Remaster Project Introduction

I have decided to remaster the Ghosts of Arlington podcast. If you would like to know (or if you're new to podcast), give this a listen. -ji

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome, dear listener, and thank you for checking out the Ghosts of Arlington podcast. I have been working on this passion project for more than five years, something that still blows my mind, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. When I started this podcast, I was about to separate from the U.S. Army much earlier than I had planned and was trying to come to grips with the fact that I wasn't going to serve 20 or more years like I always thought I would. This project helped me process a lot of feelings surrounding that major life event. This has always been an amateur passion project, but I have just gained access to a professional recording studio and decided that I am going to remaster this whole series, about 175 episodes, while I take an extended break from producing new content. I have no idea how long the remastering will take, I'm only allowed studio time one day a month, so I imagine it will not be a quick process. If you are new to the show, I encourage you to continue listening. While the older recordings aren't studio perfect, it's not like I was recording into a tin can either. I am proud of all aspects of this project, and if you're into history, especially military history, and interesting stories, I think you will like what I've put together. And now for a little legalese. I have no affiliation with Arlington National Cemetery, and my views and comments are my own, and do not reflect any official position of the U.S. Department of Defense or Department of War or any of its sub-organizations. I'm just a guy at a microphone with more than a decade of active duty service experience, sharing stories of fellow veterans, most of whom came before me, and a small few I was privileged to meet in person. I'm not a professional historian, so for the most part, I don't draw conclusions about the stories I tell, I just present the facts as best I can find them, and allow you to analyze the character of the individuals being highlighted, most of whom are complex individuals like the majority of us. With that said, Woodrow Wilson is the worst, and I believe I express that opinion on more than one occasion. In the first episode, labeled by me as Episode Zero, I share some of the specific reasons why I started Ghosts of Arlington and what it means to me. Then in episodes one through 15, I share the story of the history of the cemetery from its founding during the U.S. Civil War right up through more or less modern time. After that, I just talk about people whose stories I found interesting. As the series goes on, I start putting more detail into the stories and they expand from single episodes to multiple episode story arcs, with each episode typically averaging somewhere between 25 to 35 minutes, though it did take me a little bit of time to get to that sweet spot. And there are a few early biographies that went nearly an hour, and I'll probably split those up into parts A and B during this remastering. There are a few longer story arcs that I do tell. In episodes 40 through 84, I focus on the space race as many involved in the U.S. space program ended up in Arlington. And in episodes 121 through 137, I share some stories from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, often better known as the Punch Bowl, which has been called the Arlington of the Pacific. I try to inject some humor and lighter elements into stories where appropriate, and even though I have paused from producing new content so that I can remaster the series, I reserve the right to inject a little new content now and then. Most stories will remain almost exactly as they were when originally presented, just re-recorded for better audio quality. And here is where I want to give a big shout out to the fine folks at Studio 21C in Colorado Springs for access to their equipment. So again, if Ghosts of Arlington sounds like a podcast for you, I would love for you to join me on this ride. And if you would like to reach out, you can send an email to ghosts of Arlington Podcast at gmail.com, although I am not always great about checking it. You can also reach out on the Ghosts of Arlington Facebook page. I'm better at checking that, though still not great. A link to the Facebook page can be found on the podcast website www.ghosts of Arlington.com. All right, I think that's it. Thanks again for giving me a listen, and I hope you'll stick around for a while.