By Cara Beth Lewis
“History You Didn’t Know But Should” is a podcast by locals Christopher Carroll and Ray Sheppard. The two men have a love for History, and their goal was to share it with others, all while teaching them something new.
Bladen Online asked the brains behind the podcast a series of questions on the podcast. The questions and answers from Carroll and Sheppard are listed below.
Q: Describe your podcast to us — What is it about? What is it called?
A: “The podcast is called “History You Didn’t Know But Should.” It focuses on various historical topics and people. We try to focus on those aspects of history that most people don’t know. We have recorded episodes on local history such as Governor John Owen, the FFA Camp at White Lake, national history, and a few episodes on ancient history.”
Q: What inspired you to start this podcast? What was your goal?
A: “Chris was the one who had the idea of doing a podcast. As we talked about what we wanted to do with the podcast, we came up with the idea of history you didn’t know. Our goal is to help people learn about history and to share our love of the subject with our audience. We want that passion for the subject to come through on every episode. Individuals have become involved with the importance of history and how history defines and shapes our identity and how it impacts current events. Our desire is to make history engaging, exciting as we take a fresh look at historical topics.”
Q: How do you determine what topics you discuss? Tell us about some of the topics you have covered previously.
A: “We put together topic lists based on what interests us or something we have recently learned about. At this point, we have released 51 episodes. Our latest episode looks at the history of Veteran’s Day. We also recently released an episode on Samuel Jocelyn who was (according to legend) buried alive in Wilmington. We did an episode on the Battle of Elizabethtown and an episode on Moores’ Creek. The most listened to episode is on N.C. Governor John Owen (The Governor Who Could Have Been President). Of course, Owen Hill Road is named after John Owen. For me, the aspect of his story that is most interesting is how close he came to becoming President. We also try to take events that have become familiar and explain how they came to be. For example, we have reflected on 9/11, recently completed an episode of how Veteran’s Day came to be and the fight to keep it on November 11.”
Q: Tell us a little bit about yourselves.
A: “We are both history teachers. I teach American History and Government for Bladen Community College. Chris teaches history and civics (government) for the Bladen Early College High School. He also teaches history and humanities classes as an adjunct instructor for the College. I’m currently working on my Doctor of Education Degree in Organizational Leadership from Abilene Christian University. I hold graduate degrees in Religion from Liberty University and History from UNC Pembroke. Chris holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Campbell University and a Master of Arts in History from Liberty University. He is currently working on a Doctor of Education in Administration and Supervision degree through Liberty University.”
Q: What are your plans for the podcast in the future?
A: “We are hoping to do more interviews with other historians and local people. We are interested in learning about lesser known historical events or persons and bringing them to the attention of our listeners. We plan on hosting a live event at the community college in the future along with incorporating video into our podcasts. Our podcasts are available through Google Play, Spotify, Sounder, and other places where podcasts can be found. We are hoping to add it to YouTube in the near future.”
Q: What kind of feedback have you received?
A: “We have received positive feedback from listeners and would encourage our listeners to follow us and share with their friends. Also, we love listener recommended topics and have had a few shared with us that recently aired. We’ve had a few listeners recommend topics. Most of our episodes will get somewhere between 50 – 100 streams within the first month. We have listeners all over the world (including Ireland, Australia, Norway… ).”
“History You Didn’t Know But Should” is a great opportunity to expand your history knowledge and learn interesting local history that you may have never known. Click the link below to access the podcast:
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