Kids and Family : The Second Half Podcast Review

Kids and Family The Second Half Podcast Review
[00:00:00] Tim: You are listening to find a podcast about.
[00:00:10] Tim: Thank you for hitting play. I am your host, Timothy Kemo O'Brien, and I bring my experience with podcasting since 2006 as a listener and a podcaster. I'm here to help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next bench worthy podcast. Here's how the show works. I comb the millions of podcasts currently available for free on various platforms, and then I come back to you with what I've found.
[00:00:42] Tim: Sure you can use the search engines for recommendations from many podcast apps, but I feel that getting a personal recommendation from a real live breathing person is still the best way to find the gems that are out there. The show is broken up into three halves. I'm a huge fan of the car talk show, so bear with me.
[00:01:05] Tim: The first half is the stats of the show. It gives you all the details about where to find the show, how many episodes, who's hosting the show. Basically, that part is just for those who want the stats. The second half of the show, I dig deeper into it, let you know how well the host interact, talk about their audio quality.
[00:01:29] Tim: And let you know what I think the show is about. The last half of the show is where I talk about why the show is binge-worthy, where to start your journey, and I'll be reaching out to the host to see if they would like to discuss their show and talk about their podcast journey. So let's get going.
[00:01:53] Tim: All right folks. Welcome back to season two of Find A Podcast About, and this is the first episode in season two. Now I have a story about how I found today's podcast. I was on TikTok. Yes. I'm 50 at the time. I'm recording this, so get. We are Gen X and we are everywhere. Anyhow, I saw this guy with a thick Chicago accent, and yes, people from Chicago have accents and he was talking politics.
[00:02:28] Tim: I listened for a while and followed him and saw more of his TikTok video show up on my feed, and then I heard the magic words on my podcast. I looked up his bio there it was Thomas Powell Jr. Has a podcast called The Second Half Podcast. Now, this was on a Friday night after a poetry reading that I attended, and I listened to one episode and then I listened to another episode and I went home and told my wife who was sleeping at the time that I found my brother from another.
[00:03:02] Tim: I had a conversation with a great friend of mine living in the suburbs of Chicago, and she asked me for a podcast recommendation, and this is the one I gave her, and she absolutely loves it, folks. That is what I'm talking about, making a podcast that people will talk about and share with your friends.
[00:03:23] Tim: The second half podcast is not for the faint of hearts. The F-bomb is dropped liberally and well, the host is unapologetically liberal. Now, for those of you that lean, you know towards the right, this may not be the podcast for you. I just want to give you a fair warning on that, but I'll talk about that later on in the.
[00:03:46] Tim: Let's get started off with these stats. Now, at the time of this recording, there are 183 episodes published with the first one being published on March the second of 2018, and it is a weekly show now at episode, uh, 100. The format of the show changed initially. This wasn't a politics show, but it did turn into that after episode 100, uh, before that episode.
[00:04:13] Tim: It was, you know, the host Tom Paul Jr. You're talking about is life. So it's more of a personal journey than what it is, you know, what it's turned into today. Now the genre on this, it's listed as kids and family, and I really think that should be changed to politics because this is not kid friendly at the least, maybe the first a hundred episodes, but after that, not so much.
[00:04:39] Tim: Uh, the show description read. The second half podcast discusses the events of the world as they're reviewed through the eyes of a Gen X hippie in the second half of his life. You can reach out to this show via email, the old hippie, old hippie media.com, and the show does naturally have a TikTok page.
[00:05:00] Tim: That's how I found him. Uh, has Facebook, Twitter, and an Instagram account. Now all these will be, all the links will be in the show notes for you as they usually are. Now, listen notes rates, the podcasts as the in the top 2.5% of podcasts in the genre based on the listens through that platform. Now his podcast is hosted by anchor.
[00:05:26] Tim: So any music that he refers to o on the podcast, you can only listen to it through the, uh, Spotify or the anchor app.
