Kevin Smith’s SModcast #108, live from the International Bear Rendezvous.

Now, if you tend to get really squeamy about things like gay buttsex, perhaps this SModcast isn’t for you. But if you have no issues with the idea that big burly men need man-loving, too, then please, do yourself a favor and listen to this show!

A friend of mine got me turned on (so to speak) to Smith’s podcasts around the time of the infamous Southwest debacle, and I’m so glad.

See, I’ve been podcasting for a while now. Almost two years. In fact, I just wrapped up my long-running show Brass Balls Radio in order to regroup and try something new. BBR had a producer and all kinds of shiny bells and whistles that made it sound really professional. It had hundreds of thousands of subscribers. But there came a point where we were focusing more on the shiny bits than on the content. We were losing the core of the show.

By contrast, Smith’s SModcasts (so named because they are hosted by “S”mith and pal Scott “M”ozier) aren’t shiny. You can hear him drink water. The dog barks in the background. He swears like a trucker. And yet he’s almost always in the iTunes Top 5.

It has taught me something: Authenticity can go much further than bells and whistles.

I will be starting a new show next week. It will be self-produced, and will lack the slick packaging of Brass Balls Radio. However, it will be real. Though I can’t say for sure whether any part of it will involve man-on-man buttsex, I will strive to make it funny, interesting and informative to my listeners.

Stay tuned.

Not every podcast on the web has professional aspirations. Some people are just podcasting as a hobby. But more and more we’re seeing semi-professional and professional podcasts being produced for business, activism, entertainment and more.

I’ve been podcasting for a year now (well, a year next week) at Brass Balls Radio. I haven’t got the first clue how to put together a professional sounding show, but my co-host and producer Mike Williams does. Week after week we churn out seamlessly edited content with a real voice announcer doing our intros and outros, music that has been legally licensed, and great guests. I’m merely a figurehead – I bring the personality as if Brass Balls were my own personal dinner party. Mike does all the heavy lifting in the background, making sure we don’t sound like a couple of four year olds with two tins cans on a string.

We have just shifted from the amateur stream to the professional one by contacting a marketing company to help us gain advertising. With a half million listeners every week, we felt it was time to make that shift. Our potential is huge, and grows from week to week.

Mike Williams is now consulting to aspiring podcasters. For those of you with big ideas and a drive for perfection that have no idea how to get started, Mike will put you on the right path.

A 90 minute session with Mike will give you:

• All the software required to cleanly record and edit a podcast
• A walk through on using the software
• A professionally voiced and recorded intro/outro to your show
• The coding required to automatically submit your show to iTunes whenever you update
• Mike’s personal email address in case you get stuck
• Optional hosting and site design

So what do you need to get started?

• A headset with mic.
• A free skype account
• It helps to already have a website. If not, Mike can offer optional hosting and set up.

If you are ready to produce your own professional sounding podcast, you can contact Mike at

mike AT brassballsradio DOT com

A 90 minute skype session with Mike is $110. Good luck, everyone. I hope you find as much success with your podcast as we have with ours. And for you political junkies, check out our May 18 anniversary show at Brass Balls Radio. It’s going to be our best ever.