up not taking off,so I kind of scrapped the ones
on Buzzsprout, and I stuck withPatreon, really trying to build
a collection that's worthwhilefor people to check out, not
(05:38):
just subscribers, but the freetier so that you have a reason
to go there and know you cancheck something out and not
immediately be asked for yourcredit card number.
You longtime listeners of thepodcast will know that the
majority of this year I spenttalking about trying to do a
video podcast.
(05:59):
I had had so much fun doing thebonus episodes on Patreon where
I went back to my initialimpressions blog from 2010 to
2012-ish.
And just reviewing my life ingeneral and trying to be the
narrator on what exactly I wastalking about.
They're pretty foolish and fun.
(06:20):
I enjoyed that concept so muchthat I brought back the Initial
Impressions blog back inFebruary.
I called it Initial Impressions2.0 to be very original.
As of the recording of thispodcast, I'm on the 48th blog
entry for Initial Impressions2.0.
There's a link in thedescription of the podcast if
(06:41):
you want to go and check thatout.
My blog this year in general,it was my most prolific year
ever for writing on my blog,which surprised me, but yet it
didn't because I found my oldLas Vegas journal that I wrote
2000, 2001 when I lived outthere.
I also started going through myold poetry that I wrote
(07:03):
beginning senior year of highschool, which was 1996.
And I wrote a long-form shortstory, I guess, about what I've
learned in my 40s so far thatcoincided with my birthday at
the beginning of November.
All of that right there,coupled with initial impressions
2.0, the weekly podcastbecoming a blog post, it made it
(07:28):
where I've got a lot of entrieson that blog.
I will say that an idea thatI've been noodling with a little
to continue with the blog posttalk is I've got probably the
first 100 episodes of thepodcast, so a little more than
half, have been transcribed.
So you could basically read thepodcast.
(07:48):
And I've been debating takingsome of the segments like I do
on YouTube, creating videos, butalso creating blog posts where
I could put photos with them.
It's a lot of looking tosaturate the content market so
that if someone finds me throughthe blog or a YouTube video or
(08:08):
this podcast or a video podcastor one of my books that they
suddenly see, wow, he's got alot of stuff.
Let me check him out.
And then it tips over to, man,he's got too much stuff.
I'm sick of him.
I hope that doesn't become thecase.
But getting back to the videopodcast, I finally debuted the
(08:29):
webcam weekly wrap-up inSeptember.
I bought a ring light.
I bought a selfie stick thatdoubled as a tripod or a stand
for the ring light.
And I also bought a brand newHD webcam so that it looks good.
I like these.
Each episode is 20-25 minuteslong.
(08:51):
It's the video version of theInitial Impressions 2.0 blog.
As of the time I'm recordingthis podcast, there are 11
episodes of the Webcam WeeklyWrap-Up on YouTube, along with
clips from each show.
And I've mentioned also thatI'm collecting outtakes from the
show, so that eventually,likely on Patreon, I'll put
(09:13):
together an outtakes video.
With the podcast itselfswitching over to a
nostalgia-based show, I added insome new segments.
Blinkin' You'll Miss It Retrowas one that I was putting
together for a while.
I like to watch oldcommercials.
There are loads of channels onYouTube that have just old
(09:35):
commercial collections.
And what I find is I'll bewatching these commercials from
the 60s through the early 2000s.
And I'll see a product and belike, I don't remember that.
So I'll pause the video andthen I'll go on Google and I'll
search for the product.
I ended up making a long listof products of TV shows that
(09:57):
then get collected into sixpacks.
Blink and you'll miss it retro.
Those are pretty good.
I've got videos on YouTube ofthem.
The other big thing that Iadded more of this year on the
podcast was short film,educational short film, and
employee training video reviews.
Those are just so much fun towatch and share with you, share
(10:20):
clips of them.
There are no shortage ofeducational short films and
employee training videos.
I could do them weekly, but Ilike to kind of give variety.
