2-Year Anniversary Special

A special episode where we reflect on the past year for the podcast and we talk about what we have planned coming up for this Pokemon podcast. Thank you for listening!

Transcript

David Hernandez: 0:00

Welcome to As the Pokeball Turns, and this is the two year anniversary! and I'm not alone today. Today, I'm joined by both Dukes and Layla. Say hello, y'all. Uh, this is your cue. Dukes, Layla, this is where you say hello. Eh, whatever. They'll join when they want. They're here, they're just, they're both napping right now. anyway, it's the two year anniversary of this podcast it was really hard to write out what I wanted to say for this episode. This is definitely going to be longer than last year's Without a doubt. Most podcasts, they don't really make it past 10 episodes and to make it two years. It's just something that I'm very excited for. I'm very happy to see something that was only an idea in my head come to life and is continuing to grow in front of me is a hard feeling to put into words. And it's all thanks to listeners like you. So from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of Dukes and Layla, thank you for listening to the podcast. Thank you for listening to the different guests we've had. this past year was phenomenal growth the show has grown and how much the listenership has increased. And it's only going to continue to grow. And I'm excited to see where this goes. And of course, I also wanted to say a big thank you to each guest who has appeared on the podcast, who's agreed to come on the show. There's no words to really say how grateful I am for some of the guests I've had. the fact that you spent time out of the day to be interrogated, I mean, to be interviewed by me, it means a lot. It's been kind of cool to get involved within the Pokemon GO community and to learn about, how this game kind of brought us together. Hopefully you and his listener get to kind of feel that experience as you listen to each person's story. So, I went back and actually listened to last year's episode, the one year anniversary and Couldn't remember what I said and I made it about four minutes deep before I just cut it off Not because it was bad, but just because I can't stand hearing my own voice You always hear the saying that most podcasters like to hear themselves talk. I am NOT one of those podcasters I can stand my voice only when I need to edit and even then I skip over it cuz I mostly have to edit the Guest's voice so I don't really have to edit myself, but One of the big questions that I've gotten about the podcast, in regards to just how 2023 went, was Well, what happens after 52 weeks, 52 guests? Easy! We're gonna do 365 days, 365 guests! Okay, no, no, no, not really, that's, uh This year's the leap year, so we can't even do that, yeah. That's my excuse for this I think people worried that the show was going away or going to be cancelled or was going to end after 52 weeks. And I said it on, uh, when I was guest on Star Peace on the GoCast podcast. Definitely should check out that episode if you haven't. they asked me that question. I answered like, The podcast, or the interviews aren't really going anywhere. They're sticking around. This is the vision that I had for As the Pokeball Turns was to have people Share their stories about Pokemon Go, to share how it's changed their lives, to share what they've done, how they play the game. You know, all that fun stuff. Y'all, if y'all've heard the episodes, first off, if this is your first episode, welcome! This is a two year anniversary. This is not normal. This is once in a blue moon, but for those who have regularly listened to the episodes, you know, y'all've heard the spill. Y'all've heard how people talk about how they play Pokemon Go. So y'all kind of understand. The purpose of 52 Weeks 52 Guest was for me to show consistency because it's hard to schedule 52 guests. It's hard to schedule consistent guests weekly. I'm the only Pokemon podcast that can do it at the moment. It's, you're working around schedules. You're working around trying to make sure that y'all can record. And then plus I do editing. I'm, I'm a one man podcast. Great to my dogs are here, but Duke is in charge to make sure we go outside and Layla's in charge of making sure we get fed outside of that. They really don't touch the editing process at all, believe it or not. They're smart dogs, but they've not learned how to edit yet. Still working on that. it also meant that I can only have 52 people on the show. 52 isn't a lot. It's like 52. It's I've always said like 52 is like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to find 50 people. But 52 also means I only get 52 people. And that's what the theme of 2023 was. It was supposed to showcase that I can be consistent for myself, but also show that for the listener, this is what you can expect for 2023, which brings us to 2024. In my personal life, I love to see each year as a theme. I always have a theme for every year. I just, that's just my thing, you know? And for the theme for the podcast for 2024 is hashtag more to the story. And the meaning behind that, we're going to go back in time around maybe, uh, springtime March or April, Texas. We don't really get spring. So summer one for those who are from Texas, I noticed a shift around the interviews needing to be more Pokemon centered. initially when I started the interviews, I was way more focused on Pokemon Go. Like I really wouldn't even touch the experiences