Today we’d like to introduce you to Cody Thompson.
Cody, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Three B Zine started in 2011 as a blog site. I wanted to share some of the amazing things our city has to offer, specifically regarding local beer, local food and local music. I really wanted to spread the word of some of the great things and the stories of the people that make San Diego the beautiful, incredible city that it is. Fast forward to the Summer of 2o13 which is when we recorded and released the first episodes of Three B Zine Podcast.
I had really started enjoying the podcast format for sharing information and stories so I thought “why can’t I do this for local beer, food and music?” I had been thinking of transitioning the website into a podcast for a while and I finally made the jump after attending a Comic Con Panel hosted by the legendary Kevin Smith. I remember him saying to the crowd something that really inspired and lit a fire under me. I won’t attempt to repeat it word for word but essentially he told the audience to never let anyone tell you that you CANT accomplish something, and that any time you have an idea for something new there will always be people who try to discourage you. When this happens, no one should ever let anyone tell them that creating something new for the world is a bad idea. And this inspires me still to this day. Whether it’s a podcast, a painting, a song, photography…it is always worth your time to create something new for the world. So here we are today, 155+ episodes into our podcast and we as a team couldn’t be happier.
The current Three B Zine Podcast team is Myself, Thomas Pritchard, Mike Pratt and Ryan DeBusk. Three B Zine Podcast started as an idea to share the stories and passions of the people behind some of the best local beer, food and music in San Diego, and to this day the original idea is alive and well within all of us on the team. We do the podcast each week because sharing these stories matter to us. Our goal is to entertain listeners while offering education on (mainly) local beer where a listener at any stage of their beer drinking expertise can feel like they walk away from our show with more knowledge. And hopefully we provide a few laughs along the way.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I remember years ago when I first started the actual podcast part of Three B Zine, the folks over at West Coaster invited me to sit on a panel at Beer Con 2013. Someone asked me a question similar to this and I remember saying something along the lines of anyone can start a podcast at any time, and I think I said “…if you want to record yourself sharing ideas with your goofball friends, start a podcast.” Something like that. I think it has been a pretty smooth road for us along the way. Podcasting should be fun, honestly. I mean, you are hanging out with some of your best friends each week to discuss a topic you all are passionate about. How could that ever be a bad thing? The people in San Diego who we have worked with and hosted on our show have always been so kind to us and very excited about doing the show. This makes recording the show incredibly exciting for us as well and makes the road pretty smooth to keep doing what we love to do.
Like any project there is definitely work that goes into doing something well, so there is a lot of preparation and homework and post show work that needs to be done. But, doing these things is no struggle because we love what we do and we love sharing the stories and passion of the people in this awesome city. Once podcasting becomes no fun that is when the struggle would become very difficult. Until then, we will keep having a great time sharing beers with awesome folks in San Diego and recording ourselves doing it for people to listen in.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Three B Zine Podcast – what should we know?
Three B Zine Podcast is a San Diego based podcast focusing mainly on local beer as well as local food and local music. I am the creator of Three B Zine and Three B Zine Podcast. Three B Zine stands for – Local (Indie) Beer, Local Bites and Local Bands. Three “B”s. We focus mainly on local, independent beer currently, as our team is loaded with beer fanatics who appreciate and love the local beer community. That is what we are known for more than anything else – covering local independent beer.
We are the longest running “beer” related podcast in the city of San Diego and will be celebrating 5 years of podcasting in San Diego come July 2018. I am very proud of that.
What sets us apart is that we have a strong team of individuals on our show as the “hosting” team. We are friends and enjoy spending time with each other and recording with folks. When we record a show we do extensive homework and preparation for our guests. If we feel we are not fully prepared, we won’t go into the show. We want to be well thought out and prepared so we treat our guests with the respect they deserve and also present educational information for listeners that they deserve. Our show is different than others also for the fact that we offer a mix of comedy for entertainment and we are proud to present beer knowledge in a fashion that anyone at any stage of their beer drinking “expertise” can feel like they walk away learning something new.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
My wife has been an incredible inspiration since I started the website and show. She pushes me to continue doing great things and to always push the envelope and even when the road ahead seems rough she fixes my vision and gets me to see that the path isn’t as scary as it might have seemed.
Also, the people who do the show with me each and every week. Tom, Mike and Ryan. These guys are an incredible team of folks who bring great levels of knowledge and entertainment each week to the show. I also have to give a huge shout out to Dustin Lothspeich who was the second host of the show since day 1 and always pushed me to do things bigger and better with this podcast. He is one of the reasons this show exists at all and one of the essential puzzle pieces that got us to where we are today.
And all of our friends in San Diego who have been a guest on the show, shared a beer with us for an episode and anyone who has ever downloaded or shared an episode with friends. That means more to us than we can ever express. All of the great friends we have met along the way have helped push us to be better and stronger than we were the day before. We truly appreciate that.
Contact Info:
- Website: threebzine.com
- Email: cody@threebzine.com
- Instagram: @threebzine_podcast / https://www.instagram.com/threebzine_podcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThreeBZine/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThreeBZine
Image Credit:
Black and White main pic – Tangerine Tree Photography
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