By VANESSA LANGDON
Staff Writer
The podcast is all the rage and Tom DeCicco, a graduate of the Saint Rose class of 2009, is using this medium to revel in all things geek! DeCicco majored in music industry during his tenure at Saint Rose and while the podcast business is only a side hobby at the moment, he noted that the major has helped him in the development of the podcast and the ‘backbone’ including the technological aspects, the business side and follow-through.
The idea for the podcasts originated through DeCicco’s own boredom with the music on his iPod that caused him to turn to podcasts, then realize that he himself could create podcasts and could create them better than those he was currently listening to. The podcasts are posted bi-weekly to www.geekculturepodcast.com. DeCicco explains that this is as frequently as can be achieved with “5 dudes that work full time to schedule a beer drinking, [explictive] session on a weeknight” this beer drinking and hanging out is the creative process for DeCicco and the other four men on his team: CJ, Eric, Hennessey, and Pat.
The podcasts have evolved from DeCicco’s original vision of covering ‘geeky’ stuff like “movies, comics, videogames, toys, TV etc.” but has now morphed into more of a pop culture show. As explained by DeCicco, “an explicit pop-culture show…focused on nerdy topics…while drinking some beers with some close friends.” The evolution of the podcast themselves is shown through the progression and growth of the teams familiarity and comfort with being on the air-DeCicco would not talk about the very first podcast and would not advise anyone to look it up although it is archived on the site.
Currently the podcasts are being recorded in DeCicco’s home, but he is hopeful that “maybe someday we will be in a studio…or at least a professional basement.” The creative process is a rather quick one for DeCicco and his team. “They have taken from two weeks to 20 minutes to come up with material, nothing is scripted,” he said. “We get together, and the magic happens within two hours. It usually takes me a few hours to edit and post-produce our shows.”
DeCicco is equally proud of all of their podcast ventures thus far, saying that he is his own biggest fan. “I love doing it and I’m mostly glad I can use my music and business background in such a non-pressuring niche.” He cites the additional benefits of the podcast medium, “because me and my friends swear like a bunch of sailors and I own it. No one can tell me what to do, I have complete creative control. And as an artist and business person, that’s the most important.”
The traffic for the site DeCicco explains has been good “for being as new as we are we are becoming very popular.” This can be attributed to the fact that “from the beginning I was emailing PR [public relations] companies for products, sponsors, and affiliate giveaways.” Some of these companies were Funko, Kontrol Freek, and DK Publishing. In addition to reaching out to the public relations firms Geek Cult.ure has been using social media outlets like Twitter to publicize their product. One of his goals for the future is to one day be a certified Twitter account. The Geek Cult.ure team was also at Albany Comic Con this past Sunday where they had a live podcast, contests and giveaways, networked.
The Geek Cult.ure podcasts are free to listen to and support an alum of Saint Rose, helping him reach his goal. “As long as we can just keep the interest with listeners, I would love to eventually get paid to do this kind of broadcasting,” DeCicco said. Hopefully all past, present, and future College of Saint Rose grads will be able to turn their hobbies and passions into a side job, and someday a career.