of Pokemon with my earlier guest. If you listen to my earlier episodes, I feel like you could hear a difference between back then to now. Now I dive more into the Pokemon side of things, but back then I mainly would just touch on it, but I wouldn't go in as heavy. I would more focus on the Pokemon Go. Cause I thought. That's what the podcast needed to be. And that's how I started my interviews. It wasn't until I got a DM about somebody wanted to come on as a guest that I saw the limit of the podcast interview format at that time, for me at the time. I always said, like, as long as I can bring it back to Pokemon go, I can do the interview with that guest in particular, it wouldn't have worked. And, it just bugged me that there was a limit to how far my podcast could go. I hate limits. I'm the kind of the guy who tries to go as fast as they can on the freeway without getting a speeding ticket. You know, if you know, you know. You know, I'm that kind of guy. I try to like push the boundaries as much as I can without getting caught. Now just to detail, I'm not admitting to any crimes. I'm just saying I like to push the envelope. I try to push the line as far as I can because I don't know. I've played life safe too much that I'd rather try to push the envelope at this point. That's just where I'm at. I looked around the quote unquote podcast landscape, maybe even content creation landscape, if I'm honest. And I kind of noticed the same thing that's kind of missing with Pokemon that I've noticed with Pokemon Go. That there really wasn't a place for people to share their experience with Pokemon. For those who don't know, I started As the Pokemon Turns because there wasn't Unless you're a famous content creator, there really wasn't a place for an everyday person to come share their story with Pokemon Go. My podcast is still like that. But I noticed that same need from Pokemon Go is the same thing within the Pokemon franchise. Whether you talk VGC, whether you talk TCG, whether you talk anything Pokemon, there's not really place for people to go and share their experiences. And you might notice that if you listen to some of those episodes around that time to where I started diving into more of the Pokemon experiences. Of more of how they played the game. When did they first start? You know, what is their favorite region? Stuff like that. Or the famous question I always ask everybody, you know, if you had six Pokemon to play, do a playthrough, which ones would you do, whether it be Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, et cetera, et cetera. And as I continue to dive, as I continue to expand the Pokemon content within the interviews. I noticed there really wasn't a difference for listenership. The podcast continued to grow steadily. my fear was that if I did touch on the Pokemon, that it would turn some people off. In fact, the opposite happened that more people actually tuned in. And now that doesn't mean that I'm not going to ever have guests who don't have experience with Pokemon. I've had Jamal, I've had Rowan. and a couple other people, I love having people like that on the show because it's a unique perspective that you really don't get a lot of people for Pokemon Go. From my experience so far, at least with the interviews, Pokemon Go was a re entry back to the franchise that they had left way back when. There's a couple of people like me who've been dedicated players throughout and all that has a place within my podcast. it's like a puzzle. I like hearing the different ways that Pokemon has kind of been a part of their journey. It's been a part of how we connected, whether it be Pokemon Go, whether it be maybe Pokemon main series, TCG, or that's all fun stuff to dig into for me. Which brings me back to hashtag more to the story. as a podcast, what we're going to be doing is venturing into other avenues within the Pokemon franchise, including, but not limited to Pokemon, VGC, TCG, Unite, and anything else that Pokemon touches. And I think that's the best part about the franchise, is the many different things that people do with Pokemon. as the same with Pokemon Go, I want to highlight those people. I want to spotlight what they're doing. How did they come to this idea? And maybe introduce you to somebody that you may have never heard of before. there's a reason why I bought BTW as the starting opening act, because I know BTW went through a similar journey. for those who don't know, BTW, beginning of the word podcast, they switched over from Pokemon Go to covering also Pokemon which is kind of where I was starting with 2024. I knew this going in. I'm just sharing the message to y'all now so y'all can get caught up. And then recently we had the BER this past week, and that was actually the first type of guest where she has experience with Pokemon Go, but it's very limited. She's not a hardcore grinder, she's not somebody who has caught a lot or has done content creation. If you've listened to the episode, you know she did her own coloring books, and if you haven't, check it out. But she's the first guest that I've had to where Pokemon Go is not really the theme, it's more the Pokemon. And there's gonna be more people like her. She's one of a couple that I plan on having on for this. Come in year and moving forward after that so my plan for 2024 is I'm gonna have one guest Per month who likely won't have experience with Pokemon go if they do they do will cover it But most likely they may not have that experience I don't