[00:00:00] Speaker A: We'll get a visit from Miss Kim Lewton with the Smithville fiddler's jamboree. And we'll also speak with Caleb and Ashley Roth with stain and seal experts. We'll have a new DTC expert with us later in the show. And of course, Justin will be here with tech news, roundup and a lot more. Learn more about fun local events and interesting people throughout the heart of middle Tennessee, with a dash of everyday tech talk thrown in for good measure. The local click starts now. Welcome to the local click. The local click is the local technology podcast brought to you by DTC Communications on the first Wednesday of each and every month, where we talk things about technology, but we also talk to a lot of interesting people in the local service area. I'm Nick Noakes, and with me, as usual, is Mister Justin Malden. Justin, thanks for coming back.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: I am so glad to be back again as we enter into the month of June.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: We've had plenty of may showers. But I think the most memorable part of it, I'm gonna be glad for it to be over, is we will not have to be dealing with these cicadas too much longer. Thankfully.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Thankfully. So what if I told you there was one on your shoulder right now?
Yeah.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: I would not be too, too pleased. My youngest son, I'm gonna tell a story on him a couple weeks ago, was very interested in the cicada that was in the driveway. And he went to it, decided he was gonna check it out. And then when it made noise, he jumped about 4ft in the air like a cat and ran away.
And it was all captured on video. So it's a great moment to get to relive over and over.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And when he's older, you can show that to him and you can go, remember that time that you did this? That's what being a parent's all about, you know, remembering the good times and the funny times. I want to do a little something fun that we don't normally do. These are some of the interesting national days that are in the month of June that you may or may not be aware of. This is according to a website called thespruce.com. okay. June 5 is hot air balloon day. Did you know that?
[00:01:59] Speaker B: I cannot say that I knew that it was hot air balloon day.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: Have you been on a hot air balloon?
[00:02:03] Speaker B: I've never been on a hot air balloon.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Good. And I never will. But you're welcome to. All right. June 18 is national go fishing day.
Used to do some fishing quite a bit as a young guy, but not so much anymore. You and your boys go sometimes every.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Once in a while, but not too much. Perk of shout out to the twra. They have a lifetime hunting program licenses. I can't remember what. Sportsman's license. If you get it when your child is young, I think before they turn two and it goes up tremendously in price. I would recommend that for anybody who may be listening.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: It's a good tip for sure.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: If you're looking for a gift for a new child or somebody young in the family, get a TwRa lifetime sportsman's license.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. And if you get it before June 18, you'll be ready for national go fishing day. So next June 20, ugliest dog day.
[00:02:55] Speaker C: Oh, my.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: What are you looking at? Where can I enter my dog at?
[00:03:00] Speaker A: I won't tell Spot that you said that about him.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Spot's pretty cute. I think my kids would disagree with him. Yeah, on that one.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: I don't think he deserves to be on that day. So June 22 is National Onion Rings Day. So delicious.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: I can't get down with that one.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: What? Everybody loves onion rings, right?
[00:03:17] Speaker B: I enjoy most things deep fried, not onions.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Oh, man. All right, I'll leave those off your next combo order. Go with fries instead and wrap it up on June 30, National Corvette Day.
[00:03:32] Speaker B: When is National Century Day?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I don't know. There is a national intraday.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: It's not as iconic as Corvette.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: I'm sure it's just a few years away. I'm sure it's coming. I'm sure it's coming. I think we should go rent one for a day, don't you? And do some podcast shoots around in a corvette.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: There's a Corvette museum, and I can't think of it. Not too far from.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: It's in Kentucky.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: In Kentucky. That's right. Yeah. It's not too far.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Cause we've talked about wanting to go there sometimes.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: I'm sure they will be celebrating.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: I bet they will, too. I bet they will, too.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Maybe a trip, you know, maybe a trip that some people want to take. Maybe they got some good promos going on for it.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: So, see, there's a lot of stuff that goes on in the month of June that you don't think about when you dig down right into it. And so hopefully, if you're looking for something to do, maybe one of these holidays or national days will give you some ideas. But that's enough of the shenanigans for me. I just wanted to spring that on you and get your reaction a little bit, but we're going to get into the show right now. Coming up in just a bit, we'll speak with Caleb and Ashley Roth with stain and seal experts. But first, it's all about some fiddlin. We're gonna talk to Miss Kim Lewton about the Smithfield fiddler's jamboree.
Miss Kim, thank you so much for coming to see us today.
[00:04:44] Speaker D: Oh, well, thank you so much for having us. I'm so happy to be able to talk about the jamboree with you.
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Well, I've got a feeling I picked the right person.
[00:04:52] Speaker D: Oh, well, I do have a passion and a love for the fiddler's jamboree, so I think I can tell you a little bit about it.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: Well, speaking a little bit about it, let's talk about you and kind of your history, your personal history, being in the area, and then how that led up into your involvement with the jamboree.
[00:05:11] Speaker D: Okay, well, I'm gonna go all the way back. I was. My parents are from Smithville. My family has been here generations, but I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:05:24] Speaker D: I'm a navy brat. I was born about three weeks after it became a state. So I'm really dating myself now. I grew up, and then we moved back to Smithville. I grew up in Smithville. I'm a 1977 graduate of DeKalb County High School. I went on to college, MTSU. I graduated with bachelor's of business administration.
I also had a minor in music.
However, my whole family's bluegrass. I'm a classical pianist, so I read the music, but I just listen to them.
My family, I'm the 8th generation. On my mom's side, it'd be the Redmond side, and we're the mons. You know, there's a difference.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: There is a difference.
[00:06:07] Speaker D: That's true. We do all get along. The mons, not the mans, the driver family. My father's side has been here over 200 years, so we've got quite the history around here. My grandfather, who played on the grand old Opry, as a matter of fact, with the Leuven brothers. Wow.
Was part of the original founders of Smithwell Fidlers, jamberry. He. Of course, it was Congressman Evans and Barry Williams and my grandfather, James G. Bobo. Driver.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: That's a name I've heard a lot around the jamboree.
[00:06:45] Speaker D: Yes.
His primary focus was on music and contestants.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:52] Speaker D: So he's traveled all over the country announcing this bluegrass festival. You know, that we're trying to kick off and brought in a lot of contestants.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: So he was the original promotion team, right?
[00:07:08] Speaker D: He was. In a way, he really was.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: I'm sure most of the locals know what the Smithville fiddler's jamboree is, but there could definitely be people that are new to the area or watching a little further off. Describe to them what the Smithfield fiddler's jamboree is, if you could.
