Ted Hampton was born and raised in Southern California and had an early interest in businesses that were not run-of-the-mill. In his own words: When the Bellagio Casino was being built, I moved to Las Vegas to open up a restaurant, where I worked until I decided to start my own food delivery company. During this time, I learned so much about people and building valuable relationships. All this prompted me to want to help other entrepreneurs, and after watching copious amounts of TV shows, I thought I should start pitching to other budding entrepreneurs to help them build their businesses. What I didn’t expect, is how intimate these relationships could be. Sometimes, I’m asking people to open up about painful experiences, and fortunately for me, I was built, through my own near-death experiences, to know how to talk to people in a way that matters. This is my second chapter in life and, like everybody else, I’m not sure where this will lead, but I‘m just thankful to have the opportunity to do it.
https://www.facebook.com/PitchMeThePodcast
Join Meg, an entrepreneur & founder of The Loved Life, and Ted, a production scout, as they take you through the incredible twists & turns of real human stories all across America. Because your story matters and every story deserves a chance to be told.
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Transcript
Ted Hampton
[00:00:00] Ed Watters: To overcome you must educate. Educate not only yourself but educate anyone seeking to learn. We are all Dead America, we can all learn something. To learn, we must challenge what we already understand, the way we do that is through conversation. Sometimes we have conversations with others, however, some of the best conversations happen with ourself. Reach out and challenge yourself.
[00:00:49] Let’s dive in and learn something right now.
[00:00:56] Today we’re with Ted Hampton, Ted Hampton is the host and co-host of a podcast called Pitch Me The Podcast. Ted, could you please introduce yourself? Let people know just a little bit more about you please.
[00:01:13] Ted Hampton: Sure, yes. Like Ed said, I am the co-host/ co-founder of the Heart Bandits Network, which we host
[00:01:20] the Pitch Me Podcast, where we have our guests come on and give us their ideas for a show and then I pitch them to the according production companies that might be interested in them. My cohost is actually a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting back in 2017 and that’s really how this whole thing begins because I wanted to pitch her story because it was so compelling.
[00:01:42] And one thing led to the other, I asked her to join me as a co-host on the podcast and fortunately she said yes and it’s just been an incredible experience from there, Ed.
[00:01:53] Ed Watters: Well, it’s awesome what you’re doing Ted, to go out and highlight people and pitch their podcast or whatever they’re doing in life. It really helps our society grow as a whole because we all seem to be in this little box together but we’re not playing well together right now.
[00:02:16] And we need more people like Ted out there bringing people together. So why a podcast, Ted?
[00:02:27] Ted Hampton:
[00:02:27] It started off as a podcast because I thought that would be the right platform to get this network introduced to the public. But it’s always been designed, it’s always been my goal to have this as a TV show. And that’s what we’re working on to bring this to the Las Vegas strip on a permanent basis.
[00:02:43] Kind of think about this as a shark tank, but instead of pitching products, we’re pitching people’s stories. And Megan and I, Megan, is my co-host on this. We’re, we’re starting our own network, our own streaming service so that we can have the kind of stories on our network that we think are worth sharing.
[00:03:00] And we’re not just relegated to other networks who may or may not want these stories.
[00:03:06] Ed Watters: That is very important, you know, the power of being who you are is very important in the world and that’s being limited also. So starting a new streaming network is awesome it, it helps you control what you actually wanna put out.
[00:03:24] Uh, it gives you a lot of power in the marketplace because then people want to advertise with you, so that’s a good prospect for you. I like your podcast and what you’ve been doing on it. It, it has a form to it. You want to talk a little bit about how and why you chose to do your podcast in this form?
[00:03:51] Ted Hampton: I think a lot of that is contributed to my co-host Megan.
[00:03:54] She was in corporate America, she worked in operations for one of the biggest banks around. And she’s really had a lot of input, she’s done some podcasting before, she runs a blog of her own, so she really helped formalize some of the formats that we’re using. She’s, she’s the one that actually came up with the title of Pitch Me.
[00:04:12] I had Pitch Us and she tweaked it to Pitch Me, which is infinitely better, and then she tagged it, your story matters, and I just love that. So I think that really set the precedent for how this format developed.
[00:04:26] Ed Watters: That’s awesome to have somebody to throw things on and get feedback. Uh, so what, what are some of the types of people you’re looking for to present?
[00:04:41] Ted Hampton: We’re looking for the marginalized communities, the disenfranchised, the people who have just not had a fair shake or a fair stab at the American dream, so to speak. We’re, we’re like you, we like entrepreneurs, we like family businesses, minority owned businesses. Those are great stories because those are the people that are really [00:05:00] struggling right now in this economy.
[00:05:01] So we like to highlight those shows when we can and those people behind the businesses.
[00:05:07] Ed Watters: Yeah, that’s kind of cool, you know, to get a foothold in the industry is very hard and it takes years and years to even get noticed. So this is a great idea to help people get noticed.
