PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - For Brandon and Jeremy Phoenix, talking about their favorite college sports team and other topics just came naturally.
Together they are known as the Raspy Voice Kids and their podcast “Hail West Virginia Podcast with the Raspy Voice Kids” covers everything from the latest or upcoming West Virginia University game to who is the best pro wrestler ever.
Brandon said their first podcast was on May 4, 2017, and in that time they have been building a following with listeners across the county and a few from around the world.
But they find very few in their hometown have heard of them or their podcast.
“This is primarily a WVU-centric podcast,” he said. “We talk about all things West Virginia and add segments about pop culture with topics like ’Friends Don’t Let Friends Get Married During Football Season’ or what is the best Pop Tart, so sports will not dominate the podcast.”
Brandon said they got the idea about the podcast after a Rice vs. WVU football game.
“Our entire lives people told us we should do a show, but we felt we couldn’t do it without a broadcasting or journalism degree,” he said. “We were at the Baylor-WVU football game and a Baylor fan turned to us and said ’You guys need to have your own show.’”
Brandon said they laughed and the woman said, “Seriously, I’m a Baylor fan; we’re losing and I love listening to you guys talk.”
Later in 2017 a friend was getting ready to graduate from a music production program and was working on his senior project.
“I went to his house because some other friends were going to record some music for his project,” he said. “They were late so I said why don’t I try this idea I have and we did it in one take; we published it and people responded to it.”
Brandon said the name “Raspy Voice Kids” came from their childhood.
“We both had kind of raspy voices and others called us the Raspy Voice Kids behind our backs,” he said. “When we found out some thought we’d be upset but we thought it was funny and we used it for this.”
Brandon said it was natural for the show to be centered around WVU.
“I grew up in West Virginia and I’ve grown up a West Virginia fan,” he said. “I knew there was no one really talking about WVU from a fan’s perspective, at least not on a wide scale.”
Brandon said he wanted it to be family-friendly, unlike some other podcasts he heard.
“They were based on the idea it could not be broadcast because of the FCC,” he said. “So they are going to enjoy themselves.”
Brandon said he and his brother are not vulgar people.
“But we can talk about WVU from a fan’s perspective,” he said. “We can talk about WVU the way you would at home or coming back from a game.
“I wanted to present that to people because I knew it was missing in the market.”
From there, Brandon said, they take segments of the show and make them into clips on their YouTube channel.
“Now we have a green screen for graphics and we have sponsors,” he said. “We are seeing our biggest growth in Facebook and YouTube.”
Despite not being considered as part of the press, their growing reputation of connecting with the fans has earned them access to Mountaineer players and staff.
Brandon said he and Jeremy hope to move the Raspy Voice Kids to more than a past time.
“We want this to be our full-time jobs,” he said. “My brother is a contract worker and I’m a respiratory therapist at Children’s Hospital in the NICU but our passion is sports, talking about sports, connecting with people and this gives us the vehicle to do that.
“We want this to be a national brand and we want West Virginia to embrace us.”
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Information from: News and Sentinel (Parkersburg, W.Va.), http://www.newsandsentinel.com
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