In December, The Nardcast celebrates its 10-year anniversary. Starting out as a podcast in 2008, the brand branches out into a multimedia platform utilizing articles, video, social media and podcasts as its new formats. Currently, the Nardcast produces 2 video series (In the Kitchen & Behind the Stick), 1 podcast (The Social Holiday Hour) and operates as a media company (Nardcast Media) that provides professional video and photography for brands/clients.
The Nardcast Timeline:
2008:
First few episodes
The podcast, The Nardcast, was created to promote music. The podcast originally was hosted on jarnard.blogspot.com and on podomatic.thenardcast.com. The podcast was produced and uploaded every week. "At this stage of the podcast, I was a little embarrassed about letting people listen in to the show but I was so excited that I went for." said Jarnard Sutton, creator of The Nardcast. "People didn't know what a podcast was and how to listen to it on iTunes, so I would burn CDs to give people and at times, would just send them the link to listen on my website." The Nardcast published 4 episodes in December. The first episode was recorded on December 3rd of 2008. Click here to listen to the first episode.
2009 - 2013:
The podcast continued as a way to promote local music and invited friends, bands, artists and people involved in the local music scene on the show as co-hosts. In addition, The Nardcast hosted a live podcast during Art Around Adams, had themed episodes, featured live performances on the show and had its audience pick the songs for upcoming episodes.
2014:
Nardcoustics
Nardcoustics was a video series that was originally created in order to promote artists that were guests on The Nardcast. The concept allowed artist/musicians to perform their music unplugged. "The concept was there and I originally wanted this series to befilmed inside a venue, but it was hard to find a place that would allow us to do our podcast and also film," said Sutton, creator of the segment. "At the time, the Nardcast was still a small brand that was promoting touring and local music with a decent size listener based. I had my friend, Leah Keith, help with some of the video work while I mixed the audio.It was a lot of fun but definitely good times."
Nardcoustics featured performances from Gayle Skidmore, Grizzly Business, Love and the Skull, The Night Owl Massacre and Technicolor Hearts. The segment aired weekly for almost a year along The Nardcast. "If we decide to bring this show back in 2019, we would want to take it to a venue and have bigger bands to perform," said Sutton.
Nard's Neighborhood
Nard's Neighborhood was another short lived video series that featured the creator, Jarnard Sutton, traveling around San Diego featuring some of the city's best kept secrets. This segment was active for a few months before being put on hold in hopes to monetize the series.
"I've always wanted to host a show but didn't know how to approach it," said Sutton. "I didn't have a crew, so I would have to shoot everything, produce it and also do all the voice overs."
"The concept was there but I wanted to put it on hold since it was too much work with no eyeballs on the segment."
Nard's Neighborhood will be reconsidered in 2019, with a reimagined focus on chicken wings.
Music Uncut
Music Uncut was designed to be a raw inside look into the San Diego music scene. "This was my passion project and would love to bring this back," said Sutton. Music Uncut had a storytelling element that no other local brand was doing at the time.
"Music Uncut was time consuming and was hard to keep going because working at Union-Tribune at the time consumed a lot of my creative efforts," said Sutton. "It was hard to do both, so I put a couple things I was doing for the Nardcast on hold. If I decide to bring this back, I would partner up with another brand, along with a music venue, and take control over the creative process to keep that raw feel."
2015:
Behind the Stick
Behind the Stick is a video series designed to promote the local bartending community. Whether you enjoy checking out a new spot in town, listening to a bartender chat about the scene,, or are curious to learn a new cocktail you may possibly be able to make from home, then this series is for you. Since the launch of the series, this segment has been a Nardcast fan favorite for the Instagram audience. This is the longest running video series forThe Nardcast brand.
Behind the Stick has featured over 80 bartenders in a span of 3 1/2 years. Behind the Stick plans to launch in Phoenix in 2019. The segment is looking to expand the series in San Francisco and Los Angeles as well!
In the Kitchen
In the Kitchen premiered as a modern revamp of Nard's Neighborhood. This video series gave you an inside look at what local chefs of San Diego are cooking up. This segment was put on hold in 2017. "It's simple, we wanted to figure out a way to monetize it," said Sutton. "Once we launched Nardcast Media, we were forced to discontinue various of editorial video content in order to focus on client work.
In the Kitchen has featured over 30 restaurants and chefs, showcasing a variety of cuisines.
2015 - 2018:
Within the last three years, The Nardcast has launched a production company called Nardcast Media, launched two podcasts (The Social Holiday Hour and Drunken MMA), produced two podcasts (Secret Lives of Bloggers and The Breadbox with Gabe Wolf), collaborated with Crafthounds to produce a web series called Spotlight, highlighted big events in San Diego (Comic-Con, KAABOO, Scallywag!, food festivals, dinner parties, etc.) and has been featured by other brands.
Notes from Jarnard:
It has been a fun 10 years. I have learned what worked and what didn't work. It seemed like a lot of things I've done over the years may have failed but some things seemed to work out in my favor. I have been able to attend some of the coolest events in San Diego, make a business out of it, grow my skill set as a photographer and film maker and do all the things that I'm passionate about. It has been fun being able to work with PR and marketing firms on various projects.
I appreciate everyone who believed in the brand and gave me a chance. I especially appreciate my friends, colleagues and family who gladly wanted to be a part of what I was doing. I am grateful that the San Diego community enjoyed the content that I was pushing out.
Everything I have done thus far has been a learning experience. I have been taken advantage of, I've under priced my work to accommodate clients, I had fun projects, I have experienced horrible projects, and I have worked on projects that I originally believed would be a success with a lot of exposure that not pan out that way,.however, at the end of the day, I am very humbled by the experience to work with brands that believed in me.
I have worked with a lot of chefs and bartenders that have told me that they appreciate what I do for the scene. Hearing feedback like that keeps me going. When I hear people tell me that they have listened to the most recent Social Holiday Hour or they have watched the most recent, Behind the Stick, that keeps me going. I love what I do and I'm very blessed to be doing it in this great town of San Diego.
If I have learned anything about working on your brand or working for yourself, it is this... EMBRACE THE GOOD TIMES AS WELL AS THE BAD TIMES. BE PATIENT ABOUT THE PROJECTS THAT YOU ARE WORKING ON. GROWTH IS A SLOW PROCESS. IT' IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU, IT'S ABOUT YOUR COMMUNITY AND THE CLIENT YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING WITH. ALWAYS BE PROFESSIONAL BUT FUN TO WORK WITH. AND LASTLY, KEEP DRINKING GOOD DRINKS, LISTENING TO GOOD MUSIC, EATING GOOD FOOD AND SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL SCENE.
EAT AND DRINK RESPONSIBLY,
-Jarnard Sutton, The Nardcast