know sometimes like for example when I had dandy on the dandy in the Bronx on this podcast Had no idea that he actually did competitive back in a Pokemon diamond and pearl so sometimes guests surprised me that I'm like Oh, I had no ideas. Let's dive into this so There might be some guests who may actually have experience with Pokemon Go. They just don't display it online, or they don't share it. But, as a listener, I would expect more, guests like B. E. Art, who come on the show, who may not have experience with Pokemon Go, but do have experience with the Pokemon franchise, and is using Pokemon in a unique way that you never would have thought possible and that's going back to those story. I want to highlight that stuff because I find that so cool. The Pokemon Go interviews aren't going away Let me be clear. It's just one interview per month's gonna have maybe potentially no Pokemon Go and I hope you're okay with that. And the reason why I'm starting with just one guest per month is because The hardest part about doing this podcast if I'm honest is that I really don't have an example to imitate there's not really another Pokemon interview podcast. Yes, you had Star Piece, but they came afterwards. BTW's done a couple interviews, so I've been able to listen to a little bit of them. But as far as just doing full interviews centered around Pokemon, there's not really from any place for me to really go to pick some brains. I'm kind of just getting this as I go. And diving into stuff that may not have Pokemon Go is different because Pokemon Go, I feel more comfortable. I kind of know the questions I need to ask or the stuff we need to dive into. With a guest who doesn't have that experience, it's a little hit or miss if I'm honest. And the question I'm having now is that, with me branching out into, say, a VGC or TCG, what questions do I ask to elicit those responses that show how Pokemon has influenced our lives? I don't know. That's the part I'm still trying to figure out. I know I don't have the perfect, but that's the part of growing as a content creator and growing as an interviewer myself is I'm not going to have all the answers and it's going to be a lot of trial and error. And I think that's the fun part. All that being said, this brings me to my next change with the podcast. Initially, my plan was to go into 2025. Yes. I'm thinking that far ahead. That's just where my brain goes. I was looking into going to 2025 doing multiple interviews per week. And then as I was working on this past month and what I was going to say for just this episode for the two year anniversary. I really looked through the list of guests that I want on the show. for those who don't know, I keep a running list of. Guests that I want on the podcast that list is pretty damn huge at this point and me staying on one guest per week is just not Feasible. Otherwise, I'm gonna have a three to four year waitlist I don't see the need to wait till 2025 to do that So my target date for multiple episodes multiple interviews per week Is going to be go fest 2024 and the second show is going to be on Saturdays. And you may ask like, well, why are you waiting so long? Like you build us up and you got to make us wait. Like, I don't know how far is go fest 2024. Niantic time away. I will say maybe July and August. So we're looking at five to six months. The big reason is that I need to get the podcast on YouTube. that's my biggest priority going into 2024 for as book ball turns is I got to get the podcast on YouTube. YouTube is king. That's just the pure answer behind it. People use YouTube. They love YouTube. You know, I'm grateful for my podcast audience, and not gonna leave y'all, but if I want the podcast to continue to grow, I need to be able to engage the audience on YouTube, and that's just where people are when it comes to, doing content. Also, during that time, I'd like to spend time trying to figure out how to do the Pokemon interviews for the non Pogo interviews. Am I figuring out how to do the Pokemon interviews for the non Pogo interviews? I hope that makes sense. I'm trying to figure out the non Pogo interviews. There we go. I knew there was an easier way to say that. And I want to make sure that I give that the time it needs to, because when I start having multiple guests, it's going to be a mixture of everything at that point. I guess since we're on that topic, for those who are curious, my plan with YouTube, I've been adamant about this. I'm not going to do video for the guest. I want my podcast to have the lowest barrier to entry possible. And I have some guests who, they may not feel comfortable being on camera. Some people don't even get comfortable being on the mic, let alone trying to ask them to be a camera. And I don't want to add that barrier to entry. Like, oh, I need to have video to do podcasts. I'm like, nah, I'm good. I have found a way to do it though. I was working on that all of December and halfway through January before I just got busy. So I do have it in mind and it's in the works. I'm trying to get all the episodes From episode 1 to I don't know in August will probably be at episode 100 and something at that point So YouTube's gonna be behind for a minute and that's fine. The big difference for those who listen and those on YouTube Actually those who listen are gonna get more content for YouTube They're not gonna have the intros and they're not gonna have the intermissions I tried doing the intro with what I'm doing and it doesn't