[00:05:24] Ted Hampton: We don’t wanna leave it up to chance, Ed.
[00:05:26] That’s why we’re starting this whole streaming service because when someone comes on our show, I just wanna be able to say right there on the spot, I love you, I love your ideas let’s make some television together. I don’t wanna have to postpone and say, look, let me see if I can pitch this around see what we can come up with, I’m gonna be able to make that decision right there on the spot.
[00:05:43] And that’s what the Las Vegas show is going to be really predicated on.
[00:05:49] Ed Watters: So, so you’re going to have this live,
[00:05:51] Ted?
[00:05:52] Ted Hampton: Yes. It’s
[00:05:53] gonna be, yes. Think about the voice, it’s gonna be like the voice. Yeah.
[00:05:58] Ed Watters: Yeah. That’s awesome, you know. So will the audience have a
[00:06:04] voice in this or are they going to keep,
[00:06:06] Ted Hampton: yes, they’re gonna have a voice,
[00:06:08] we’re gonna do this live stream as well. And people are gonna chime in as well and that’s gonna help dictate if we make this show or not. Obviously, unfortunately we even have to be concerned with monetary components, but if the audience likes it and we get enough feedback from the streaming audience, if they all like it, then we wanna make that show.
[00:06:27] And we wanna be able to say that right there on the spot.
[00:06:31] Ed Watters: Now I, I remember a few years, well it’s several years ago, they had a television show where they had something like that, where they would have the audience call in and vote. Maybe that was the voice or,
[00:06:47] Ted Hampton: uh, I think the voice did do that. Yeah. I think the voice did do that for a while.
[00:06:51] And I do think, was it Matt Damon? I wanna say maybe Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had something where maybe people chimed in on the, on the shows that might get made, I can’t remember. But Megan and I are doing something completely different, we’re starting a whole new network, I don’t think those guys were.
[00:07:11] Ed Watters: Yeah, well, it’s kind of cool because involvement, that really builds an audience in the first place. You know, being able to say, Hey, I helped get that guy there,
[00:07:23] Ted Hampton: I think that’s what differentiates,
[00:07:24] Ed Watters: that’s very unique.
[00:07:24] Ted Hampton: I think that’s, what’s gonna really set us apart from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon people are going to have an actual say
[00:07:30] on the shows that get made, like you said, they’re gonna see one day when that person’s on TV and they’ve got their own show. They’ll say, Hey, I was involved in that, I helped make that happen. And all we’re trying to do is just create a community, Ed. That’s really it, no, no big secret what we’re trying to do.
[00:07:46] Ed Watters: Well, that’s awesome what you’re doing because there’s not a lot of people out there doing that. It, it’s more like they’re worried about memes, you know, how am I gonna get there? Right. Exactly. I love it when I find people out there not worried about me, I’m worried about how are you gonna get your thing off the ground?
[00:08:09] That is awesome.
[00:08:10] Ted Hampton: Well, Megan
[00:08:11] and I are actually working the whole 27 October shooting of Las Vegas incident across from the Mandalay Bay Towers. We wanna do something to honor those people and their families. So what we’re working on is trying to have an annual event every year in Las Vegas, and we’ve called it The Community Creation Of Hopes And Dreams.
[00:08:33] And so we wanna have that as an annual event, we don’t wanna call it a festival because that’s what it was when they were all assaulted, so to speak. So we’re trying to work on that and launch that off the ground as well, so that that’s an annual event every year. So that’s, that’s some big plans that we’ve got as well.
[00:08:50] Ed Watters: So looking into you, Ted, uh, you yourself had a near death experience. How does that play in a role, like kicking you in the rear saying, Hey, I’ve got to do something.
[00:09:04] Ted Hampton: That
[00:09:04] was probably about almost 20 years ago and a lot’s happened in the past 20 years obviously. But the ironic part is where I had the rollover.
[00:09:13] That was, I was taking my girlfriend at the time, her and her nephew, and some of his friends had come down to Las Vegas for his 14th or 15th birthday. And we were driving back to Utah. We’re in the middle of the Mojave desert in Mesquite, Nevada and a guy just pulled right out in front of me on the freeway.
[00:09:29] And we ended up doing 360’s and ended up upside down in the, in the median. The ironic thing is Megan, the guy that shot at her, and all the concert goers was from Mesquite, Nevada, same place where I had my rollover, so that kind of linked us right off the bat. So you can imagine the kind of connection Megan and I had at this point, just from sharing that experience together.
[00:09:53] Ed Watters: Yeah, well, connections come in all forms and this is one of the best ways, you know, [00:10:00] getting on a podcast and meeting somebody for the first time and just letting things go and flow. It’s the beauty of really creating good content, you know, a lot of people are tired of that defined on,
[00:10:17] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:10:18] Ed Watters: Yeah.
[00:10:19] Yeah.
