Jason: As we've entered our sixth year, we're pulling back the curtain and talking about the anatomy of a podcast from that first spark during the pandemic in 2020, all the way through to hitting the publish button after an episode. Whether you're sitting on a concept you've never recorded or you've already got a microphone with no clue what button to press next, this episode is going to be for you, and from our perspective, we're breaking it down in some plain language. The gear we use, some mistakes that we've made definitely along the way, and how we've turned this passion project into something consistent, sustainable and fun throughout five years with amazing co-hosts, entertaining guests, and plenty of amazing food, drink, and adventures. The Buffalo Brews Podcast starts right now. That was fun breaking out the old opener. Going to definitely have to do that again in the future. Hello, Jason Ettinger here with you for this solo episode of the Buffalo Brews Podcast. Normally I would be recording this in the Fortress podcast studio in front of a camera. However, in recent months, I have been nursing an injury that while I'm trying to get through my gym work and get ready to hit the track for some running and running mechanics, it has been brought to my attention by my doctors that I need to elevate the leg and put this on ice a few times a night. So instead of being in the podcast studio, I'm on my chaise in my living room and we have the setup here to be able to talk with you. And what am I drinking while we're fresh off of the season six premiere, which was Podcast of the Caribbean 3: On Stranger Things. We got asked a question about the Stranger Things reference, and I can only tell you that it was because Bri and I had recently finished the Netflix series, and it seemed culturally on point at the time. It was a welcome distraction from the landscape and the news and current events that were going on at the time. But in our countdown to the cruise, we've been feverishly looking at working in the gym and keeping our indulgence down to just the weekends. So post-cruise we've been staying with that and really getting back at things. So the hope is to get to that shift where we'll get into training and running mechanics to get prepared for the Buffalo Marathon 5K that comes up on Memorial Day weekend. So sometimes when that urge for great flavor strikes, you reach for that non-alcoholic option. Locally, you can enjoy great beverages like NA Burner from Big Ditch, Downshift from Southern Tier Brewing, or the non-alcoholic version of the Blueberry Wheat from Ellicottville Brewing. Nationally, if you're reaching for selections, you could do, let's say, Free Wave Hazy from Athletic Brewing or Just the Haze from Sam Adams, which is a choice that I really enjoy. But while many of those are great, Bri and I have managed to migrate in recent times to Go Brewing out of Naperville, Illinois. So I am drinking Not Just Another Story Double IPA from go. It's a 2024 gold medal winner at the Best of Craft Beer Awards, and it's a pleasant marriage of Simcoe Mosaic and Citra hops. And it's a two point oh version of their original West Coast IPA, which brings in notes of grapefruit, papaya and malt sweetness. Let me pop this open here. And of course, you know, we're in the dry season. So now my fingertips are all cracked too. This makes for real fun times for us here. I like this eighty six calories a can robust flavor and it has less than 0.5% ABV. And that's a requirement to qualify as a non-alcoholic selection. All right, let me set this over here. The inspiration for the podcast is something that I've talked about over time. But what you might not know or you may know is about the city of Buffalo is that it's just not for everybody. But to each their own. But what you can never do is come here and insult the city and its people and not be verbally run through. As a result, we've had football players, actors, news personalities, general visitors alike who have all done it, and we've long been known as the City of Good Neighbors. People look in on each other in tough times. They help one another out. I mean, look at the pandemic. Look at the blizzard of twenty twenty three. And we watched on our televisions as story after story highlighted the good in people. But some people just don't get that. And my opinion is also, if you leave hungry or thirsty, it's your own fault. It doesn't always appeal to you. But if it doesn't just leave. No judgment, no hard feelings. But going back to twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, it seemed like it was happening pretty consistent with outsiders. And once the pandemic struck in mid-March of twenty twenty, it took off as kind of a norm to trash talk the city. And even though there wasn't anything that anybody could do about it, you just you really can't stop anybody from being plain ignorant. And some people will just continue, no matter how hard you try. One of the statements that took place in the first days of twenty twenty made the case for stoking that fire, and that fire would become the Buffalo Brewers podcast. The quote was city of losers. And as it was well noted, and the fact that he had said it not once, but twice after he said it again, the way he had the gall that he had for being able to say it a second time after being berated the way he was the first time. And the name of that man was Jerry Coleman. He was a radio personality