4.17 /// Two Years of [Infinite] Prattle! & the Joy of Podcasting...

What happens when a simple idea blossoms into a fully-fledged podcasting adventure? Two years ago, my wife's suggestion sparked the creation of a platform that has since become a treasured part of my life—Infinite Prattle. As we hit our two-year anniversary, join me in a celebration of growth, transformation, and the art of conversation. This episode isn't just a look back; it's an homage to the origins of Stephen Speak!, the crafting of a logo that resonated with my vision, and the thrill of connecting with an international audience. We'll revisit the milestones, from favoured episodes to the leap of faith that was the Extra Speak spin-off. Relive with me the twists and turns of rebranding and the unexpected listener favourites that have defined this journey.

Feeling grateful is an understatement when it comes to the support of each listener who's tuned into Infinite Prattle. This episode is a heartfelt thank you to every one of you, whether you've been with us from the start or are just discovering the musings of this middle-aged man. Explore the past episodes, share the laughter and insights with your friends, and join in as we continue to create content that prattles on through life's many topics. Your enthusiasm and engagement are what keeps this podcast thriving, and I can't wait to see where our conversations will lead us next. Here's to many more years of Infinite Prattle—cheers!

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Chapters

• 0:01 Infinite Prattle's 2-Year Anniversary Review
• 9:34 Podcast Evolution and Rebranding
• 23:19 Infinite Brattle

Transcript

Stephen: 0:01

Hello, welcome to Infinite Prattle. Today is a special episode. The podcast is two years old and I actually missed the anniversary, really technically. But yeah, the podcast is two years old and I'm just going to have a bit of a trip down memory lane today. So stay with us and join me on a historical trip of infinite prattle. You're listening to infinite prattle with your host, steven. Thanks for joining me for unscripted, unedited everything. Um, you've lasted more than one episode, so thank you.

Stephen: 0:45

Um, yeah, so today's episode is going to be a little bit of uh people who say, like these episodes on like youtube and stuff is it's a bit of a cop out or whatever. But I don't think it is. I I think, you know, sometimes you gotta reflect and you've got to go back and you've got to look at things and you know what I'm quite happy to do, that I'm quite happy to have a look at what we've done, what's been done in the past, and kind of reflect on that and see if there's anything I can go back and maybe, you know, eat or is there anything that I was doing previously that I'd forgotten I was doing and it was actually a good idea. So we're just going to have a bit of a history of the podcast, where it all started and where we've come to and probably listen to maybe some snippets of some random episodes that I get up on my phone. So it's going to be pretty organic and pretty unscripted and all that sort of jazz.

Stephen: 2:01

So two years ago well, just over two years ago obviously, because I didn't just go I'm going to do a podcast and just go and record one, but just over two years ago probably, like in the april or so, I was, um looking for something to do, like the march april time. My wife basically said why don't you start a podcast? I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I could do. Um, as I said before, like I say to my friends at work, it's, you know, probably a suggestion from her to um give my head peace. Um, not her, not my head herpes, not my head, her head peace. They said herpes. Then, um, and I've been weird, um, definitely I've got herpes. Oh, it's gone wrong already, um, anyway. So, yes, I thought I was gonna do and you know, and it's quite, I like talking and it's been quite cathartic, you know, and it's structured me, give me something like every time, you know, it's given me a structure of something to do and focus on and it's actually blossomed a little bit of a business for me, potentially.

Stephen: 3:00

So I kind of registered the old podcast name Stephen Speak as an immediate production company and changed the podcast name to Infinite Prattle, because when I first started I decided to call it Steven Speaks or Stephen Speak, with an exclamation mark Stephen Speak, because I thought you know that's what I'm going to be doing and that's what it was called and I thought you can't get more simple than that. I found a little bit of a logo. So over a few weeks researching how to do a podcast you know how to do it, what do you even do? How would you upload it? I stumbled across, uh, my host, which is, which is buzzsprout. I thought that seems easy enough, a very, really good website and stuff. Not a sponsor or anything. You know. There's a link in the description if you do want to start your own, and you know we both get a bit of credit. So there is an affiliate link. But this isn't a sponsored episode, it's just that's who I use and it's just been really simple to use them and they have some really good, helpful videos and send you emails and stuff about. You know things that are going on in the podcasting world. So I was like right, okay, so I know how to upload one, I've got some equipment to record one. What am I going to speak about?

