Nurturing Connections Through Audio with Teddy D's Insights

When the 'Podfather' speaks, we listen. Teddy D, a towering presence and beacon of the podcast community, graces our show with tales of his foray into the world of audio storytelling. 

As we engage with Teddy, he unveils the narrative behind his popular podcast 'Why Not,' which has carved out a space for African American voices to be heard and celebrated. His influence didn't just stop at his listeners; it reached my own doorstep, guiding me into the realm of content creation and demonstrating the profound impact of mentorship. Teddy's knack for nurturing connection through conversation has fostered a sense of unity in our digital neighborhood, proving that the right voice can turn a ripple of an idea into a wave of change.

The airwaves hum with the resonance of Teddy's commitment to his craft, a testament to the hard work that has amplified his presence both in and out of our community. His 'Why Not' podcast not only entertains but ignites a fire in the hearts of those who tune in, encouraging them to raise their own voices. As I reflect on the ways Teddy's podcast has enriched our conversations and connections, I am moved to invite our listeners to not just witness his journey but become part of it. By embracing the invitation to create, share, and thrive in our content-driven world, we step into a circle of support where every story matters and every voice can find a home.

Transcript

Teddy Drinkard: 0:00

Hello.

Greg Kuhn: 0:14

Today, I would like to introduce you to one of my neighbors, a man who goes by the name Teddy D. Now, Teddy is also a member of our Facebook manifesting group. How cool is that? Thank you, Teddy. As I mentioned, he lives down the street from me. How did you get so lucky to live so close to me, Teddy?

Teddy Drinkard: 0:41

I wake up every day and ask myself that I mean along all the things in our lives. That's top three. We actually do enjoy the name of the lot, though I'm surprised by how many families we enjoy and mesh with in the neighborhood. You know what I mean.

Greg Kuhn: 0:57

So it's good. It's good. It is fortunate to find a neighbor who's cool. It just is. I've always enjoyed that, and some of the things that makes Teddy a cool neighbor I want to share with you. He's a successful husband and father. He's got a successful career. He's also a podcaster. He's currently hosting the why Not podcast. Actually, can you tell us a little bit about the why Not podcast, Teddy? Where can people listen to it and what can they expect from it?

Teddy Drinkard: 1:37

Yeah, so it's been posted everywhere. You know, the fun line the most podcasters say is anywhere a podcast can be found, right. The beginning of it all was really just a desire to have your voice be heard. I had the opportunity to guest on a couple of podcasts and I really enjoyed it and it just kind of snowballed from there to the point of starting my own show, figuring out the format, and people kind of understood what I was going for, what we were trying to do. So it just kind of snowballed from there and I'm happy to say I'm a podcaster.

Greg Kuhn: 2:17

You're touching on some things that I definitely want to circle back to before we close off today. I like the direction you're going. I don't want to necessarily crack that egg before first saying that. Teddy, when I first met you and learned that you were a podcaster, I also learned that some people call you the podfather and you always chuckle when I say that to you. How did that start? Why do some people call you that nickname?

Teddy Drinkard: 2:46

So started and has continued as a complete joke. The premise of it was what I just touched on when I began podcasting. One of the big reasons was I didn't feel like there were a lot of voices from the African American community being heard and it just bothered me the way that sometimes we were misunderstood and misrepresented. So that became one of the foundations of why I wanted to get started. And when people would come on and be a guest on my show or someone else's, they would kind of get bitten by the bug. So they wanted to start their own and I would just show them how I started and give them some of the details and mic information and RSS feeds, whatever that needs to be known to really get the ball rolling. And they responded back with the podfather nickname, which I think is hilarious, but my wife got me a T-shirt with it as a joke, so it kind of became a running joke.

Greg Kuhn: 3:54

I don't think it's a joke anymore, man, I don't know. You've got a coaching tree underneath you.

Teddy Drinkard: 4:01

Don't you? Yeah, that's one way to say it, right? Well, hopefully it's not a bad coach. I'm not going to reference, just in case somebody's a fan of a team I don't like. I think that speaks not to anything that I've been doing that's been special but just how much people want to be heard and understood. There's something to be said about Having someone that you respect hear something that you've said or thought about on a show and Then being interested in it, and it really is a natural, high almost appreciation that this person that I enjoy talking to kind of understood what I was going for. Doesn't have to be a hundred percent agreement, but it is a cool way to connect between people, even if you don't get the chance to Spend as much time together as you want. It almost feels like you've had a good conversation with someone when you listen to a podcast with them and it's done a certain way. It's like, okay, yeah, I haven't spoken in a couple weeks, but I feel like I'm up to date, you know.

