THE KUPOD: Passion, Purpose & Production

Podcasting has been around for a while but has exploded to a much wider audience both in terms of the number of producers and listeners since the 2020 lockdown.

The great thing about podcasting is that it’s relatively easy to do, most podcasts start off with limited production or sound engineering knowledge, being hosted and produced from home with a laptop, USB mic and free editing software such as Audacity, a free hosting platform like Anchor, and graphic design work can be done for free on tools like Canva. Marketing is handled through social media and if you want to invite guests on the show, you can record and download the conversation on something like Zoom.

In fact, what I have just described is exactly what I did during the lockdown of 2020 when I started The Boundary Park Alert System! a podcast about Oldham Athletic Football Club. I was living in Dublin, Ireland at the time and had been for almost ten years. I have been a supporter of Oldham since I was a boy, you may remember that they were founder members of the English Premier League in 1992, but since then they have been on a downward spiral, which ended this year with them earning the unfortunate accolade of becoming the first former Premier League club to fall from the top division into the fifth tier.

Lockdown was a time when everything came into focus. It was a period of huge unrest politically, socially, emotionally and personally for virtually everyone. From Ireland, which had some of Europe’s strictest lockdown laws, I was watching the fiascos unfolding in the UK with Brexit and in the US under Trump. The issues around race inequality, slavery and authoritarianism were in the spotlight, the world was changing and we were feeling more helpless than ever. So why, in light of all the serious political and social issues of the day, did I decide to start a podcast about football? I mean, it’s only a game… Well, yes, it is and also, no, it isn’t.

Being away from your hometown and your people is tough but you get on with it. Because of travel restrictions, I couldn’t travel and visit but obviously it's easier and cheaper than ever to stay connected with loved ones overseas. The conversations I was having with friends and family often focused on our shared love of Oldham Athletic. We’d all become very disillusioned and frustrated with the situation at the club, which was owned at the time by a Dubai based Moroccan businessman and former football agent and his brother. It’s a long story, but the gist of it is that they were running the club into the ground, with relegation from the English Football League a distinct probability.

2016 was a bad year. David Bowie and Prince died, and politically two inexplicable things happened; Brexit and President Trump. In 2017, a young Englishman exploded a bomb in the Manchester Arena, killing and injuring adults and children who had simply gone there to enjoy a pop concert. I was moved by the news of Bowie and Prince, I was angered and in disbelief at the Brexit and Trump results. I was shocked and devastated, brought to tears by the news of the attack on my home city, where I spent so many great days and nights, in the venue where I had seen so many amazing shows.

I watched all these things happen from afar, helpless and frustrated. I voted to remain in the EU but the campaign of lies and disinformation by the leave campaign had manipulated millions into believing the EU and immigration were to blame for the issues the ruling establishment in this country are responsible for. The same play happened in the US as the most inappropriate candidate ever to run for office ANYWHERE, was voted into the White House. A young man's mind had been poisened into thinking thinking that killing himself and others was the right thing to do. The gloves were off and democracy was on the ropes, helpless against the bare-knuckled fury of those who fight beyond rules and beyond decany.

In 2018, someone who was obviously an inappropriate custodian of my beloved Oldham Athletic, took charge of it. By 2020, when my worst fears for the club were coming true, I’d had enough. I had to act. By this stage we were all debating Covid, Boris Bleeding Johnson, the Tories, Brexit, Trump and Oldham Athletic. Well, okay, not everyone was discussing Oldham, but it was in my world and it was in my sphere of influence, and this is the point I’m coming to. The idiots had taken over the asylum, the country, the world and now my football club. There wasn’t much I could immediately do about the country or the world, but I COULD do something about my football club.

From 2016 I started to realise that we get what we deserve. If we’re going to sit back and do nothing more than complain, then those who act and work, regardless of their intentions and motivations, will steer the ship in whichever direction they choose. All we can do is brace ourselves for the choppy waters that lie ahead.

I said earlier that football isn’t just a game and that’s true. Football clubs are at the heart of communities all over the world. In England it’s a way of life, it’s OUR game…except it isn’t anymore. It’s a plaything for the super rich, it’s another cock extension for oligarchs and it’s out of control. The amount of money in the English games is threatening the existence of clubs who date back to the 1800’s and in 2020, the one that looked “The Next One Most Likely To End Up Like Bury”...were Oldham Athletic. The mainstream and even local media didn’t care, they only want the story once the shit hits the fan and it becomes, in their eyes, news, by which stage the impact on the entire community is huge. I wanted to know what was really going on, I wanted to do something to tell that story to the other fans, like me, who were angry and frustrated at being in the dark and because anyone can make a podcast…that’s what I did.

And that brings me back to the title of this piece and the reason I’m writing. My podcast became the main source of detailed information on the subject, engaging and informing thousands of supporters across the world. My podcast changed things, there is no question about that. The football club now has new owners and I played a huge role in that coming about. I turned complaining into action and went along for the ride, steering the ship in the direction that I wanted it to go. If you want to start a podcast, you need three things, three P’s in order to make something special happen; turn your passion into a purpose through your production. Whatever you are passionate about that you feel isn’t being addressed in the way you would like it to be, make that your purpose and get it into production!

After two years and a hell of a lot of time and dedication, BPAS won Podcast of the Year at the 2022 North West Football Awards in recognition of it's achievements to

date. My next podcast is KUPODCAST: The Podcsters Podcast, a show in which I talk to other podcasters about thepassion and purpose that drives them and how they produce their shows.

I have a passion for the place and people of Oldham. Through my passion for the football club, I now have an audience. Because of my podcast, I now have a broader purpose to affect positive change in my local area and I know I will. What will you do?

If you have an idea for a podcast that you'd like to discuss, please email info@kupod.co.uk.