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Odd Dad In Podcasting

November 27, 2018 8:08 am

Adam Higgins is a stay-at-home dad with a full-time night job—and he occupies his spare time with podcasting, a hobby he started in 2015.

Higgins hosts two podcasts: “Odd Dad Out” which he hosts solo and “Mom and Dad Cuss (a Little)” which he co-hosts with his wife, thought the show is currently on hiatus. He’s also formed a podcast network with two other podcasters from his area called “Surprise Mother Fuckers”—they’re all from Surprise, Arizona.

He describes Odd Dad Out as “a snarky comedy mashup” of anything he’s thinking about.

“The idea for the show essentially came from my general ability to just talk and tell stories and rant and ramble to no end,” said Higgins. “I am very much the ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ type of person. I can speak competently on such a wide array of subjects, and I’ve had so many experiences in my short life that I can really talk about anything for a very long time.”

Both Higgins’s father and grandfather were in radio and he said that talking comes easily to him and his siblings.

The idea was for the show to cover his varying interests including music, movies, cooking and a few others through one lens: that of a stay-at-home dad.

“It really was originally supposed to be more of a parenting show with recipes and such, but when I started talking, it just became a flow of consciousness type of program with no telling where it was going to go,” said Higgins. “In an effort to create some stability, and to have consistent content, I started talking about weird news stories as a catalyst for my ramblings. Then I started doing the podcast recommendations as a way to share all of the podcasts that I had gotten in to by that point.”

So, it’s become part “rant-y audio blog”, part “weird news” and part podcast promotion—including supporting other shows and sharing listening recommendations.

“I just love to share the things I love,” said Higgins. “I don’t give fluffy reviews. I say what I love about a show and what I think the flaws are. I’m not doing it to stroke egos. I want my listeners to have a real understanding of the shows I feature. I look at it as a point of integrity on my part. I want people to be able to trust that my recommendations are genuine. Which is also why I do not do any sort of paid features.”

That’s how the network he is a part of came to be as well—he and his partners, “Chris the Mole Man” and Mike Jolitz, were promoting and supporting each other’s work, as they continue to do now.

“We’re just a group of friends who support and promote each other’s shows,” said Higgins. “We’ve talked about expanding it to include more shows and maybe get some sponsors, but we’re all either too busy or too lazy to really put in the work necessary.”

In terms of the future, Higgins has had hopes to bring on more guests or start another podcast for that purpose, but feels he doesn’t have the time, yet, between his graveyard shifts and dad duties. He recently started a new venture—ODO Voice Productions,to provide editing and voiceover services to other podcasters.

“I only have a small number of clients at the moment, but I prefer to let it grow slowly so I don’t burn out,” said Higgins.

Eventually, he’d like podcasting, including ODO Voice Productions, to become his full-time job—he said he much prefers working on podcasts and recording promos all day to working on his feet.

And while Higgins wants to grow his show and his Facebook group, he feels that growth is not the truest measure of success for him.

“For me, having a bigger audience means that I can share all of the other podcasts that I support with more people, and I can help them grow as well,” said Higgins. “I love doing my show, and I have people who say they enjoy listening to my ramblings every week. I’ve made some great friendships from this podcast, and that is way more valuable to me than any number of downloads.”