A locally-made podcast is getting international attention.
Pit Lane Parley, a podcast about Indy Cars, is co-hosted and run by North Wales resident Mike Joachim.
The podcast discusses Indy Car races, interviews, and the team’s opinions on things that are happening in the sport. During the off-season, they come up with different episode ideas, including a trivia game. The podcast also has content that is recorded live from the racetrack.
The Beginning
Joachim’s great-grandfather, grandfather and father all worked for the Indy car series. While Joachim did not want to do the same thing, he wanted to be a part of it somehow. He knew that there were plenty of blogs out there, so to stand out, he decided to start a podcast.
”Even before I started the podcast, I was always an Indy car fan,” said Joachim. “I was practically born into it.”
The podcast got started a year and a half ago, after Joachim messaged Jessica Baker, the co-host of the podcast, via Twitter. He wanted someone who is not afraid to speak their mind. Baker, who lives in Florida, was hesitant at first, but went along with it.
“When my co-host Jess and I started it, it was supposed to be a fun little project, and let’s see where this goes,” said Joachim.
By the end of the sixth episode, the podcast had interviewed the 2017 series champion. Since then, the podcast has included interviews with drivers, race team members and more.
The Team
Currently, the podcast is co-hosted by Joachim, Baker and Matt Hickey. Hickey started off as a guest in May, and eventually worked his way up to being a co-host. Back in the fall, Mike Knapp came on board with Pit Lane Parley as a blogger.
Behind the scenes, Evan Foulds, who lives in London, helps with web design and taught Joachim how to do Instagram and digital marketing. Andy Imhof, who has his own website and podcast, is the audio editor for Pit Lane Parley.
Promoting The Podcast
There is no marketing person, so the co-hosts pitch in to help. According to Joachim, Hickey is really good at promoting the podcast on Twitter, though the others figure it out if they need to.
“We all follow the same format if we need to log into it now,” said Joachim.
Joachim has helped grow the podcast’s Instagram account as well as taken care of the website marketing. He also does in-person networking, such as introducing himself to people at races, attending trade shows and doing email marketing.
“You name it, I’ve probably done it for marketing purposes,” said Joachim.
According to Joachim, the biggest challenge has getting people, especially potential interviewees, to take the podcast seriously since they are still relatively new. Joachim also said that he used to be shy, so marketing, especially having to introduce himself in-person, was a struggle that he had to overcome.
The Here And Now
Pit Lane Parley just released their 70th episode. New podcasts always come out on Fridays. However, during race season, they also release a special episode on Tuesday in partnership with Harding Steinbrenner Racing.
The podcast also has a Patreon account where those who contribute money can get access to bonus content, shout-outs during podcast episodes, merchandise and more.
Since its start, the podcast has received attention in the racing world across the United States and even around the world. Sweden is the second highest country for downloading the Pit Lane Parley podcast behind the United States. The podcast is also downloaded in the UK and Japan, as well as in smaller percentages in other countries as well.
“I try not to look at downloads every day where I obsess over it, but I like to see where people are listening,” said Joachim.
The Future Of The Podcast
Joachim’s goal for 2019 is to create as much good, interesting content as possible. He hopes to one day in the future to be able to attend every race in a season to cover them for the podcast. Currently, he is able to go to most of them, but not all. He hopes to create more content at the races as well. He also wants to introduce the sport to those who may not be familiar with it.
In the long term, Joachim hopes to make his podcast a full-time job and make it a big media company. He hopes to increase his sponsorships so that he can have his travel and food covered as he goes to races.
On a personal level, he hopes to constantly improve his skill set in order to make the podcast better, from the website and technology to interviews and marketing. He hopes to continue to be open to new ideas for the podcast and to keep creativity flowing among his team.
“It’s not a matter of if we’re going to succeed in the long term; it’s when it’s going to be,” said Joachim.
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