[00:07:23] Speaker D: Well, in this little sleepy town of Smithville, Tennessee, it's pretty quiet until you get to the first weekend closest to the 4 July. And then all of a sudden, there's a lot of hustle and bustle. And on the Friday following that, you hear the bluegrass music in the air. You smell the food booths cranking up. You hear the cloggers and the dancers on the street. You can just hear them clogging, practicing, and getting ready.
But it's. We're the official festival for the state of Tennessee. You walk down all these streets, there's crafts, but you still hear the music from the main stage where all the activity's coming from. You know, whether it's a lot of fiddling. I mean, we are the fiddler's jambury. So whether they're a little bitty two year olds or all the way up to 99 years old, you know, we've got a crossberry of age and everything that comes to us. So I think this is something you don't want to miss. It's almost hard to describe.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:26] Speaker D: You know, you almost just need to.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: Be there and experience it that first time. Right.
[00:08:29] Speaker D: And once you experience that first time, you'll be back.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:08:33] Speaker D: You'll be back.
[00:08:34] Speaker A: You're talking a lot about the music aspect of the jamboree. Talk a little bit more about the competition part and some of the different categories.
[00:08:41] Speaker D: Okay. Of course, the competition for the fiddler, we'll just kind of start there since that's our claim.
It can get pretty intense. Our junior fiddling category is ages 14 to 35. Okay. Our senior fiddling category is 36 up.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:05] Speaker D: So what they do, they compete for their first individual category to win that part. And then the last event on Saturday night is what we call the fiddle off. And the junior fiddler plays against the senior fiddler to be named the fiddle life champion. Now, our current champion is 14 years old.
[00:09:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:09:27] Speaker D: He's won it two years in a row, so he won't get to compete this year. So all you fiddlers, come on out. You may have a.
[00:09:35] Speaker A: You have a better shot this year.
[00:09:36] Speaker D: You might have a better shot this year. And then we have the national beginning Fiddler's award, which is twelve and under.
And the talent, that's who we're trying to focus on, the young to come on in and join us to keep this going.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Right?
[00:09:50] Speaker D: So there's been a lot of little fiddlers coming in and competing in that category. And then never mind about square dance teams. I mean, that's such a huge part. Is competition too? Yes, it is. And on Friday nights is the youth square dancing competition. On Saturday nights is the adult or senior square dancing competition.
So that gets pretty, pretty competitive. I mean, the same groups come back and, you know, one year wanna win first place, next year the other one, they know each other, you know, they see each other at other competitions, but it's almost like watching a football game.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: It is. It's competitive.
[00:10:31] Speaker D: Yes, very competitive. We can go into gospel singing, folks singing banjos. Oh my God. Banjo competition can get fierce. So can the bluegrass bands.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:43] Speaker D: Which are awesome just to listen to. And sometimes some of these that people will say, hey, let's get a band together and compete in the, you know, they may have competed in the banjo or the fiddler or dobo guitar or something, and they'll say, let's get a five piece band in practice and let's compete in the old time on the day of, of the day of. Sometimes they'll do that. And so you can imagine how talented they are to be able to pull that off on the day of.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: So that's pretty awesome.
[00:11:12] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: And you also have a lot of non competing musicians that love to come to the square and pick under the shade trees and that sort of thing. Talk about that for a second.
[00:11:22] Speaker D: The term came from under the big old trees, whether they were oaks, maples or whatever, on the courthouse squares where they would sit under the shade tree and play. I mean, you could be walking around looking for crafts and all of a sudden you've got this group and crowd around a bunch of players.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: They're like, where's the sound coming from? This sounds awesome. It sounds amazing.
[00:11:42] Speaker D: It is amazing. The sound's coming. Of course, you've got the maiden on the stage, but you get on the other side of the courthouse and the sound's coming down those streets.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: It's not formal, it's just kind of thrown together. But the amount of talent is just, it'll leave you awestruck when you walk away.
[00:11:58] Speaker D: And, you know, our mission for the jamboree is only to preserve music, dance and craft of the Appalachian. And so just bringing that type of talent, whether it's craft dance or craft, you know what? Just to this town. And they don't know each other half the time anyway. They end up being long time friends, finding each other when they get here. But it's really, really a beautiful scene.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Different musicians over the years have probably got their early starts at the jamboree, right?
[00:12:31] Speaker D: Yes, they did. Sierra hall. She's currently traveling across the country for her own concert. She has played with Ricky Skaggs, Andy Lefwitch. He started as a little kid on our jamboree stage. Of course, she got Maddie Denton.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: She plays for Dan Taminsky, I think.
[00:12:51] Speaker D: Yes, she does right now. Yeah, she does. And she's part of East Nashgrass, who are also touring. And East Nash grass opened up for Billy strings.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:13:03] Speaker D: A few months ago at Bridgestone.
[00:13:06] Speaker A: Oh, goodness.
[00:13:06] Speaker D: So, I mean, so we're really getting. I'm like, if we could just keep that coming this way. And of course, there's Gail Johnson and Ivy Phillips, Larry Pokey and Cheryl Tunnel. They are currently opry dancers. Okay. They're dancing now on stage. We have Michael Cleveland. Heath Garrett was part of the boxcars.
And then I'm gonna get into the Roberts family. I mean, my goodness. Danny Roberts is part of the Graskills.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:13:34] Speaker D: His wife sings with the Graskills. Andrea. Their daughter Jaylee Roberts is part of sister Sadie, along with Deani Richardson, who's also started at the Smithfield Jamboree.
So I'm going to announce for the first time through this podcast that sister Sadie is our blue blaze award winner this year. And they will be performing Saturday around 05:00. We are just now announcing it. And so we're excited to have them because they. They do understand the jamboree, for one thing. And they're very talented.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Well, thank you for sharing that exclusive news right here on the local click. So that's great.
[00:14:19] Speaker D: Yes. So everybody really better come out. All female group and lots of talent. Lots of talent. So that's part of.
That's just a very few.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: We could be here for a long time if we wanted to really go down the league.
[00:14:35] Speaker D: We could. We've talked about it and I said, you know, you know, speaking of history and genealogy and that type of thing, we really need to start pulling that together to see who all go. Let's go. Let's go back 53 years and see who all.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: That would be a neat project.
[00:14:50] Speaker D: It would be a neat project. Has gone on to do bigger and.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Better things as far as changing gears a little bit from the music side, I know lots of people love the arts and the crafts side of it. Talk about that a little bit.