for one hundred and five point seven the fan out of Baltimore, and he was the architect of the City of Losers comment in regards to social media discussion that was going on about former bills head coach Sean McDermott, who at the time was being considered for NFL's coach of the year. The quote was they meaning us here in Buffalo have two major sports teams just like Baltimore, except the big difference is, besides, they have better chicken wings. Is there a city of losers and they've won nothing. That's a quote by Jerry Coleman. And what we did in reply in that second time around was we made donations to a charity that meant something to him. We didn't get all crazy about it because we've already been crazy about it once before. We've seen this since acts of that spread kindness in dark and grateful scenarios. Think about Andy Dalton. Think about Damar Hamlin, Mark Andrews. There's a Baltimore reference for you there. Even our own Josh Allen. Good always triumphs over darkness and we make others see what we have. So it was that hunger and passion that drove me to start the podcast and to share things around not only our great city here, but the Western New York region and obviously overlooked by others. We have great food, great drink, great places to visit, and so many things to do. So in February of twenty twenty one, after tons of reading and research and pushing through many social deficiencies, as well as tapping into past experience that as I had as a youth football commentator and yes, at one time I was a professional wrestler. If you find me out in public, I'll share some of the stories that I have. But as a result of those connections, those first episodes of the Buffalo Brews podcast rolled out. And in the beginning, we worked with a company called anchor that was a all in one free hosting service that was owned by Spotify, and Anchor did a lot in the early promotion of the podcast that led to the March twenty twenty three evolution, when anchor turned into what is now known as Spotify for podcasters, as all free things go in that time. It quickly became a situation where expectations go far above and beyond what we're able to offer at the time. So in a world of paid podcast hosting, we ended up migrating to where we are now, which is a company called Buzzsprout. And with that transition, we were able to open up dynamic content, uh, mid-roll commercial potential and a detailed statistical tracking. And that allows us to now have produced one hundred and seventy five episodes over five years. Now, if you want to talk about statistics, I'll share some from twenty twenty five because in twenty twenty five, there were five hundred and eighty four million podcast episodes that were listened to, not of the Buffalo Bruce podcast, I wish, but in podcasts all over the world. And our cut of that pie. In season five, we had published one thousand three hundred and forty six minutes of content produced across thirty six episodes. The Buffalo Bruce Podcast was listened to in sixty five different countries, with the top five being, of course, the USA. We had Singapore. Germany is a big contributor. Canada and Australia, our top three cities. You know, without going into too much detail, is Buffalo obviously because it's it's the Buffalo Bruce podcast. Even though we're beer centric, we're not necessarily Buffalo centric. It's just in the name, folks. But this is where our home is. Ashburn, Virginia. And I've always wanted to know why we have so many listeners in Ashburn, Virginia, but that is a big hot spot for us. And the number three city is in Frankfurt, Germany. And I have appealed several times to try to connect with some of our listeners in Germany. I've yet to hear back from anybody, but if there are any German listeners, please reach out. Let me know that you're a German listener, because I have some questions and I'd like to know why it appeals so much to to you folks across the pond. We had the pleasure of experiencing three brand new growing markets in twenty twenty five. That includes Dallas, Texas, Van Nuys, California, and Los Angeles. And so we saw a major uptick in downloads and listens in those three markets. We're looking forward to more growth in more cities, as well as those three new cities from twenty twenty five. In the beginning, you listen to a theme that that in the past we had used to open the show. We haven't used it so much in recent years, but licensing allows me to use it whenever I want to. And, uh, the, the podcast theme was a result of a long road, a ton of research and deep understanding about how music licenses work. Sometimes I still feel I know very little about them, but when I came across as an artist named Michael Briguglio and Michael is a Toronto, Canada based media composer with an amazing resume of film, television, video game, music, library composition. Who works, whose works have been used throughout pretty much every major television network. And the song is called syndrome. It's a slow burn and I enjoy a good slow burn. I think it, uh, reminds me of that hype up to that gives it that big match feel. And it's no wonder, because I'm a fan of football, professional wrestling, and suspenseful television moments barely getting started came about in twenty twenty three, so it was in July of twenty twenty three when Craig Altobello, who's a certified cicerone and the owner of Magic Bear Beer Cellar on Seneca Street in Larkinville. I