RERUN: First Around The River; S04 E15

When I look back over the 6 years we were doing the podcast, I sort of wonder which episode would I want to hang my hat on, which is the one that I think is the best representation about what we did. This episode is probably that one.

The story of how we came across Skipper Warren Asa is a strange one, and after we had our interview the guys at the OC Register went out and did a video and text interview of him. He's one of two Skippers that we interviewed who were there on the first week of Disneyland's operation. Skipperette Jen had just joined our operation a few months before, and a week before this episode went up, we were featured on The Nerdist podcast. Our episodes then started blowing up and we were getting 40,000 listens per episode. We made a few mistakes on how we handled all that early publicity, but in the long run it was still a great time and a great rush. I was handling a totally different operation in the space of a few weeks. I started getting more serious about what we were doing, about content, and about how we promoted. It was sort of the glory days of the podcast, and I'm so happy that I got to have this part of the journey.

<< Originally posted March 17th, 2015>>

What a strange and wonderful journey around the River that this podcast has been, my friends. Well, today, it gets even more strange and wonderful.

When I started this back in 2011, I never expected that eventually I would be interviewing a Skipper from the 1950's, let alone a Skipper like Warren Asa. Warren's first day in a bote was July 17, 1955, on the opening day of Disneyland. He was among the first of his kind, helping create both the adventure of Disneyland, and the adventures in the Jungle. I was really lucky to get to spend an hour chatting with him about what brought him to Disneyland, his time as a Skipper, and a bit about his life. It was a wonderful interview, and I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Skipper Kyle