Stephen: 4:07

And a lot of the, a lot of the podcasting websites basically say to you, like you know, you shouldn't have too much of a wide topic, you should find something. I'm laughing because anyone that listens to this podcast knows that it's not very focused. Um, but I didn't want to do that because my life has so much stuff in it and I'm interested in everything. I'm very much, I've always been the sort of person, the sort of kid, that would ask questions and would be open-minded to anything and want to learn a little bit about everything. So, um, I didn't want to make it just like about my love of Lego or my love of motorbikes or my love of gadgets and gizmos, because in my view, I would have to make separate podcasts for all of them, and the way I do this one is that's just all rolled into one. So I may do a Lego podcast. I may talk to someone about Lego, which I have done, and I may at some point do an episode on, you know the Philadelphia Eagles again, or you know motorbikes or it, you know anything really.

Stephen: 5:10

But I didn't want to, I didn't want to channel myself and just restrict myself, um. So, yeah, so I recorded my first one and released it. I put a trailer up for it first, um, about a week before I released my first episode, because I thought you get a trailer out there, you know, promotes it a little bit, and I released my first one on the 1st of May. I know this episode's going out on the 12th, so I've kind of missed the anniversary really, because I actually realized it last weekend when the other one was scheduled and I was thinking, should I pull that episode and do this episode and then postpone that till this week? And I was like you know what it's all set up and I'll just leave it, and I've been quite busy. So I really didn't have the time or the energy to record 15 minutes of audio and so I thought I'll do it today, you know. So technically it's like 53 and a half weeks ago that I started the podcast, or my first first upload went up, um, and that episode was called this is steven speak and it was just over half an hour long and I was quite proud of it.

Stephen: 6:17

I didn't know what I was going to talk about. I actually don't know what I talk about, I think. I think I just kind of talk about what I hope podcast is going to be. Um, um, let's have a read of the description. So the description says let's see if I remember. So the description says, the premiere episode, episode one. How exciting. Well, I'm excited.

Stephen: 6:39

In this episode I attempt to and there's loads of little brackets to explain what the podcast is all about. Brace yourself, meandering explanation with much vagueness. I don't really explain everything I mentioned, for two reasons. One, I thoroughly chat about certain subjects separately later, at a later date, and my brain doesn't always work back Move through, swap through, swap through threads before finishing fully, which is very much how my brain works. Yeah, so I actually want to say, in editing this episode which I didn't edit at all, I literally just like trying to adjust the audio a little bit to see if it sounded any better, and pretty much it.

Stephen: 7:20

Um, yeah, maybe you should, maybe you should take a listen to the stars fin, let's see what it sounds like. I've got. I've got my uh phone linked up to my audio stuff, so be able to play it. Oh, oh, it's facing to the, it's facing to the music there. Very short as well, very short that I remember being longer than that, so I really let that symbol play out. Wow, symbol play out. Hello, welcome to steven speak. This is the premiere episode. Very exciting episode number one.

Stephen: 8:00

Um, I have no idea what it's going to be about. Probably just about, um, the podcast, actually, probably, um, see, I, I even then my very first episode, I started and had no idea what it was gonna be about. I didn't know if it was going to be about the podcast, whether it was going to be about, whether it was going to be about subjects that would just come to me Pretty standard. It started as a meeting to go on. Hey, steve, yeah, yeah.