contacted me to collaborate on an idea to further the reach on beer education and sharing knowledge, and that following month, Barely Getting Started was born. Fast forward to the end of twenty twenty five. We have fifty five episodes across thirteen different series that are published now. Barely Getting Started has been on hiatus because I've been dealing with holidays and vacations, and Craig and I are going to get together for a recording day here at the end of March, so Barely getting Started will be returning in April. You can look forward to that with series fourteen through history, science, some math, and a whole lot of great brews. We've got so much room for growth and evolution, so we're constantly talking about new things that we can do with that series. If you want to start from the beginning, head to our archives through our website at Buffalo Brews, Podcast.com or wherever you consume your podcast content, look for episode seventy two. That's the first episode of the first series, the series called Blissfully Belgian. And additionally, now you can listen to that first series on YouTube as well. The other series will be added on YouTube at a later date. YouTube has been a. it has been a project in fruition because there was some licensing issues that go back to the theme music. Um, so he had to send them a whole bunch of paperwork to go to find out that Michael allows YouTube to use his music no matter what. So it's all that work I put into it for licensing and verification. They could have just gone ahead and moved forward with their end of things, but I'm not going to complain. Uh, we're up and running on YouTube now, so it's a project where we're going to be adding a lot of the old episodes so that we can start adding the video recorded episodes, if not only barely getting started, but the episodes that Bree and I do here in the Mont Fortress podcast studio, Apple reviews, Apple Podcasts make up about twenty three percent of our total listenership, but when it comes to reviews, over ninety five percent of our feedback comes from the form of Apple podcast reviews, and a review is more than just feedback. It's one of the most powerful ways that a listener can support a podcast. Reviews help Apple's algorithm understand that a show is engaging and worth recommending, which can improve visibility in search results. It can improve through category rankings, and it also brings it into that quote. You might also like section. When you're looking for new podcasts in the same genre for you, the listeners reviews are always a way for you to share the love of a show and to help others decide whether it's a great listen. For creators like us, it provides social proof, motivation, and valuable insight on what's resonating with the audience. In short, leaving a review doesn't just say, I enjoy this podcast. It also helps the podcast grow, it reaches new listeners, and it continues creating great content. I wanted to share a couple of the reviews that we received in twenty twenty five, because I feel like they have their own uniqueness. And I think it's a, it's a way that people express how they truly appreciate the Buffalo Brew's podcast. Uh, one that we received here says it's a flavorful mix of craft beer, local vibes, and good times. It's like hanging out with your funniest friend who knows the best brews and hidden gems around Buffalo. If you love beer community and a little bit of Buffalo Pride, this podcast is a must sip. I mean, a must listen. So bringing a little bit of humor into that, which I always appreciate. I checked out having four in the old first Ward and live at from Brazen Brewing with Drew and Justin. And let me tell you, I'm officially hooked. In the old first Ward episode, I feel like I was tagging along for a casual night out with great friends, storytelling, brewery stops, and local flavor, and it was like a love letter to Buffalo, one pint at a time when the brazen brewing episode took it to another notch. Drew and Justin brought the behind the scenes magic where the host kept the vibe flowing like a fresh pour from the tap. It was a perfect mix of banter, beer and behind the scenes insight, and this podcast nails the balance between entertainment and information, and the passion for the craft beer scene in Buffalo has. It's contagious. Whether you're local or just a beer loving wanderer, Buffalo Brews Podcast is worth a listen. Cheers to this one. I always love that because of the detail that was put into it, it was very specific to two episodes. I took a lot of pride with the first old first Ward episode, because it's a little bit of history mixed in with the review that we did of the, uh, for the ward event. And then the last one here that I wanted to share was it says, let me start by saying that I'm definitely not the target audience for this podcast. I don't drink and when I do, I'm never a fan of beer. That said, the podcast is very well done with great audio, insightful facts and interesting history and a feel good flow. It's an experience to listen to, one that I definitely enjoyed more than a cold brew. This one. I wonder if wasn't connected to the old first Ward episode as well. Sometimes. Sometimes I don't like that when somebody does a review that they can't connect it to a particular episode, because I feel like that was the episode that probably allowed this, because even though we did talk about beer, the beginning of it was history filled. The