PODCAST OF THE WEEK

This is our very first Podcast of the Week (POW) blog.  After listening to the first four episodes of Washed Up Walkons we knew we had to make this podcast our very first podcast recommendation.  Give these guys a follow on Twitter too: Tyler Kluver, Drake Kulick and Kevin Ward.

The idea of the podcast started as a joke between a group text thread.  The "you know what you should do?" quickly turned into a podcast.  Before too long, former Iowa Hawkeye teammates and friends Tyler Kluver, Kevin Ward and Drake Kulick were taping a podcast.

"I had some knowledge in taping and recording.  My brother did a lot of streaming of video games, so I already had a microphone," explained Kluver, "I did some research about podcast production, ordered Drake and Kevin some microphones and we started recording on view caster".

Tyler originally thought they would have around 500 listeners for the podcast but the initial show had nearly 3 times that many downloads. By episode 4, the were getting over 5,000 downloads an episode and have eclipsed over 21,000 total.  "It's been humbling how fast it has grown.  The fans have been great.  The Q & A segment on the show has been a fun format for our show."  Tyler also added that social media and merchandise will soon follow.

Each show drops on Thursday morning.  "We record on Wednesday night.  It takes about an hour if WiFi is cooperating (the hosts are in different locations) and then it takes me about 2 hours of post production; editing and adding intro music," said Tyler.  The podcast then goes out to multiple podcatchers.

Tyler says the show does not follow a strict outline.  They basically cover the Hawkeyes previous game, do a Q & A, and then preview the next game on the schedule.  They are planning to continue the show after the football season and hope to continue recording and grow the show as large as it can get.

The best part about each episode is the banter between the guys.  Kluver, the Head Coach/Trainer at The Brave One Gym, Kulick, a professional poker player, and Ward, a medical sales rep in Chicago, hold back no punches when talking to each other (the podcast is NSFW) and that was intentional.  "We wanted it to be just like us.  We wanted it to be original.  It wouldn't be us if we did not talk the way we talk to each other," explained Kluver.

Download this podcast immediately and if you are going to the Iowa game at Purdue, binge listen to all five episodes of this podcast.  Best of luck to these guys.  GO HAWKS!