Stephen: 8:25

So kind of let me explain a little bit about Stephen's speak. The tagline everything or nothing doesn't really explain I, I feel like I'm a bit nervous because I'm talking a bit quick, which I do sometimes. Yeah, so everything and nothing was my original tagline. I still use that. I still use that because I do. I talk about everything and nothing. And that came about because I wanted to talk about everything but nothing was out of bounds and don't expect me to stay on topic. Basically explain too much. It's just going to be me rambling pretty much. I appreciate anyone that stays around and listens to me ramble everything that's in my brain. There you go. It can be, he's not wrong, um, basically that everything that I may say. Ah, yes, indeed, so this all came around during the podcast. We know, stephen, thank you, that was the first episode.

Stephen: 9:34

So I was, I was, I was happy because you know, I started the old um, you know, started the process and I done my little logo, um and I and the episode for this, the episode artwork for this is half my new one and half my very, very first one um post recording. Steven should have sought that out. If I still have a file, which I believe I do, and so if it's just the infinite press logo, then future me couldn't sort it out. But anyway, you know it's, it's um. It's really weird going back and listen to these um, just because it doesn't seem that long ago and I can't believe it's been two years, like 52 weeks times two. I nearly said 52 weeks, but that's a year. 104 weeks ago.

Stephen: 10:24

I released this and I'll go through some of my episodes and some of my favourite ones, because I think there are some episodes that haven't done as well as I was, like you know, maybe hoping so, because the first few episodes of of Stephen Speak, as it was, were very much like the first one was obviously just rambling about the podcast itself, and then the second one I was, I was going up the podcast itself, and then the second one I was, I was going up the stairs and I was thinking about you know how I use my imagination. So the second episode, um, was called come with me to a world of pure imagination and that was um. You know that that was. That was something I never um thought, would you know, thought would be um, too much of a hit, but it's got one of the highest downloads. Um, it was just me talking about how I basically use my imagination and pretend that I'm being blown up when I'm running up the stairs or um, you know, and just stuff like that. You know, it's just, it's a good episode. I can just, you know, go and check it out, but I already got the bug at this point for um podcasting, I think, after that first episode and uploading it and seeing some people download it and seeing, like, the places in the world that people are downloading it, kind of like, oh my god. It's like like there's someone in America listening to it and there's someone in America listening to it, and there's someone in India listening to it, there's someone in Africa listening to it, there's people from Crewe listening to it, where I live. It was a bit surreal.

Stephen: 11:58

So in the second episode, I literally introduced the fact that I was going to create a spin-off. It's never too early to start a spin-off when you've only had one previous episode. So I decided to start something called Extra Speak because I was enjoying it so much and it wasn't really that onerous to like produce etc. And because when I first started I didn't have my mixcast and have my task and mixcast didn't have a lot of stuff. I have now. I literally my Mac and Logic Pro 10 and a microphone and that's all I had. Uh, and all I did I'd record it, master it, upload it. That was a good one. Um, no youtube at this point.

Stephen: 12:43

So, uh, I decided that, because the process wasn't too much, that I thought there's probably other things, that things that could take too long to speak about and things that you know were like little sound bites, really like a few minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, and I could talk about something and you know, done and dusted. So Extra Speak, serious Speak, extra Speak was a thing that started and it's no longer going, unfortunately, because I changed the format and they weren't getting the listens that the main episodes were, um, but all the time, at least anyway, uh, so my first one of that was was on May, the 18th, 2022, and it's called Dear Chicago, and it was literally just me talking about, um, the Ryan Adams song, dear Chicago, and you know what a great song that is and you know, um, just describing it, basically just chatting about it, and I did loads of little episodes like that, um, so one was called dandelions must die, and that was just me about whopping dandelion heads up when I was a kid um, I've seen them growing in the street and um, yeah. And then there was like another one called ooh la la, and I kind of themed it of like each had a topic, so it was a thing music, or you know, I would say this one's about music, this one's about art or this one's about entertainment or something, um kind of kind of frame, it kind of thing. Um, yeah, over the over the month, the progression I was getting steady listens like not massive figures, I won't lie to you. Like I was getting like anywhere between like when I first started, anywhere between like 0 and like 20 to 25 listens per week and it's actually dropped down again to that, I think because of the rebranding and whether people don't like it or whether people have lost it and they can't and they haven't figured out where to find it because it's changed names.