other one that might, uh, make a connection is the US presidents, the alcohol race, that one I enjoyed writing and I kind of had in the tank for quite a while before I actually, uh, put the microphone to that one. So how is a podcast put together for us? In the beginning, it took a lot of trials and tribulations, a ton of research because, you know, you look at somebody and they're watching, you're watching them in video and you see a microphone in front of their face. But how is how does all this connect? How does it all come together? Eh? For our equipment in the pot in the fortress podcast studio, the studio itself, if you when if when you see it on camera here. It's nothing more than my basement, and the basement has sound absorbing ceiling tiles, which allows for great acoustics in there. It's a smaller space because it's a it's a little bit of a lower ceiling. It really works for what we need. It's easy to set up and I don't have to worry about reverberation echoes. It just seems to work out when we record the lighting that we use as a company called newer. You've seen some of their stuff around between Teleprompting and for us lighting, and we use their photography lighting kit, which it's a basically a combination of like, it's a backdrop stand where you can do like photo and video recording. So we just set up the backdrop to give us something plain to set up in the background. It beats wooden paneling on the wall. Then we use a certified eight hundred watt equivalent. Twenty four what LED umbrella and softbox continuous lighting system, that particular lighting set. It costs one hundred and forty nine dollars. I didn't pay one hundred and forty nine dollars for it because I enjoy using credit cards that give me cash back bonuses, so I was able to use cash back bonus to basically pay for that outright. So I didn't really pay for anything out of pocket for that. My microphones like the one I'm talking on now. Since the very beginning, I have been a massive fan of Samsung technology. The two or the Q2 new microphone. It's a combination USB, XLR dynamic microphone. Dynamic microphones are the way to go because it doesn't make you feel as if I see as I bump the microphone with my hand just now because I like to talk with my hands a lot. It, it, uh, it's a situation where you're not taking a microphone and just talking into it. If I'm, if I'm standing right on top of the microphone like I am, here's how you're hearing it. If I have to turn my head to the side like this or to either side, you get a little bit of a lesson sound, but you're still getting as part of that dynamic microphone. It's getting it all around. Listen, it doesn't require you to be right on top of the microphone like this, as a lot of microphones tend to. Sometimes though, a host will sit and they'll hover right in front of that microphone. They feel like that they have to be right there in order to make the sound work. It doesn't have to be like that. I like to be able to, especially when Bree and I are talking. We have to look up information. If we have to move our head from side to side, we can still get that dynamic sound. So it's the Samson Technologies two Q two U microphone. They cost about one hundred dollars apiece. They've kind of gone up in price over time. I remember the first one I ever bought. I think I paid like sixty dollars for the very first microphone. So over time, as I've had to add new ones, they cost about one hundred dollars a piece right now recording. So normally when we recorded the podcast studio. The board that we use to record on is called a Zoom pod track P eight, and it's produced by Zoom company, which does. Podcasting and sound mixing equipment. So the one that we use in the studio is a six channel. Uh, which is a high quality microphone inputs with phantom power. Uh, then it has six, um, headphone outputs. They have individual volume power, nine programmable sound pads and multitrack recording for input and the sound pads themselves. What I do like about the PA is that there's four channels that go with that, those nine pads. So you can actually do up to thirty six. Math is hard. Nine times four I think is thirty six. Yeah. And then you're able to do thirty six channels on the pod track. P4. Uh, what also you can do is you have the ability to plug in your cell phone so that somebody can call in to the podcast and talk to you on the phone, and it sounds like you're talking to somebody on the phone. It's there's no, you know, there's no dead air. There's no tinny sound to it. It's a, it makes for a real solid connection. Uh, the, and that particular module cost two hundred and ninety nine dollars. Right. Now, what I do know is that the P8, as it is right now, is going to be phased out over time because AI technology is now starting to integrate into podcasting. I'm going to get into that in a moment, but it's getting into equipment now where there's going to start coming up with these new updated pieces of equipment. Now, I told you, I'm not in the podcast studio. I'm on my chase tonight. So where I'm at is I'm sitting on my, uh, chaise here and I'm using my travel Zoom P4 system, which is a handheld module about the size of a large calculator. You can plug XLR microphones into it, and it's everything that the P8 can do. The only difference is it only has four sound pad buttons on it and it only has four. It has an option to hook up four microphones to it, which I think is