[00:15:05] Speaker D: Well, originally, we started out as appalachian craft, and as the years went on, of course, we're a nonprofit, so money kind of comes to issue. So we kind of branched out a little bit into maybe a little bit of retail.
But four years ago, we're like, that's not who we are. That's not our true roots. So we've gone back to, it has to be handmade, original craft, authentic, handcuffed.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: All hand crafted items. Yeah.
[00:15:36] Speaker D: And they are juried before we accept them. Susan DeMay, very popular artist around here and Nashville, is our head juror. And she's picky, which is what we need. You know, she goes through it, and she goes, no, I don't think so. But she. Then she's like, this one's great, you know?
[00:15:57] Speaker A: So that brings the credibility back to that sort of thing, too, doesn't it?
[00:16:01] Speaker D: That's what we felt like that, you know, we're not just taking the first one that comes in.
We're actually looking at this. The craft committee is made up of Olivia Southard. She's the craft director.
Jessica Higgins and Summer Luna. So have a little bit of diversity there, but it's a decision that we all make. So with that being said, we currently have around 125 booths. We are shooting for 200. Our deadline's coming up. But you would. An artist typically waits till last minute to like, okay, I'm busy making all this. Oh, I better get my application.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: You know, so they're calling again. So we hope to be full.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: That's a lot.
[00:16:49] Speaker D: By the gym. Yes.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: That's a lot of activity.
[00:16:51] Speaker D: That's a lot. And there, we even include homemade foods, jams. I mean, it's. We've even got a homemade ice cream maker.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: There you go. And that was actually one of the things I wanted to talk about was food, and you kind of led right into it.
[00:17:05] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Because the food is a huge part of this. It is.
[00:17:08] Speaker D: Food booths were originally offered to the nonprofits of decapitation county and as fundraisers. You know, there's. Whether it was a softball team, a church league, you know, baseball team, anything that was a nonprofit could have booth. And we used to be full of nothing but nonprofits. As the years had gone by, the volunteers to help those nonprofits have kind of dwindled down.
[00:17:31] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:31] Speaker D: But we. The four h club has been around probably since the beginning. They. They do barbecue, and they actually started out with Pope's barbecue and Pope's, you know, retired. They all retired whenever. So they continued to do the barbecue.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:51] Speaker D: The Girl Scouts partner with someone, and they're going to be providing asian food.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: Oh, that's different this year.
[00:18:00] Speaker D: So we're like, okay, there's something different.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:03] Speaker D: And we've had a new one that's La Ramosa church. It's located in DeKalb County.
Mexican.
And I can imagine because I've got a feeling it's gonna be very authentic Mexican. So it's gonna be very good.
We have the soccer club that brings Kona ice.
[00:18:24] Speaker A: It's like a. Oh, that's always fun.
[00:18:25] Speaker D: Yeah. Especially for the kids. Bad boys barbecue. Kettle corn, baskin Robbins, Lulu's fruit slushies. If we see some room, we'll bring something else in. We've got a little time to. Maybe if we've got some room to bring one more booth in, because it's. We don't want those lines to be long and people.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: That's pretty exciting, though. That's some different things this year. I'm looking forward to that. That'll be fun. The music is steeped in history, but when you're pulling off an event of this magnitude, I'm sure you have to kind of stay with the times and technology and that sort of thing. How do you approach technology and how it helps you run the jamboree and promote it?
[00:19:03] Speaker D: Well, you know, interesting that you mentioned that half our board now is under 35 years old. They've been a lot of help, as far as they understand. They understand that side of it. So, first off, through DTC and technology, this jamboree is wall to wall coverage through DTC three. I mean, you can. I think when we looked at the reports, Nick, every state had looked at it in eleven countries. I think one, even in Russia.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: It was pretty massive.
[00:19:39] Speaker D: Yes, it was massive.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: It was pretty massive.
[00:19:41] Speaker D: So YouTube coverage, which is what y'all do, and also through your other channels, really helps us a lot. And so getting the word out for that, you know, where people can watch it whether they're here or not, and.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: That helps promote it, not just for the year that it's happening. Right. But for upcoming year. So hopefully someone from far away might see it streaming and be like, I want to come to town and be a part of that in person.
[00:20:06] Speaker D: Right?
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:07] Speaker D: Right. And of course we promote it. They're all social media channels. Tammy Judkins is our social media director. She does. I mean, does it all. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok x, Twitter, you know, we get it out there as much as we can. We try to help promote the crafters.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: So you really embrace it, though. I mean, you're not running from it.
[00:20:31] Speaker D: Oh, no, no, we are not running from it. And matter of fact, we'd like to learn more.
[00:20:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:35] Speaker D: You know, what more could we do?
[00:20:37] Speaker A: That's what keeps things like this that have been around for so long, growing and keeping with the time you have to. Keep with the time you have to.
[00:20:45] Speaker D: You have to. And hopefully that'll draw a younger crowd to the interest. So this will keep going. And that's what I appreciate about our board, all the young folks that have joined us to help us carry this photo.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: Nice to have that fresh blood in there.
[00:21:02] Speaker D: Yes. And fresh ideas. It's really, really nice. So we do that.
We do a lot of newspaper print. We started a category called inclusive category, which started begin with down syndrome kids clogging in California. They had, they had. Didn't have anywhere to compete.
So it. We've. They film what they do and they submit it to the Jamboree electronically. Electronically, yes. And then we post their videos on the day of the jamboree of who?
[00:21:47] Speaker C: All.
[00:21:47] Speaker D: Everyone that competed in that.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:21:50] Speaker D: And we announced the winners from the stage. And so we're expanding the inclusive categories for not just dance, but for any of the 36 categories.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: What an awesome use of technology, right?
[00:22:01] Speaker D: Yes. I mean, these kids don't even have to come from California here.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:05] Speaker D: But they can still compete. So we began some work with Easter seals in Tennessee and some of these groups to say, hey, you know, if y'all have got kids that play the guitar or play the banjo or, you know, we've got this competition and they. We can show those on all of our social media.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:26] Speaker D: As the categories on the stage say it's banjo, and then we show the banjo kids over here, you know, at the same time. And it's just, it's fascinating to watch. So we've, we've tapped into, we think, to another market.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:22:40] Speaker D: That we feel like could benefit from this and we. We could benefit from them as well. But so that's, that's been exciting. And we'll be doing again this year.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: I can't wait to see all the competition on that side of it.