work out as well. But everything else, the interview is gonna be relatively the same, so If you're used to listening, hey, keep listening, man. I appreciate ya listening. Those on youtube are gonna just be for those who just prefer to use youtube as a platform. And there's a lot of people like that. Oh, also, if you want to know when the video will launch, Make sure to follow me on all my socials, uh, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, if you're still alive. I'm on all those, so if you want to be up to date to see when the video comes, make sure you're giving me a follow. But anyway, my last change for 2024 that I had planned, I've been excited for this for a while. I've been trying to find a way to engage you guys as an interview podcast. It's been odd trying to figure that part out. I think for a brief second I tried to do the emails, but I didn't like how that was working. So I'm going to start streaming. On Twitch, I'm gonna be streaming Pokemon Go. It'll just be a casual grind, where I'll get to talk with anybody who decides to show up or you can just catch me watching Pokemon, or, you know, whatever. It's gonna be something that's pretty chill. Eventually, I plan on doing playthroughs as well for the main series. I really wanna do a full playthrough of each game from each generation. There's still some stuff being fixed on that. But for now, we're just gonna start doing Pokemon Go. And I'm gonna spend time just chatting with whoever and catching Pokemon and going back to how it all started Plus it gets me out of house Sometimes I tend to be a hermit and I need to find more Ways to get fresh air and I can't think of a better way than spend time with you So if you have a twitch or if you just want to watch me play Pokemon go come check me out It's gonna be I have it planned for every Friday either 8 or 9 central. I'm probably leaning towards more 8, and I'll be probably streaming for 2 hours every Friday night. And if not, you can just continue to listen to the podcast. Again, I'm always grateful for those who spend time and have really enjoyed this idea of people coming on the show and sharing their experience with Pokemon. I am constantly humbled When I have somebody tell me like, yeah, I like your podcast. And it's just, I really don't know what to say. It's like, thank you for listening. I just, I'm working on trying to have a better response, but it's just great to hear how people really bite into it. Like there's some guests who I have on a podcast who say, yeah, I listened to you for a while. I'm like. Well, in that case, if you've listened to you like jump podcast, how about you come on? Cuz I've been wanting to have you on for a while. So I've had a quite a few guests like that. It's I forget. I'm a content creator. Sometimes. It's just very weird. It's just weird. Like when people tell me that it's just it's a good weird. I just don't it doesn't ever get comfortable I guess I don't know somebody can word it better than I can last but not least, as I told you earlier, I did try to listen to the one year anniversary episode and I got to the part to where I said I wasn't sure where the podcast was gonna go and that's where I was excited to See where it would It's like weird when people ask me was like, what do you do in your spare time? You know, I host a Pokemon podcast and then I don't know It feels like a little badge of honor. I don't know I share that with pride when I say that, because I look forward to the interviews. I look forward to each time I get to plan the episode, I get excited to just think about how y'all listening. So it brings me so much joy to do this and to continue to do this. And I don't plan on this ever stopping anytime soon, at least. But 2024, I have more clarity on what I want to do with this podcast. And I have a goal for myself. And I want to share that with you guys. Ash always had this dream of becoming a Pokemon Master. That was his lifelong dream. What was that? We have no idea. It never was specified. And I think in a similar vein, I kind of want to go like that. So I want to be the best interviewer. Like I want to be in the conversation of best interviewers you can think of, like a Glare King or maybe a Howard Stern or Joe Rogan, if you're a fan of his or not, or whoever you think of who's a good interview. I kind of want to be in that conversation. And I want to do that with Pokemon. I want to do that with a franchise that I've loved and have followed since I was a little kid. And that's where I want to go with this podcast. I want to see how far it can get me to that height of skill. I know I'm not there. I'm learning constantly. I listen to other interviews, pretty consistently trying to make sure like, what can I, you know, how can I improve? You know, what can I change? Because it's an ever evolving process. that's what I want to strive for. And I want you guys to join me on that journey. To see how far I can really go and see where, as the Pokéball turns, it's trying to become the best interview, the best interview possible. And I want to do that with Pokémon. With more guests, more stories, and plenty of Pokémon. Oh, now y'all speak, really? Ugh, these dogs, they have a mind of their own. Thank you for listening to the two year anniversary y'all. If you have some thoughts or suggestions, my DMS are always open. My email is always available. as the pokeball turns podcast at gmail. com I'm on Twitter, Facebook, soon to be on Twitch, and I hope to see you there.