really great because I've used all four channels on the P4 before in order to record a podcast episode, so it comes in really handy. Everything packs up nicely into a small case, and then I can take that wherever I need to go. Anytime we record barely getting started, it's always done on the P4. Easily set up one of these times. I'll have to also lay out the the way that that I do the P4 setup with barely getting started so that you can get a better idea of how simple it is to put it together. If you've ever heard of a gimbal stabilizer, it's a handheld module that can hold your phone and it allows it to pivot on three different axes. Think about an X, y, and z axis in science, where if you're, let's say, walking down a sidewalk or if you're riding in a car. It allows you to use it to smooth out, basically smooth out the picture that you're recording. We took the gimbal. Now, this one in particular that I use is a ho hum, uh h o h e m. It's a hohem Isteady x three s e, and I picked it up off Amazon for about sixty five dollars. And this thing is gold. Most recently, when we did the podcast to the Caribbean Courting, we took a cruise and part of that cruise stop was in Aruba, and we took a Jeep exploration tour on a very bumpy road. Let's just say that my neck, my hips and my back got a got a free alignment part of that ride. But some of the footage that I'll be sharing with that I took on the gimbal. And you wouldn't even know that we were in a bumpy vehicle because it stabilizes the scenery so well. I mean, while my arm is bouncing up and down, this is managing to keep everything, uh, the horizon level, everything focused and stable so that you can watch what you're doing. Uh, what I like about this also is it has the ability with a detachable, uh, remote control, you can use it from up to thirty feet away. It has an advanced I study eight point oh technology with that three axis stabilization like I just mentioned, and it has a very portable and foldable design. So you can take it anywhere. It only weighs about three quarters of a pound total. Practically can throw it into your back pocket. You hook your phone in. One of the great things also is between portrait and landscape mode. All it takes is a push of a button, and it'll automatically flip that phone ninety degrees in order to give you the the desired picture. It also has an eleven hour battery life on it. Now, I haven't tested that, uh, that battery life fully, but I can get an easy eight hours out of it before I have to. Let's just say I want to recharge it so that because the last thing I wanted to do was go dead on me. I don't think it's ever gone dead. I had an issue one time during a recording, and I think what happened was that it actually went dead during the recording. Uh, so I, I probably forgot to charge it, which was might have been the case, but I also love that, that with the payload capacity, it can hold approximately, uh, about two thirds of a pound on it. So if you've got a larger phone, uh, even with the case on it, if it's a little bulkier, a little heavier, it has the ability to work with a large range of smartphones, including those ones with larger screens. So it's really something that's handy. Like I said, for sixty five dollars, you can't go wrong. For editing, we use the audacity program so you can download it right, right on line and is a easy to use multitrack audio editor and recorder. And it's free. I don't record directly to audacity because I don't trust computers enough to know that they're not going to skip or it's going to cause a recording to, you know, be anything lackluster. I'm just I don't trust it enough. So that's why I rerecord on the PA to the P4. And then we just upload our recording to audacity. And audacity has the ability to do so many different things when it comes to recording. You can eliminate dead space. It has the ability where you can take certain words out of the recording. We also use Adobe Podcast, which you can find online that is an AI powered, web based platform for recording, transcribing, editing, and enhancing podcasts and voiceovers, and it gives it a professional studio quality. I came upon this by accident. I talked to a representative and ended up going all in on it because I needed something that was going to allow me to do transcription, because I don't always transcribe the scripts as as you would hear them. Sometimes I'm reading off of bullet lists and then it would allow me to transcribe a file. I could record a podcast directly on it if I chose to. I can also edit audio and video files that I upload. It's a great feature on there. I can convert audio to video. Some of the older episodes of the Buffalo Bruce podcast that are on YouTube right now. I've done with the help of Adobe Podcasts by uploading that. It enhances the audio and allows me to put those into video. It takes the transcription so that you. It's almost like following the bouncing ball and you can read along as you watch. That obviously won't be the case once the video episodes go on to YouTube, but for the mean time, those older episodes you can follow along with the words. If for whatever reason you, um, you couldn't have the volume up or some people just choose to watch and read along as they're listening. You can also add captions to videos, and then you can remove video from audio and or video as well. Now what is great about that is when you're uploading a video to YouTube that