But don't worry, there'll bemore of them coming up in 2025.
A big thing I wanted to do onthis bonus episode of the
podcast for the year in reviewwas going back to if this is the
(10:43):
first episode any of you arelistening to, I wanted to give
you my top 10 favorite segmentsI did through the year for the
podcast to give you homework,something to go listen to when
this show is done.
Because all of these podcastsare like my children that I
can't choose my favorite, what Idid here with these top 10 is
(11:04):
they're in chronological orderfrom when they appeared during
the year.
The first one is already acheat because I said that I
really enjoyed both of theclassic mall store shows.
Those are episode 129 and thenonly a couple of weeks ago,
episode 173.
I did long-form bonus episodeson 15 classic mall stores on
(11:29):
each episode.
So you're talking about allthese famous stores that people
of my generation would remember?
You've got the famous ones likeSears, Woolworth, Filene's,
Jordan Marsh.
Some slightly lesser-known oneslike Cherry and Webb, Miller's
Outpost, Gadzooks, because Ilike saying that name.
(11:52):
They are a fun trip down memorylane.
They also have clips ofcommercials if I could find them
for some of the stores.
Some of them didn't havecommercials.
Number two on my favoritesegments of 2024 was a
educational short film slash PSAreview from episode 137.
The name of the film was BombThreat Plan Don't Panic.
(12:16):
I remember seeing this movie onthe Something Weird On Demand
channel in probably 2006.
Back then, probably on a dayoff from work, sitting with my
sister Kate and my niece Emma.
I had been looking for anexcuse to talk about this short
film, especially the music, thesound effects with it.
(12:37):
The segment I did was good.
I enjoyed it.
You can watch the full videoyourself, either archive.org or
on YouTube.
The third segment on my top 10is from episode 139.
This is one of the employeetraining videos, and it's the
old country buffet video.
More specifically, the carvingguy.
(12:58):
This was from, I believe, 1992or 93.
Those of you that frequentedold country buffet when it was
around, you'll immediatelyremember when you see the layout
with the carving guy.
I just laugh at the forceddialogue that he has to have
with the customers.
The neat thing about the video,the full video, or at least the
(13:20):
most full version of it you canfind online, is the carving guy
has his own YouTube channel.
I think I said during thatsegment that he has mentioned he
was going to upload the fullvideo, but he hasn't posted
anything in three and a halfyears, so I'm not holding my
breath for it.
Number four on my top 10favorite segments is from
(13:42):
episode 144.
This was 1970s diet andexercise fad fails.
This one was actually made intoa video on my YouTube channel,
so you can go and watch it overthere.
My favorite of the fads was theslender bender, which looked
like a lawn chair that you didab crunches on.
There are pictures in thevideo, but you can also just
(14:05):
look it up on Google, SlenderBender 1970s, and see this
foolish thing.
Number five on my top tenfavorite segments was from
episode 147, and it was thesegment on Mr.
Delicious.
This was the unique middle-agedbusinessman mascot for the Rax
(14:25):
Roast Beef fast food chain inthe early 1990s.
He would speak about all theproblems he was having in life,
divorce, money, even alluding toerectile dysfunction in one of
the commercials that was on TV.
But it would always come backto how even as bad as his life
was, he could go to Rack's RoastBeef and get great deals.
(14:48):
If you look up Mr.
Delicious, you will see a lotof articles and videos on
whether Mr.
Delicious destroyed the Rack'sRoast Beef fast food chain.
Number six on my top tenfavorite segments of the year
was from episode 148.
This is when I told the storyof my cat, my pet growing up,
(15:11):
Solo the cat, and his adventuresthat seemed like they would be
something I made up as a kid,but they were real.
The big storyline, I guess, ofthis event was the fact that
Solo the cat disappeared one dayand was gone for several
months, at least three months.
I was 10 years old.
(15:32):
I would shake the food outsidethe door because that was how we
would call our cats in atnight.
And after many months, Soloactually returned.
