Welder chases radio dream with podcast

Jimmy McKnight never thought welding would lead him back to his first dream of becoming a radio broadcaster. The welder is the host of Arc Junkies, a podcast that shines a light on welders, welding companies, and men and women doing cool things in the blue-collar world.

There’s something about the voice behind the Arc Junkies podcast that is polished and professional. From the moment you hit play, you hear the natural cadence and flow that belong to someone very comfortable behind the mic. There was a time when the man behind the voice, Detroit native Jimmy McKnight, thought his calling was a career in radio. But like many things in life, it didn’t pan out the way he thought it would, so he found another path—welding.

He never thought welding would indirectly lead him back to his first dream, but it did. And now the welder is the host of Arc Junkies, a podcast that shines a light on welders, welding companies, and men and women doing cool things in the blue-collar world. While he spends a lot of time interviewing guests about their journey to the arc, not many of his listeners know his own journey. The WELDER® recently turned the tables on McKnight to get to the bottom of how he did the 180-degree turn from radio to welding, and what’s next for the podcast.

TW: What was your journey to the arc?

After high school I really wanted to get into the radio business. It was the first thing I wanted to do. I went to broadcast school but I only made it through the first semester. I had an argument with one of the teachers in a class called Broadcast Writing about the way that they wanted us to speak on air. The way they wanted us to speak felt so unnatural to me. I had such an argument with the guy, and because of that they failed me.

I come from a family of electricians, and my dad had been working for a company called Pro Weld here in Michigan. He had known the owner and was doing all of the electrical repairs and installations. I was always helping my dad on the job, so the owner knew me. I got a job at Pro Weld, which is where I cut my teeth as a production MIG welder. I loved it, and from that point on I just let welding consume me. I’ve never looked back.

TW: What was it about welding that resonated with you?

The fact that I could bond metal with fire and electricity. That just spoke to me. When I started doing it, I just felt naturally connected to it. I could see the puddle, I could control it, and I could make it dance if I wanted to. I never excelled in anything else in my life quite like I did with welding. I took to it and I was absolutely bitten by the bug and became 100 percent obsessed with it. I had to know everything about it. I had to learn everything I could about every process, and since then it’s just taken over my life, really.

TW: How did the Arc Junkies podcast begin?

I worked second shift for about two years, and one night I was listening to something while sweeping the floor. I was like, “What is this? Are these guys talking on the radio or something?” I did some digging and found out it was a podcast. I thought, “Hey, I can totally do this.” And it felt like I had a second chance to live my radio dream.

I have this very obsessive personality, and once I get an idea about something, I have to go into it 110 percent. Podcasting was no exception to that. I went online and did some research by watching YouTube videos on how to get started and what kind of equipment I needed. There’s so much more to it than just recording yourself speak. You have to learn how to edit, how to develop a website, and all these other things to get your podcast on the mark.

I went to Comic Cons and attended the panel discussions they put on to learn all I could on how to actually get started. Those sessions just reaffirmed everything that I did, and that I was on the right path. The rest is history. You just press record and kind of go and figure it out as you go. I’ve been in podcasting for about three and a half years now and it’s just been awesome.

TW: What do you hope to accomplish with the podcast?

The whole point of Arc Junkies is to entertain and inspire the welding community. The reason I even call it Arc Junkies is because I didn’t want to limit it to being just for welders, you know? I didn’t want to name it something like “the welding podcast,” for instance. I wanted it to be Arc Junkies because welding is incorporated in so many different trades, not just the one singular trade of welding.

I wanted to connect with all of those people to be a source of inspiration and entertainment that they can listen to. Yes, we all love our jobs and we all take pride in our jobs, but some days aren’t full of cupcakes and rainbows. Some days are very hard, and on those days sometimes you need to remind yourself why you do what you do. I wanted to create something that allows people to pop in their earbuds and find inspiration to help push them forward to keep doing what they need to do to provide for their family, and to inspire and remind them why they are doing what they’re doing.

TW: What’s the general response you’ve received from listeners?

I’m not everybody’s cup of tea, but in general it’s been extremely positive. Welders have reached out to me from all over the world and told me that they absolutely love the show. It’s doing exactly what I intended for it to do, which is to inspire and motivate. I’m finding that the audience is made up of a lot of people who are in welding school or who are in their first or second year on the job and are trying to move up the ladder. They’re listening to the guests that I have, they’re hearing their stories, and they’re hearing their own trials. And it pushes people.

TW: What’s next for the podcast?

We are launching another show with ESAB called Filler Metal Fridays. We’ll release an episode once a month that will focus strictly on filler metals that ESAB produces. We’re going to talk to the actual people that develop those products and people that are using them. I think it’ll bring a little bit more of the educational aspect to the podcast.

TW: Who is your dream interviewee?

I would probably say Jesse James. I know that’s probably cliché, but Jesse James is probably the main guy that I would absolutely love to interview just because of his roots. He grew up a little bit rough, just like I did. He pursued a dream and became the most famous and successful of us all, and the guy just continues to grow. He doesn’t let things hold him back, and I see him as the ultimate model of success.

His story is an example of what you can achieve when you open your mind and try new things. He broadened his horizons and saw what welding and metalworking could be and where it could take him. I mean, it obviously worked out for him. I would love to interview him and get to the grass roots of what pushes a guy like him to keep pressing on even after he’s reached the pinnacle of success. How does he continue to push himself to grow?

Jimmy McKnight, www.arcjunkies.com

Photos courtesy of J&C Photography, Royal Oak, Mich.

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