involves commercially used music. Sometimes it will not allow you to upload that file because it'll tell you that it's licensed music. You don't have a right to use it. Uh, so this with the AI interface allows you to strip that music out if you feel that it's going to be a problem in a video. One episode from a long time ago, I wish I had this for was we did a sixth anniversary recording for Big Ditches Birthday Party, and I wish I would have had this technology back then, and I wish I still had the whole file because I'd go back and edit it. Um, but I can't do that. Um, but I feel like this would be a great example where I could go in and strip the music that was playing overhead that I couldn't deaden out with technology that I had at the time. So that's a great tool that we have by using Adobe Podcast to be able to use AI enhanced software to give us the highest studio quality for the Buffalo Brew's podcast graphics. I mean, we all use Adobe Express. We use Canva. I've been using it pretty regularly for whatever we need. And then one of the things I will always tell somebody is that the use of templates is huge. It's absolutely huge because if you want to record an episode, all you have to do is take a copy of the template, drop it into the folder. It gives me the opening music, it'll give me the transitions, it'll give me the closing music, and I can do whatever I need to so that I can just put in the different sound files, hit the slider bar wherever I need the fade in and fade outs to take place. I don't have to worry about every single episode tweaking it to death. Um, so I think that's really important when it comes to, uh, podcasting because editing is one of the largest time, it takes the most time to edit than, than anything. I feel like you have all the fun recording an episode and then it takes so long to edit an episode. But if you're using something like a template, you can easily go in and, um, you know, all you have to do is just worry about the little fine tuning things that you have to do to make that episode what you expect it to be. And always remember, even though you might do templates, you might do great editing, don't strive for perfection. We all feel like everything has to be perfect, but it's about the content that we're putting out there. It's, uh, you know, perfection. Sometimes something sounds just perfect. Um, and, and leave it at perfect. But we don't have to strive for perfection every single episode. There's nobody who's watching it that closely. There's nobody who's listening to it that closely. You know, if you have a consistently bad sound quality, it it's makes sense that you would work to improve that. But you don't have to strive for perfection when you already have a good product. So be confident in what you're putting out there. Continuously improve your craft and enjoy putting the content out there that you do for your listeners. And that brings us to community, because the podcast and the community that I have come to know and has allowed me to broaden my horizons both personally and professionally, because those relationships, they have been fortuitous in our work with the Buffalo beer Geeks, Rising Storm Brewing, the former's, uh, one eyed cat brewing in Lafayette Brewing Companies. Last year, we did a collaboration piece with, uh, First Line Brewing, where we did the I got your six. We have current, a current project that's going on right now with resurgence brewing, uh, as well as great friendships that we have with Outside Chronicles, and we've had a couple of times before. Tom Whitmarsh from the Western New York Beer Trail. So we're proud that these episodes. You know, are we are able to bring those to you. And, you know, one of the examples is barely getting started because regularly they get featured by staff members from the World Podcast Network. So they'll send me an email that they're recommending an episode. And it's really exciting that they do that. Also, been long time and proud members of the hopped up network, which we've brought up on more times than I can count on the podcast. They feature a number of beer centric podcasts from around the country, and most recently, we've had the pleasure of joining the ambassadorial program with Pod Match, which has given us connections to many successful podcasters from every conceivable genre and so many locations from around the world. Had some great conversations with folks, some great back and forth feedback. I appreciate everything that that anybody has to say. Positive and negative. You You got to be able to take the negative. That goes with it as well. But it is great to know that pod match. And so many people are enjoying the Buffalo Bruce podcast as part of the podcast, the Pod Match Network as well. And this combination of connections has helped us to become a two time best podcast winner. And we couldn't be prouder and more eager to bring more content to you, the listeners. So where does that take the podcast? Our quote is basically our motto is brewing conversations one step at a time. And we've turned countless encounters, side quests, road trips, and adventures into fun conversations that we have talked about through craft beer and wine and history and places and things and much more. And we appreciate every new experience and make it a point to explore the many facets that life has to offer. And I've learned over these five years that I am considered more of a purpose