Today we’d like to introduce you to The Wait For It Podcast.
Hello The Wait For It Podcast, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Eric Serna & I (Phil Smith) have always had a passion for pop culture. Whether it be movies, tv, video games, anime, or anything in between. We found that a lot of our friends would come to us and ask us our opinions on the newest Marvel movie or the hottest video game. After years of this, I finally approached Eric in 2018 and told him we need to make our opinions and voices available to a larger audience.
We are major fans of the song, “Wait For It”, from the Hamilton soundtrack. And my pitch to him as we’ll call the show, “The Wait For It Podcast” because people will want to “wait” for our opinions and reviews. Since that time, the show has been through a lot of growing pains. Our early episodes were simply not very good. Audio or content-wise. It took a lot of trial and error to finally get to a place where we felt like we were a well-oiled machine.
Currently, we release two episodes a week, every Monday and Wednesday. Which we found out is a pretty insane schedule for podcasting. But we’ve found a formula that works for us and we’ve stuck to it. It certainly isn’t easy, as we both have full-time jobs, Eric has a wonderful wife and son, and I have a 14-year-old daughter myself.
Finding the right balance can be tough, but it’s incredibly rewarding. And as a result, we’re incredibly proud of the content we put out today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road at all. Early on especially, the content we put out was simply not very good. The audio was rough and we did very little if any editing.
So whatever we recorded at that time is what the audience got. We also did not have a consistent release schedule as far as posting episodes. Sometimes, we’d go a week without putting an episode and then the next week we’d post three. It made absolutely no sense.
We finally committed to a set weekly schedule, taught ourselves how to edit, and upgraded our equipment. Once we finally dedicated that extra time and money, we started seeing results. But it certainly took time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We are The Wait For It Podcast. We are a pop culture show that specializes mostly in movies, tv, anime, and video games. We are named after the song “Wait For It”, featured in the hit Broadway show, Hamilton. But from time to time we’ll also dive into things such as the paranormal or conspiracy theories.
We release two episodes every week on Mondays and Wednesdays. And we typically do one Livestream a month on our YouTube page. Typically we’ll cover all major movie releases and television shows and give them a grade, Specifically Marvel, DC, Disney, and Anime films/shows. My co-host, Eric, has a couple of anime-centric episodes titled “Why You Should Watch ___ in 10 Minutes” and “Intro to Anime.”
I (Phil) host a series titled “Netflix & Phil”, in which I’ll recommend a show or movie that’s available on various streaming sites. I also host the paranormal or conspiracy theory-themed episodes titled “Amity-Phil Horror” and “PHILuminati”. As you can tell I am also a very big fan of puns. And then we’ll alternate some other series each month such as “The Game Room Where It Happens”, “Up High, Down Low”, and “Tirades & Hot Takes”.
We’re definitely most proud of our work with a couple of conventions, Bold Matsuri here in Jacksonville and Brick City Anime Festival in Ocala. Through our friends at The Short Box (another great Jax-based podcast), we have been able to serve as hosts/emcees for both of these anime conventions/festivals. Basically, we serve as the moderators for Q&A panels for various guests. Primarily voice actors from some of your favorite anime/tv shows. We will be hosting Bold Matsuri again in 2022 on July 9-10.
What sets us apart is our commitment to putting out content. Most podcasts will put out an episode a week, which honestly is the expected output for any podcast. Recording and editing take a LOT of time. And if you can get an episode out each week, that’s a huge win. But we realized early on that there’s so much we want to cover, that we can find the content to put out two episodes a week and not suffer any dip in quality.
This is what has worked for us and we don’t have any plan of changing that any time soon.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I think people are consistently surprised at the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to podcasting. Most people hear the finished product and assume it’s an absolute blast all the time. But that simply isn’t the case.
We’ll record episodes if we’ve had bad days, if we’re sick, if we’re depressed, etc. But you won’t hear any of that in the episode because we feel like we have a responsibility to give you a chance to escape from whatever is bothering you.
This doesn’t mean we don’t discuss our personal issues with our family, friends, or therapists, but we take what we do seriously, and we hope you enjoy it. Editing episodes, SUCKS. It is by far our least favorite thing about podcasting. But, the end result makes it all worth it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: waitforitpod.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waitforitpodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WaitForItPodcast
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WaitForItPod
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheWaitForItPodcast
- Other: https://linktr.ee/waitforitpodcast
Image Credits
Justin Drain Photography