[00:10:19] Ted Hampton: Stilted and contrived it’s,
[00:10:20] Ed Watters: television.
[00:10:21] Ted Hampton: Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s not genuine, that’s the thing that we preach all the time is all authenticity. It’s, it’s paramount to our business.
[00:10:30] Ed Watters: That is, it’s so important. And, you know, people sniff that out like a dog does food, they know exactly when you’re kind of just, you’re blowing smoke.
[00:10:43] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:10:43] Ed Watters: And, and that’s why you see a big shift in viewing preference, going from television to this sort of format. Uh, I’ve noticed a big shift in it.
[00:10:58] Ted Hampton: How long have you
[00:10:58] been doing this?
[00:11:00] Ed Watters: I’ve been dabbling since 07, 2007 is my first dabble in it, but I didn’t really get serious until about two years ago.
[00:11:11] Well, I guess three years ago now, and it really changed my life. See myself, I went through many incidents in life where I shouldn’t be here today. And I, I wanted to have them just, assisted suicide for me. I, I was tired of pain and hurting and I just wanted to get on and blow steam. I was mad and I found out, Hey, this is actually a way to heal. This,
[00:11:49] I found can relieve so much trauma by talking about it. And that’s what the beauty of this is, you, you can really heal people through outlining what they went through because somebody else has been there. That’s why I like what you’re doing, Ted.
[00:12:09] Ted Hampton: Well,
[00:12:09] that’s kind of what our podcast is predicated on, is trauma. My trauma somewhat, and a lot of Megan’s.
[00:12:16] If we hadn’t experienced that trauma, I don’t think we would be doing this kind of work that we’re doing today. I don’t think we’d have the insight, I, I just don’t think I’d have the tools. You can’t unless you’ve gone through that.
[00:12:28] Ed Watters: That, that’s so true, Ted. And, you know, I, I see so many people going to counseling that they really don’t get help because their counselor has not lived through some traumatic incident.
[00:12:43] So they don’t have the wisdom behind being a victim of whatever happened. And I don’t wanna, uh, say being a victim is good because you don’t wanna be a victim, you’re a survivor. I should say being a survivor.
[00:13:01] Ted Hampton: But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying victim either because when I think about Megan’s story and the article that I was reading about her, when I first approached her, it was, she was running for her literal life.
[00:13:12] This guy had busted out the window at the Mandalay Bay and he just started using the assault rifle and started trying to pick people off. So I definitely don’t have a problem saying shooting victim. But she’s definitely a survivor too, no question about it.
[00:13:24] Ed Watters: Yes. Yes. And, and they’re, they intertwine so much and
[00:13:31] our, our political correctness out there really says you’ve gotta be careful about this. And I think we’re getting away from that and bringing truth back to the world where people are not afraid to speak out, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak your mind.
[00:13:51] Ted Hampton: I couldn’t agree more and that’s really the opportunity that we wanna give people. This, here’s the platform say what you have to say, cuz we want to hear it.
[00:14:00] Ed Watters: Yeah. So what is the timeline for Vegas for you, Ted?
[00:14:07] Ted Hampton: We
[00:14:08] had the whole thing with, we had looked at House Of Blues and we got a quote on how to play at House Of Blues. And that’s when Megan and I came up with the bigger event. You know, how entrepreneurs are, you don’t have enough challenges. So you take on a bigger project than you initially planned.
[00:14:23] So we were gonna do House Of Blues, which seats 1500, and then we just came up with the Community Celebration Of Hopes And Dreams, which should be a, just a big event. So we wanna do that for October the 1st, this year, that’s what we’re striving for. Now to bring our show to the strip, I act, I’m actually in discussions with, uh, contract builders in Las Vegas on how to build out something similar to the House Of Blues and then to put our offices up above that.
[00:14:49] So I’m gonna be pitching that to investors just as soon as I can, so hopefully Ed, maybe hopefully within the next year, year and a half. Because we want to use existing [00:15:00] structure, that’s what we’re going for. We wanna use existing structure in Vegas, maybe at the north end of the strip, so they’re gonna try to help us find a property, secure it, and build this out and we’ll go from there.
[00:15:11] Ed Watters: Well, you know, I have noticed there is a big growth in podcasting around Las Vegas.
[00:15:20] Ted Hampton: I have too.
[00:15:21] Ed Watters: And it’s a trend and everybody wants in it and really this is perfect for Las Vegas. Because, you know, I know it goes way back into history, they’ve brought these shows onto stage and even talk shows. It’s an awesome idea, Ted.
[00:15:40] Ted Hampton: That I lived, I’ve lived there for about seven or eight years back in the late 90, yeah, late nineties, early two thousands. So I saw a lot of what worked and that’s what gave me the idea, hey, this would be perfect for Las Vegas, especially since the revitalizing the north end of the strip down by Fremont.
[00:15:55] That whole area’s just up and coming and really booming with artists and whatnot. So that’s the area that we’re looking at.
