Homecomings, makeovers, and new editions for the BTSC family of podcasts

When I was a lad of twelve obliviously navigating the waters of seventh grade, there were three things that I really knew. I loved the Steelers, American Top 40 and was certifiably girl crazy. I became friends with a girl named Tracy, who I had no idea had a schoolgirl crush on me with my curly hair, baby face and fake leather pants. Tracy was super nice to me and I enjoyed talking to her, especially about her best friend Lori who was pretty developed for a 12-year old girl. Tracy was cute, but kind of homely. And I later found out that she never told me how she felt about my dumb a$%, because I was too busy putting fruitless moves on her friend.

Summer vacation came and frankly didn’t think about her much at all during the break. About a month before school, I was walking out of church with me dad and was approached by a stranger that enthusiastically called me out by name. My dad and I turned to look to see who was summoning my attention and I idiotically replied, “Hi, How do you know my name?” She told me that it was Tracy and after I asked her to elaborate with a surname (I know, what a complete moron I was), I realized that this 12-year old goddess that I was staring at was my friend from school. The shy, stringy-haired little girl with the modest fashion-sense of a librarian underwent an epic transformation in the summer months of 1984 into a confident, wavy-haired beauty that wore clothes similar to Mallory from Family Ties. We exchanged pleasantries and said we’d see each other in September. But I thought of her every single night and dreamed of asking her to be my girlfriend. Back at school, I was thrilled to be invited to meet her for roller skating the first weekend back, but was devastated to see her holding hands with a high school guy. I got home and asked my dad if I could talk to him about my broken Aqua Velva drenched heart. He explained to me that people don’t realize how special something is and that I erred by overlooking Tracy because of her appearance. He went on to teach me the value of inner beauty as well and it was a shame Tracy felt she needed to make herself over completely when she was such a nice person and had so much to offer. I ended up remaining friends with Tracy, but I let her outgrow me and she now had plenty of options.

So what does my story of prepubescent angst have to do with Steelers podcasts at Behind the Steel Curtain? It’s simple. Although we have plenty of people that appreciate who we are and what we have to offer, we could use a makeover and offer so much more. That’s exactly what we are going to do.

We’ve had a lot of changes in the past two months with our podcast platform. After Jeff Hartman left BTSC at the beginning of June, I became the Podcast Manager. In that time, we did our best to provide quality programming daily. But we lacked continuity and definition. Viewers and listeners never knew when we were going on, who was going to be on their monitors, and which of our voices would be emanating from their speakers. We weren’t terrible, but I felt like I wasn’t putting the best product out their for our dedicated followers and definitely wasn’t attracting new fans.

Well, this week we underwent even more drastic changes. BTSC mainstay personality, Lance Williams, amicably parted ways with our podcast platform. We will miss the contributions of Lance and I hope to share a show with him again some day. Then Jeff Hartman announced that he would be returning as co-editor. This was welcomed news to us here as I consider Jeff to be a mentor and a friend. While I was proud to remain in the position of Podcast Producer, I wasted no time getting Jeff and Co-Editor Dave Schofield together for a summit meeting to discuss ways to improve our platform. We each came with ideas and open minds and hammered out a plan.

Instead of offering a daily podcast, we toyed around but decided against doubling our content. Instead, we are tripling it. We will now offer daily AM and PM shows and are dedicated to streaming three shows online daily while continuing to offer daily YouTube programming (each being two audio shows in one) for your viewing pleasure. We have also recognized the appeal of Deputy Editor Michael Beck and the Great White Northerner will headline his own shows. Geoffrey Benedict is also getting a call up and will join Michael as a regular on Wednesdays.

As far as some of the shows you know and love, they will remain but we are dedicated to putting a fresh coat of polish on them as well. We will start with a soft opening this week and then go full force the second week of August. Let’s take a look at the new starting lineup here at BTSC.

Monday AM: Let’s Ride - Jeff Hartman

Monday PM: Steelers Q&A - Bryan Anthony Davis and Tony Defeo

Tuesday AM: The Steelers Retro Show (Tue 8/11) - Bryan Anthony Davis and Tony Defeo

Tuesday PM: The Scho Bro Show - Dave Schofield and Rich Schofield

Wednesday AM: Let’s Ride - Jeff Hartman

Wednesday PM: Beck in Black - Michael Beck and Geoffrey Benedict

Thursday AM: Steelers Stat Geek (Thur 8/13) - Dave Schofield

Thursday PM: The Steelers Preview - Jeff Hartman, Dave Schofield and Bryan Anthony Davis

Friday AM: Let’s Ride - Jeff Hartman

Friday PM: The Live Mike - Michael Beck

Saturday: Brunch with Tony - Tony Defeo

Sunday: Tales from 2 AM - Bryan Anthony Davis

While we are adding quite a bit of content, we understand that streaming listeners desire a concise show that will come in around a half-hour. Our YouTube offerings will approach but not exceed an hour and will continue to feature our valued viewers in the live chat. When the season begins, there will be adjustments. We will offer pregame and again perform post game shows. The Steelers Q&A on Mondays will revert back to The Steelers Hangover and on Wednesdays we will get better acquainted with the Steelers upcoming opponents with Know Your Enemy.

All of us here at BTSC are excited to provide great Steelers content and believe that we can offer increased quantity without sacrificing quality. We appreciate all of those who have stuck with us as we realize our identity. While the heart remains the same, it never hurts to get a makeover and attract more suitors. And unlike my 12-year old crush, there’s room for all of you.

To make sure you don’t miss any of the podcasts, be sure to follow/subscribe to all of our channels. You can find it anywhere you get your podcasts, but below are links to the iTunes, Spotify and Google Play:

iTunes: https://apple.co/3fjlvq9
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2BVbIcm
Google Play: https://bit.ly/319cb33