As we close the chapter on an extraordinary year, I'm humbled and thrilled to share how "Lockdown to Legacy" has flourished, skyrocketing with an 826% surge in listenership. Celebrate with us this astounding achievement, and let's toast to the diverse international family we've built across 19 countries. Remember the episode that had everyone talking? "Vacation, Unbelizeable" lands among our top five reruns, alongside the stirring "Trading Bars for Cars" featuring the remarkable Sullivan Roger. This recap is not just a victory lap—it's a launching pad for what's next. We've got a treasure trove of new features like bespoke episode artwork and the much-anticipated "Warren's Wisdom", set to enrich our storytelling tapestry with even more depth and insight into the American criminal justice system.
Step into the heart of our operation, the audio file room, where Remie Jones, our sound sorcerer, weaves soundscapes that turn raw conversations into compelling narratives. It's here that we invite you to be more than just a listener, but a collaborator. Your stories, feedback, and ideas aren't just welcome, they're essential—after all, you're the pulse of "Lockdown to Legacy." Reach out to us at lockdown to legacy comm and join the conversation. Maybe you’ll snag one of our free stickers or catch the latest buzz on our social feeds. With you sharing the journey, we're not just telling stories; we're igniting change and leaving legacies.
As we close the chapter on an extraordinary year, I'm humbled and thrilled to share how "Lockdown to Legacy" has flourished, skyrocketing with an 826% surge in listenership. Celebrate with us this astounding achievement, and let's toast to the diverse international family we've built across 19 countries. Remember the episode that had everyone talking? "Vacation, Unbelizeable" lands among our top five reruns, alongside the stirring "Trading Bars for Cars" featuring the remarkable Sullivan Roger. This recap is not just a victory lap—it's a launching pad for what's next. We've got a treasure trove of new features like bespoke episode artwork and the much-anticipated "Warren's Wisdom", set to enrich our storytelling tapestry with even more depth and insight into the American criminal justice system.
Step into the heart of our operation, the audio file room, where Remie Jones, our sound sorcerer, weaves soundscapes that turn raw conversations into compelling narratives. It's here that we invite you to be more than just a listener, but a collaborator. Your stories, feedback, and ideas aren't just welcome, they're essential—after all, you're the pulse of "Lockdown to Legacy." Reach out to us at lockdown to legacy comm and join the conversation. Maybe you’ll snag one of our free stickers or catch the latest buzz on our social feeds. With you sharing the journey, we're not just telling stories; we're igniting change and leaving legacies.
Welcome to Lockdown the Legacy stories from the inside out. I'm your host, remy Jones.
DJ:
And I am co-host Debbie Jones. We are a husband and wife team here to bring you the real life stories, experiences and questions around the American criminal justice system. We do advise discretion with this podcast. I think we should put that out there first and foremost. Yes, we are going to talk about experiences that happen inside the prison system, outside of prison systems. We will use language that might be offensive, but we intend to keep it real. And if that's not for you, we totally understand, but please do what's best for your listening ears.
Remie:
Oh, we're about to keep it real, son. Our goal of this podcast is to share the inside realities of the American prison and criminal justice system, from pre-charges all the way to post-release, from the voices of those who've experienced it firsthand, including me.
DJ:
That's right, we're going to get into it.
Remie:
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Lockdown Legacy. I'm your host, remy Jones, and this is the last episode of 2023. Like to give a big shout out to all of our steady, loyal listeners and a big thank you as well. As you know, we do host our podcast on Buzzsprout and they were cool enough to do something wonderful. It is called Backtrack 2023. And in that they did a full recap of our podcast stats and it was pretty cool. We did 48 episodes this year, which gives us the weekly warrior tag, and they say that our podcast grew by 826%. So for that I would like to thank you all. Man, that is awesome. That is a great stat indeed. I can't even begin to say how grateful I am for that and for all of you.