[00:22:54] Speaker D: Yep. They're pretty intense.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: They are. They want to win, too.
[00:22:57] Speaker D: They do. And they do win a money prize, and we send it straight to them. So they're, they're real excited.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: So catch a little bit of the, the video streaming action of course, DTC is involved and has been for several years in that. And they can go to DTC three and watch the stream there. But that's not the only places. We'll have it shared through our social media channels and things like that. But you can go to the website and we'll have more information about that.
[00:23:23] Speaker D: But, and you can go to our website.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: Exactly. That's why that's going to be my next share with people. If they want to learn more about the jamboree, how can they get to your information?
[00:23:36] Speaker D: If you go to smithfieldjamboree.com, you've got the history, you've got the schedule, you got the rules for contestants, you've got the rules for crafters. You've got pictures, you've got everything. You can find out just about anything there.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: That's smithvillejamboree.com dot.
[00:23:51] Speaker D: Uh huh.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:23:51] Speaker D: And then, and if you need to get in contact with us, contact information.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: Okay, great.
[00:23:56] Speaker D: So. So, yes. And this year's jamboree is July 5 6th, Friday and Saturday, right after Thursday the fourth.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: So it's in downtown Smithville right off the square. You can't miss it, right?
[00:24:09] Speaker D: No, can't miss it. You're okay.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Well, Kim, thank you so much for being here and thank you for the, the years of love for this festival and what it means to keep tradition going and the history, keeping it relevant in today's age. So we just appreciate all that you do.
[00:24:25] Speaker D: Well, thank you. We appreciate all you do, too. Thank you.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: Well, stay with us. We've got more of the show coming up in just a moment. Gaming builds real skills for real careers in esports and beyond.
Project manager, content creator.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Customer service rep.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Software developer.
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[email protected] dot did you see his.
[00:25:03] Speaker C: Text about the textbooks? No, it was $150.
[00:25:09] Speaker A: I did hear you settling in pretty well.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Good, good.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a big adjustment.
[00:25:16] Speaker B: Thanks for waiting for me.
[00:25:17] Speaker C: What's up, boy? Man, how you doing?
Ready to play? Yeah, let's go.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: Keep running, keep running, keep running.
[00:25:36] Speaker A: And welcome back to the show. Justin, it's good to see you back with us on the show today. And I'm not going to waste any time. I'm just going to throw it right to you and let you drop some more truth bombs on us with some knowledge here with Justin's tech tips. So, Justin, take it away.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: All right. So I know that there are a lot of us who use this thing called the Internet heard of it. It's a very popular thing for everyone to, to utilize and to take advantage of. And yes, you've heard of, and you probably use it as I do, as the majority of the world, I think.
[00:26:09] Speaker A: It'S going to take off one day.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe it will become pretty popular and integrated into society and culture and just what we do in our everyday lives. Right. So something that, you know, we think about usually after the fact and maybe we're not so proactive about is privacy. When I say privacy, oftentimes it'll come up because you'll be like, hey, listen, I just did it. I did a search on a web engine for a smokeless fire pit, and now all I see is ads for a smokeless fire pit. Why is that? Why do I keep seeing this ad?
[00:26:40] Speaker A: That's true?
[00:26:41] Speaker B: Well, it has to do with privacy settings. You know, play a role in that. And there's, you know, companies want to make sure that their ad dollars are being spent effectively, and so they want to target consumers and do it in such a manner to where they can make the most bang for their buck and what they're doing in their marketing program. And so privacy plays a role in that. So today we're going to talk a little bit about some of the things you can do maybe to help with that a little bit so that your fingerprint out there on the Internet isn't so recognizable. And maybe your data is a little bit more secure and protected and you have more control of it. So the first thing is you have options. Whenever you create an account on most social media websites or other websites, you have the ability to go into those privacy settings and tailor those a little bit to your individual needs. And what suits you, if you want to say, hey, you know, I like these personalized ads, and maybe some people do. They, you know, they want to see those. They want to see something that's more relevant, not random ads, but usually there's an option in there for that or sharing some of your information, sharing your location data, for instance. Something we often overlook when we do most of our access now is on a mobile device. And because you're on a mobile device, your location information is generally being shared unless you've turned it off. And so those are, you know, some initial steps that you can do. Something that people really need to be doing when they're accessing the Internet out and about is being cognizant of how they're accessing the Internet. If you go into Starbucks or McDonald's, yes, they have free WiFi, that's nice to have. But understand that when you access those networks, anybody on those networks can see that you've have accessed it and also could potentially be snooping on what you're doing. And so you got to be aware of, hey, maybe if I'm in this situation, I don't need to connect to it or if you're going to and you're like me because I choose to connect to them because I don't want to use my mobile data. It's a little bit more efficient, help save battery, use what's called virtual private network or VPN.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I've heard that term a lot lately.
[00:28:48] Speaker B: Yes. And that will help overall on unsecured networks. And in general, you see a big push now to use VPN's all the time so that nobody can see, see what you're doing because again, it encrypts your connection. So from your device out through the Internet until it reaches its end point, people can't see what's going on. So you can't have those people in the middle trying to track and see what you're doing. And also, you know, if you're using search engines, there's, you know, we have the main search engines that we use, you know, Google, bing, yahoo. We think of those, if you're going to use those, don't always stay logged into their services as you're navigating the web. And also, again, check those privacy settings because you can disable quite a bit of the tracking features on those. Or if you want to go one step further, you can use a privacy search engine. And so there's some of those out there as well, such as Duckduckgo, where they will take your search and you can even within that search other browsers, but it initiates there so that they're not tracking everything back to you. So, you know, things as we navigate, we've got to understand we're not going to be able to protect everything all the time, but there is some control that we can have. And, you know, I think as we progress with more and more technology, privacy is still a concern. We think about locking our doors at night and we've talked about locking our digital doors as well. And this is just another tool to be able to help with that.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Joining us right now for this part of the show is Caleb and Ashley Roth with stain and seal experts. Thank you so much for being here today.
[00:30:28] Speaker E: Thanks for having us.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Thank you. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
[00:30:31] Speaker C: Yes, sir.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: We spent a little time at your place not too long ago, filming some testimonial video clips and things like that. And I was truly amazed at your facilities there. The new facilities that you recently, you know, set up is just, I don't know, it's just very efficient and very professional. You guys did a great job.
[00:30:50] Speaker C: Thank you. It's been a labor of love.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: I know you're in Alexandria because we're in Alexandria. We're just down the road from each other. But tell me a little bit about kind of how you chose Alexandria to be home base, so to speak.