Stephen: 14:37

I don't know, I don't know, maybe it's, maybe the algorithm still has to get me because I've been going for so long under StevenSpeak. The algorithm had to pick stuff up and the hashtags were helping and stuff like that, and maybe me changing it to Infinite Brattle as maybe go back, you know square one kind of thing. So yeah, so I carried on the extra speed for quite a while, I think into series three, and I ended that because you know it was getting too much. Really it was just getting too much air, so it was oh, so I found it, so it was at the end of. It was at the end of series two when I stopped Steven's Week Extra Week, so it ran for two seasons. So you know, got a good, got a good vibe out of it. So I what I would do is I'd do the main episode first Sunday and I'd do the extra speak mid-week, and the extra speak was always meant to be less than 15 minutes. And I'm just looking at my episodes actually on the bus and I probably need to go back and rename some of them because at the start I didn't name the season, didn't name the episodes, didn't say there were extra speaks or anything like that. So I think probably I need to go back through and actually rename some stuff and maybe check on my taglines and stuff like that. Um, maybe I do. Why are they in? Some of these are a weird order, I don't know why. Anyway, so we are on series four now.

Stephen: 16:13

Series four was a new thing for me. I decided that I wanted to rebrand because I was looking at using the steven speak logo and such for my media company and I had this thing in my head like prattling on and prattle and prattle, prattle, prattle, and I love that word. I don't know why, I just love it and people have said that I could talk infinitely. And then it just kept going around my head and I was thinking, you know, I could rename to infinite prattle and um, so that's that's where that came along. So I rejiggered the tune. I'm gonna do a bit more stuff for the tunage and stuff. I think that the logo needs a little bit of a rework, but it'll stay pretty much fundamentally as it is.

Stephen: 16:52

I just want to, like, clean it up slightly. It annoys me that it's not perfect. Um, I don't want it to be perfect, but I want it to be more perfect than it is. I want to be perfectly imperfect and, um, I want to do some other theme tune as well, I think. I think I'm gonna have a bit of a rejig. Uh, so infinite prattle's got its proper own theme and um, and yes, and and this is where I'm going over like infinite prattle is, is the, is the name of it that won't change.

Stephen: 17:20

Uh, will I do spin-offs again? Who knows, maybe I'll restart extra speak um, infinite prattle, you know, times two, or I don't know. I don't know. Um, who knows, you know, I just know that I've been doing this for two years and, yeah, it's not probably fame and fortune, but that's never the reason I've started it. I've said this before and even though I've got like an affiliation link, and I have recently signed up to patreon I've not really finished my page or anything and you can subscribe through buzzsprout, you know, and it would be lovely if people did do that. Or you know, I do it because it makes me happy and the occasional time that someone does comment and say this was a great episode or I really enjoyed that um and I've got great ratings as well. So the people that do listen to it I don't know if it's a certain type of person, but I always get five star ratings, so I'm really pleased with that and at the moment, that's all I can hope for. If I do go viral on an episode like brilliant, that'd be ace. But I'm not doing it for that and I've got my business now, so I'm looking at more of the production side as well. So maybe helping other people produce podcasts and using my limited but not limited experience currently of um, of helping people and and doing some other audio stuff. And you know I've got my band going on as well and uh, it's not my band, the owl band and uh, yeah, things are good and I've just really enjoyed it and I can't believe it's been two years. So anyone that's been listening, if you're listening right now. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to infinity. That's what I did there.

Stephen: 18:56

Um, and go back and listen to some episodes. I think some of the ones that you know I really like that probably don't get them as much love as they deserve. Let's go through, let's let's have a look. So there's a, there's a couple, there's a couple very much in like like season one. Oh yeah, what it'll be, hmm, is one from August 2022. And that's well, go and have a listen and see what you think it's about.