[00:16:02] Ed Watters: Yeah. There’s many, many people actually diving in from the podcasting industry looking into Vegas. And there’s many other places around the world, you know, Memphis and those highlight areas.
[00:16:18] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:16:18] Ed Watters: They, they are really interested in podcasting. Uh, the numbers keep soaring and they grow year after year, usually, uh, you see those declines.
[00:16:32] Ted Hampton: Taper off at least.
[00:16:33] Right.
[00:16:34] Ed Watters: Yes. Yes.
[00:16:34] Ted Hampton: I know.
[00:16:35] Ed Watters: But there’s a steady inclination into podcasting and what it’s developing into because you’re changing right now from podcasting 2.0, or 1.0 to 2.0 and we’re traversing into web 3.0.
[00:16:55] So there’s a lot of this change right now and this is the time to be doing what you’re doing, Ted.
[00:17:01] Ted Hampton: A lot of
[00:17:02] growth opportunities in this industry. We wanna tie our podcast in with our live shows. So it’s, it’s gonna be a whole network and it’s all gonna link together hopefully, cohesively.
[00:17:13] Ed Watters: How can people help you do
[00:17:16] this
[00:17:17] and get you started?
[00:17:18] Ted Hampton: Promote us on Instagram, put us out on Facebook, let people know that we wanna host this annual event in Las Vegas, we wanna bring this show to the Las Vegas strip. Any kind of publicity is great for us.
[00:17:31] Ed Watters: And how, how do people get ahold of you to get on your show?
[00:17:37] Ted Hampton: Great question.
[00:17:38] If you want us to pitch us, or if you want us to pitch you, I should say, hit us up at pitchmethepodcast@gmail.com. We’re on Instagram at pitch me the podcast and also on Facebook pitch me the podcast.
[00:17:53] Ed Watters: So how long have you been doing this, Ted?
[00:17:56] Ted Hampton: We’ve started the podcast, I guess, about four months ago.
[00:18:01] And we didn’t have a really long first season, Christmas came up on us really quick. But it was just such an incredible experience, I’d never done this before. And so I’m experiencing for the first time, kind of what you said about how this podcast is very healing. I, I found that to be true with myself,
[00:18:17] very, very therapeutic in a lot of different avenues. So I’m, I’m just really blown away by the, the power, the healing power that podcasting has.
[00:18:27] Ed Watters: Yeah. Well, I love to promote podcasters and I like to work with podcasters. If I can help you in any way, make sure you reach out because I like to get involved with people.
[00:18:38] And actually there’s a few individuals I want to send your way, I’ll do that some time here in the near future.
[00:18:48] Ted Hampton: Sure.
[00:18:49] Ed Watters: Uh, what, what type of, uh, person are you actually looking for to get on your show, basically? Is it just podcasters?
[00:19:02] Ted Hampton: Well, for right now, that’s how we’re kind of vetting, for the lack of a better word,
[00:19:07] but what we’d ideally like to do is have people come on our podcast. And then once we have our own network and our own show in Las Vegas, have them come on there and do that show live and pitch us in front of the audience and in front of our streaming audience. So probably someone who’s not afraid to speak in public, someone who’s very focused and driven.
[00:19:26] Entertaining always helps, but there’s no hard, fast rule. It’s just someone who’s really got an incredible story and who wants to promote their own brand, their own business in any form, in any industry, we love it all.
[00:19:41] Ed Watters: Yeah. I, I, I’m right behind you, Ted, I love what you’re doing. Is there anything you would like to share with our audience,
[00:19:52] like anything you’d like them to do besides get involved with you? [00:20:00]
[00:20:00] Ted Hampton: I think that if we could somehow, I’d like to really focus on this live event for the, October the 1st. To commemorate the, the communities and the families that were affected by the, by the shooting. So if anybody can help promote that, we’d like to maybe have some of the artists that were there.
[00:20:17] It was a country music festival, so if any of the country artists would be open to helping us out, promote this event, that would be great. Just anything to help get this off the ground, cuz we really wanna do this right. And this is gonna help get us some of the people, that we hope, to come on our network and develop shows for them as well.
[00:20:34] So it’s kind of, you know, a hodgepodge of, of concepts that we wanna melt together.
[00:20:42] Ed Watters: All right. Well, Ted, I thank you for sharing what you’re doing on our podcast.
[00:20:47] Ted Hampton: Yes, sir. Thank you.
[00:20:49] Ed Watters: We, we really look forward to seeing more of Ted and Meg. Please keep going, a lot of people like to podfade because it’s not up there in the numbers,
[00:21:03] it will do good. Just give it time.
[00:21:07] Ted Hampton: We don’t
[00:21:07] even worry about that. Once you, once you know the direction and once you know what you’re capable of, I don’t sweat it anymore, I know this is gonna work out.
[00:21:16] Ed Watters: Awesome. Thank you, Ted.