[00:31:03] Speaker E: I mean, I grew up in Alexandria, so Alexandria has always been home.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: So it truly is home.
[00:31:07] Speaker E: Yeah, it really is home for me. Caleb's family moved there soon after he graduated high school, so it's been home for him almost as long as it has for me now. You know, it's where our families are and it made sense to keep our business there as well, so we could just stay home.
[00:31:24] Speaker A: So talk about staying and seal experts, and I know there's a lot of different aspects of the business, but kind of go through those for us, for those that don't know a lot about it.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: Sure. So stain and seal experts started as a service business. We would stain your fence or your deck or your log home, and we still do that today. But, you know, necessities come along the way and you start doing one thing or another. And, and so one of the, you know, first necessities I found was we just weren't happy with the stain products that we were using or able to get our hands on. So we just had a bright idea just to start making our own stains. Right.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:32:00] Speaker C: And so, so we started making stains and then all the cleaning products that we use. And it's nice for us to be able to have quality control over our products. And so that business sort of started as just for our own use and through just different marketing things of showing the projects we were doing in our service business, other contractors asked to use our products. So next thing you know, we're selling products all over the country. And, you know, and then years go by, we start pre finishing lumber, you know, a lot. As we try to grow our stain brand, we run into some obstacles with some people. You know, they build beautiful log homes, they build beautiful decks, they build fencing, whatever, and they want it stained, but they don't want to do it right. And so that opened up the door for our brand, gopher wood, where we stained that stuff in factory. And then you can build your fence or your, you know, siding on your home.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: So literally, I can build a fence today. And the lumber is pre stained. I just put it up.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: Exactly. Yep.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: Now that's awesome. That's my kind of work. I like that.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: So it's kind of a whole new way of looking at, uh, building a fence.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: Definitely, yeah. I've never, I never even thought of that. So it sounds like you, um, you're always looking at the industry that you're involved with and you see a problem and you attack it. Is that, is that a kind of good statement?
[00:33:21] Speaker C: I tend to want to do everything, you know, if, if deliveries are slow, I want to start my own, start my own delivery company, you know? So I guess I have a little bit of that. If there's a problem, I want to, I want to just go ahead and grab it and feel like I can do a better job at it, maybe, than what we're currently getting served. So, yeah, I'm sure we'll have a few more of those come along the way.
[00:33:41] Speaker A: So do you have a background in the fence industry?
[00:33:43] Speaker C: Yes. So I was raised by a family that owned a family fence company, and so spent about ten years working in that business, doing sales and building fence and all of the things. And so that gave me a good foundation to come over here and start our own thing.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: So do you cater to both homeowners and professionals and contractors with your products?
[00:34:04] Speaker C: Sure. So our service business obviously does mostly residential. We do some commercial and municipal work for staining and ceiling. We did the, we did the playground up in Smithville, you know, at Greenbrook.
[00:34:15] Speaker A: Park and, which looks amazing, by the way.
[00:34:17] Speaker C: Yeah, it was a big transformation.
[00:34:19] Speaker E: It was a fun project, I bet.
[00:34:20] Speaker C: Yeah. And we sell our products. You know, we have an online shop. People can purchase our products, and then we sell through distribution. So, you know, whether it be, you know, a fence supply house somewhere in the country or a Benjamin Moore paint store or different, you know, hardware stores, ace hardwares, things like that. We, you can get our products at those places, too. We're in three countries. We're in the UK, we're in Canada and us, that's a big footprint for.
[00:34:44] Speaker A: Alexandria, Tennessee, in my opinion. Yeah, that's great. Where would the average person start? When you say, I want to manufacture my own fence stain, how did you learn the aspects of that and get involved in that?
[00:34:56] Speaker C: Lots and lots of trial and error. So, so when we started the business, I was sort of an owner operator. So I was in the field a lot, doing a lot of the work. And so I had a lot of experience applying a coding. I got a lot of hands on experience when there was a failure in a coding that we were using. And so I just knew all of the things I didn't want it to be. And, you know, we have our own podcast. You, you may know that. And so I interviewed a lot of people that were in our industry, and a lot of the recurring themes was diminished lung capacity, different types of cancer, different types of skin problems. And it was all due to solvents, which is also known as voC, volatile organic compounds in the coating that we're using. So when I set out to make a coating, I just decided to. We just weren't going to put that in there if we could help it. And we found a way to do it, which is seemingly impossible. You know, a lot of, a lot of chemists that we worked with said, oh, you can't do that. And then we were doing it and it worked. And more or less, we didn't have a chemist builder formula. We just trialed and errored to get our formula. But then once that was complete, we wanted to consult with chemists to make sure that this was viable or it would work.
And, you know, I went through this whole big row of chemists, and they all said, well, it doesn't seem to make sense. You need to add all these different chemical additives. And finally, I consulted with one who had a really big reputation in wood coatings, and he just asked a simple question. He said, well, why do you think the competitors of yours or other stain manufacturers use solvents in place of oil? We use oil as our carrier for our stain. It's the same like a. It's a food grade oil, like what you would buy for baby oil or things like that. He posed that question, and I said, well, because it's cheaper. Solvents are a lot cheaper than this oil we're buying. And he said, there's your answer. And so that was sort of confirmation to me to say, okay, we're doing this, and it's. And it's good. And so we started making it. I started making it in a, you know, in a barn behind my house, you know, and I shared that space with a bunch of sheep that we had on the farm. And so.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: And chickens don't leave the chickens out.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: Yeah. So there's some old photos of that. So just more or less just sort of the american business story.
[00:37:06] Speaker A: It's the american dream. Yeah, yeah.
[00:37:07] Speaker C: We just started entrepreneur doing something in a barn, and it turned into something else. And we just have a much bigger barn now.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: So I just like, I like your concept on how you attack this problem, too. It wasn't just enough to build a better product, but you built a safer product. Right. That's a, that's a big part of that.
[00:37:23] Speaker C: That's a huge byproduct, is the safer aspect. But, but my background in the fence industry was if we built you a wooden fence that was perfect, in six weeks it may be warped, cracked, or twisted, and it's not looking so perfect anymore. Now, that's out of our control as a contractor. And that remains for most people that build with wood, that's the number one, you know, callback that they get. And so the benefit of our stain is not only just, it's not vaporing off, off gassing, lots of bad things for you to breathe, but also that added oil that's in our product actually goes in and conditions the wood. So it's going to stop warping, cracking and twisting, and it will never peel, crack or chip. So the real benefit is that the wood you put it on is actually going to be conditioned and it's going to stop that warping, cracking and twisting. So we're able to kill two birds with 1 st. And that's really what separates what we do from most of the, you know, the big manufacturers out there.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:16] Speaker C: We want to build a product that's going to make the wood you put it on last longer where most companies emphasis is on. Well, we want a coating that'll last 100 years. Well, when it peels off the wood, it's still an intact coating. It's just not on the fence, you know.
