Congratulations to all of our
​Amazon Feature Winners! 

Find Being LGBTQ featured in the "Stay Inspired" Collection right next to Oprah!
And stay tuned to see their Billboard in Times Square in October! 

Featured in “Hidden Gems” collection starting 9/3

​Who are you guys and what is the show about? 

"The A Squared Podcast is hosted by the bona fide tandem of Antonio and Aaron. Antonio, a.k.a. Cornbread, has always had a love for sports, education and being a father. Aaron, a.k.a. DJ A-Ron, has always had a special connection with music. The former official DJ for the University of Illinois’ athletics teams, he’s played events everywhere from nightclubs to a boxing match at the iconic Forum in Los Angeles featuring legendary prize fighter Sugar Shane Mosley. Together, Cornbread and DJ A-Ron host a unique podcast that makes you laugh just as much as it makes you think. The show has no limitations and intersects with sports, politics, business, parenting, and whatever else organically arises in the conversation."

Describe some of the struggles you had when first building your audience and how you were able to keep them once they found you.

" I would say that it has been consistently building our audience, It’s very hard to gain exposure. There are millions of podcast out there, What we decided to do was be as unique as possible, Be ourselves at all time. The good the bad and the ugly, You will get it raw and real."

Any advice for people that haven’t pressed record yet?
"My advice to people would be to go in with a plan and not give up. Don’t worry about what any other podcast is doing or their numbers. Only focus on your brand and what you can bring to the table. Be unique, and let your voice be heard. "

Ari, When, how and why did you start podcasting?
 
About 3 months ago I started having the idea of a podcast. I sent a ASMR to my friends and they sent me some funny responses. I played it for my mom and she loved it so we started creating and planning the outline.
 
How did you pick a subject/topic? 
 
The first episode was originally going to be about dogs. I invited Bode & Lily because they have 2 dogs. And Chloe and Wesley because Daisy (the first dog they had) got put down and they adopted a new dog Bubbah that month. I was going to ask about losing a dog and how that felt. But then the schools closed and Bubbah tried to bite Wesley a few times and got very aggressive to Wes. There parents asked my mom if I can talk about a different subject. 
 
I also had planed to have my guests come to my house. My mom bought me equipment and I was going to have everyone sit together under one mic. I had to change that. So with all the changes it made sense to talk about the corona virus. But every episode will have a different subject if that’s what you mean.
 
What do you want to be when you grow up and why? 
 
I want to be a vet because I always wanted to and I love animals (especially dogs).
 
What's your advice for folks that haven’t pressed record yet?
 
If you mean that they are going to record their own podcast, then try to keep your voice steady and even if nobody listens to it, remember you worked really hard and love doing it. If you mean they are going to press play to my podcast then think of all the ways you can participate.​

​1. When, how and why did you start podcasting?

I started my weekly (and now nationally-syndicated) radio show, Future/Sound with CUSCINO, all the way back in May of 2015, with my first pilot station being RezRadio (a small FM station in San Diego, California)…many thanks to John and the station there for believing in the concept and letting me run with it there. That was the beginning…I used to drive down from LA to SD every couple weeks to record, and pre-record episodes of the show in the station’s studio. I was really grinding it out then. 

From there, it was always my original intention to have a place to preserve past episodes of the show, and allow fans of the show — whether located in SoCal or elsewhere — to re-listen to past episodes from anywhere in the world…and that’s where podcasting came into play as a natural extension of the show, especially with many of the tracks I include in the weekly mixes being brand new music from artists, producers, and DJs making the freshest, most progressive bass-centric music from around the globe. 

I curate each and every track that's featured in the weekly mix every single week, in search of the newest trap, futurebass, futureTrap, progressive EDM and everything in between.

Those artists and producers dedicated to pushing boundaries and creating new movements in sound — as I’ve always been when producing my own music — that’s who and what I look for.


2. How did you pick a subject/topic? 

For me it was a natural part of my own evolution as a progressive electro/trap/hiphop artist/producer and DJ myself. It’s something I’m passionate about, naturally.

I’ve been writing, recording, and producing, as well as performing live both as an artist (original material) as well as a trap, chilltrap, and deep bass DJ (depending on the vibe and venue) under the name CUSCINO. Before then, I’ve been in bands (heading up the guitar and electro/texture element departments) and electronic production outfits since before I could drive a car.

I’ve also done quite a bit of scoring/composing for film in the past, so creating an hour-long arc/soundscape/mix for fans of this type of music to vibe to, watch Stranger Things on mute to, or whatever just felt like a natural progression for me as a creator, artist, DJ, influencer, or whatever you’d like to consider me.

It wasn’t really too daunting to me in producing an hour-long specialty show like this since I was used to creating larger bodies of work already…It was more of a challenge, one that I was excited to take on.

As I was already hand-picking and curating tracks carefully for each of my sets, at some point, it just made sense to me to formulate it all into a radio show that could be aired to more people than I could ever share these gems within a single venue, or in a single mix — it enabled me to be in well, over 100 countries now, at one time. That’s the stuff of superhuman and superheroes in my book :-) 

This was also something I noticed was really missing in the electro/EDM/trap/futurebass space — there really weren’t many artists/DJs producing any sort of consistent, weekly show that existed on FM airwaves or in the podcast space that are ultra high-quality and super high-fidelity, with tons of replay value.

Sure, there’s plenty of automated stuff going on Sirius XM, but as both a performer and a fan, these often lack any sort of arc, excitement, or human touch because they are often automated…and soul-less. 

As a fan, and creator, of this type of music, you want to feel something, and experience something, and that’s my goal with each and every show.


3. Advice for people that haven’t pressed record yet?

Truthfully…if you have the itch to create a podcast, or radio show, just start. Find something that you’re passionate about, that you love, and that you could do — or talk about — all day every day, and you’ll have the ability to create more content than you’ll ever be able to use.

Don’t let perfectionism kill your vibe either. Most likely, your first few shows (or more), may simply suck. And that’s ok…you’ll get the hang of it and improve your game along the way. Practice makes perfect. And as you go along listen to your shows, get feedback from people, listen to other shows, and improve as you go along.

You don’t need a $10,000 mic these days either to have a radio show, but some basic audio engineering understanding can go a long way. If you don’t have that, fear not…find a friend that does, or there’s even little podcast studios popping up in certain parts of the world where you can just plug-in and hit record if you don’t have the stuff at home.


4. Which one of your episodes would you recommend to a new listener? 

Honestly, any of them! Each and every episode’s feature tracks are curated by me, arranged in a set, and then mixed live with no edits (aside from the voiceover throughout the show). Future/Sound with CUSCINO is now on episode 207 as of this writing, running 4 years strong, has an FM listener footprint of more than 1 million people via our FM affiliate stations, and is downloaded in over 100 countries now.

There are great tracks, approved by yours truly, in every episode, but hey, if I have to pick a number, start with Episode 180 (Side A), and work forward from there. That’ll give you plenty to vibe to.

​

When, how and why did you start podcasting?
“We started the podcast in January 2018 after a few of the guys on the site had cut their teeth as guest hosts on the brilliant @WrongReel podcast with its host @colebrax.”

How did you pick a subject/topic? 
“With us, our podcast was always going to be centered around film & television as that’s the subject of the site we run, http://film89.co.uk. We’re all hugely passionate cinephiles.”

Advice for people that haven’t pressed record yet?
“Our best advice is to just be yourself. Being genuine counts for a lot. And also be judicious in your editing. Keep the conversation flowing and to the point. Editing out long pauses and hesitation makes so much difference to the flow of an episode.”

​Start Your Podcast Here! ​