Greg Kuhn: 5:01

That's how I feel after or while I'm listening to one of your podcasts. I feel like I'm sitting on the couch listening to a conversation that's interesting and engaging, and I actually want to ask you a little more about that. First, before we get into that, I wanted to touch on the idea that sometimes we're helping people when we don't even know. You're referencing people that you've helped or that have taken help from you and you really have provided me with help at least two ways, and you probably don't even know it.

Greg Kuhn: 5:35

I remember when we first met, I Told you back then that I was planning to retire from the Jefferson County Public School System in 2022 and start doing this full-time and, of course, now I am doing it and I want you to know, and I want our manifesting group to know, that Having a successful and confident content producer right down the street from me, it was always motivating to me and I wanted to thank you for that, even though you might not have been aware that you were having that effect on me, and also, part and parcel to that, by making myself Accountable to you, by sharing those goals publicly with you and by you allowing me to do that, you helped me create what I call a positive checkmate, where I was just another Reason, another motivation to follow through. So I thank you for helping me do that.

Teddy Drinkard: 6:38

Well, that's extremely kind, man, and you're right, I did not have any idea about that, because when you and I talk, it's genuine connection and that's always a goal when you want to create certain content, because the connectivity I don't know. I think connectivity can come in a lot of different ways and the one that everyone's familiar with is person to person. You're in front of someone, you're talking, you're connecting. Body language is a big part of it. So, especially when it's not a visual podcast, it's just audio, you have to ask yourself how can you get that same feeling across, whether it's just the speaking cues, the agreements, whatever.

Teddy Drinkard: 7:22

And yeah, you saying that is funny because you and I both know that every time we've had a chance to stop and talk, we always say like, oh, just a quick second, let me just talk to you for a second. Then 15 minutes later I'm apologizing for stopping you from your run or walking your dog or whatever, because we have a good, like-minded connection. So, no, man, that's incredibly kind, but I think it's, once again, it's just the nature of who we are as humans why people enjoy just kind of eavesdropping. It almost feels like, on a good conversation, a good content like that, it's genuinely motivational and it can hopefully be funny sometimes and insightful. All the good stuff, man.

Teddy Drinkard: 8:03

So, yeah, I think it's also a two-way street with you saying that. So, and especially not to go too far, but especially when it was in the early stages of COVID, when we weren't all very sure how close we could get. And now so it came. Those conversations that you have with neighbors and coworkers, if you were going into work at the time, they meant that much more to have that human connection. You know what I mean.

Greg Kuhn: 8:30

Neither one of us is ever short of things to say. That's right, that's right, I don't know that's better. Oh, I don't know how Jasmine feels about this, but I know Sean is happy that there's someone else that I can talk to sometimes.

Teddy Drinkard: 8:47

Especially during COVID. She's like, oh, go talk to somebody.

Greg Kuhn: 8:51

Oh yeah, and this is a perfect segue because I brought up the names of spouses you have a young son, you have a full life, you have your homestead to take care of in addition to everything else. Podcasting takes a lot of effort. You were referencing the physical tasks and chores of doing it, let alone the planning and the mental energy and being in a good space and that kind of prep work. So how do you make podcasting fit into your life? Does it serve a purpose for you? Is it a means to an end? Is there a larger connection there that it maybe brings you into a space that you treasure? How does that work for you?

Teddy Drinkard: 9:40

So the answer is probably evolved since I've been doing it. In the beginning it was the need to. We always used to say some of the episodes can just be auto therapy. You get done with it and you feel like, oh man, that really got a load off of me. But the other ones are genuinely just trying to stay in touch with people that you know. On a typical day we're too busy to talk on the phone or meet up for coffee or whatever it is and keep friendships going and connections with old coworkers and whoever it may be. So the end goal in the beginning, I would say, was probably just to see how far it can go, and that's evolved into today.