[00:38:30] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Or on the deck. So we just have a little different philosophy about that. We're, we're in it for the wood, I guess.
[00:38:36] Speaker A: You have so much quantity of orders going out of Alexandria, all over the place, really. And how hard was that to get set up, you know, from a smaller background and more of a fencing installation background. Right. And now we're talking about, logistically, that's a total different project, so to speak. Was that hard to get your head around or is it you just kind of jumped in or, you know, I.
[00:39:03] Speaker C: Guess I never really thought that we couldn't do it. You know, there's so many things that I guess I was just always faithful about that, you know, hey, this is. We'll just do it. And as we've grown, you know, obviously there's been, you know, roadblocks in the way, and usually the way we fix most roadblocks or go around them is full speed ahead with really good people. And so, you know, I remember once I told someone, I said, hey, we're going to grow our business from this number to this number this year. And he said, well, you'll never do it without a operations manager. And I said, okay, well, we hired an operations manager. We did it. And so as we hire these different roles, I guess we've kind of gone with the philosophy of put our money back into the business and back into the people, and the people will help us build it. So we just look for really good experience.
Some companies are ran where you have one or two key people that sort of wear 100 hats and are really high stress, and then they drive a Ferrari in a Lamborghini. You know, we kind of look at it more of, we would rather build the business with really, really good people so that we can be a little more hands off and spend about 80% of our time growing, you know, looking at the future rather than the day to day operations and put the people that are really good at day to day operations in those positions. So that's. That's why we really.
I don't want to say we struggle, but that becomes an issue. You know, when you're in such a small town, you got to find world class talent, right? And so we have some people that drive from out of town, but the beautiful thing is there is world class talent in the small towns, and they're driving to Nashville, they're driving to Murfreesboro. And so we feel like being competitive to those big city jobs is what our goal is so that we can attract really good talent. And if you get the right people, man, they will. They will. It's amazing what can be accomplished with a good team.
[00:40:51] Speaker A: You know, you're exactly right. It really starts with your team. Right.
And being, honestly, being a good judge of character is a big part of that, don't you think, too, when you're trying to pick team members and find people that can not only get the job done, but can work well with the other parts of the team and that sort of thing?
[00:41:07] Speaker E: Yeah, I mean, we, everyone on our team has similar values and, you know, family lifestyles and things like that that we have.
You know, we like to hire good people because you're around them more than you're around your family. Sometimes you spend 8 hours a day, five days a week, sometimes more. So you want to be able to enjoy the people that you work with and be able to count on them and know that they have your backs and know that whatever role they're responsible for, they're going to execute it and execute it well.
So we've just, we've worked really hard and prayed really hard for those people, and they've came, and that's, that's what makes us different.
[00:41:47] Speaker A: Let's shift gears a little bit back into some of the products that you work with. Let's go hypothetical here. Let's say I'm a homeowner and I purchased a home that already had a fence around it. Are there some tips that you could give me to keep that fence looking as good as possible for as long as possible until we might have to get it restained with some great stain and seal products?
[00:42:09] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think it's, it's like anything else. If you want to have a beautiful lawn, you either become devoted to learning how to make it beautiful and do all the things in the maintenance yourself, or you hire somebody you partner with, somebody who can do that for you, who's a professional in that. And so it's the same for, for wood. The thing is, most people already know that their fence or deck or anything wooden, they know. They already know it needs to be sealed or stained. But I think the main reason people do it is because it looks good. You know, it's, it's a whole lot easier to get someone to act on. I want it to be beautiful than it is because it's the right thing to do, I think, a lot of times. So, so I think you just have to make that commitment to yourself that says, hey, I'm going to take advantage of all the wonderful world of the Internet, of how to information and all the great contractors that are out there, whichever route you go, and just do a maintenance plan. You know, you wouldn't leave your car outside and never wash it for five years. So, you know, maybe wash your, your fence or your deck up once a season, maybe put a good stain and sealer on it every couple years. And if you do something like that, you can really increase the lifespan. The average fence or deck, particularly a fence, has about a six to eight year lifespan.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:22] Speaker C: And so if you put a good, penetrating oil based stain, it can stop warping, cracking and twisting, but it can also expand, extend that life to about 20 years. So.
[00:43:29] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:43:30] Speaker C: So doing it not only. Yeah, not only makes it look good, but it can also, you know, you can quantify that. You can. You can actually see what the savings are.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: Yeah, there's cost savings.
[00:43:39] Speaker C: The cost of ownership goes way down if you, if you take care and you get the benefit of having the best looking fence on the block talking.
[00:43:45] Speaker A: A little bit about your pre stained lumber products. If I wanted to have a fence installed at my property, but I'm kind of in a hurry and need to get it done quickly or just want a real quality product, is that something I can really get started quickly using those pre stained pickets that you have?
[00:44:01] Speaker C: Sure. Yes. We've got dealers across the country that sell pre stained lumber for us, so we sell that through wholesalers, fence suppliers, lumber stores, things like that. And so if there's a lumber store near you, there's chances are we've already been to see them. If not, we'll be glad to sit down and have a chat with them and see if we can get lumber there. But, yes, building, you know, it takes that window out. So the pre stain lumber we do is a little different than regular treated lumber. We use a really high quality kiln dried cedar lumber. And so what that means is it's dry. It's very dry, and we can stain it right away. So we bring it into our warehouse. It delivers to us on covered truckloads, you know, tractor trailer trucks. It's covered. So it comes to us dry. We bring it into a warehouse, we stain it. The lumber is ready to go. So. So, yeah, you can buy a fence package or other types of lumber that's already stained, and it's when. When they put that last fence picket up, it's done.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: That's crazy to me, having been, years ago, part of a fencing project in a previous home location and remembering the struggles and. And how difficult it was, you know, because we were learning as we went, you know. But this takes such a lot of that learning curve out of it, which is, to me, is a big, big part of it. So.
[00:45:10] Speaker C: And it coats all six sides. You know, if you spray a fence or paint brush.