Remie:
I mean, I can tell, as I said before, I can tell where our loyal fan base is, and then it's always surprising to me too to notice a few listens pop up here and there in other countries. So this year we have been listened to in 19 countries, which is mind blowing to me. That earns us the jet setter tag. Our top five countries were the United States, of course, second followed by Canada. We got 42 listeners in Canada, 13 in Germany, four in Russia and three in the UK. So that's huge, and I know of at least one in Germany, but the rest is kind of big. It's a big surprise that we have such listeners in Canada, which I didn't even know of. So shout out to you guys, shout out to Canada, shout out to Germany, russia, uk and all the other countries. We're starting to catch on in, man, that's really cool.
Remie:
And so we got a few top episodes too, which, in my opinion, I was also surprised, because you know they're not my favorites, but they're your favorites, and that's what matters. Number one was our Vacation unbelievable part two Followed by prison education programming. Number three is visitation. And then number four is vacation unbelievable part one. And and fifth was trading cars, trading bars for cars, the Sullivan Roger story from our summer legacy series. So Shout out to Sullivan. You know he was great, gracious enough to come on here, man, as I said before, he was one of my first mentors and really Really set me on the right track for success after I came home from prison.
Remie:
And then the rest of those man, if you ain't checked them out, I mean they're, they're topping a list for a reason. There's this good content there, so you go ahead and Give it a listen. You know, for you new listeners, please feel free, go to our socials. You know Facebook, instagram, wherever you know, drop a line, let us know how you like it. And also for all of our, our legacy listeners, you know, if you guys got any new ideas that you want to see us, you know, possibly do for 2024 Same thing. You know, hit us up socials, email. You know, lock down the late stories at lockdown legacy, calm and let us know. Man, I'm open. So I'm like I said before.
Remie:
826% growth in 2023, which is huge, you know, and we're still trying to figure out some new stuff To do to continue that growth. 19 countries, man, that's huge. 40 episodes and we're gonna keep it coming. You know, we're gonna keep it coming for 2024 and beyond. So new I don't know if you guys have been paying attention lately I've been trying to do more episode art, so that's something new that I'm trying out.
Remie:
Like I said before, in a few episodes back. You know, I'm gonna try to start posting stuff monthly which will give you guys a heads up of what episodes are coming out. So you know the episode art, a schedule, and also I'm gonna try to get some type of form or application process for people who might be interested in being on the podcast, because we love guests, so be looking forward to that, and we're also looking for some structure changes. So, if you guys haven't noticed, I've I went in and changed some of the titles for our warren episodes and so that segment is going to be called warren's wisdom, and then I'm gonna try to get wise back on here, because I got some good feedback about wise too. So apparently you guys love our correspondence on the inside, so that's gonna be warren's with wise, this world and warren's wisdom. So we're gonna try to bring those back in regularly. You know, of course, warren is already a monthly contributor, so we're gonna try to do the same thing with wise. He's got some guys on the inside that are doing poetry, so he's actually trying to recreate another branch of the poetic companions in the prison he's in now, and so we're gonna try to do it to where, you know, the standout participants can and also be featured on show every night and to showcase their talent. I think that'd be Pretty cool, pretty dope. So, with all that being said of you know what's coming up let's talk about.
Remie:
This is the end of another year and you know the relevance of that is time. You know we got a lot of people on the inside doing time and In some ways, it's no different than out here. You know me myself I've like I just went and had a physical done at the doctor and stuff and you know I gave some weight. Man, I didn't gain some weight since I got out. When I got out of prison in 2018, I was 204 pounds. I had just lost 20 pounds. I was pretty solid on the muscle side, man. I Was helping like personal training guys.
Remie:
I was pretty strict on my eating and you know life started life in. You know I'm not gonna front man. Life started life and I got real focused on work and less focused on what I eat and how much, and so, to be all the way transparent man, I gained about 80 pounds, who you know. But you know you know back then, my whole mind state was I got nothing but time. So I will work out like two or three hours a day and Not saying that I need to do that again, but I did have a lot of discipline and self Determination when it came to like making change, positive change. So when I said I'm not eating this anymore, like I gave up beef and pork in 2016 for no reason other than that I wanted to see what the side effects would be, and it was cold turkey, like I was, just like. Now I'm not eating anymore and I love beef and pork. Now I love a steak, I love some ribs, I love bacon, but you know I gave it up, so I'm trying to find a more soul of that discipline again.