[00:21:18] Ted Hampton: Thank you, Ed.
[00:21:18] Ed Watters: And you enjoy the rest
[00:21:19] of your day.
[00:21:20] Ted Hampton: Yes, sir. You do the same.
[00:21:24] Ed Watters: Thank you for joining us today. If you found this podcast enlightening, entertaining, educational in any way, please share, like, subscribe, and join us right back here next week for another great episode of Dead America Podcast. I’m Ed Watters your host, enjoy your afternoon wherever you may be.
[00:00:00] Ed Watters: To overcome you must educate. Educate not only yourself but educate anyone seeking to learn. We are all Dead America, we can all learn something. To learn, we must challenge what we already understand, the way we do that is through conversation. Sometimes we have conversations with others, however, some of the best conversations happen with ourself. Reach out and challenge yourself.
[00:00:49] Let’s dive in and learn something right now.
[00:00:56] Today we’re with Ted Hampton, Ted Hampton is the host and co-host of a podcast called Pitch Me The Podcast. Ted, could you please introduce yourself? Let people know just a little bit more about you please.
[00:01:13] Ted Hampton: Sure, yes. Like Ed said, I am the co-host/ co-founder of the Heart Bandits Network, which we host
[00:01:20] the Pitch Me Podcast, where we have our guests come on and give us their ideas for a show and then I pitch them to the according production companies that might be interested in them. My cohost is actually a survivor of the Las Vegas shooting back in 2017 and that’s really how this whole thing begins because I wanted to pitch her story because it was so compelling.
[00:01:42] And one thing led to the other, I asked her to join me as a co-host on the podcast and fortunately she said yes and it’s just been an incredible experience from there, Ed.
[00:01:53] Ed Watters: Well, it’s awesome what you’re doing Ted, to go out and highlight people and pitch their podcast or whatever they’re doing in life. It really helps our society grow as a whole because we all seem to be in this little box together but we’re not playing well together right now.
[00:02:16] And we need more people like Ted out there bringing people together. So why a podcast, Ted?
[00:02:27] Ted Hampton:
[00:02:27] It started off as a podcast because I thought that would be the right platform to get this network introduced to the public. But it’s always been designed, it’s always been my goal to have this as a TV show. And that’s what we’re working on to bring this to the Las Vegas strip on a permanent basis.
[00:02:43] Kind of think about this as a shark tank, but instead of pitching products, we’re pitching people’s stories. And Megan and I, Megan, is my co-host on this. We’re, we’re starting our own network, our own streaming service so that we can have the kind of stories on our network that we think are worth sharing.
[00:03:00] And we’re not just relegated to other networks who may or may not want these stories.
[00:03:06] Ed Watters: That is very important, you know, the power of being who you are is very important in the world and that’s being limited also. So starting a new streaming network is awesome it, it helps you control what you actually wanna put out.
[00:03:24] Uh, it gives you a lot of power in the marketplace because then people want to advertise with you, so that’s a good prospect for you. I like your podcast and what you’ve been doing on it. It, it has a form to it. You want to talk a little bit about how and why you chose to do your podcast in this form?
[00:03:51] Ted Hampton: I think a lot of that is contributed to my co-host Megan.
[00:03:54] She was in corporate America, she worked in operations for one of the biggest banks around. And she’s really had a lot of input, she’s done some podcasting before, she runs a blog of her own, so she really helped formalize some of the formats that we’re using. She’s, she’s the one that actually came up with the title of Pitch Me.
[00:04:12] I had Pitch Us and she tweaked it to Pitch Me, which is infinitely better, and then she tagged it, your story matters, and I just love that. So I think that really set the precedent for how this format developed.
[00:04:26] Ed Watters: That’s awesome to have somebody to throw things on and get feedback. Uh, so what, what are some of the types of people you’re looking for to present?
[00:04:41] Ted Hampton: We’re looking for the marginalized communities, the disenfranchised, the people who have just not had a fair shake or a fair stab at the American dream, so to speak. We’re, we’re like you, we like entrepreneurs, we like family businesses, minority owned businesses. Those are great stories because those are the people that are really [00:05:00] struggling right now in this economy.
[00:05:01] So we like to highlight those shows when we can and those people behind the businesses.
[00:05:07] Ed Watters: Yeah, that’s kind of cool, you know, to get a foothold in the industry is very hard and it takes years and years to even get noticed. So this is a great idea to help people get noticed.
[00:05:24] Ted Hampton: We don’t wanna leave it up to chance, Ed.
[00:05:26] That’s why we’re starting this whole streaming service because when someone comes on our show, I just wanna be able to say right there on the spot, I love you, I love your ideas let’s make some television together. I don’t wanna have to postpone and say, look, let me see if I can pitch this around see what we can come up with, I’m gonna be able to make that decision right there on the spot.
[00:05:43] And that’s what the Las Vegas show is going to be really predicated on.
