Podcasting About Sports With Father and Son Hosting Duo Mike and Brian Mountan

Mike and Brian Mountan are a father and son duo who together host the Bri The Sports Guy podcast. They both love watching, playing, and talking about sports. Brian has an unusual gift for being able to remember and recall stats and history about sports that most of us often forget. They also have a very close father and son relationship and planned starting their podcast together to coincide with Brian graduating from high school and Mike retiring from his finance career.  

Mike is a native of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. He received his BA and an MBA from Northwest University in Evanston, Illinois. He spent 13 years with Procter & Gamble and 18 years with Johnson & Johnson in a variety of finance roles including VP of Finance for Johnson & Johnson's Consumer Division Asia Pacific based in Singapore and Global CFO of Johnson & Johnson's diabetes care business. Mike also serves on the board for the Jacksonville School for Autism and is chairman of the finance committee of St Joseph Academy.

Brian is a 20 year old who was diagnosed at age 3 with autism. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and has lived in Jacksonville, Florida twice. He’s also lived in Singapore and San Ramon, California. Brian graduated from high school in May of 2019 and has been working on the podcast ever since. In addition to sports broadcasting and blogging, Brian also works at the Brooks YMCA. You are going to love this conversation as we dive into their sports podcast and the wonderful father and son dynamic that flows throughout the show. 

Show Notes:

• [04:04] Growing up, Mike watched a lot of sports and played a lot of sports.
• [04:16] When Brian and his brother were born, his family tried to get them involved in as many sports as possible.
• [04:41] Brian is six feet and six inches tall. He's a great basketball player and a great golfer.
• [05:03] Mike grew up watching sports on TV. He was fortunate to grow up in Wisconsin, a state that had all of the pro teams.
• [06:02] Brian's mom thought the podcast would be a good idea after Brian graduated from high school. They've done over a hundred and thirty two episodes now.
• [07:21] Mike and his family knew that Brian had a gift. Mike shares a story about Brian talking about a game, and a nearby restaurant patron being amazed at everything he could remember.
• [09:50] Students are really being impacted by the shutdown.
• [10:23] The baseball and basketball seasons have been put on hold, so the NFL is one of the main things they have to talk about right now.
• [11:50] They are doing a free agency review by division. Then they'll do an NFC and AFC draft preview. Then they'll talk about what they think about the upcoming teams. They're hopeful that by late May, they will see some broadcasts.
• [15:22] They subscribe to many sports resources in order to go deep in their podcast.
• [16:22] They would rather have too much content as opposed to too little content. They plan out in advance which sports they will talk about during the week.
• [18:07] They do three podcasts a week, and they have a sponsor. 
• [19:22] Brian talks about some of the awesome guests that they have had on the show.
• [20:19] They would love to get the manager of the Milwaukee Brewers on the show. His name is Craig Counsell. They are also trying to make some connections with local golfers and the Jaguars.
• [23:03] Mike timed his retirement to Brian's graduation, so they could both start the podcast together.
• [24:53] Mike has always been a workaholic, so the podcast gives him a lot to work on with so many different sports to cover.
• [25:32] They came up with the idea around Christmas of 2018.
• [26:40] Sports podcasting is a very crowded space. They did the show for their friends and to show the autism community that there's a lot of practical things they can do.
• [27:44] They define success by having a lot of great content and having fun. 
• [30:29] People in Florida are really interested in hearing them talk about football.
• [31:33] They use a lot of different magazines to help keep things straight when covering college football.
• [32:41] The NBA is the easiest to cover because of the stability.
• [33:06] They take notes and get their research the old-fashioned way.
• [34:39] Brian has learned planning and not procrastinating from his parents. 
• [36:12] Mike learned social skills from his dad and work ethic from his grandparents. 
• [37:06] Mike would like to expand their audience. 
• [39:26] They would also like to cover the Milwaukee Bucks NBA game live. 
• [42:48] Darrell's takeaways: The way Mike and Brian interact shows how special their relationship is. The subject of their content has been significantly reduced because they are covering sports. They've adapted, and they're focusing deeper on the draft. They're making the most of the situation they have. They have reduced their schedule to two episodes per week instead of three. Think about your contingency plan in case of a dry spell. Look for inspiration for content. Cover what's most important and build your schedule around that.

Links and Resources:

• Pro Podcast Solutions
• Bri The Sports Guy
• Mike Mountan on Facebook
• E132: Our interview with NY Post columnist and 2020 NY state baseball hall of fame inductee Kevin Kernan
• [email protected]