FORT HOOD, Texas - When the Dec. 2 episode of Fort Hood’s Great Big Podcast dropped online, highlighting the professionals from Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center’s Women’s Health Center followed by a movie and book review, it did more than simply try to inform and entertain this Central Texas military community.
It reached a major milestone.
That show, co-hosted and produced by Samantha Farlow of the Fort Hood Public Affairs Office, was the show’s 100th episode. Farlow, who began co-hosting the weekly podcast in June and taking on producer duties in September, said producing the weekly show is one of the highlights of her work-week. Hitting the century mark had her beaming.
“It’s magical,” Farlow, who also serves as the U.S. Army Garrison – Fort Hood social media manager and webmaster, said. “Fort Hood is so big, and is filled with so many stories to tell. We’re, by no means, subject-matter-experts, but as we learn more, it’s great to pass that on to our community.”
Her co-hosts for that milestone-making episode were a pair of Soldiers from the 11th Corps Signal Brigade: Spc. Garrett Dacko and newly-promoted Cpl. Kyra Pearl. Pearl re-enlisted recently to change her military occupation specialty from the Signal Corps to public affairs. She'll begin her formal training at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland in March.
“It gave me on-the-job experience and confidence in my ability,” Pearl said. “You get to talk to so many people. It’s amazing practice. Once I realized that I knew what I was doing, I knew I wanted to do this forever.”
The current cast of co-hosts, all 20-something Millennials, is vastly younger than the original crew who got the podcast off the ground on Dec. 16, 2019. The dynamic then was one Millennial (then-Spc. Brianna Doo), a Gen-Xer (producer Charlie Maib) and even a Baby Boomer (Command Information Officer Dave Larsen), but the intent was the same: inform and entertain … in a unique way.
“I grew up listening to talk radio, not podcasts. Podcasts didn’t exist then. So, my concept of what a podcast should sound like was much closer to the format of classic talk radio, minus the callers, of course,” Maib said. “If we could have worked callers into the mix, I would have loved it! I did take some time to listen to what other military podcasts sounded like and found them to be very dry. That reinforced my decision to move forward with a looser, ‘talk radio’ style format.”
Maib left the show when he moved on to a new public affairs position with the U.S. Corps of Engineers at Camp Zama, Japan, in November of 2020. Larsen stepped away from the microphone in mid-June, and Sgt. Brianna Doo departed at the end of October … taping her last episode on her final day in the Army.
“It was important (to me) because it was a culmination of my service with public affairs, and with the Army in general,” Sgt. Doo, who recently retired from the 1st Cavalry Division Band, said. “I wanted to go out doing something I enjoyed, and work in (it) for as long as possible.”
“I’m proud of the work the original crew did on the show, but I’m equally proud that Sam and the new crew have taken what we created and made it their own,” Maib said. “I think it’s great that they have a vision and they’re not afraid to make it happen. I’m just honored that they’ve all been such good stewards to see this through to 100 episodes.”
Over its two-year run, in addition to helping to keep the community informed of events, programs and activities, Fort Hood’s Great Big Podcast has tackled many sensitive topics, from the onset of the pandemic, to the disappearance of Fort Hood Soldiers, suicide prevention, sexual harassment and assault prevention and the III Corps’ efforts to instill a “People First” culture throughout its formations.
“It is important for senior leaders to use a variety of communication methods, like the podcast, to reach a variety of audiences,” Tom Rheinlander, director of Fort Hood Public Affairs, said. “It’s about transparency, to discuss topics that make you reflect on yourself, your teammates and on our military community as a whole. We will continue to do that.”
“I can’t wait,” Maib added, “to hear what the next 100 episodes have in store!”
“A lot of valuable information and a lot more laughs,” Farlow promised, “as we continue to try and entertain people on their Thursdays. Hopefully, (we’re telling) more stories about the amazing Soldiers stationed here at Fort Hood and about the many services and programs we provide to them and their families.”
The podcast populates online each Thursday morning, at midnight, at www.thegreatbigpodcast.com. A link to the show is also available on the installation’s homepage, www.home.army.mil/hood.
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