The ‘T’ in the word “podcast” didn’t leave my mouth before my good friend cut me off.

He was asking me why I was leaving my job at Butte Sports to go out on my own.

“What are you going to do?” he asked out of genuine concern.

“Well,” I said, “I’m going to start a podcas …”

“It’ll never work,” he butted in.

The reason for his concern was valid. I was about to start a podcast that focused on the people of Butte. By podcast standards, the target audience is incredibly small.

“You have to do a national podcast if you want it to work,” he said.

Still, I was going to give it a shot. I was betting on the people of Butte — those who still live here and those who will always live here in their hearts.

A year later, and I was right. The ButteCast, as I so cleverly named it after a solid month of bouncing different monikers around my head, seems to be a huge success.

Of course, that success is relative. When it comes to national podcasts, the ButteCast doesn’t really stack up much at all.

Joe Rogan had more listeners in the time it takes you to read this sentence than I did all year. You can probably say the same about Butte native Rob O’Neill, who started his podcast, “The Operator,” a week or two before I started mine.

By the way, I highly recommend you check out Rob’s podcast. In recent episodes, he has opened up about the ghost he battles after his long, distinguished career as a Navy SEAL.

I don’t agree with a lot of Rob’s politics, but I learned a long time ago that friends can disagree.

The ButteCast is about the people of Butte. If you haven’t heard an episode, each one consists of a long-form interview with someone from Butte or someone with some ties to the Mining City.

The first episode dropped on Sept. 12, 2022, and it featured former Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Don Peoples, probably the most important Butte Rat in my lifetime.

In that podcast, Mr. Peoples talked about his days as the leader of the local government and leading us out of the local economic depression of the 1980s.

Some podcasts have focused on sports, and others have had nothing to do with any kind of athletic event. They are simply about interesting people in town.

Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin made two appearances in the first year. She was the second guest, and then she made a follow up appearance after her book “Blood Money: The Story of Life, Death, and Profit Inside America’s Blood Industry” hit the shelves.

I also highly recommend reading that book — or listening to the audio book like I did while walking my dogs around the Big M.

The most popular podcast came in December when I met Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott at Starbucks for a great conversation. The former Butte High star talked to me even though I was wearing a Griz hat and hoodie to taunt him during the interview.

A close second in popularity is a podcast with O’Neill, who is still in trouble with his mom for some of the language he used when we met at the 51 Below Speakeasy. It should have been no surprise to anyone that my good friend Rob did not speak easy.

A podcast with Mike Thatcher, the CEO of Community Counseling and Correctional Services (CCCS) is still ranked No. 3 in listens. He is followed by Jake Larson and Father Patrick Beretta.

My cousin Mike “Skinny” Foley is just behind Father Baretta, and that just seems so wrong on so many levels.

Probably the two most important podcasts were with John “Harp” Cote and Connie Kenney, a pair of Butte legends.

It would take about 3 million words to describe all the good that Cote did for Butte, and Kenney was a legendary radio newswoman, among many other things. Both passed away not long after recording the podcasts, Kenney at 85 and Cote at 99.

Their voices will live on with the ButteCast.

Other podcasts included former Montana Grizzly football coaches Mick Dennehy and Mick Delaney, three-time State champion Butte High football coach Jon McElroy, 15-time State champion Butte High wrestling coach Jim Street, legendary Montana Tech football coach Bob Green, current Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Dylan Cook, Cincinnati Bengals assistant coach Colt Anderson, Butte Central stars Dougie Peoples and Brooke Badovinac, Butte High State champion wrestler Mason Christian, most of the seniors from the Butte Miners baseball team and former legislators Bob Pavlovich and Fritz Daily.

Maybe my favorite podcast was the one where I got the chance to catch up with one of my childhood heroes, the Great Mickey Tuttle. It was a lot of fun hearing him tell the story about climbing up and sitting on the rim after the 1984 Butte High boys’ basketball team won the State title in Missoula.

I’ve probably had way too many members of Butte High’s Class of 1986 (including the class clown and president Tim Dick) and too many former McKinley Vikings (because I’m a Kennedy Crusader.)

I’m hoping to have my favorite musician, Tim Montana, on the podcast really soon, and I have had no luck trying to convince a pair of Walkerville legends in Tudo Stagnoli and Butch Starin to join the podcast.

Maybe you can help me convince them to do it. I am also trying to chase down Super Bowl champion Pat Ogrin, another childhood hero.

An interview with the starting offensive line from the State champion 1973 Butte Central Maroons capped the first year. It featured Barry Brophy, who Matt Buckley’s podcast tells us is not as athletic as his brother Bernie, along with Jerry “Buzz” Combo, Greg Markovich, Mike Haggerty and Brian “Moose” Holland.

By the way, my 15-year-old self is still mad at me for inviting Barry Brophy on. He made me and my teammates run the dreaded “Big Three” when I was a freshman on the BC football team in 1989.

In all, the first year of the ButteCast included 128 episodes, and all of them are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, ButteCast.com, or anywhere you find your podcast.

Year 2 started with Dr. John Michelotti, a valedictorian of Butte High’s Class of 1986. The second episode featured an important conversation with Evan Barrett about the subpar superfund cleanup being pushed on Butte.

Matt Vincent and I used to beat up on Barrett when we wrote Rat Chat from a barstool, but I am sure glad we have him on our side in this very important fight.

No, I didn’t become a millionaire in the first year of the podcast. In fact, I probably ended up taking a pretty good pay cut.

But I have had a blast doing the podcast, and I cannot imagine stopping any time soon. There are just too many great people in Butte that I need to talk to.

I have had so many guest suggestions, and it will take a long time to get to them all. It sure is going to be a fun time trying.

It has to be said that I couldn’t have done any of this without the great support from our sponsors. Most of them have been here to help right from the start.

I am so thankful that they believed in me. I also owe so much to the people who are listening to the podcasts and asking for more.

The podcast has had way more listeners than I could have imagined when I started. If you are one, I cannot thank you enough for helping me realize this dream.

Thank you for putting the “T” back in “podcast.”

— Bill Foley, whose 15-year-old self wants to kick his butt for so much more than having Barry Brophy on his podcast, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 before that billionaire weirdo ruins it. Listen to the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.