[00:05:49] Ed Watters: So, so you’re going to have this live,
[00:05:51] Ted?
[00:05:52] Ted Hampton: Yes. It’s
[00:05:53] gonna be, yes. Think about the voice, it’s gonna be like the voice. Yeah.
[00:05:58] Ed Watters: Yeah. That’s awesome, you know. So will the audience have a
[00:06:04] voice in this or are they going to keep,
[00:06:06] Ted Hampton: yes, they’re gonna have a voice,
[00:06:08] we’re gonna do this live stream as well. And people are gonna chime in as well and that’s gonna help dictate if we make this show or not. Obviously, unfortunately we even have to be concerned with monetary components, but if the audience likes it and we get enough feedback from the streaming audience, if they all like it, then we wanna make that show.
[00:06:27] And we wanna be able to say that right there on the spot.
[00:06:31] Ed Watters: Now I, I remember a few years, well it’s several years ago, they had a television show where they had something like that, where they would have the audience call in and vote. Maybe that was the voice or,
[00:06:47] Ted Hampton: uh, I think the voice did do that. Yeah. I think the voice did do that for a while.
[00:06:51] And I do think, was it Matt Damon? I wanna say maybe Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had something where maybe people chimed in on the, on the shows that might get made, I can’t remember. But Megan and I are doing something completely different, we’re starting a whole new network, I don’t think those guys were.
[00:07:11] Ed Watters: Yeah, well, it’s kind of cool because involvement, that really builds an audience in the first place. You know, being able to say, Hey, I helped get that guy there,
[00:07:23] Ted Hampton: I think that’s what differentiates,
[00:07:24] Ed Watters: that’s very unique.
[00:07:24] Ted Hampton: I think that’s, what’s gonna really set us apart from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon people are going to have an actual say
[00:07:30] on the shows that get made, like you said, they’re gonna see one day when that person’s on TV and they’ve got their own show. They’ll say, Hey, I was involved in that, I helped make that happen. And all we’re trying to do is just create a community, Ed. That’s really it, no, no big secret what we’re trying to do.
[00:07:46] Ed Watters: Well, that’s awesome what you’re doing because there’s not a lot of people out there doing that. It, it’s more like they’re worried about memes, you know, how am I gonna get there? Right. Exactly. I love it when I find people out there not worried about me, I’m worried about how are you gonna get your thing off the ground?
[00:08:09] That is awesome.
[00:08:10] Ted Hampton: Well, Megan
[00:08:11] and I are actually working the whole 27 October shooting of Las Vegas incident across from the Mandalay Bay Towers. We wanna do something to honor those people and their families. So what we’re working on is trying to have an annual event every year in Las Vegas, and we’ve called it The Community Creation Of Hopes And Dreams.
[00:08:33] And so we wanna have that as an annual event, we don’t wanna call it a festival because that’s what it was when they were all assaulted, so to speak. So we’re trying to work on that and launch that off the ground as well, so that that’s an annual event every year. So that’s, that’s some big plans that we’ve got as well.
[00:08:50] Ed Watters: So looking into you, Ted, uh, you yourself had a near death experience. How does that play in a role, like kicking you in the rear saying, Hey, I’ve got to do something.
[00:09:04] Ted Hampton: That
[00:09:04] was probably about almost 20 years ago and a lot’s happened in the past 20 years obviously. But the ironic part is where I had the rollover.
[00:09:13] That was, I was taking my girlfriend at the time, her and her nephew, and some of his friends had come down to Las Vegas for his 14th or 15th birthday. And we were driving back to Utah. We’re in the middle of the Mojave desert in Mesquite, Nevada and a guy just pulled right out in front of me on the freeway.
[00:09:29] And we ended up doing 360’s and ended up upside down in the, in the median. The ironic thing is Megan, the guy that shot at her, and all the concert goers was from Mesquite, Nevada, same place where I had my rollover, so that kind of linked us right off the bat. So you can imagine the kind of connection Megan and I had at this point, just from sharing that experience together.
[00:09:53] Ed Watters: Yeah, well, connections come in all forms and this is one of the best ways, you know, [00:10:00] getting on a podcast and meeting somebody for the first time and just letting things go and flow. It’s the beauty of really creating good content, you know, a lot of people are tired of that defined on,
[00:10:17] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:10:18] Ed Watters: Yeah.
[00:10:19] Yeah.
[00:10:19] Ted Hampton: Stilted and contrived it’s,
[00:10:20] Ed Watters: television.
[00:10:21] Ted Hampton: Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s not genuine, that’s the thing that we preach all the time is all authenticity. It’s, it’s paramount to our business.
[00:10:30] Ed Watters: That is, it’s so important. And, you know, people sniff that out like a dog does food, they know exactly when you’re kind of just, you’re blowing smoke.
[00:10:43] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:10:43] Ed Watters: And, and that’s why you see a big shift in viewing preference, going from television to this sort of format. Uh, I’ve noticed a big shift in it.