[00:45:14] Speaker A: That's exactly right.
[00:45:15] Speaker C: You're not getting behind the runners, you're not getting some of the tops and bottoms edges.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: That's a good point.
[00:45:20] Speaker C: So fully saturating that board makes a big difference. If you, if you do a cross section, you cut a fence board in half that we've pre stained the. If the stain goes all the way through.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:45:30] Speaker C: And so you'll see that oil all the way through, which is really what's going to make that thing last the longest.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: Talk about the things you use around the office from a technology side that kind of help you run the day to day parts of it. Sure.
[00:45:42] Speaker E: So DTC fiber Internet is what we depend on the most.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: And we appreciate that.
[00:45:47] Speaker E: We appreciate you guys.
But, yeah, with our e commerce, with our, all of our programs that we use for bidding and estimating and quoting, I mean, all of that's ran online, you know, invoicing online, our phone system, you know, people call, we're known in our industry as the people who answer the phones and the customer service people.
[00:46:11] Speaker A: So we, that's a lost art almost with some businesses, isn't it?
[00:46:16] Speaker E: Just to get in touch with the.
[00:46:17] Speaker A: Person that will talk to you.
[00:46:19] Speaker E: And, you know, when you call our team, they, they're knowledgeable, they know about your project. And, you know, we don't have to transfer you around to different departments. Usually whoever picks up can help you out with whatever you need.
But, yeah, I mean, the, the Internet and the phones that DTC provides for us are instrumental for us.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. I'm glad to hear that. And glad we're working together as great partners there in Alexandria, both of us.
[00:46:42] Speaker C: So we've used other services before, before.
And I was sort of of the thinking maybe bigger is better. If you go with a big outside, nationwide company, maybe you'd get a better product, meaning faster Internet or something like that. And we've had our phones with you guys for years, but we just moved our Internet to you, I think, in the last six or eight months. And the thing that made me do that was when I called DTC, you answer the phone and you're there usually the same day, which is unheard of. But I tried, you know, when we were building that new building, we went ahead and we got another provider to bring Internet to the building, and we had to move all of our utility poles. And so our utility poles used to bring power into our building directly up through the middle of the property. Tractor trailer trucks were going to have to drive underneath that. And so, and it was an eyesore. So we, we went ahead and bit the bullet and we moved all of that utility over to the right side of the property and wanted to run it up the property line and then run it underground. They held our whole project up probably three or four months.
They would, they would send a truck out and they couldn't do it. And I had, it was just, you know, run around after run around after runaround, and we got it off the pole and canceled service and moved to you, and you guys were right there and you fixed it right away. And so I think when you're running a business, if you do have a problem, you need speed. Speed, you know, time kills deals. Right. So if I need to get something to someone or I need to get on the Internet or whatever I'm doing, I need it now. Generally, you know, when we call, it's probably always an emergency. Right? I mean, that's what, you know, if it's working, we're not calling because it's working, but if it doesn't work, we need to get it fixed quick. And so I think for me, that was the biggest thing, and, and that's what we want to have in our own company. So when someone calls us, we want to be able to give them a solution right away. And just going in circles over and over again is just really not good. It's a bad feeling. And I didn't like the way it made me feel. I didn't like the way I had to report that back to my team. I'm the one supposed to take this project on and get it done, but I'm waiting on the utility company, and that's just not a good place to be. So working with you guys has been much more responsive. Same day response. You know, it's just, it's something I don't have to worry about anymore. So I know you didn't, you know, I didn't plan to say this story.
[00:49:03] Speaker A: Well, we appreciate this is a true.
[00:49:05] Speaker C: Story and this is the really the reason why.
[00:49:07] Speaker A: Well, we have a lot of parallels, I think, in the way that we want to treat our customers. I know at DTC and the way it's staying in Seal also. Right. Customers are very important in keeping them happy and treating them honestly, just like you want to be treated. Right. That's, I think that's the key. I think a lot of bigger companies can sometimes miss that. So if people heard something today that spiked their interest and they want to learn more about your products, where should they go? I'm sure you have an online presence.
[00:49:34] Speaker E: Yeah. So you can visit us
[email protected]. you can find us on any social media. Just, you know, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, stain and seal experts. You can also call our office, and that number is 615-785-1861 awesome.
[00:49:53] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, congratulations on how well the business is doing, and the new place looks amazing.
[00:49:58] Speaker C: Thank you very much.
[00:49:59] Speaker A: Did such a great job. And keep us posted on things that are going on your way and hopefully we can have you back on the show down the road.
[00:50:06] Speaker C: Sounds great.
[00:50:06] Speaker E: Sounds good. Thank you.
[00:50:07] Speaker A: Thanks for being here, everybody. Stay tuned. We got more of the show coming up in just a minute.
[00:50:11] Speaker E: My name is Ashley Roth my husband Caleb and I own stain and seal experts based in Alexandria, and we are a DTC customer.
Caleb grew up in the fence industry, so when we got married and wanted to do something on our own, it made sense for us to start staining fences and manufacturing fencing deck and log cabin stains.
We manufacture our own stains that check all the boxes for us that we offer to our customers here locally as well as nationwide that buy our products.
DTC services all of our phone systems. We also have their fiber Internet. For our phone system to work is instrumental for us. We rely heavily on our Internet and phone services from DTC. It means a lot to us that they're local, that they've always been local, and that we're able to support them and their services give us what we need to support our customers. Hi, I'm Ashley and that's the DTC difference.
[00:51:15] Speaker A: To start off this final segment of the June edition of the local cliq, we have a new DTC expert for ask the experts. And that would be Miss Missy McKay. Missy, hi.
[00:51:27] Speaker F: How are you?
[00:51:27] Speaker A: Great. How are you doing?
[00:51:28] Speaker F: I'm doing good.
[00:51:29] Speaker A: Thank you so much for joining us on the local click. Is this your first podcast?
[00:51:33] Speaker F: It is my first podcast.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: Awesome. Hopefully many more to come. So we appreciate you being on the show today. And like I said, this is ask the expert and you're the expert in a lot of things DTC because I know our offices are pretty close to each other and there's many a times when I have to go to you and ask you questions because you're the expert for me as well. So I've heard the term customer personal equipment and so explain to us exactly what that means.
[00:52:00] Speaker F: When you get our service, we pretty much provide anything you will need to get the service into your home. We provide the Ont and we provide a router that has wireless equipment in it and is a 2.4 and a 5.0 GHz which allows most any equipment to connect to. When you have our equipment, we're able to go in there and easily change your passwords for you. We can see if devices are connecting properly for you.