Teddy Drinkard: 10:30

I look at it as a volunteering thing that I do, and the reason why I changed that mentality is the priorities that come in my life. I have a lot of them before I get to podcast it and I was beating myself up in the beginning because I didn't have the chance to stay consistent like I wanted to once I got busy with work and family and everything that I have as far as responsibilities in my life. So I evolved into now I actually record a lot of episodes before I release one, and that way I don't have to be confined to a weekly schedule where if I can't make it this week because Noah's got a lot of activities and I wanna be there for him and with him, then I can wait and record it three weeks later and then fast forward to four months when we released the first episode of the season. No one has to know that time constraint was so stressful when we recorded those four episodes over the course of three months.

Teddy Drinkard: 11:35

Whatever it may be, there's a whole philosophy of making like evergreen content and you try to make something that's timeless quote, unquote. But the little tricks of the trade are you can't really reference things that happened as of something that happened last week. You can just generally speak about a topic and you don't have to make it specific towards a dating time. You know what I mean.

Greg Kuhn: 11:58

So yeah, so I probably shouldn't be asking you how you feel about Barack Obama's victory yesterday.

Teddy Drinkard: 12:06

And it just happened. That's so crazy. It just happened yeah. I mean I just really think this country is just gonna come together. You know what I mean.

Greg Kuhn: 12:14

I'm sure nothing is on the way that could spoil this charm. We feel, hey Good that. Teddy, I'm hoping that this isn't the last time that we talk. I don't wanna let you go without asking you something that I think is probably of great value to other folks in our manifesting group. I would encourage anybody to be confident that we all have a divine essence, that we all are so unique and individual in the sense that we have gifts and we have purpose and we have meaning and we have value that not only can we intentionally cultivate, we can intentionally spread and even search for and nurture.

Greg Kuhn: 13:02

I think that somebody who podcasts a public persona, you have a voice that you've not only given yourself permission to tap into, but you've given yourself permission to follow the muse of sharing it, and I know that, in principle, whether someone wants to be a podcaster or not, that idea is not only enticing, it's captivating, because I think all of us have that. Knowing that we too have that voice, what would you share with somebody who might be wondering where they could look for that voice, or what they can do to grow that voice, or what they can do with that voice as they grow it?

Teddy Drinkard: 13:52

Well, I think the first step is to know that any level of self-doubt that you feel is natural and it's almost expected when you start something that you look at as a new journey. And that's where the name of the show actually came from the why Not podcast. It was born in self-doubt because I had different versions of it beforehand. I'm like I don't know who wants to hear this, like what am I doing? And eventually I got to a point where I'm just like why not? What's the worst that can happen?

Teddy Drinkard: 14:26

And sure enough, it was just stepping out on faith, which is hey, even if no one listens to a second of this, I feel better in producing this content and what I would encourage people to do is realize that, whether you know it or not, you do have a unique voice and you do have something to say.

Teddy Drinkard: 14:49

And as a selfish reason, typically not always, but typically you can grow as a person by putting yourself out there to try something new and see if you get some level of enjoyment about it. You don't have to feel guilty about just doing something that you enjoy and if you don't want to change the world, guess what? There's plenty of podcasts out there that don't have that goal, obviously, but there are also people that listen to them, that listening to that content helps improve their day. So, really, that's what a big part of this is connecting to people that enjoy hearing what you have to say and don't feel guilty about just trying something new. That's the basis of it. You can complicate things in a million different ways, but it comes down to do. I have the confidence to step out and try something new and see if someone will enjoy it.

Greg Kuhn: 15:45

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for sharing some of your day with us today, teddy, I will say to our group members two things One, check out the why Not podcast and you're going to hear one of our own tearing it up on the mic. And two, if I should have a conversation with you and we should introduce you to the rest of the group, reach out to me. I'd love to get to know you a little bit better and consider that. I'll tell you what, teddy. We really took advantage of this time today to create something, as you just said. I'm hopeful and confident that it's entertaining and engaging, but I also believe it's really valuable.

Teddy Drinkard: 16:29

I love it, man, and publicly, I'm proud of you. You got it. I was talking about this a couple of years ago and you've taken off, man, so not a shock, but it's cool to see.

Greg Kuhn: 16:38

So keep it up. Well, thank you. I'm going to keep working hard and I appreciate any opportunity that I get to be a value. So thanks, man.