[00:05:41] Tim: Peanut butter. Yeah. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? Well, actually it is when you're talking about smelly peanut butter and Jell. Oh yeah, that's right. They do their own jellies to pair with their peanut butter, and folks, it just isn't for sandwiches anymore. In fact, my family used Srey to make a birthday cake for the filling for my twins, and it was.
[00:06:06] Tim: Delicious Srey produces a line of cot. Nut butter spreads and jellies. Each srey spread and speri jelly can mix and match in various ways, creating exponential options that elevate your P, B and J experience. All you gotta do is choose your spread and choose your jelly. But wait each individual spell.
[00:06:32] Tim: Also be used on a variety of delicious things. Include smelly as an ingredient in baking cookies or as an added boost to your smoothies. Try creating a glaze dressing or marinade for some of your favorite grilled dishes or salads. Or you can do what we do here in my house. Just eat spelling right out of the jar as a.
[00:06:58] Tim: Where can you get your next fantastic peanut butter and jelly? Go to srey.com if you're outside of the Fredericksburg area, or you can go right to their store. If you're here in Fredericksburg, Virginia, it's at 1501 Princess Ann Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and get some srey in your belly. Our favorite here is the Winter Blend Wonderland, but it's only here for a short time order.
[00:07:25] Tim: The Tim Bryan dozen. Now
[00:07:34] Tim: I'm just gonna get this out of the way. The second half podcast is an amateur podcast. And I say that with air quotes, huge, huge air quotes. I prefer to think of it as a passion project or a hobby. Let me just let Tom tell you directly. This is a once a week, uh, episode on Friday's. Uh, basically for a couple reasons.
[00:07:57] Tim: Number one, to fill up a little bit of my time. Number two, just to kind of see how it goes. And number three, just kind of like a weekly ranting therapy session for me to talk about all the stuff that happens and. In the week proceeding. There are also a lot of F bombs in this podcast, so if you have sensitive ears, then you know I can't recommend the show for you.
[00:08:20] Tim: Now, this is a solo show. He doesn't have any guests on there, and what you get to hear is what Tom thinks about things politically, which brings me to my second warning. For those of you on the politically leaning right side, you may not appreciate its view. I think you can respect his passion for his topic choices and his viewpoints, because to me they do seem heart heartfelt, but I can understand when he rails against the rights, specifically Trump supporters and where you would want to tune him out.
[00:08:54] Tim: But let's go ahead and delve a little bit deeper into the format of the show. One thing Tom does well is welcoming new listeners to the show. And I think many podcasters could take a page from his playbook. 
[00:09:08] Tom: But before we get into the stuff we're gonna talk about this week, um, some housekeeping that I do every week, for those of you who are finding me for the very first time, uh, this is an amateur podcast, which means you're gonna hear some background noise.
[00:09:23] Tom: It's done. Uh, at my home office, it's not done in a professional studio. So if you hear some background noise, just roll with it. Don't get all uppity about it and get pissed off and send me a message cuz I already don't give a fuck. All right? 
[00:09:37] Tim: I believe he started, uh, this after the hundredth episode and I gotta tell you the way he covers everything in just two to three minutes.
[00:09:45] Tim: In that little housekeeping, uh, bit there really lets you know what the show is about and everything he's involved with. He does have a private podcast that comes out every other Tuesday. It's on Patreon, it's got no politics. It's just stories of his life, which may be a better fit for those of you who, um, appreciate his accent and, uh, how he can tell a.
[00:10:10] Tim: He has that available for you at, uh, $4 and 20 cents a month for those of you who know, you know, uh, exactly what that means. I personally have not listened to it, but it's on my list of things to explore this year as well as his books. But this is a show about a podcast, and I approached this earlier.
[00:10:33] Tim: Let's talk about that sound quality. Now he does warn listeners that this is an amateur podcast and he doesn't any, uh, edit anything out. You're gonna hear the doorbell, the landscaper. You're gonna hear burps, farts, coughs, hits from the joint that he's lit up, everything. Sometimes his microphone technique is horrible, and he yells into the mic.