[00:10:58] Ted Hampton: How long have you
[00:10:58] been doing this?
[00:11:00] Ed Watters: I’ve been dabbling since 07, 2007 is my first dabble in it, but I didn’t really get serious until about two years ago.
[00:11:11] Well, I guess three years ago now, and it really changed my life. See myself, I went through many incidents in life where I shouldn’t be here today. And I, I wanted to have them just, assisted suicide for me. I, I was tired of pain and hurting and I just wanted to get on and blow steam. I was mad and I found out, Hey, this is actually a way to heal. This,
[00:11:49] I found can relieve so much trauma by talking about it. And that’s what the beauty of this is, you, you can really heal people through outlining what they went through because somebody else has been there. That’s why I like what you’re doing, Ted.
[00:12:09] Ted Hampton: Well,
[00:12:09] that’s kind of what our podcast is predicated on, is trauma. My trauma somewhat, and a lot of Megan’s.
[00:12:16] If we hadn’t experienced that trauma, I don’t think we would be doing this kind of work that we’re doing today. I don’t think we’d have the insight, I, I just don’t think I’d have the tools. You can’t unless you’ve gone through that.
[00:12:28] Ed Watters: That, that’s so true, Ted. And, you know, I, I see so many people going to counseling that they really don’t get help because their counselor has not lived through some traumatic incident.
[00:12:43] So they don’t have the wisdom behind being a victim of whatever happened. And I don’t wanna, uh, say being a victim is good because you don’t wanna be a victim, you’re a survivor. I should say being a survivor.
[00:13:01] Ted Hampton: But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying victim either because when I think about Megan’s story and the article that I was reading about her, when I first approached her, it was, she was running for her literal life.
[00:13:12] This guy had busted out the window at the Mandalay Bay and he just started using the assault rifle and started trying to pick people off. So I definitely don’t have a problem saying shooting victim. But she’s definitely a survivor too, no question about it.
[00:13:24] Ed Watters: Yes. Yes. And, and they’re, they intertwine so much and
[00:13:31] our, our political correctness out there really says you’ve gotta be careful about this. And I think we’re getting away from that and bringing truth back to the world where people are not afraid to speak out, you shouldn’t be afraid to speak your mind.
[00:13:51] Ted Hampton: I couldn’t agree more and that’s really the opportunity that we wanna give people. This, here’s the platform say what you have to say, cuz we want to hear it.
[00:14:00] Ed Watters: Yeah. So what is the timeline for Vegas for you, Ted?
[00:14:07] Ted Hampton: We
[00:14:08] had the whole thing with, we had looked at House Of Blues and we got a quote on how to play at House Of Blues. And that’s when Megan and I came up with the bigger event. You know, how entrepreneurs are, you don’t have enough challenges. So you take on a bigger project than you initially planned.
[00:14:23] So we were gonna do House Of Blues, which seats 1500, and then we just came up with the Community Celebration Of Hopes And Dreams, which should be a, just a big event. So we wanna do that for October the 1st, this year, that’s what we’re striving for. Now to bring our show to the strip, I act, I’m actually in discussions with, uh, contract builders in Las Vegas on how to build out something similar to the House Of Blues and then to put our offices up above that.
[00:14:49] So I’m gonna be pitching that to investors just as soon as I can, so hopefully Ed, maybe hopefully within the next year, year and a half. Because we want to use existing [00:15:00] structure, that’s what we’re going for. We wanna use existing structure in Vegas, maybe at the north end of the strip, so they’re gonna try to help us find a property, secure it, and build this out and we’ll go from there.
[00:15:11] Ed Watters: Well, you know, I have noticed there is a big growth in podcasting around Las Vegas.
[00:15:20] Ted Hampton: I have too.
[00:15:21] Ed Watters: And it’s a trend and everybody wants in it and really this is perfect for Las Vegas. Because, you know, I know it goes way back into history, they’ve brought these shows onto stage and even talk shows. It’s an awesome idea, Ted.
[00:15:40] Ted Hampton: That I lived, I’ve lived there for about seven or eight years back in the late 90, yeah, late nineties, early two thousands. So I saw a lot of what worked and that’s what gave me the idea, hey, this would be perfect for Las Vegas, especially since the revitalizing the north end of the strip down by Fremont.
[00:15:55] That whole area’s just up and coming and really booming with artists and whatnot. So that’s the area that we’re looking at.
[00:16:02] Ed Watters: Yeah. There’s many, many people actually diving in from the podcasting industry looking into Vegas. And there’s many other places around the world, you know, Memphis and those highlight areas.
[00:16:18] Ted Hampton: Right.
[00:16:18] Ed Watters: They, they are really interested in podcasting. Uh, the numbers keep soaring and they grow year after year, usually, uh, you see those declines.
[00:16:32] Ted Hampton: Taper off at least.
[00:16:33] Right.
[00:16:34] Ed Watters: Yes. Yes.