And the shocking part wasn'tjust that he returned, but that
he had learned how to use thetoilet.
I mean, he didn't flush, but helearned how to go to the
bathroom on the toilet.
There's a teaser for you tolisten to that full episode.
(15:54):
The seventh of my top 10favorite segments is from
episode 154.
It's an episode entitled TheLady of the Dunes at 50.
This is all about the Lady ofthe Dunes Cape Cod murder
mystery that was solved a coupleof years ago where she was
identified as Ruth Marie Terry.
(16:15):
Long-time listeners know allabout The Lady of the Dunes.
There are eight episodes intotal through the history of the
podcast that have detailedsegments either about The Lady
of the Dunes, the case, orinterviews with the Lady of the
Dunes documentary producer,Frank Durant.
That's how this all started.
You listeners have gotten tobasically live through that
(16:39):
timeline that I went through ofcoming aboard the documentary to
write the companion book allthe way through it being solved.
Number eight segment in my top10 favorites of the year was
from episode 156.
That's the weirdest Atari gamesever made.
This included games likeMangia, where your Italian
(17:03):
mother is feeding you pastanonstop and you have to get rid
of it off your plate before yourstomach explodes.
It was during the research forthis segment that I also learned
that there was a segment ofgames for Atari that were
considered adult.
I guess it just shows you thatvideo games and gaming in
(17:23):
general was way different 40years ago than it is now.
The ninth of the top 10favorite segments of the year
was from episode 169, and thatwas the history of Weekly World
News, the tabloid slash spoofnewspaper.
In this segment, I go through alot of the famous stories and
(17:46):
covers from Weekly World News,Bat Boy, things about aliens,
things about celebrities thathave died but are still alive
like Elvis and JFK.
This segment definitely willhave sequels to it in 2025.
And finally, the 10th of thetop 10 favorite segments of 2024
was from episode 171, so amonth ago.
(18:09):
That was the employee trainingvideo for Crystal Pepsi.
I was dying laughing at thehype around this product about
how it was going to change theworld of soda and beverages in
general, just knowing how itturned out.
And also it had one of the mostquintessentially 90s guys ever
(18:30):
in it going in to pick up a caseof Crystal Pepsi.
Those are my top 10 favoritesegments.
It was hard to narrow it downbecause I don't go into any
episode looking to make asegment or a show that's just a
throwaway.
But I wanted to give you whomaybe haven't listened to every
show or maybe you're listeningfor the first time kind of a
(18:52):
little roadmap of ones to listento to get you started.
But then it comes to what'sahead for 2025.
For me, myself, and more of anoverarching context, there's a
lot going on.
So I am hopefully going to belaunching the In My Footsteps
podcast website.
(19:12):
This is the other thing you'veheard me talk about all year
along with the video podcast.
This website will have all ofthe old episodes in the
archives.
I'm going to try to have everylink I've ever shared through
all of these episodes.
There will be links to myhomepage,
ChristopherSatterlund.com.
(19:33):
I'm on the fence about having amerch shop.
The new logo fits in well fort-shirts, for bags, for buttons,
for bumper stickers.
I've also got my first actinggig coming up in March.
I can't give much away, butit's for Frank Durant's next
(19:54):
film, so likely I'll be filmingthis at the beginning of the
year, and then later, probablylate in the summer, will be when
this film is out.
So that'll be a big throughline for 2025 is how it is to be
in a film.
My other big thing for thefirst quarter of 2025 is
learning about copywriting as apotential side hustle and not
(20:18):
copywriting like in legalownership of trademarks and
such.
This is more copywriting as inmarketing, promoting products,
because I've done it for yearswith all my own stuff.
So it feels like a naturalprogression to try to do it for
others.
So I'm going to be doing somecourses through Skillshare.
(20:39):
There's no rush on making thisa side hustle, but it could end
up being something that becomesa bigger part of my life,
especially as 2025 goes on.
Currently, for the first timesince 2010, I'm not actively
working on or promoting a book.
