BETHLEHEM, Pa. — First you persist. Then, you keep going.
Hands down, just great general advice for anybody in the arts, "The Geologic Podcast" creator George Hrab said last week during a visit to LehighValleyNews.com.
"It's a quote by my favorite guitarist, Robert Fripp from the band King Crimson," said Hrab, also a guitarist.
"First you persist, then you keep going. And it's that simple. It's a very unglamorous, unromantic kind of notion. You just do it. You just do it."
For two decades, Hrab, of Bethlehem, did just that — coming up with scripts and skits, characters and their voices, and melding music, current events, news and science into a podcast of his own.
His 20 years of persistence since first hearing the term "podcast" in 2005 paid off last month when Hrab was inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame.
Delivering his acceptance speech on stage in Tampa, Florida, Hrab — a styled showman and former longtime drummer and vocalist with party band Philadelphia Funk Authority — couldn't hide his surprise nor his appreciation.
“I was just so incredibly humbled,” said Hrab, who grew up in New Jersey and spent most of his adult life in Bethlehem after studying music at Moravian College, now Moravian University.
902 episodes later
"The Geologic Podcast" this Wednesday will air its 902nd episode.
"I mean, 20 years ago, I expected maybe my dad to listen, maybe some friends," Hrab said.
"I wasn't as concerned so much with who was listening as I was with making something interesting and fun, and exploring the plasticity of podcasting.
"I thought, well, what do I like? What do I enjoy doing? I like sketches, I like talking about science, I like talking about music, I like telling stories, I like doing voices."Bethlehem podcaster George Hrab
"You can do a two-minute podcast or a two-hour one, fiction, nonfiction, comedy. It's just so open."
When Hrab started out, he said, there were maybe a few thousand podcasts. Today, there are millions.
Podcasting came up in conversation when a fellow Ukrainian and friend Slau prompted Hrab to have his music played on the "Skepticality" podcast.
"They played my entire album," Hrab said. "They have a huge audience."
He was bitten by the bug, wondering whether he, too, could come up with a podcast.
Getting the green light in 2006 from the late 91.3 WLVR Lehigh University Radio host AJ Fritz to jump into the studio to try out his ideas while most students were on summer break, Hrab spent the next 13 Tuesday nights on campus talking into the mic.
"No music, just talking from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.," Hrab said. "I began experimenting, with bits and things and almost like it was a lab for the podcast.
"I thought, 'Well, what do I like? What do I enjoy doing?' I like sketches, I like talking about science, I like talking about music, I like telling stories, I like doing voices."
'I have this playground'
Known among friends and at parties for being a Monty Python fan and quoting things back and forth to friends or doing voices, Hrab felt he had something to offer in a podcast.
"Looking back, at one point I realized my answering machine was an early version of a podcast," he said.
"I changed the message all the time. I would record little cassette greetings for my sister, who was an exchange student for a year in Spain, and instead of writing her a letter, I'd send her a cassette."
Hrab worked on his craft through that fall, and the following January, "The Geologic Podcast" aired its first episode.
It was 2007 and Hrab was in his early 30s.
"And so then I was thinking, I have this playground in which I can sort of do all this stuff. If someone listens to it, fine," he said.
"If someone doesn't listen to it, fine, but I would be doing some version of it anyway, and at least now it's structured and I'll do one a week, for a year maybe. Do 50 shows.
"And it's become the most consistent thing I've done in my life. One a week, just about, without fail. Since 2007."Podcaster George Hrab
"Let me see if I can do something consistently for a year. See what this feels like — and never, ever thinking, almost 20 years later, I'd be still doing it.
"And it's become the most consistent thing I've done in my life. One a week, just about, without fail. Since 2007."
Since he can't see if or who is looking at him, the pressure is only what he makes for himself.
The beauty of a weekly show, he said, is, you get to do it again next week.
Maybe you don't feel too comfortable about how it went, but you don't feel too depressed if it goes well or not, because "you get to go back and do another one, and another and another."
He just keeps talking
"It's kind of neat to look back on," Hrab said, summing up two decades of episodes into a number but not taking himself too seriously.
"That's 1,000 hours of content. There's at least 20 good minutes in there."
Hrab said his most memorable podcast is one that made him almost pull the plug on the show.
"And, I thought, if my show exists for no other reason than to be a tribute to Andy, I'm fine with that."George Hrab
He had reconnected with a close high school friend, Andy — one of his best friends. They met for dinner in Las Vegas, with Andy's wife, while Hrab was in town to emcee an event.
"We picked right up, you know, a decade later, and it was amazing, as if no time had passed," Hrab said.
"Sadly, two weeks later, he was in a plane crash and died."
Hrab choked up.
He dedicated the next podcast to Andy.
"I just told stories about him from high school, how we went to Russia together... the Soviet Union...we had all these ... we were both Rush fans. In fact, my first concert was with him," Hrab said.
"And I kind of ended the podcast with, sort of saying, 'Sadly he's gone. Love the people that you love, and be close to the people that you're close to.'
"And, I thought, if my show exists for no other reason than to be a tribute to Andy, I'm fine with that."
A new Geologic Podcast is available every Wednesday.
It's a number that blows away even Hrab.
First, persist. Then keep going.
