Since April of 2018, Idiotville has been committed to providing Erie-centric content on various platforms. In addition to our podcast (which can also be found on Apple podcast, Spotify and anywhere else you find your podcasts,) we also have a strong presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and our website at idiotvillepodcast.com. It is an effort that we take very seriously. Everyday, we attempt to create, innovate and engage with Erie in hopes of providing a positive and engaging voice in our community.
Started by Dill Spears and Brent N. Liberty, Idiotville grew exponentially in our first year. The addition of Jake News, Steve Castle and Ted Brogan to the team changed our trajectory and allowed us to create our social media presence while also assuring that a new episode of the podcast would be recorded every week.
2019 brought a number of changes to Idiotville. We moved from our humble beginnings in the Halls of Justice (Dill Spears basement) into the professional-quality studio at CAM in order to provide a higher quality of audio content. We also added an Instragram account that provided us the ability to create daily visual content. We began interviews for the podcast and started to receive some attention from larger publications in our city. Towards the end of the year, We started reviewing local beers in our popular Beer Segment and added the talented Marty Balawkay to the team to help grow the segment to its full potential.
While that may seem like a significant list of changes, the Idiotville team only sees what more we can accomplish. We are constantly discussing ideas and have a plan to put them into action. Here’s what to expect from us in 2020:
Video Content
Since the beginning of our podcasting tenure, we have been searching for ways to integrate video into the Idiotville plan. Many podcasts place their audio on YouTube only to have a picture of their logo as the video. We find that annoying and ineffective. As much as we want to reach as many people as possible with our show, doing so in a lazy way that irritates our audience doesn’t seem like the best way to promote the show. We needed to have a better plan.
Thanks to the facilities at CAM, we believe we have found that plan. In the coming weeks, we plan to launch the Idiotville Channel on YouTube. This will provide a way for us to give non listeners a taste of the show without taking away any content from those who faithfully download the show every week. This will also open up opportunities to put some of our crazier ideas into action. We hope you laugh. We hope you think. We hope to provide videos that are good enough to ignore the fact that we are not great looking people.
Website Revamp
Every podcasting help guide on Google says that you should have a website that acts as a home base for all of your work. While the blog has provided a way for us to make long-form pieces and popular weekly columns, We feel as if we have failed in making it into the hub of our operations. It’s not very pretty and the navigation tends to be clunky at best. Even the writers have found that its easier to google a specific article that they wrote than to find it in the archives. We understand our shortcomings in this department and are working feverishly to resolve them.
While our current web hosting plan was adequate in 2018, we find that it restricts us in 2020. A year’s worth of content has been added with no reasonable way to reach the majority of what has been written. Many of the plug-ins and design autonomy that would streamline the site is only accessible in the hosting plans that cost more money. This year, we plan to explore our options. Whether it be upgrading plans or asking for help from a third party, we plan to turn idiotvillepodcast.com into the hub of operations that we always intended.
Store Revamp
We like to give guests on our podcast a care package of Idiotville gear. Along with stickers and a koozie, we like to give them an Erie AF shirt that is available in our store. Unfortunately, the Erie AF shirt is the only item that appears in our store.
When we started the Idiotville store, we envisioned a shop where one could find a wide variety of items that would properly represent our way of life in Erie. In 2020, we expect to act on our original plan. Our new store will provide a wide variety of merchandise with a streamlined shipping process to make shopping with Idiotville more convenient than ever.
In order to make these changes (as well as others that are currently in the early phases of planning,) we are introducing our Patreon. For those who are unaware, Patreon provides an avenue of subscription funding for creators. For varying monthly subscription rates, creators provide extra content or merchandise.
The subscriptions are divided into separate tiers with each one providing more than the last.
The first level is Idiot. For $5 per month, you will gain access to the uncut outtakes that we have never released to the general public. These outtakes usually consist of jokes, rants and topics that didn’t make the show. We also plan to record Patreon-only content without taking anything away from the current show. At this tier, you can also have the option of being thanked or mentioned on the show with a reasonable message of your choice.
The second level is Dedicated Idiot. At this tier $10 per month will assure you receive everything from the Idiot tier as well as a monthly sticker/goodie prize pack. The goodies will always be a surprise, but we will make sure that they’re worth the investment.
Our top level is Complete Idiot. For $19 per month, you will receive a quarterly T Shirt from our store as well as all of the other items and content seen in the previous two tiers.
To visit our Patreon, click this link or go to: https://www.patreon.com/Idiotvillepodcast
Our current , swankier recording studio at CAM Erie.
For those who believe the flashy and exciting world of creating a local podcast for a mid-sized american city provides an influx of money and fame, I regret to inform you that none of us are getting rich off of this venture. We have invested a large sum of our own money to pursue a passion project for the city that we call home. Joining our Patreon would provide the necessary funds to continue offering our regular content while also giving us the ability to offer video content, a website redesign, a revamped store, and other Erie-centric projects that we know you will enjoy.
Finally, we would like to thank you all for your continued support of Idiotville. It has been an absolute pleasure providing audio, written and visual content content for the Erie community. As we continue to proudly represent our city, any Patreon contributions would be highly appreciated. If you love what we do and would like more, please join. If you can’t join, please spread the word. Either way, we intend to continue our labor of Erie, Pennsylvania love on for the foreseeable future.
Idiotville 