On episode nineteen of The Platform Podcast I sit down with one of my favorite people, Wisconsin Badgers Hall of Fame tight end and New York Giants Super Bowl Champion, Travis Beckum.

Travis and I are best friends and former roommates but now that I live in Nashville, I see him a lot less. Being able to catch up with him over the weekend in Madison, enjoy some games and see what he's doing now at the university was special.

I asked Travis about his decision process when it came to picking a school, and how he ultimately ended up staying home to play for Wisconsin.

Going from a super star in high school to not playing much his first year with the team. What that was like and how he transitioned from the defensive side of the ball, to the offensive side where he could make more of an impact.

Now back working with the university where he played, he discusses his current role and how he's able to offer his insight to current student athletes.

How important it is to set yourself up for life after sports and how being tunnel visioned can affect that drastically for most athletes.

Building a brand as a player and using to market yourself on and off the field.

Being drafted to an NFL team, playing for the Giants, winning a Super Bowl and the struggles with injuries throughout his career. The constant battle to try and keep his body healthy.

DJ life, how music became an outlet after football.

Being praised for making big hits, without realizing the damage you can be causing to another human.

Follow Travis on his socials:

https://www.instagram.com/travisbeckum/

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode eighteen of The Platform Podcast I sit down with one of my best friend's, Josh Ryan.

I've known Josh for a long time now since his days of bartending at one of Milwaukee's most popular bars, The Loaded Slate. Aside from being his best friend, he's also my girlfriend's brother...

We backtrack to when Mattie and I first started dating and Josh gives his version of what went down.

Rec league superstar! Josh stays young playing sports all the time, something that we all make jokes about constantly. Between hockey, softball, volleyball and kickball...he's racking up the rec league championships.

After being diagnosed with testicular cancer, Josh was able to beat it and is doing great. How he found out that Sunday years ago and the "bumpy road" he took to beat it.

The nightlife scene in Milwaukee is very close and Josh was very well known in the city bartending at one of the hot spots. After finding out he was diagnosed with cancer, the entire service industry came out to support and raised over $10,000.

Milwaukee wasn't great to Josh when he first moved here. From getting locked out of his apartment to his encounter with a homeless woman, he almost moved right back to Chicago.

Josh belongs to one of the wildest fantasy football leagues I've ever seen with punishment's that involve tattoos, bus trips alone across the country, having to do stand up comedy and more.

Follow Josh on his socials:

https://www.instagram.com/josh_ryan21/

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode seventeen of The Platform Podcast I sit down with two of Nashville’s most popular nightlife content creators, Ryan and Patrick from Winning Productions.

Ryan started this company a couple years ago and in that short amount of time has been able to organically build his brand and client portfolio working with companies like Barstool and some of the best athletes in the world like George Kittle.

In what is now a social media and content driven world, we talk about how important it is to have the “sexiest” looking content to represent yourself or your brand.

Have creative freedom and trust from the clients that they work with is very important to them both but that’s something they had to work hard to gain from everyone they’ve worked with in the past, present and will work with in the future.

People often see the work in the moment, the shots in the nightclub, following out the bottle girls or working with athletes and may think it’s not that hard…what they don’t see if the hours of editing that goes on behind closed doors. Sifting thru hours of video to put it all together in one amazing minute long clip.

Using your name and social media outlets to further build your brand, your connection with followers and bring in business! How important it is to utilize all your tools and if you aren’t doing that, you’re actually losing money.

Working as a team! Knowing what each others strengths are and not being afraid to use each other to create the best final product they can for their clients.

Connect with Ryan, Patrick and Winning Productions on their socials!

Ryan

https://www.instagram.com/ryanwinn44/

Patrick

https://www.instagram.com/maciel.p.h/

Winning Productions

IG: https://www.instagram.com/winningproductionsusa/

Web: https://www.winningproductionsusa.com

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode sixteen of The Platform Podcast I sit down with my first audio engineer or the show, James Myrick.

James has been in Nashville for a couple years and has already made a name for himself honing in his skills as an audio engineer at his favorite place in Nashville, Whiskey Row.

One thing I had to get use to in Nashville was basically always having sound engineers on site. In Milwaukee and Chicago I always hooked stuff up myself for the most part so having experienced professionals is really a game changer that can determine the success of a night.

James and I break down Whiskey Jam and their move from Midtown to Broadway.

We talk about supporting local acts that play at events like Whiskey Jam, and how important it is to show support for friends that could be the next big star.

I feel like every time I walk in to Whiskey Row, James is working. We talk about being driven to work to the point that it takes away time from friends and family.

Connect with James on his socials!

IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamesmyrickaudio

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode fifteen of The Platform Podcast I sit down with two roommates, Nashville resident DJs Recess and Mojo.