driven podcaster and excel in the important element of aligning purpose and clarity for podcasters and listeners. Sometimes I feel like I overshare. Sometimes I feel like I'm a little too much of a detail oriented person, but it makes sense when I think about it, because it's always about sharing the details that makes the each event unique and special to us. So how do we take it in and how we can contribute our knowledge to make it something for you to enjoy? If not now, in the future and over the holidays, I had a time to really speculate on the future of the podcast, and I'm a strong believer in growth. I really am a believer in evolution, like reinvention even. It keeps things new. It keeps things fresh while keeping an open to more, to more progression and more potential transformation. So what's coming up for us? Uh, here's part of me going just a little bit off script on this, but basically, I mean, we're working on some collaborations and we can't go into any details. I don't like to give things away because if things take longer, I don't know. You know, people with ill intent out there, they might, you know, try to grab the low, you know, low hanging fruit or the brass ring before I have a chance to get my hand on it. But we've got some really fun things that are coming up right now, some email conversations that are going on right now. We're in the past, we've learned that the worst that anybody can say is no. But recently, one of the things I kind of adopted was it's always a yes until it's a no. Because, you know, if you've got the gumption to, to be able to go to somebody and say, I've got this idea, and I wonder if you would if you would be interested in doing this with me. Again, the worst they can say is no, but I find that many times it's a yes until it's a no. And if it's a no, it's just based on timing or it's based on resources, or if they don't feel that they are the right fit for what it is that you're looking for. But we're looking forward to doing some great things and sharing a lot with you coming up. These projects that we're really, really excited about. So one thing at a time here. Even today, as I as I'm recording this, there is some email back and forth that's really positive. And we're very excited for what's coming up here in twenty twenty six events to strengthen the Western New York podcast community. So we have if you are familiar with podcasts in Western New York, we have everything from history to entrepreneurship to lots of sports. I mean, the Buffalo Sabres are doing fantastic right now. The Buffalo Bills are going to be moving into a new stadium here in the fall. Free agency has been crazy as far as football is concerned. So there's so much excitement out there. And there are a lot of sports podcasts that cover the Sabres that cover the bills. But you know what's in common with all of them? They're all Buffalo and Western New York eccentric. So I think what's going to be great is that going forward, we're going to look at under the theory of of rising tide raises all ships, those ships being the different podcasts in Western New York. So we're going to have a make an opportunity here for us to get together and some collaboration. So if you're within the sound of my voice, if I don't get to you first, get to me and let me know what your email and your contact information is, because we've got some things that we're working on some irons in the fire, and I'm excited for us to be able to share information, share resources so that we can all become stronger together. And lastly, I want to say that, you know, like we all hit bumps in the road. I wish that there was one year out of the five that we've had where I've been able to produce a consistent episode every week. If it was a New Year's resolution, I've already broken it for this year. Things happen. The job that I'm in can be demanding at times, so a lot of times I have to deal with over time, that takes away from my ability to work consistently on the podcast. They always say the consistency in podcasting is key, but I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I might be gone for a few weeks, but the episodes always drop just like this one coming out here. So whether it's my leg being ridiculous here or if it's my recurring pneumonia that I have had over the past couple of years, or whether it's work, just know that I'm out here and that we're always looking forward to bringing content to you. So I'm going to finish up here. I thank you very much for listening. Here's how you can get Ahold of us on social media and through Facebook, through Instagram, through YouTube, @buffalobrewspodcast. And then we're also on TikTok @buffalobrews. So we're always doing a little bit of content here. They're a little bit everywhere. But if you want to listen to the Buffalo Bruce podcast or do you want to share with anybody, you can listen to any episode on our website at Buffalo, Podcast.com or wherever you consume your podcast content. Hey, thanks for listening to me. I appreciate each and every one of you, and we look forward to bringing you our next episode, which we're going to be talking about our visit through Tampa Bay and our own version, our D Tampa Bay Beer Week. So we're going to go back here to basics. When I say that I'm Jason Ettinger and you have been listening to the Buffalo Brews Podcast, make sure that you go out there with much love and be sure to make your own path. So long.