Meet Joe Beard | Owner and Founder of The Marching Podcast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joe Beard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Since moving to California, there are not any black colleges here and I miss being around the band culture. I am also a huge sports fan so I figured that I could create a platform that discusses black college marching bands, similar to sports and help to bring excitement about black colleges to this area.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I started the marching podcast in 2011. I did this because I moved to California in 2006, and I grew up with two parents that went to HBCUs. My father went to Jackson State University, and he was in the marching band, so I saw Jackson State and their marching band growing up all the years of my life and that became important to me in my life. I started playing the trumpet like my father and I knew that I wanted to march in a Black college band. I first went to Johnson C. Smith in 1996 marching in the band there and then transferred to Jackson State in 1997. I marched in the marching band at JState for 3 years and I am proud of that. After I finished my master’s degree I got a job in Nashville, Tennessee where I figured that I was going to live and work. In 2006, the opportunity presented itself to move to California for my career. I noticed that there was not the same influence of historically Black colleges in California because other than Charles Drew medical School, there are no Black colleges here and it is different from it is down south or in the Midwest or even in the Northeast. With the evolution of the internet, I followed bands on YouTube and so I was able to see how bands were doing. As a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, I am responsible for initiating projects that contribute to community development. One of my line brothers Arlondo Campbell (AC) established an academic and athletic camp where students receive educational instruction on various life skills followed by engaging in basketball activities. So, this event inspired me to create something. I wanted to build awareness and excitement for Black college marching bands. So, I started a blog, called the marching blogcast and it was about me documenting my experiences in California connecting to HBCU marching bands.

Next, I thought, to build the content for the blog I need to build a music school. I started to play my trumpet again and thought about teaching lessons where I can expose students to Black colleges and band programs. I joined Twitter to help get the word out for the blog and I found HBCU digest and there was a guy name Jarrett Carter Sr. and he was doing a radio show on a platform called BlogTalkRadio and his company HBCU Digest was a news platform for historically black colleges like ABC or NBC. So, I started to listen to his radio show, and I said wow… This is something that I could do. I joined BlogTalkRadio and then I did my first show, ‘Hello World’ in May of 2012 and from there The Marching Podcast was born. I consulted Jarrett Carter Sr. for advice. He told me to create a website and get on social media as a business. I then wanted to tell everyone what he did so I decided to do an interview with him, and he was my first interview. I talked to him and asked him about how he started and how he got things going. This is when I had the idea of creating a network with multiple shows. One for band discussions and one for interviews. I decided on The 90 Degree Show for bands and Choppin It Up for interviews. I decided on Choppin It Up because another line brother of mine, Darious Carter was always saying ‘Chop It Up’ when referring to talking to someone. I thought this would be a great title for a podcast. For The 90 Degree Show I would ask questions like ‘should there be a win loss total for bands or should hazing be eradicated from bands. I also started watching the videos of performances and gave my opinion on what I saw. That is when I met Rashad Watters and the owner and founder of Block Band Music and Publishing, and Rashad joined The 90 Degree Show. I wanted more credibility on the network, so I reached out to Christy Walker. She is the owner and founder of the Fifth Quarter band forum, and she also started the podcast about the 5th Quarter. I found her on iTunes and started to listen to her show. I reached out to Christy to interview her but also to bring her on The 90 Degree Show.
Later things evolved where I always see the connection with bands and sports. I am a big sports fan, and I saw these shows that talk about sports, and I immediately figured bands can have the same type of format. One thing I thought was cool was how students announced when they graduated high school where they would play in college. From there we created National Signing Day for Marching Bands. Later in talking to Rashad Waters he said, there are directors that he works with in his business. It would be good if you reached out to these directors that are authoring books and creating workshops. So, we then talked to Kevin Davenport who wrote a book ‘Practical Techniques for Building the High School Marching Band: Starting and Developing the Marching Band Program’ and we did an interview series about his book. From there we created the Directors Series where focusing on a band director and book that they wrote or the seminars they created. Since then, the Marching Podcast I believe has grown and viewership and because I have brought on people like Christy Walker and Rashad Waters. We also had someone that listened to the show that gave good thoughts to the show, and we brought her on, Ms. Bridgette Bell, and she always has something very intellectual to say in our show. Then later we brought on Ernest Stackhouse who has his own blog BlockUsUp.com, and his blog is exactly what I originally wanted to do in written format.