[00:16:34] Ted Hampton: I know.
[00:16:35] Ed Watters: But there’s a steady inclination into podcasting and what it’s developing into because you’re changing right now from podcasting 2.0, or 1.0 to 2.0 and we’re traversing into web 3.0.
[00:16:55] So there’s a lot of this change right now and this is the time to be doing what you’re doing, Ted.
[00:17:01] Ted Hampton: A lot of
[00:17:02] growth opportunities in this industry. We wanna tie our podcast in with our live shows. So it’s, it’s gonna be a whole network and it’s all gonna link together hopefully, cohesively.
[00:17:13] Ed Watters: How can people help you do
[00:17:16] this
[00:17:17] and get you started?
[00:17:18] Ted Hampton: Promote us on Instagram, put us out on Facebook, let people know that we wanna host this annual event in Las Vegas, we wanna bring this show to the Las Vegas strip. Any kind of publicity is great for us.
[00:17:31] Ed Watters: And how, how do people get ahold of you to get on your show?
[00:17:37] Ted Hampton: Great question.
[00:17:38] If you want us to pitch us, or if you want us to pitch you, I should say, hit us up at pitchmethepodcast@gmail.com. We’re on Instagram at pitch me the podcast and also on Facebook pitch me the podcast.
[00:17:53] Ed Watters: So how long have you been doing this, Ted?
[00:17:56] Ted Hampton: We’ve started the podcast, I guess, about four months ago.
[00:18:01] And we didn’t have a really long first season, Christmas came up on us really quick. But it was just such an incredible experience, I’d never done this before. And so I’m experiencing for the first time, kind of what you said about how this podcast is very healing. I, I found that to be true with myself,
[00:18:17] very, very therapeutic in a lot of different avenues. So I’m, I’m just really blown away by the, the power, the healing power that podcasting has.
[00:18:27] Ed Watters: Yeah. Well, I love to promote podcasters and I like to work with podcasters. If I can help you in any way, make sure you reach out because I like to get involved with people.
[00:18:38] And actually there’s a few individuals I want to send your way, I’ll do that some time here in the near future.
[00:18:48] Ted Hampton: Sure.
[00:18:49] Ed Watters: Uh, what, what type of, uh, person are you actually looking for to get on your show, basically? Is it just podcasters?
[00:19:02] Ted Hampton: Well, for right now, that’s how we’re kind of vetting, for the lack of a better word,
[00:19:07] but what we’d ideally like to do is have people come on our podcast. And then once we have our own network and our own show in Las Vegas, have them come on there and do that show live and pitch us in front of the audience and in front of our streaming audience. So probably someone who’s not afraid to speak in public, someone who’s very focused and driven.
[00:19:26] Entertaining always helps, but there’s no hard, fast rule. It’s just someone who’s really got an incredible story and who wants to promote their own brand, their own business in any form, in any industry, we love it all.
[00:19:41] Ed Watters: Yeah. I, I, I’m right behind you, Ted, I love what you’re doing. Is there anything you would like to share with our audience,
[00:19:52] like anything you’d like them to do besides get involved with you? [00:20:00]
[00:20:00] Ted Hampton: I think that if we could somehow, I’d like to really focus on this live event for the, October the 1st. To commemorate the, the communities and the families that were affected by the, by the shooting. So if anybody can help promote that, we’d like to maybe have some of the artists that were there.
[00:20:17] It was a country music festival, so if any of the country artists would be open to helping us out, promote this event, that would be great. Just anything to help get this off the ground, cuz we really wanna do this right. And this is gonna help get us some of the people, that we hope, to come on our network and develop shows for them as well.
[00:20:34] So it’s kind of, you know, a hodgepodge of, of concepts that we wanna melt together.
[00:20:42] Ed Watters: All right. Well, Ted, I thank you for sharing what you’re doing on our podcast.
[00:20:47] Ted Hampton: Yes, sir. Thank you.
[00:20:49] Ed Watters: We, we really look forward to seeing more of Ted and Meg. Please keep going, a lot of people like to podfade because it’s not up there in the numbers,
[00:21:03] it will do good. Just give it time.
[00:21:07] Ted Hampton: We don’t
[00:21:07] even worry about that. Once you, once you know the direction and once you know what you’re capable of, I don’t sweat it anymore, I know this is gonna work out.
[00:21:16] Ed Watters: Awesome. Thank you, Ted.
[00:21:18] Ted Hampton: Thank you, Ed.
[00:21:18] Ed Watters: And you enjoy the rest
[00:21:19] of your day.
[00:21:20] Ted Hampton: Yes, sir. You do the same.
[00:21:24] Ed Watters: Thank you for joining us today. If you found this podcast enlightening, entertaining, educational in any way, please share, like, subscribe, and join us right back here next week for another great episode of Dead America Podcast. I’m Ed Watters your host, enjoy your afternoon wherever you may be.