Remie:
So for two, twenty twenty four, you know I'm making the, the New Year's resolutions and stuff to get back To be an actor man. I played basketball a lot. I played soccer, play softball, so there's no reason why I can't do that, even with family, like that's just an excuse. So Well, no, maybe I shout you out. You know some updates and stuff of how it's going. That'd be a way to keep me accountable to it as well. Try to rope DJ in. You know she's got her own goals and you know we can all be accountable to each other and you guys can keep us accountable as well.
Remie:
But, with that being said, I just I'm not gonna go so far as like to share pictures of what I was and what I am, but it's a big difference, man. It's a big difference and Also had that same discipline and self-determination when it came to stuff like education, reading, you know, working out, like I said, and Keeping in touch with people. So that's another thing I want to do for 2024 keep in touch with my friends, with my family, and Also I want to work diligently on this podcast, because I know that you guys like it and I know that there's a difference when I'm on my game and when I'm not. So my goal is to be on my game and all of those areas and and you know, no excuses, man, there's no reason for that Um, I, we can keep it moving, like in another aspect of this.
Remie:
You could say like you only get old when you start acting old, when you stop moving. You know you stop moving, you start getting rusty. Yeah, that's, that's not me, so I'm gonna kick it up. You know I'm gonna kick it up a notch. And in all of that, I want to get my kids involved. That's another way to keep me accountable, too is because I got a set, a good example for my kids. So my oldest daughter is a pretty good swimmer. You know she's out there Breaking records every week and swim practice and I love it and so I need to be a good example for her and also the kids under her that you know living an active lifestyle is great and Most of the records that she's breaking are against herself. So she's like you know I shave X amount of seconds off my lap time. You know all this stuff and I love that because I've always been very competitive with myself. So I need to Keep that going and it's still that in them and shout out to all my dudes inside, on my ladies inside, who you know this year is coming to a close or starting a new one. We got goals for the next year. We always trying to be better. On the inside is the best place to have goals because it's the easiest place to sit and stagnate.
Remie:
I knew many people, include myself, for a few years that you know it's easy to just sleep in. It's easy to just, you know, stay up until 1 am Doing absolutely nothing and then sleep in until you know noon like it's horrible. So on the inside, man, you guys keeping contact with your people on the inside, make sure you motivate them, make sure that you, you know, converse with them and ask, like, what they wanted a new year, and then try to Foster that and and keep motivating them throughout the year, and vice versa, because I'm gonna tell you right now, even behind prison bars, I was there for a lot of people. I Was that person that kept people accountable. People wanted to lean on me. So, even if you think like, yeah, they're in prison, they can't do nothing for me, that's not true. Like they could be just as much as a Support for you as you could be for them, you know. So, with that said, this is the last episode of the year.
Remie:
Once again, I would like to thank everybody. All of our lockdown on legacy listeners Anybody, of course, anybody who has shared the podcast Because I feel like that is the majority of the growth is very organic. It's, like, you know, word of mouth and that is huge, because people who you, who you know, trust your judgment and if you tell them, hey, this is something good to listen to, of course they're gonna check it out, as opposed to a commercial or a Facebook post or anything like that. So, thank you all, thank you all, thank you all and, like I said, we're gonna come back 2024 Bigger and better, and we're gonna keep that growth going. Check out the post. I'm gonna post a graphic from bus sprout where it shows the those key stats that I just mentioned. And that's it, guys. Thank you, love you, peace.
DJ:
The lockdown to legacy podcast is proud to be a part of the bus sprout podcast community network. Lockdown to legacy is recorded at Kohatch in their lovely Audio file room. Thanks for your scholarship. Audio engineering is done by our very own Remy Jones. You can reach us with any feedback, questions, comments or share the love by emailing stories at lockdown number two Legacy comm. Stories at lockdown to legacy comm. You can reach out there too for a free sticker, and you can find us on Instagram and Twitter with the handle at lockdown to legacy and on Facebook at the lockdown to legacy podcast. Thanks for listening, oh.