“When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat!” – George Carlin
What a crazy, insane year 2016 has been.
Crazy? Insane?
Insane? Crazy?
(that’s a Weird Science reference from The Kandy Bar scene, in case you missed it...)
Yes, it has been nuts to say the least. With the wildest election in our lifetime to the insane amount of celebrity deaths, most people are happy to see 2016 go away. But for us at IT in the D, we couldn’t be more thankful where this journey has taken us. What began as an excuse to have a beer with IT folks has turned into something special. So let’s dive into our 2016 review…
1. The IT in the D Show.
As I write this, the IT in the D show has been listened to over 19M times in the year 2016. Our biggest episode was where we interviewed William B Davis from the X-Files pre-Motor City Comicon. That episode alone gathered 722k plays total.
From what started as a bunch of idiots talking into a microphone and recording our ramblings has blossomed into a bunch of idiots talking into a microphone and recording our ramblings to a lot of people.
Some 2016 highlights include interviewing Ashley Gold from Tru TV’s Hardcore Pawn, Ming Chen from AMC’s Comic Book Men, Lea Thompson from Back to the Future, one-half of the WWE Tag-Team Champions Rhino, and too many C-level and subject matter experts to list.
We have so many people to thank, but first and foremost, thank you for listening. To say that we are humbled is a vast understatement. First off, we need to thank Midroll Media for taking a chance on us and keeping the lights on for us. Also, we need to thank Falling Down Beer Co for the amazing pre-show fuel that keeps us going. Thank you to Jeremiah from Daily Detroit for being our media savvy soundboard. Also, shout out to Randy, Ian, and Matt for always offering to help and for doing the Twitters.
2. Podcast Detroit.
If you have been following us at all, you know we launched Podcast Detroit in July, 2015 with the help of Neil Nosakowski from Trinet Corp. What was supposed to be our own private little man cave just for our show has grown into hosting and syndicating over 70 shows and realizing over 3M plays per month.
Didn’t see that coming.
In fact, by January of 2016, we were full. We ran out of timeslots for people to do their shows, and so in May of 2016, we moved into our own building in Royal Oak and opened three studios, with room for a fourth.
Didn’t see that coming.
Downtown businesses wanted to use our services and studios, but didn’t want to send their people out to Royal Oak for a few hours in the middle of the day, and so in December this year, we also opened a one-room, ‘business only’ studio in the historic Penobscot Building on the 20th floor overlooking the Detroit River.
You guessed it – didn’t see that coming.
Hats off to Capt. Soundboard, “The Geek” Dave Phillips for taking on the brunt, I mean all of the technical duties ensuring all of the shows sound as professional as the most high-end radio station.
It’s been so much fun, to say the least, watching shows grow from an idea on a bar napkin into a “thing”. We have no idea what 2017 has in store, but I’ll be damned if I say if it isn’t going to be a fun ride.
3. Events.
Well, this is what started this whole thing, right? We didn’t miss a beat in 2016, having our normal monthly events and two Pink Slip Parties. We also hosted three “Podcaster Meetups” at Activ8 Gaming solely for the podcast community.
Thank yous are in order for the Blackfinn Ameripub in Royal Oak and Firebird Tavern in Greektown for being such gracious hosts and allowing us to take over your private rooms for our happy hours. We have gotten nothing less than glorious reviews from everyone that has attended.
The core of the group has always been networking as our tagline states, “Networking Detroit, One Beer at a Time.”
We hope you were able to make that extra business connection, find a job, or simply a like-minded friend. This will always be the core of what IT in the D has done and will always do.
4. Career Academy.
In 2016, we launched the IT in the D Career Academy where you can get “all you can eat” IT training for $29 a year (no catch).
While we cannot announce anything yet, we are working with a few major organizations to get people trained, certified, and placed across the state.
5. Conferences.
From IT events to comic events, you have either seen us in attendance or have seen us podcasting. Here are some of the highlights from 2016:
Penguicon. In our eyes, the granddaddy of them all. Not only did we have an amazing time, attend and host some amazing sessions while meeting amazing people, but we won best room party. That alone was worth the price of admission.
North American International Cyber Summit. We were able to interview the CIO and CTO for the State of Michigan, which ranked #2 in overall listenership in 2016.
Motor City Comic Con. Teaming up with Activ8 Gaming, we put up a 20×10’ booth that was half gaming and half podcasting.
We had a blast all weekend and very much look forward to 2017’s show.
Fantasticon, Great Lakes Comic Con, etc. We met, interviewed, and drank with some amazing people at these conferences. The highlight to us was sitting next to the creator of QBert Jeff Lee and interviewing the voice of Lion-O and Count Chocula Larry Kenney.
Again, on behalf of Bob, Dave and Nuri, thank you. See you in 2017!
