Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Kooser and Jimmy Mack, creators and hosts of No Other Pod, a podcast about Sporting Kansas City. They share their story with us below:
Daniel Kooser and Jimmy Mack are two Sporting Kansas City fans who met through the Sporting Victors program, a volunteer program with The Victory Project, Sporting KC’s charitable arm. After getting to know each other while volunteering at various Victory Project events, Dan and Jimmy became friends who enjoyed talking about Sporting KC with each other during their free time. One day in September 2017, the two were talking about Sporting KC and Dan asked, “Hey, why don’t we have a podcast?” A week later, Dan and Jimmy uploaded their first episode of “No Other Pod,” a fan-centric podcast that talks about Sporting KC, MLS, the US Men’s and Women’s National Teams, and the KC NWSL. Nearly four years later the two have grown No Other Pod into a consistent weekly show that has interviewed players, coaches, club staff, and media personalities. It has become well known within the Sporting KC community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When we first started No Other Pod, neither of us had ever produced a podcast. We had to learn how to record and produce a podcast from the ground up. After recording the first episode, we went to upload it to iTunes and then realized iTunes doesn’t actually host podcast files, it simply distributes them! We had to quickly find a podcast hosting service, sign up for that, and basically teach ourselves the entire process.
We’ve never actually been able to record in the same physical location. For much of the podcast’s existence, Dan lived in Chicago and Jimmy lived in Kansas City. We learned how to record remotely, going through a variety of different recording programs and online podcasting software before really figuring out our process to give our listeners the highest quality audio experience. This actually prepared us well for the pandemic.
Once the pandemic hit, we continued to record on a weekly basis. We were used to recording remotely since it’s what we had done for the first 2.5 years of the podcast, but the biggest challenge was for months there was no soccer to talk about! We continued to record weekly, discussing as much Sporting KC and soccer-related news as possible, while also inviting on guests and talking about the latest happenings in Kansas City. We were very grateful for the return of Sporting KC soccer!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
The thing that sets No Other Pod apart from other Sporting KC radio shows, podcasts, etc., is that we truly are a fan-driven podcast. We try to be the voice of an everyday SKC supporter. While we get access to press releases, press conferences, post-game interviews, etc., we’re truly fans first. We started No Other Pod because we love Sporting KC and Kansas City in general. The club has meant so much to each of us individually in our personal lives that we wanted to share our passion with whoever else may want to listen.
We’ve received more than 200 ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts (averaging 4.9/5 stars), and one of the things that make us smile the most is when a listener tells us that our podcast is like listening to a conversation, they have with their friends about Sporting KC. That’s really what we’re going for. Sometimes breaking news or analytics sneak in, but really, we just want to embody the fan experience through podcasting.
Our listeners are fantastic. I don’t think either of us ever would have imagined that four years into the podcast’s existence we’d have hundreds of weekly listeners from all over the world! We’ve met some of our listeners at games and on the road. Some have even sent us scarves and other memorabilia! We love our listener community and never take a single tweet, email, DM, or review for granted. We really strive to respond to each and everyone as best we can.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs, or other resources you think our readers should check out?
MLSSoccer.com, SportingKC.com, TheBlueTestament.com, and AmericanSoccerAnalysis.com are the websites we regularly reference. Other than that, we try to emulate and reference some of the lighthearted sports podcasts that we like ourselves, including The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, The Cooligans, and The Pat McAfee Show.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://linktr.ee/nootherpod
- Instagram: instagram.com/nootherpod
- Facebook: facebook.com/nootherpod
- Twitter: twitter.com/nootherpod
- Other: https://bit.ly/nootherpod
