The Headstones & Microphones Podcast: Famous

One of the many things I admired about my dad, Hugh, was his ability to retain so many little-known facts about people. Whether he was using them in conversation or acting as my personal search engine for the first 24 years of my life (a friend showed me the internet in 1996), he just knew the most random stuff. It was impressive.

Fast-forward to 2026 (my dad passed away seven years ago), and my son, Landon, sent me a podcast that he had asked AI to make for him so he could study a pilot manual in a more engaging way. I was blown away. I realized my dad knew way more prior to the internet, and my five kids know way more about current technology than I do.

I felt stuck, so I decided to bridge the generation gap. I wanted to quit wasting my spare time watching shows, scrolling mindlessly, or playing games on my phone. I met with a good friend, Chris, who shares my love of podcasts, and we put this project together. This is AI at its best: combining deep-dive research with one of the world’s most successful forms of information dissemination—the podcast.

This isn't going to be a perfect podcast where we try to mimic the exact mannerisms or voices of these unique individuals; we only use a few easy-to-listen-to voices alongside the host. This podcast does not try to persuade or get political. If the answers do not exist, then the questions do not get asked. We also tried to keep the episodes short to accommodate our shrinking attention spans.

Feel free to send over helpful topics, names, or suggestions. I hope you learn something about these unique people that you didn’t know already. As I read the scripts and listen to these episodes myself, I feel closer to my dad and his love of fascinating facts and people.

I chose Bart Starr as our first guest because he was my dad’s all-time favorite quarterback. I chose W.K. Kellogg as the second guest because my mom worked at Kellogg’s as a teenager. Finally, I chose Rod Serling as the third guest because, as a middle-aged man, I often feel like I’m living in The Twilight Zone he created. I still remember my friends’ phone numbers from our old rotary phone, yet I can’t believe what AI is currently doing to revolutionize everything.

We will add new weekly episodes to our 3 different podcasts-  Headstones and Microphones… Famous, Infamous, and Founder Stories.

If you like it, please follow and share. Thanks, Tim