Photography by Victoria Gomez
Richard Harmer, Camille Liebbe and D. Hayes Smith. The three make up the What in East Dallas is Going On?! podcast. Three peas in an East Dallas pod-cast.
The podcast has racked in somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 downloads per episode across its 111 episodes — covering the nooks and crannies of arts, culture and business in our neighborhood.
It was at The Avett Brothers’ concert that Harmer, Liebbe and their spouses were tossing around the idea of starting a podcast.
Harmer and Liebbe felt they had a natural chemistry, sharing a sibling-like dynamic that would translate well behind the mic. The two also shared a background in media, with Harmer coming from his own podcast show and Liebbe coming from the magazine space.
“So we already made the decision, everything that we do, we want local, everything, literally everything, and that included a producer,” Harmer says.
The co-hosts’ search for a producer began in the birthplace of many modern neighborhood collaborations: Facebook.
It was through a friend that saw their Facebook post that Hayes caught wind of the opportunity. He worked in post-production for 15 years prior and had just been laid off.
Photography by Victoria Gomez
“Immediately that timing was … it couldn’t have been better,” Smith says.
The group recorded their first episode at the opening day of the State Fair of Texas back in 2022. Two years later, curiosity and community submissions lead the way for the trio as they embark on a new narrative journey every time they record.
The podcast features several nonprofits, councilmembers and “pseudo celebrities” who have ties and live in our neighborhood. The Dirt Doctor Howard Garrett, Old 97’s guitarist Ken Bathea and former Olympian Vince Poscente are just a few of the names that begin to circulate as the trio reminisce about past guests.
“We don’t give them any questions beforehand. We like it very conversational. We don’t like it to come across as staged or anything,” Liebbe says, as Harmer shares that their goal is to approach the show as “organically” as possible.
The team moves like a well-oiled machine, with Liebbe and Harmer lining up guests and prepping the shows, and Smith sound mixing, editing and handling post-production.
Now that they have hit their stride, mastering their banter and how best to showcase their personalities via audio, the team is opening the door for new podcasting opportunities.
“I want to start doing more live shows,” Harmer says, adding that video may be a future endeavor for the group.