I've got nine books through mywebsite, which is likely going
(21:03):
to get a kind of a fresh coat ofpaint in 2025.
But that requires actualskilled web designers.
My friend Barry that designedand updates the website.
Be in my Footsteps podcastsite.
It's good.
But I'm not a web designer, soI know my limitations.
But it's weird.
I don't have any author events,speaking events on the horizon.
(21:25):
I'm sure that's going tochange, but I don't have one to
promote.
I don't have a new book to workon.
These are usually the timesthat something pops up that I
didn't see coming.
So that's, you never know.
One thing I do know, though, is2025 will be going into the
fifth year of the podcast cycle.
And I've already got a lot ofideas for segments.
(21:47):
Like I said, nostalgia, it'salmost a never-ending well of
ideas.
For example, I mentioned theweirdest Atari games.
It's a top five list fromepisode 156.
I could literally make asegment about each of those top
five and maybe the honorablementions.
So we go from one segment topotentially eight, nine, ten
(22:09):
segments.
That's the idea with nostalgia.
You can expand on the universe.
In another example, I had alistener reach out to me and ask
me to do a segment on thechildren's music singer Rafi,
which that will be part of nextweek's episode 176.
But I didn't realize thatRafi's been around since before
(22:31):
I was born.
He's been around since themid-1970s.
So he literally fits in thewheelhouse of the nostalgia I'm
looking for, but I wouldn't havethought to do a segment on him
if this listener named Nickhadn't reached out and asked
about it.
Other topics, though, that Iknow are on the horizon for 2025
include, next week also, famousthings that have anniversaries
(22:54):
in 2025 to make you feel old.
First and foremost, the movieBack to the Future is going to
be 40 years old, so you kind ofsee where this segment is going.
I'll also do 1995, the year inmusic, two parts.
One will likely be next month,January, and then part two will
(23:15):
be in July of next year.
I'll be telling the story of mytime in Florida.
It was pretty brief.
That was 20 years ago in thefall of 2005.
Much like my time in Vegas,it's filled with interesting
stories.
I'll be doing a part two offamous musicians that were born
(23:37):
in New England.
Part one was from episode 93.
And the reason I haven't done apart two yet was because my
notes I had for that segmentended up being lost.
I think I wrote over them andthen saved it as a different
episode, something stupid that Idid.
So I went back to look for thatspecific set of notes because I
(23:58):
wrote it out to have two parts.
I said, oh no, now I can'tremember.
But I'll do my research andfind enough for a part two.
And there'll be more follow-upsegments.
There'll be another segmentabout McDonaldland.
Maybe their comic books.
Loads more of educational shortfilms, employee training video
(24:20):
reviews.
More blink-and-you'll-miss-itretro segments.
Me vs.
AI top five.
Weird news stories, more aboutthe Simpsons, the Three Stooges,
Godzilla, funny fitness fads.
The well of nostalgia doesn'trun dry, or at least you've got
to keep digging if it does.
(24:41):
And nostalgia is powerful.
It's like if you're having abad day, a bad week, if you're
not happy with where you are inlife or just it's been a bad
time, nostalgia stays the same.
You find things that you usedto watch or listen to when you
were a kid and it brings youback.
That's part of what I feel thepurpose of this podcast is.
(25:04):
Because as I get older and I'llbe turning 48 next year, I feel
the need to lean back onnostalgia a lot more.
And I'm not saying it's all ofyou out there, but people that
are my age, anywhere from yourlate 30s through your early 60s,
I don't know if you look backand just like, where did the
time go?
So nostalgia is kind of acomforting thing.
(25:27):
An interesting thing about thenostalgia, I may be dipping a
little more into 1960snostalgia.
And that's because when Istarted looking at my year end
numbers, specifically throughSpotify, the majority of my
listeners, the highestpercentage, were people 55 and
older.
So if that's the case, and if alot of you out there are people
(25:50):
that grew up in the 60s.
