What if the only thing standing between you and a podcast is hitting "record"?

That's basically the question hanging over Maine's return visit to WJBF's "The Kulture." He came back on the show to talk about something a lot of people think about but never actually do: building a podcast from the ground up.

Maine's project is called "More Than The Masters." You can find it on YouTube at youtube.com/@morethanthemasterspodcast. The name alone tells you something — it's about going beyond the obvious, beyond the people everyone already talks about. That's a theme I can get behind.

Here's the thing about podcasting that nobody tells you until you're in it: the barrier to entry is almost nothing, and that's exactly why most people never cross it. You don't need a TV studio. You don't need a network behind you. You need a microphone, something to say, and the willingness to hit publish before you feel ready.

I've built things from scratch more than once in my life — a career, a business, a life on the road since 2017 that most people my age were told was impossible. Every single time, the hardest part wasn't the skill. It was starting before I had it all figured out. I'd guess Maine ran into the same wall. Everyone does.

So why does a story like this matter if you're not planning to launch a podcast tomorrow?

Because it's a reminder that the tools to build something are more available now than they've ever been. Twenty years ago, if you wanted a show, you needed a broadcast license, a transmitter, and a lot of luck. Now you need a laptop and a YouTube channel. The gatekeepers didn't disappear — they just got a lot smaller.

That's worth sitting with for a second. How many things have you put off because you assumed you needed permission, equipment, or credentials you don't actually need? I ask myself that question more than I'd like to admit. Usually the answer is embarrassing.

"The Kulture" itself is a good example of a show finding its own lane. It airs Thursdays on WJBF6+, with four separate time slots — 12:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 7:30 PM, and 11:30 PM, all Eastern. You can catch it on Roku, Amazon Firestick, Apple TV, or Samsung TV devices. That's four chances in one day to catch the same conversation, which tells you the station knows people live on different schedules. Makes sense — not everyone's free at 7:30 on a Thursday, and not everyone wants to be.

What I find interesting is how podcasting and shows like this one feed off each other now. A local TV segment brings on a podcaster to talk about podcasting, and that conversation lives on a streaming app, which itself didn't exist in the form it does today a decade ago. The lines between "TV," "podcast," and "YouTube channel" are blurring fast. Nobody's really staying in their lane anymore. Good.

If you've ever thought about starting something — a podcast, a blog, a YouTube channel, whatever it is — Maine's journey is one more data point proving the same thing I keep running into on the road: the only real requirement is starting. Not being ready. Not having it perfect. Just starting.

I didn't know how to run a travel-focused life when I left my old one behind. I figured it out by doing it, adjusting when things didn't work, and staying curious about what came next. Sounds like Maine's doing something similar, just in audio form instead of airline miles.

So here's the question worth asking yourself today: what's the thing you've been meaning to start? And what's actually stopping you — the task itself, or just the fear of doing it badly before you do it well?

Source: WJBF

See also our earlier piece: A Cardinals Podcast Crew Built a GM Simulator, and Now Half of Baseball Twitter Wants to Trade Nolan Arenado