Meet Your Maker: Meeting the People Who Make the Things We Love

When I came across Meet Your Maker while searching for podcast creators to interview, I definitely thought that it was a show about people dying and what they may encounter in the afterlife. Maybe talking about different belief systems or making a fictional narrative out of people after they’ve passed on. I don’t know why but I held onto that idea so strongly that when Liam Geraghty began answering my questions about his show I was really thrown off balance. Point being, that is not at all what Meet Your Maker is about and Liam and I are here to make sure you know exactly what this awesome podcast has to offer.

After years of working on a podcast called The Comic Cast, which was archived by The National Library of Ireland for its “cultural importance,” Liam “got invited to start pitching to RTÉ Radio – the national broadcaster in Ireland – so [he] ended up with a career in radio from podcasting!” Eventually, the itch to podcast returned and two years ago Liam decided that he’d make a show that mimicked a kind of media he had always enjoyed. “I was always a huge fan of ‘The Making of…’ style documentaries when I was a kid so I decided I’d run with that,” Liam said. So what exactly does the show cover?

Honestly, pretty much anything. Liam says, “Meet Your Maker is a show about the people who make the things we love. It’s a show where we meet the makers, creators, composers, authors, and builders of the cultural landscape.” Through a “crafted, sound-rich podcast where someone tells the story behind their creation,” listeners get to see all the stages of things being built, invented, written, produced, or created. Very much in the narrative vein, listeners are invited to travel alongside passionate and skilled people in their work.

While the show is something Liam loves getting to make, he told me that finding time is sometimes a struggle. “Meet Your Maker is a passion project for me, my full-time job is as a radio reporter. So the difficulty for me at this point is finding the time to do both,” he explained. Because the show is heavily produced, Liam has to spend a significant amount of time working in between his favorite part (choosing and researching an idea) and actually putting out the episode. He was quick to add, however, that it’s “a process [he] love[s] but it does create pressure as time is limited and people are expecting the next episode.” Nevertheless, the episodes are posted every two weeks for listeners to enjoy.

When I asked Liam about his listeners, he told me that “a lot of the time in podcasting when you post an episode it goes out into the void and you’re not sure anyone has listened to it. But then a few days later you’ll get a tweet or an email or something from someone who enjoyed it and that will make it all worthwhile.” Liam said “that’s a really lovely thing,” and that he wished people made more of a habit of appreciating the people who make things we love. Just as Liam loves knowing someone is listening to and enjoying Meet Your Maker, the show ensures that creators know someone cares about their work.

And Liam is looking forward to continuing to celebrate creators and creations alike. Specifically, he told me he’s “excited about an upcoming episode all about the history of animation in Ireland.” Tracking from the early 1900s to present-day, the episode promises to be “a fascinating story.” So if you want to know how composers, architects, animators, or board game designers do what they do, listen to Meet Your Maker and be sure to leave a rating and review to let Liam know what you think!

Chasing Pods is a Podchaser blog series dedicated to letting our readers know about podcasts they may not have heard of or provide a sneak peek into the making of their favorite podcast. We talk to podcast creators about their journey into podcasting, the creation of their shows, the ups and downs of the work, and what they’re looking forward to for their podcast

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