I'm going to do more to try togive you things that you will
enjoy because it's also gettingto the point where the early
2000s are now considerednostalgia.
So there's a much largersegment of time that I can kind
of mine from for ideas.
So that's some of what's comingup for 2025 for me in
(26:11):
particular and for the podcast.
There are probably other ideasthat I haven't thought of yet
that'll pop in my head at somepoint during the next year, but
we'll cross that bridge when wecome to it.
As we start to wind down thebonus Christmas Day episode, the
last episode of the year, Ijust wanted to really thank you
(26:33):
all for listening.
This began as a passion projectin the fall of 2020 as I
struggled with giving up alcoholthat had been a major problem
in my life for several yearsleading up to the creation of
the podcast.
So in many ways, doing thispodcast is part of what keeps me
(26:54):
sober.
And part of it is I keep addingto my plate with content to do
almost to keep those demons atbay.
I'm not saying if I stoppeddoing all of this stuff that I
would immediately go to theliquor store.
But there's that famous phrase,idle hands are the devil's
workshop.
So it's like, you never know.
(27:16):
I stopped doing the podcast andI'm instantly like Barney
Gumbel from The Simpsons layingin the gutter.
My appreciation extends to thefact that I, yes, I've had nine
books published and I've hadhundreds of articles and blogs
to pat myself on the back forthings that aren't that
interesting.
I have a big social presence.
(27:37):
You know, you Google me, youcan find a lot of my stuff, but
I'm not famous.
So maybe some of you found mebecause you came to book events
or you liked my books.
But a lot of you found mebecause you found my podcast
topics interesting and worthchecking out.
And some of you came, listenedonce and stayed.
(27:57):
All of this stuff, it's beencreated through my mind.
That's my biggest thing.
That's my biggest goal in lifeis to be totally self-employed,
self-sustaining, mainly throughthings that I create through my
own mind.
It's probably a control thing,but it's also the creativity.
It's been something that hasbeen my biggest burning passion
(28:21):
since I was eight years old.
So having you out there a loyalbase of listeners that seems to
be continually growing.
It means a lot because it meanswhat I'm doing is resonating
with you and enough for you toshare with others.
I see my stats.
I know where the majority ofyou are from.
That sounds foreboding.
(28:43):
I know where you're from.
A lot from the Northeast, butthen a lot scattered around the
United States.
I've got people in Canada,England, Germany, Singapore.
My hope is that 2025 is evenbetter than 2024, which has been
the best year yet for all of mycontent.
So my big goal, the biggestthing is to make next year the
(29:07):
best year ever.
So keep tuning in, keeplistening, sharing with others.
Check out the YouTube channel.
I've got hundreds of videosthere.
The Webcam Weekly Wrap-UpPodcast.
You can go to my blog, read allthat content.
I hope you've enjoyed my giftto you on Christmas Day.
(29:28):
But I hope that your day,whether you're listening on the
day or after, I hope it was oris as good as it can be, filled
with family, friends, good food,I hope.
That's always a big staple ofthe holidays.
It was something I said a fewweeks ago on the podcast that
when you're little, the holidaysfeel magical and you don't have
(29:50):
to do anything.
It just is.
The holidays can still bemagical and amazing when you're
older.
You just have to put in more ofthe effort.
That was a big thing when Isaid that.
That was partially why I didthis podcast episode, was to
give you something more.
But until next time, I'll beback on New Year's Day, so
(30:11):
another holiday.
Luckily, I will not behungover, so that'll be good.
If any of you are for thatshow, I'll try to talk quieter.
But until next year, remember,in this life, don't walk in
anyone else's footsteps.
Create your own path and enjoyevery moment you can on this
journey we call life because younever know what tomorrow
(30:34):
brings.
Thank you all for an amazing2024.
I appreciate every one of youthat listens.
This has been the In MyFootsteps podcast.
I am Christopher Setterlund,but you already knew that.
And I'll talk to you all againsoon.
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