Now there are lots of marching band shows that are on the internet now. So many people started on their own and I am proud to say that we were one of the first ones. We are proud of what we have accomplished today, building lives through education but also helping to build excitement and enrollment at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

What sets us out apart from others is the credibility of the people that I have on the show. Everyone on the network has marched in a college band. Christy Walker was one of the first people to start an actual forum for black college students in band to talk about the competition and talk about things that happened in the band world. Bringing in Rashad Waters who is the owner and founder of a business that helps high school band directors create a band program that mirrors HBCU marching bands gives the musical insight and expertise for band discussions. Bridgette Bell is an intellectual with experience running a band program. Working at Morgan State with the great Melvin Miles as band manager and administrator gives the experience of someone who worked in the office making a band program work, jumping through all the hoops, red tape, and politics. When you watch these sports shows there are writers writing their content that they talk about there on television. Ernest Stackhouse is a writer that creates content about bands and can express these ideas on the air. Credibility is what sets The Marching Podcast apart from the rest.

I think what I am most proud of is the National Signing Day for Marching Bands. Being able to highlight a student that is going to graduate high school and telling the world where they are going to march in a college band. That is special, and I am most excited when they graduate. We have students that have graduated that were on our show and they are off doing important things in the world. Andrea Dixon and Kylan Jones will be graduating this spring in 2025. We also have a Manuel Powell who was a drum major in high school, and he listened to the show. He went to Jackson State and became section leader. Nowadays he graduated and he has started his own podcast as well. Alexis Terry is special because she is from California and went to Miles College in Alabama. She graduated and she still lives in Alabama. I am most excited about seeing the students evolve and become productive citizens. We have the receipts that they were on our show and they told the world where they were going to go to college. Now they are doing wonderful things, especially graduating. To have these students on our shows as high school seniors saying where they are going to go to college and then successful and graduating is what I am most excited about. I am also proud of our merch store. Not only wearing The Marching Podcast merch for myself, but having friends and family wearing the merch that supports our network. I am also proud that the Honda Battle of the Bands is coming to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA and I was able to reserve a suite to watch the event. I have invited some friends and family but I am most happy to invite Manuel Castañeda head band director at Centennial High School in Compton, CA and having some of his band students to enjoy the full experience in a suite in SoFi Stadium.

Today I got to where I am business wise from trial and error, support, and advice from people. Was it easy? I do not think anything is easy, that is worth something substantial. Things were not easy like hearing people say dreadful things about you and the show and there were things I did not understand about promoting the show, but you just must continue. The only challenges I have was sometimes, I wish that The Marching Podcast had more likes and followers and was making some money, but at the same time I think that overall, the content and what I’m doing as far as building HBCUs and the connections I’m making are priceless. Our organization was featured in a magazine publication. We had the opportunity to broadcast our show on NBC sports, in 2017. Overcoming a challenge is accepting not having a million subscribers or having sponsors paying me $50,000 a month and being at peace and happy about what I am doing. What lessons have I learned along the way? Money is not going to be the overall deciding factor in what I am doing. I did not start this for money, subscribers, or views. I have learned that love and connection and doing things for others is always going to be most important. I am sure we have metrics and statistics to judge how well you are doing, but I think that the friendships that I have made, and the networking I have done are priceless. When you want to give up that is when something special is about to happen. There have been times, especially since my kids are getting older when I feel like I am spending more money than I am making with The Marching Podcast. It would be better if I did not do it anymore, but my support system is there to keep more going. I have learned to not give up and keep going.

What I want the world to know about me and on my brand and story is The Marching Podcast is for promoting education through marching bands and not only Black college marching bands. I have had people on my show that did not attend HBCUs, people that were directors for predominantly white institutions and people that marched for predominantly white institutions. It is really about the love of marching band based in education where I am trying to provide a career path for young people where they can pick up an instrument and they can have opportunities presented to them. You can also do other things than music, but it involves getting an education and trying your best to finish college. I would love to raise money so that I can give out scholarships and help people pay for college and I want to get students to college and through college. Telling the world about the things that I have been through and how that has put me in a position now to tell my story and hope that it helps someone else. When the world thinks about The Marching Podcast, they are talking about people sharing their stories, how they become successful productive citizens, how they are giving back and starting their own businesses today. Overall, we want to give students an opportunity, and show them the different paths and avenues in life. Empower them to be successful and then have them share their story to the world.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents Joe and Natalie Beard.
My wife Angelica Beard and my kids Kennedy and Alonso Beard
The Jackson State University Marching Band ‘The Sonic Boom of the South’.
The Johnson C. Smith University Marching Band ‘The International Institution of Sound’
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity INC
The Fifth Quarter Band Forum and Podcast started by Christy Walker of North Carolina A&T State University and Michael Lee of Alabama A&M University
Jarrett Carter Sr. Vice-President, External Affairs, Communications & Advancement, Howard Community College
Arlondo Campbell (AC) Omega Psi Phi Fraternity INC
Darious Carter Omega Psi Phi Fraternity INC and Southern University
BlogTalkRadio
Rashad Watters Block Band Music and Publishing and Hampton University
Ernest Stackhouse of BlockUsUp.com and South Carolina State University
Bridgette Bell Hartford County Public Schools in Maryland of Morgan State University
Kevin Davenport Head Band Director at Simmons College

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