These two not only share a passion for music but also share a roof. You can tell they live together throughout the episode as they get into a little back and forth throughout.

We discuss the thriving music scene in Nashville, a city known for talented artists and musicians.

How much is too much to spend on record pools? Investing t in DJ record pools and subscriptions is a must to improve your sets, Mojo talks about how he spends $250 a month to find the best tracks and stay at the forefront of musical trends.

The importance of venues having top-notch equipment, from lights, CO2, fog machines and LED walls that help contribute to creating an atmosphere that the crowd can enjoy more.

I bring up playing hesitant as a DJ and how being comfortable at a venue allows you to play better.

Rapid Fire! What is the most important attribute of a DJ?

Connect with our guests on their socials!

Recess: https://www.instagram.com/justrecess/

Mojo: https://www.instagram.com/themojodah/

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode Fourteen of The Platform Podcast, I have the pleasure of sitting down with two lifelong friends, Strategy and Cutswell.

Originally from Chicago, Strategy recently made a move to Houston, a decision that was made three years ago at the beginning of COVID. Now, as he heads back to the Windy City, he's invited along one of his close friends, Cutswell, who calls Scottsdale, Arizona home. Together, they're taking a cross-country journey, with pit stops at some of their new favorite spots along the way.

We kick things off with a recap of their travels, from the popular streets of Houston to the unforgettable experiences they had in New Orleans.

Strategy dives into some exciting life changes he's planning and shares some breaking news!

Cutswell gives his thoughts on the value of not just taking gigs for the money, but also for the experiences they can offer and the potential to build a larger network.

Given their different approaches to representation, one with an agent and the other without, we talk pros and cons of both paths and how they each made their decisions.

Strategy offers up some secret sauce on how he provides value for venues and gets them to open their wallets a little more in the process.

Cutswell asks how I am liking Nashville, talks about how the talent here sets itself apart from other cities and what the agency scene is like here.

Connect with our guests on their socials!

Strategy

IG: https://www.instagram.com/partywithstrategy__/

Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/partywithstrategy

Patreon: Patreon.com/partywithstrategy

Cutswell

IG: https://www.instagram.com/cutswellaz/

As always, thank you for your support. Catch the latest episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube, or tune in on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Don't forget to subscribe to The Platform Mix for weekly hour-long DJ mixes, available every Monday on Apple Podcasts, Mixcloud, or SoundCloud. For the best moments from the show, find us on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Be sure to follow me, @DJDexMKE, across all social platforms. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

For access to exclusive downloads of my top tracks of the week, subscribe to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke.

On episode thirteen of The Platform Podcast, I sit down with a bunch of dudes who reside right here in Nashville!

Travis is the only non-DJ in the group today but has been around the block overseeing establishments in Washington, D.C. and now here in Nashville. He runs his own podcast called, "Just a Dude" and we did a little collaboration with both our shows! Joining us are some DJs from the Nashville scene including, Houndstooth, Rod Youree and Moose!

With multiple DJs and Travis' management background, we talk about the industry in Nashville and ways we think it differs from other cities we've all traveled to or lived in and how we think it could improve.

Nashville is an incredible city when it comes to entertainment, but it's much different than others when it comes to booking entertainment. With so many venues needing entertainment every day, quality control isn't the easiest thing to do. Some agencies aren't even based out of Nashville, yet they still do the booking for venues without even knowing the talent or hearing them.

We got on the topic of taking gigs for the clout even when you know you aren't necessarily the best fit for the gig. We talk about how not all DJs are fortunate enough to turn down gigs although it may be the better option.

We discuss DJs playing for themselves vs playing for the crowd. The line you have to walk between playing music that like and enjoy vs what the consumers spending money want to hear.

On top of that we get into a whole bunch more, tune in and find out!

Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon, which you can try for free for a week, to see the full set lists from every show on The Platform Mix as well as every guests top tracks of the week.

Follow the guests on their socials!

Just a Dude

https://www.instagram.com/justadudeofficial/

Houndstooth

https://www.instagram.com/djhoundstooth/

Rod Youree

https://www.instagram.com/djrodyouree/

Moose

https://www.instagram.com/moose.audio/

As always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Watch new episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Subscribe to The Platform Mix to listen to hour long DJ mixes every Monday on Apple Podcast, Mixcloud or SoundCloud. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Follow me, @DJDexMKE on all socials. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

Download my top tracks of the week by subscribing to my Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke

On episode twelve of The Platform Podcast, I sit down with a phenomenal producer and DJ, Landis!

Landis and I have known each other for a few years and finally got to sit down and talk about his journey in the music industry.