We can also reboot your equipment remotely versus you having to find the equipment, reboot it, things of that nature.
[00:52:40] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:52:41] Speaker F: If you have your customer personal equipment, we have no access to that at all. And by having access, doesn't mean I know what website you're going to, cause I don't. I will see what equipment is connected, what the equipment is named. I can see your passwords.
[00:52:58] Speaker A: So the devices on your network, that kind of thing. Right.
[00:53:00] Speaker F: The number of devices, the types of devices that are connected. I I can see if it's got a good wireless connection or not. And I can give you tips.
Customer personal equipment. No, I don't have any connection to that. The furthest I can go is your ont.
[00:53:17] Speaker A: So when you say customer personal equipment, what would be a typical scenario? Are you talking about, like, someone that may have their own Wifi router that they want to use with their Internet service?
[00:53:28] Speaker F: Correct. I'm talking about routers. I'm talking about access points.
[00:53:32] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:53:32] Speaker F: I'm talking about mesh systems because you can use two of our wireless routers and make it a mesh system. And I have access to both of those to make changes to see if they're connected, to know if they're up and working, if you have your own, first of all, you had to go out and purchase it. And some of them are rather pricey.
[00:53:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Some of them are expensive.
[00:53:56] Speaker F: And if it gets hit by lightning, you're out there. That money. If the equipment that's owned by DTC gets hit by lightning, we come back out there and we replace it.
[00:54:06] Speaker A: So there's a lot of advantages, not just for troubleshooting, but for damage, like due to storms and stuff like that. If there's an issue that comes up and it's a DTC provided piece of equipment for your Internet, then we will help get that back up and running versus if it's something you brought from a big box store or something like that and you have an issue with lightning, then you would probably.
[00:54:32] Speaker F: You'd be at your money.
[00:54:33] Speaker A: Yeah, you'd be out your money. You'd be going and buying a new one, more than likely. Right.
[00:54:36] Speaker F: Right.
[00:54:36] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome, missy. Well, thank you for what you do, and thank you for always being so customer centered and trying to help people. And maybe we can talk you into coming back in business again with another tidbit of information if we didn't scare you off today.
[00:54:48] Speaker F: Sure. Call me anytime.
[00:54:50] Speaker A: See how easy that was?
[00:54:51] Speaker F: Justin, call from your home phone. Call 611.
[00:54:55] Speaker A: Well, we're going to shift gears a little bit, and we're going to let this guy, he knows a lot about technology, too. So every month we give him a little segment called the tech news roundup. So, Justin, take it away for this month's episode, Tick Tock.
[00:55:09] Speaker B: We previously talked about the potential tick tock ban. Well, that did pass Congress.
[00:55:13] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:14] Speaker B: So that's a social media ban or we're not going to get into the politics of it, but just to say tick tock is not going away nicely with it. They're not going to go away quietly, and they're going. They've chosen to file litigation and to attempt to fight it. So basically, what the ban was, it wasn't banning tick tock itself, it was banning the parent chinese company from continuing to operate TikTok. They were trying to force a sale.
[00:55:36] Speaker F: It can't go away. That's where I get all my recipes.
[00:55:38] Speaker B: I was going to say that.
[00:55:39] Speaker A: What are you going to do when that happens? Yeah, there's.
[00:55:41] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, there's hundreds of millions of users of TikTok. And so that's a big new story in of itself, because the user base of TikTok is so large. So there's going to be a lot more to that story that's going to develop. And then the last thing that I want to talk about is Neuralink. Elon Musk, as we know, is an entrepreneur, and he started up several different companies. Well, Neuralink, going back to May of 2023, got its first FDA approval for a clinical trial of its brain computer interface module, which is what it sounds like. It is a chip that is inserted and implanted into your brain. And they're specifically doing it to target those who may have spinal cord injuries or certain types of paralysis, so that they can use that as a means to create a link to a computer based system so that they can interact with or potentially control certain things. The first patient that this happened with was in January of this year, but now the FDA just recently allowed them and approved them to do a trial with three more patients, up to ten, but they're going to start with three. And so, again, quickly, these advances in technology, we're thinking of these futuristic things, of being able to control objects or something, you know, in it for their target demographic. I mean, there's a potential for, you know, being able to control prosthetics or maybe some communication avenues that weren't available before and all kinds of things. And so the, they did have, with that first patient, they did have some issues with the interface, not medical complications, but getting, which is why you do a trial, you got to figure out what works and what doesn't work. And obviously, the FDA is confident enough to approve them to continue even after that, with some of the corrections. But I think we may be seeing some groundbreaking stuff already happening. We're probably years down the road from.
[00:57:38] Speaker A: Seeing the full potential, but it's got to start somewhere. And it sounds like it literally has just started here.
[00:57:43] Speaker B: Yes. Wow.
[00:57:44] Speaker A: 2024.
[00:57:45] Speaker B: Yeah. So we may be witnessing the start of some what used to be science fiction becoming reality.
[00:57:53] Speaker A: Before we leave this place today and leave this episode today, we do want to give everybody a little quick update on where DTC is going to be for the month of June. And we like to call that what's up, DTC? The DeKalb summer reading program. And that will be at the DeKalb county complex on June 6. Then we'll be at the Black Barn market and craft sale on June 8, followed by the Smith county senior day at the fair, which is always a lot of fun. And that'll be on June 18. Then close by at the Wilson county four h day camp on June 19, followed by DeKalb County Fair, which will be on June 24 through the 29th, including the DTC fun night at the fair. That's something we started last year, and there's a lot of fun for the kids, so you definitely need to bring your kids over for that one. That'll be on June 28 at DeKalb County Fair and the Smith County Fair, which will be going on July 1 through the 6th. So lots of things going on as the weather gets prettier each year, and the month of June is no exception for that. So it looks like that's gonna wrap up the June episode of the local Click. Missy, thank you so much for being with us this month.
[00:59:07] Speaker F: Thank you for having me.
[00:59:08] Speaker A: I hope we can get you back here again sometime soon.
[00:59:11] Speaker B: Hopefully next month, possibly. Possibly the month after next.
[00:59:16] Speaker F: We'll see.
[00:59:17] Speaker A: And that's gonna do it for us. I'm Nick Noakes. This is the local click and we'll see you again next month. Learn more about the show by visiting us online at the localclick.com. also be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast or video platform so you won't miss our next episode of the local click. See you next month.
