In news cycles dominated by state and national issues, staying plugged in to the goings-on of your local community has perhaps never been more important.
Jacob Mullins, president of Premier Bank of the South, saw that need in Cullman County and was inspired to start his podcast, "Off Air with Jacob Mullins," nearly three years ago as a dedicated outlet for people to learn about and stay connected with their community leaders.
Michael Sapp, a local software developer and owner of My Cullman Television, soon joined as Mullins' co-host, changing the name of the show to "Off Air with Jacob Mullins and Michael Sapp." The two have since seen massive growth in their audience as they've sat down to interview local leaders, business owners, politicians and more.
"We started very small, just wanted to give a program that was able to give back to the community," Mullins told 1819 News. "We wanted to have local leaders on and give them a voice, but instead of a normal sit-down interview that felt stuffy, we really wanted to give people a chance to see the individual."
Valuing authentic conversations over canned soundbites, Mullins and Sapp said they do little preparation for their shows beyond booking guests.
"The less that I know about people going into it, the better, because then it really does feel like I get to ask questions from an ignorant standpoint, which I believe makes it more authentic," Mullins said. "It's not professional from that standpoint. But that's what I think is the appeal to show because it seems like it's just what everyday people want to be able to ask these people that they see, and instead of getting the standard boilerplate answers, you actually get to see what they think."
My Cullman Television, which has provided over 25 years of local programming for Cullman County, produces "Off Air," Sapp said, which publishes about one episode per week.
"It's a good production quality, but as far as we go, we don't change," Sapp said. "We're just a couple of Cullman boys asking questions to whoever's sitting in front of us… We like to focus on what I say, arts and entertainment in the community, but really, we do a lot of news lately: local news, feel-good stories, history. Just kind of focusing on the people of the community."
Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry has been an audience favorite, Sapp and Mullins said, as has 1819's own Bryan Dawson, who made a recent appearance.
"That was, in all seriousness, one of our favorite shows, the one that people ask us about probably the most," Sapp said.
He continued, "Our favorite thing we hear, the best compliment, in my opinion, is we hear a lot of people say things like, 'I didn't really know that person. I felt like I got to really know them and they seem like a really awesome person.'"
Mullins, who said his favorite guest is his wife, gave the example of a local nonprofit that saw significant benefits from appearing on the show.
"We had someone on that's in charge of a nonprofit, and they were able to tell us a story of how them coming on the show positively impacted, from a financial standpoint, their nonprofit," he said. "You want to talk about something that's rewarding because, again, we don't know why we're doing it, but when you hear that it's really positively impacted somebody, man, that's cool."
"Off Air" can be found primarily on Facebook, though Sapp said they plan to "branch out" onto other platforms soon.
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