He's grown as a producer and DJ and even started his own record label, "Fresh Squeeze." On top of that he co-founded Wired Sound Academy with DJ Crespo where they pass along their DJ and production knowledge to others.

I asked Landis about social media and how big a part that plays in the current landscape of music.

Content creation isn't easy but it's 100% needed in the industry. Landis talks about how he creates content for himself and what works for others. We even discuss if we think every artist is their authentic self or if they play a character on social media to fit their brand.

Being signed to a major label like Don Diablo's "Hexagon" is a huge deal. He talks about the opportunities he's gotten since being signed and the resources he has access to as well.

Don't forget to subscribe to my Patreon, which you can try for free for a week, to see the full set lists from every show on The Platform Mix as well as every guests top tracks of the week.

Follow Landis, his label and Academy on Instagram!

Landis: https://www.instagram.com/landisofficial/

Fresh Squeeze: https://www.instagram.com/freshsqueezehq/

Wired Sound Academy: https://www.instagram.com/wiredsoundacademy_/

As always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Watch new episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Subscribe to The Platform Mix to listen to hour long DJ mixes every Monday on Apple Podcast, Mixcloud or SoundCloud. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Follow me, @DJDexMKE on all socials. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

Download my top tracks of the week by subscribing to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke

On episode eleven of The Platform Podcast, I sit down with multiple guests at once, OMGPRKR and MGR Mike!

Matt and Mike have become very close friends over the years aligning their common interests in both DJing and producing music. Although they’ve had completely different journeys along the way, they both ultimately made the jump to pursuit music as a full time job.

With both of them recently putting out new originals (At The Disco by MGR Mike, and All Day by OMGPRKR), they get into what it takes to push new music and how to do it the RIGHT WAY.

Nashville has plenty of talented artists and going outside of your typical crowd can give you insight into new ways of writing, producing and more. Matt talks about working with Brady Riley and connecting with a world of artists he otherwise never would’ve seen himself crossing paths with. He also teases a new track they’re working on and it sounds like a hit!

As a DJ there’s a never ending discussion on requests. We dive into it yet again, as well as discuss how important it is to introduce the crowd to new music.

Matt and Mike tell their stories about past experiences they’ve dealt with regarding racist management/ownership. Sadly, I think it’s something that most DJs will have similar experiences with.

Nashville DJs vs other cities, I explain why I think Nashville’s nightlife actually hurts the DJs as opposed to other cities where it makes them adapt to more difficult situations with the crowd.

The never ending battle between balancing your life as a DJ and your life as a producer. Matt and Mike talk about their week to week schedule and how they find the time and motivation to work on music as a DJ and an artist.

Always playing with 100% effort. Not every gig is in front of a packed crowd, but you never know who is going to be there to listen to you play. Mike reflects on an opportunity he may have missed out on due to having an off night.

Follow our two guests for today's show on their socials

OMGPRKR: https://www.instagram.com/omgprkr/

Manager Mike: https://www.instagram.com/mgr.mike/

As always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Watch new episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Subscribe to The Platform Mix to listen to hour long DJ mixes every Monday on Apple Podcast, Mixcloud or SoundCloud. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Follow me, @DJDexMKE on all socials. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

Download my top tracks of the week by subscribing to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke

On episode ten of The Platform Podcast, I sit down with the GM of the brand new Barstool Nashville, Iga!

She packed up and moved to Nashville just a few years ago without ever being to the city once or seeing what it had to offer. It's safe to say, she's doing more than alright now.

Previously working with Tao Group in New York, she transitioned into a role at Nashville's Twelve Thirty Club and even worked a 9-5 before taking a position to open Barstool just a few months ago on June 23rd, 2023.

Opening a bar with ZERO staff training. How not only trusting your staff, but having the trust from ownership made everything easy.

Being a female in the nightlife industry with a management role isn't easy and Iga speaks on her experience so far and how she strives to be better to prove people wrong.

Since opening, they've been able to keep the party going even while being off of Broadway. We talk about negative comments, the marketing that goes into the bar and the thought process behind having bands, DJs and throwing events that the city has never seen.

Creative marketing brings a unique twist to nightlife that helps her staff be more involved while also giving them a major boost when promoting on social media.

Iga Socials: https://www.instagram.com/iga.obrycka/

As always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Watch new episodes of The Platform Podcast on YouTube and listen to new mix shows every Monday on Apple Podcast, Mixcloud or SoundCloud. Check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show @ThePlatformMix. https://linktr.ee/theplatformmix

Follow me, @DJDexMKE on all socials. https://linktr.ee/djdexmke

Follow our guest for today's show on her socials @iga.obrycka

https://www.instagram.com/iga.obrycka/

Download my top tracks of the week by subscribing to my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/djdexmke