Meet Edwin Melendez, host of The Wrestling Delorean Podcast, a podcast show started in 2019 that covers the current professional wrestling landscape and invites fans to “jump into the Delorean” and go back in time to talk about the glory years of wrestling that they grew up watching. Edwin has been a podcast host for five years and has been a fan of other wrestling podcasts, such as The Art of Wrestling and Solomonster Sounds Off, since 2011. He channeled his years of being a wrestling fanatic and started The Wrestling Delorean Podcast to connect with like-minded fans and create a platform to converse about the moments, matches, and wrestlers he admires.
Edwin refers to fans of his podcast as “Wrestling Delorean Passengers.” Passengers love to reminisce on classic wrestling events and moments, and they have the opportunity to contribute to the show by asking questions in a live Q&A format. He runs a poll each week called the “Passenger’s Pick,” where fans vote on the classic wrestling event that will be covered in each Friday’s episode. Edwin enjoys the interactivity of letting fans determine the trajectory of the episodes each week.
Audience Growth
In order to reach new listeners, Edwin has made strong connections with the hosts of other wrestling podcasts, including Circle of Debate, Top Rope Wrestling Talk, The Universal Wrestling Podcast, The Tim King Show, Dirty Heelz Podcast, and more. Edwin has been a guest on their shows and has had opportunities to host them as guests on The Wrestling Delorean Podcast. Edwin enjoys these chances to connect with new audiences who may not have heard of him, and in turn, those audiences may check out his show. Edwin cites social media engagement as an integral way to connect with listeners, mentioning that he wants to respond to every DM and comment to show followers he cares. Each week, Edwin clips reels from each episode and posts them on his social media accounts to further promote his show.
From Creation to Monetization
Edwin decided to monetize The Wrestling Delorean Podcast after realizing that the show was gaining traction, as he started being approached by fans who recognized him at wrestling events he attended in the Tristate area. Edwin has worked with other monetization platforms in the past, but made the jump to Simplecast when he started to notice how successful the show is and can be in the future. When deciding on a monetization solution, Edwin wanted to maintain full control over the content he talked about and wanted his personality to shine through. He sought out a solution that was strong, yet easy to learn and intuitive to use.
Moving to Simplecast has been rewarding for Edwin. Simplecast provides all the tools necessary to monetize plus an easy way to learn about the platform and its capabilities. Edwin highlighted the benefit of the relationship with his Business Development Manager, Diego Cuenca, and Technical Account Manager, Kamicia Bass, who cared to take the time to break things down and make sure he understood the power of Simplecast’s monetization tools. When working with other platforms in the past, Edwin spent hours figuring things out on his own and learning on the go. Since joining Simplecast, Edwin has found the support and partnership he needs to grow and monetize his podcast.
Edwin’s goal for the rest of the year is to continue to grow his podcast one fan at a time and to continue to be an outlet for wrestling fans who are looking for that shot of nostalgia. With Simplecast, Edwin is confident that he can make podcasting a living, and his long term goal is to make podcasting his legacy.
Words of Advice
Something Edwin wishes he was aware of when he got started in podcasting is to keep things simple. He realized that people want to throw on a podcast like his to reminisce. He allows fans to do so by talking about current wrestling happenings and nostalgic classic events, but doesn’t discuss much else outside of the topic area.
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