Stephen: 19:19

Can you get it from the title of the episode? It's an extra speak episode. What'll it be? Hmm, there's a clue there. And then there's an excerpt from the book that I'm writing Oi dickhead, where's my train? Because I work on the railway and I used to work on the platform, yeah, and I just rest in peace, mom. That's about the queen when she passed away. I want to be your lover, which is a prince. That actually didn't do too bad as a download. Where's the other music that soars? I think that's an episode that you should go and listen to.

Stephen: 19:57

These are all from season one, and my gremlins fear is another good episode. I think I say that I feel like they are, but I never really go back and listen to any of them, so they may be crap and I may have grandiose feelings of them. Um, and, and you know, go back and listen to the guest speaks like they've. They've been a feature since series two, uh, so january 2023 was the first time I had someone on the show and that was that was steve and he was talking about stars and the turtles and it's a great episode. Definitely go back and check that out.

Stephen: 20:29

And then johnny's episode. He's been on the show now twice, so he's got four episodes over the seasons. First appeared again in season two, but talking about his arty adventures, and most recently is is his adventures through asia. Um, brilliant episodes, really great guy, um. And then I've also had my pal scott on talking about star trek.

Stephen: 20:51

Um, we've had local, local council um on talking about green spaces, well-being spaces. I've had someone from work on cat most recently, uh, talking about um, love, life and loss and losing her partner by dex on, who is actually coming to my house tomorrow, uh, the day this podcast is released, um, because we've kind of become like friends and he's he's coming to visit me and we're gonna have a chat and go out for go out for some food or a drink and and we may record an episode of a podcast or two. Um, we don't know what we're gonna do with them. We'll see what happens. They may be on this, on this show, they may be on his podcast. Um, we don't really know yet. We don't really. We have discussed maybe doing a show together. So watch this space, um, but yeah, he's coming up and so you know.

Stephen: 21:39

So the podcast has given me loads over the last two years and, uh, go go back and check if you, if you're new to the podcast and you've started listening, you know, go back and listen to series four, obviously, but go back to the start, like, listen to the evolution, and I hope I've evolved, I hope I've got better, I hope I sound better, I hope I'm not as um incoherent that I I can't wish for everything, um, but yeah, I just, I just love the journey that's been in the last two years and who knows where I'll be in two and a half years, two and a half years, why two and a half years, where I'll be in two years from now. And, yeah, I'm just excited, I'm just happy that you know the podcast is still going, people are still listening and, um, please like, share, comment, subscribe and tell a friend to listen. Uh, would help me out loads. And if you do listen, if you do listen to the show and you like it, just give me a thumbs up, make a comment. It means so much to me when people interact. Uh, I've said before, like, I'm just in my room recording this, talking to no one, and um, yeah, all those are upwards for the podcast.

Stephen: 22:44

After series four finishes, um, I'm gonna have a little bit of a break again, as I normally do, and I want to come back in series 5 with some new features and I'm going to try to stick to some sort of plan for episodes. So they are a bit more structured. But, being me, I don't want to plan anything too much. So I'm just going to try and pre-plan episode ideas rather than structure the actual episode, because I want to keep it friendly and if I did that anyway, I would lose enjoyment out of it. It wouldn't be as natural. So you know, yeah, anyway, thank you very much for listening.

Stephen: 23:19

I hope you enjoyed the little trip down memory lane with me if you are a listener, regular listener, and you've been from the start. Thank you and yeah, encourage your friends to have a listen. You never know, they may enjoy the random proffings of of a middle-aged man, um, talking about anything he wants. Um, yeah, thank you very much. We'll leave it there, um, go back and have a listen. Thank you very much. Take care. How many times can I say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank, and I'll speak to you soon. Thanks for listening to Infinite Brattle With your host, stephen. Follow me on social networks at Infinite Brattle and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks very much.