[00:10:55] Tim: So be warned. Don't turn up the volume as you're made to destroy your speakers or your eardrums. I can't be responsible for that. The podcast editor's side of me screams to edit this thing, but the podcast producer says, keep it in. It adds to the authenticity to what he's trying to accomplish. You know, I think it would be interesting to hear what an edited podcast by him would sound like.
[00:11:23] Tim: But then again, I also think that the podcast would lose some of its style. I like to think of Tom as the stoned uncle at the family get together that gets into an argument with the, uh, other drunk uncle. You don't listen to this podcast to see a car crash. I listen to see where he's going and to try and follow the logic.
[00:11:44] Tim: Now, do I agree with everything he has to say or his ideas? But I don't have to. I just appreciate that he has an opinion and that he's thought about it and he likes to share it with his audience. Now, you might be asking if you've listened to previous episodes of this show, if all the episodes relate to the overall theme of the show.
[00:12:03] Tim: And I can honestly say, yeah, he weaves tales of his personal life and struggles with political commentary. Now, keep in mind the first a hundred episodes were not really politically focused. I would. But after that, he has taken on the political machine and although he does lean heavily left, he does take, uh, them to task when they do things that raise his ire.
[00:12:30] Tim: So you could argue that he is still discussing events of the world. During the first hundred episodes because he's talking about things more locally. And then he broadened his focus to be more of a national stance after that hundredth episode, and really went into the political side as far as staying on topic.
[00:12:49] Tim: This is where he does, you know, uh, weave a bit and go onto tangent. Now, how much of this is influenced by his smoking materials versus how his mind works without enhancement? I don't personally know, but I'd like to think further enhances his approach and loosens him up. He does recognize when he is going off on a tangent, and for the most part, he does get back on track to the main topic.
[00:13:18] Tim: something I do like is in my mind's eye, I see him looking through, uh, show notes while he is doing his podcast. So he has put some thought into what he wants to comment on. I just wish he could, you know, give us a heads up at the beginning of the show to know exactly what to expect or to tease us in order to keep the audience's attention.
[00:13:43] Tim: Now the last thing I want to discuss is the overall feeling one gets from listening to this podcast. I especially want to highlight episode 1 54, where on his podcast talks about his 50th birthday. 
[00:13:56] Tom: Now, at the time of this, uh, I'm recording this. I recently joined, uh, the 50 Club myself, and I heard this episode when it came out and I was having a hard time with the realization that I was turning 51st things first.
[00:14:12] Tom: The fact that I'm sitting here at 50 is.
[00:14:23] Tom: Kind of unbelievable for me when I was in my early to mid twenties. I never in a million years thought that I would get to 50 and I, I guess in the back of my head, having family members that were 50, I knew that that was something that was obviously clearly a possibility. The kind of life that I was living and the kind of lifestyle I was living.
[00:14:46] Tom: And at that time in my life, I didn't think 50 was even an option. I wasn't even thinking about 50.
[00:14:58] Tom: So I, I gotta, I gotta admit I'm a little blown away that I'm, I'm sitting here at a half a century.
[00:15:08] Tom: So I was just thinking over the course of the last few days, 50 years, man, what the fuck have you lived through in 50 years? 
[00:15:18] Tim: The openness and vulnerability in his voice and what he's telling us about what turning 50 means to him will not leave a dry eye in the house. This episode came out when I needed it, and I would recommend it to anyone turning.
[00:15:36] Tim: An idea he relay is how much time has passed in his 50 years. 
[00:15:41] Tom: So first things, first, 50 years. That's, uh, that's two different millennium that I've lived in and six different decades, six different decades. I've, I've lived through
[00:16:00] Tom: 50 years is 600. It's 2,607 weeks. It's 18,251 days, or 438,000 hours. 
[00:16:17] Tim: Just thinking about how much time has passed and having it broken down for me, like that really helped bring things in perspective for me before I hit my 50. Even reviewing the episode again about six months. I still find gems in that particular episode.
