CROTHERSVILLE
Leaning in toward a microphone with headphones on, all there’s left to do is flick a switch and begin a conversation.
That’s the routine each week for a Crothersville couple who record, produce and distribute multiple podcasts from their home studio.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryDustin Roller, and his wife Kallie, film, record and produce “The Married With Children Show” each week where they invite a guest for an hour-long discussion. The shows are filmed on Facebook, but the audio appears anywhere users can download podcasts.
The show, which began Jan. 31, 2018, attracts a wide range of guests who discuss their interests, delving into fun topics such as music, magic, sports, food and more. Other episodes feature more serious topics such as politics, news and even real estate.
“In our shows, I get to see other people’s passions,” Dustin said. “Podcasting is my hobby, but it’s so great to see what other people enjoy.”
Podcasting is more of a hobby, although the show does have several sponsors. Dustin, 34, is the principal at Jennings County High School, while Kallie, 34, is a math teacher at Brownstown Central High School.
Guests either are invited on or ask to be interviewed, Dustin said. He takes mental notes as he scrolls through his Facebook newsfeed and sees others’ interests.
That’s grown from when they started, Kallie said.
“At the beginning, it was really just me and Dustin,” she said. “We’d have guests to have another person and now it’s grown.”
She said when they started having guests, the interviews were very structured where they’d write down every question to format the show.
“Then we realized that wasn’t us,” Kallie laughed. “We just kind of started doing things a little less structured.”
They’ve done a weird food challenge with Nikki Cardinal, who is a frequent guest on the show. Cardinal brought her cousin on the show for the challenge.
Peanut butter and mayonnaise, ice cream and bologna, pickled pig’s feet and more were some of the combinations listeners suggested. The group would spin a wheel and whatever the arrow would land on would be what the person would have to eat.
“Pickled pig’s feet were awful,” Dustin said. “I’m also not a mayonnaise guy, so anything I got with that was bad for me.”
Ashley Yoder, a mixed martial arts fighter, has been a guest on the show before. Dustin knew Yoder growing up and said her popularity was on display when he read an article on ESPN about her after she was guest on the show.
“It’s so cool that she reaches out and has been on the show twice and ESPN is writing about her,” he said.
The other connections are interesting, too, Dustin said. One guest, Chris Spangle, came down for the show and then next week was in Los Angeles with Joe Rogan, who is considered one of the more well known people in podcasting.
Johnny Magic was here, then two weeks later he was in Las Vegas at TopGolf with New Orleans Saints Quarterback Drew Brees.
One day, Dustin asked Rich Hardesty to be on the podcast. The Fishers-based musician has traveled the world and Dustin considered himself a longtime fan.
“I just sent him a message and he immediately replied that he would do it,” he said. “I was so surprised.”
It all started with a love for discussion and debate, Dustin said. The idea started years ago in college when he would argue sports with his friend from school.
“There would be people in an apartment with people and we’d be on the couch arguing whether the 1990s Chicago Bulls could beat the 1980s Lakers and go for hours,” he said. “One day we looked around and saw all these people listening to us. I like to argue and talk, so for me, it’s a break from what I do each day.”
But he never got around to doing it, and now he has multiple podcasts.
Dustin doesn’t stop with the show with his wife.
His latest venture is “The Podcasting Principal” where he discusses the latest issues and his thoughts on education.
Dustin records those episodes alone.
“As much as I love to talk, 30 minutes of talking to yourself is kind of tough,” he said. “That’s kind of intimidating not being able to bounce a question off somebody.”
He also shares his interest in dirt racing with a podcast each Wednesday called “Get Throttled.”
There he interviews drivers, talks about racing-related topics and more with friend and Matt Staples, 47, who is the Jennings County High School resource officer.
Staples, who announces at Brownstown Speedway, said he was interested in starting a radio show about racing, but was told he had to secure sponsors for it.
“I wasn’t interested in doing the sales part of it, so I kind of let it go,” he said. “Then Dustin asked me if I wanted to do this with him and I told him I was definitely interested.”
Since then the two have published nearly 60 episodes on their shared interest.
“It means a lot to me because my grandfather took me to races growing up and I’ve always been around it,” Staples said.
Dustin’s son also is interested in the racing podcast. For a five-year-old, seeing race car drivers come to their home each week is neat, Dustin said.
“The drivers have been really nice to him and have given him a lot of things along the way,” he said. “When he went to preschool, he told them he wanted to be Spiderman and a race car driver when he grew up.”
The studio, which includes a custom-built table, a sound mixer, computer, audio devices, cameras and a television monitor, is set up at the Roller’s home.
Dustin edits the shows for about a half hour following the recording.
There’s also another item: A baby monitor.
Kallie keeps it nearby during the shows so she can keep a watchful eye on her five- and one-year-old in the next room.
Podcasting provides a break from their everyday lives and something they can enjoy together.
Dustin said he enjoys it because he knows there will be a time where he will spend it only with Kallie where they can talk.
“There’s always a time during the week where we know we can just talk and have a conversation,” he said. “It’s something that’s for us.”
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Want to listen to “The Married With Children Show” or “Throttled Up” each week?
Log onto www.mwcpodcast.com or www.getthrottled.com.
Or you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Tune In, Google, Facebook and other places where podcasts are available.
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