Let’s gather around the table and here from some of our favorite podcasters!
It is July and that means we are celebrating our favorite Pokemon podcasters! All part of our month long celebration for Pokemon Podcast Appreciation Month!
To kick things off, we have asked some fabulous Pokemon podcasters some fabulous questions! We then gather their fabulous responses into a series of Roundtable features! Thus the start of our Podcast Roundtable series!
We have gather responses from many different Pokemon podcasters from various different Pokemon podcast. They were all asked questions regarding music choices, the joys & hardships of podcasting. We even asked them how COVID affected their podcast. So gather around and join us as we talk to the following Pokemon podcasters.
Steve from It’s Super Effective (Talk Podcast)
PokeDad Rick and PokeDad Aaron from PokeDads (TCG)
Riley from Champs in the Making (Specialty)
Jessie from Battle Science (Pokemon GO)
Now that we know who is at the table, lets ask them some questions!
What inspired you to podcast?
 Steve (It’s Super Effective): The love of podcasting and wanting to share that with others. |
 PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): Special Conditions Podcast was the main reason we started this podcast. It gave us the idea to start simple for new players and have a Pokemon TCG podcast that is easy to jump on for new and older players.PokeDad Aaron (PokeDads): My friend Rick asked me one day if I wanted to do it. It seemed like a great thing to do and we get to spend time with my friends. |
 Riley (Champs in the Making): Wanting to be in radio. |
 Jessie (Battle Science): Back when Silph Arena started, we would travel to local Season 1 Silph Cups and would livestream our games as well as shoutcast.We wanted to do more though, so Steven aka aboyinthewoods suggested doing a PvP focused podcast as there were no others at the time. This worked out well for us since it was something we could do between tournaments and help to inspire others to join. |
What is your thought process when it comes to picking music for your podcast?
| Steve (It’s Super Effective): At this point, all my music on the show is custom by my friend Nick, but it’s all inspired and based on the catalog of Pokemon music. |
| PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): We’re big Pop Punk fans, so we try to stay in that realm and continue the movement that Pop Punk isn’t Dead. PokeDad Aaron (PokeDads): I don’t really have a thought process. I just like to pick the music I enjoy. |
| Riley (Champs in the Making): I actually didn’t pick the music for Champs! I think it was Andrew. But for Champs we truly wanted to get the hypest vibes imaginable. |
| Jessie (Battle Science): We mostly use music for transitions and try to stick to instrumental. |
When you record your podcast, who do you wish to reach with it?
| Steve (It’s Super Effective): My show covers all Pokemon news, so I’d like to reach as many Pokemon fans as possible. In the case of maybe a listener not interested in the Pokémon Trading Card game or Pokémon GO, with us being informative on the topic it can help break down that barrier or confusion they may have on it. |
| PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): New and old players for the Pokemon TCG. We’re continuing to learn the game everyday and hope to gain respect from older players. With the new players that can tag along with us and get better. PokeDad Aaron (PokeDads): Anyone who wants to learn the pokemon tcg or pokemon in general. |
| Riley (Champs in the Making): Anyone who is also a clown. |
| Jessie (Battle Science): Originally we wanted to just focus on Silph Arena, but quickly learned that we had listeners that were happy just to hear our opinions on anything happening in the game. |
How has podcasting in the last year changed due to COVID?
| Steve (It’s Super Effective): I would say with people no longer commuting to work or hesitate to go to gyms, it may be harder for those people to fit in time for our show now. The challenge is making sure that the show is fun and enjoyable so even if they no longer have that commute, they make a new routine to listen to our podcast weekly. |
| PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): We used to record together every week. (It) Was a big reason we wanted to start this pod because it gave us a reason to hang every week. We truly are the bestest friends with each other. Now we record using discord. Slowly getting back to recording with each other again. PokeDad Aaron (PokeDads): It hasn’t really, we started not long before the pandemic. So this has been how its always been for the most part. |
| Riley (Champs in the Making): We’re all just a little sadder hahaha. We were all digital before hand so truly the thing that changed was our vibes. |
| Jessie (Battle Science): We decided to play it safe and we recorded remotely from our own homes through discord. For events we held a draft charity tournament for extra life with some of our listeners in a round Robin 5v5 competition. |
What is the hardest part when it comes to podcasting?
| Steve (It’s Super Effective): Trying to grow the show over the years has been the hardest part since podcasting has no built in discovery like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram. |
| PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): Is trying to talk about something different every week that the other pods are discussing. We talk about the meta a lot so at times that becomes hard but we do our best. PokeDad Aaron (PokeDads): Having time to play the game as a dad. |
| Riley (Champs in the Making): Doing it consistently and editing. |
| Jessie (Battle Science): Trying to make sure you stay on topic, but also not to be a robot reading text. (You need) To make sure you have content during the dry spells, and to make sure it’s audibly engaging. |
What has been the best Podcast moment you have had?
| Steve (It’s Super Effective): Easily being able to take the step forward to do this full-time. |
| PokeDad Rick(PokeDads): Is seeing people on Twitter, Reddit or Facebook groups recommending our pod to people. It’s so heart warming that people dig us to share. |
| Riley (Champs in the Making): When we had 14 people on one episode for the quarantine champs! |
| Jessie (Battle Science): The show after the Portland Mega Tournament. We were fortunate enough to be able to livestream the event and meet up with a lot of the community. We came into the episode with so many great stories of our experience. |
Huge thanks to these amazing Podcasters! Thank you Steve, PokeDad Rick, PokeDad Aaron, Riley and Jessie for taking the time to answer these questions.
We hope you lovers of these fine podcasts also enjoy learning a bit about what makes podcasting so amazing and challening.
Make sure to give them all a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatcher! Don’t touch that Totodile! See you all next time at the Roundtable!