[00:16:42] Tim: If you like what you heard so far, I'd like to ask you to reach out. You can email me directly, Timothy, find a podcast about.xyz. Or you can leave me a voicemail at the website, find a podcast about dot x y z. I want to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast. And if you want me to find you a podcast in any category that you're interested in, let me know if you're a podcaster and feel that your podcast would be served by appearing on this show.
[00:17:16] Tim: I want to talk with you too, use the same methods of reaching out. I'm on Twitter at. Find a podcast and on Facebook at Find a Podcast about. Another thing I'd like to ask if is if you found value in this podcast passing along to a friend. Lastly, doing this podcast is a labor of love, but loving ain't cheap.
[00:17:43] Tim: Neither is coffee. So consider donating to my buy me a coffee fund right on the website. Or you can go to buy me a coffee.com/find a podcast about Each episode takes about five to seven hours of research and about two to three hours of production time. That's 10 hours for each episode, and that my friends is a lot of coffee.
[00:18:10] Tim: If you like your reviews, pep and full of energy, then make my cup overflow. Don't forget to check out my merch section on the website. I've got t-shirts, coffee mugs, and a whole lot of other items with your favorite episode Art on them. Make sure to get the sh I'm listening to shirt or mug, like I said earlier.
[00:18:34] Tim: The best recommendations come from a real person, so I'm gonna help you outsmart that algorithm and I'm gonna guide you to your next binge-worthy podcast.
[00:18:51] Tim: All right, if I've done my job correctly, You can't wait to get off this episode and binge the second half podcast. But for those of you who are still a little bit unsure, let me help you make the right choice if you crave a thick Chicago accent and the attitude to match. You got your guy right here. If you like to hear personal memoirs about the lives of Ordinary and yes, I'm using air quotes on that ordinary people, then this is the podcast for you.
[00:19:27] Tim: And that's the thing about podcasts that I really like When it's done right, we are privy to a conversation that we could. Normally never hear, or we're gonna be exposed to an idea that we would've never thought of. We're gonna find a community with those who share backgrounds, ideologies, and experiences.
[00:19:49] Tim: The second half podcast is unashamedly, open and honest, and comes from a place where many podcasters fear to tread. I appreciate his enthusiasm for his topic. I applaud his bravery for speaking his mind, and I admire the passion he's bringing to each episode. Even if it sometimes gets a little bit lost in the delivery, he is going to shout in your ear.
[00:20:19] Tim: He is going to propose ideas you may not agree with, but at least he's talking about solutions to problems versus just attacking the other side. I'd say if you are right and leaning, you are probably not gonna enjoy the show that much. If you're what I like to call hard, right, then you're really gonna hate the show.
[00:20:41] Tim: But if you are interested in politics viewed from a different. Then I think this is your guy. I wouldn't put him on the, uh, intelligence Squared podcast, which I reviewed in 2022. But you know what I would do? I'd pay for tickets to watch and see what kind of things he would do in a formal debate. If nothing else, he is entertaining like Archie Bunker.
[00:21:08] Tim: Of all the family way back in the seventies.
[00:21:17] Tim: So that's the episode. I want to thank you again for, you know, taking a listen. And if you want to outsmart the algorithm and have me review a podcast, email me Timothy, find a podcast about.xyz or go to the. Find a podcast about.xyz where you can listen to the other episodes and leave me a voicemail. I'm here to help you find your next binge-worthy podcast
[00:21:49] Tim: and find a podcast about is a production of T KB studios. If you are interested in taming your inner critic and creating more than you consume, then hand over to my other podcast, create Art Podcast. I'll give you three guesses as to what it's about, . There I discuss topics for the new artist, for the old artist, and for the artist that is a little too timid to come on out of their shell, and I review topics.
[00:22:24] Tim: For those who are more seasoned, uh, in the arts, many times I'll have on a professional artist to share their story of how they overcame the odds against the world and themselves. The website is create art podcast.com. I'll see you there and I'll see you next episode.