SPEDA mini-grant helps local business owner record podcast series highlighting local residents
Editor’s note: This is the second of four profile pieces highlighting the 2023 winners of SPEDA’s mini-grant program. SPEDA’s mini-grant program awards $2,500 to four local businesses with plans to innovate and expand their operations. The mini-grant program is an annual initiative made possible through good management and proper financial oversight at SPEDA that has helped the organization save thousands annually.
The city of Somerset, Kentucky, is home to a host of interesting people. Trey Bray wants to be the host who helps you get to know them a little better.
A native and resident of Somerset, Bray has an affinity for the talented population of the area, having known them and, in many cases, worked alongside them in the city’s mainstays and institutions. From employing his skills in lighting and audio at Flashback Theater Company to his time at local radio station Somerset 106, Bray has first-hand experience with what he calls the rich and texture tapestry of Somerset’s residents.
“Over the course of working with the Flashback Theater Company, I had met a lot of interesting people,” Bray said. “But I found it kind of startling just how much I didn’t know about those people.”
Take Somerset Community College professor Steve Cleberg, for example.
“I’ve known Steve for quite some time,” Bray said. “But I had no idea what he did before teaching. I didn’t know what Sommer Schoch envisioned for Flashback, either. All of these people I’ve known for years, and I realized that others might be in the same position.”
That was the impetus for Bray’s Somerset Goings On podcast series, created through his business, Legendary Sun Media Solutions, LLC. With five guests already appearing on the podcast — you can find it on Spotify under “The Somerset Goings On Podcast by Thomas Bray” — he sees Somerset Goings On as a window into the background of Somerset mainstays and the people who contribute to the greatness of the city.
This venture, a marriage of community education and pride, was tailor-made for the Somerset-Pulaski Economic Development Authority (SPEDA). SPEDA awards mini-grants annually to small business owners like Bray, who has a vision professionally and for his fellow Pulaski Countians. Inspired by friend and past SPEDA mini-grant recipient Amanda Balltrip, who encouraged him to take a chance and apply, he was heartened by her and others who believed in his idea.
As that idea has grown, so have the requirements to produce the show in a way that is professional and polished to Bray’s standards. The SPEDA mini-grant will aid Bray to that end, helping fund equipment such as microphones, software, cables, and headphones to bring the stories of Somerset’s residents to the masses.
As for those residents, Somerset Goings On will take a deep dive into their “origin stories.”
“I thought it would be interesting to get the backstory about the people who make Somerset great,” Bray said, “but also how they have led such interesting lives. I’m hoping their stories inspire others who hear them, to help them take their own paths.”
Beyond inspiring others with the tales of his guests, Bray wants to see those people get the acknowledgment they deserve.
“While I want to boost the podcast, it’s more important to me to promote what their projects are more than my own,” he said. “Too often, so many great people don’t ‘get their flowers’ until long past their work on a project.”
Bray’s vision is to boost their efforts at the moment, while in progress.
As to how he will accomplish that promotion, Bray has big plans for the podcast.
“Eventually, I envision 52 episodes a year, one per week, possibly more,” he says. “In addition, I want to do short-form content on TikTok and expand the podcast with live streaming, similar to what Governor Beshear did during the pandemic.”
With casting a wider net, Bray hopes that his efforts will filter back to the city he loves.
“If we show what the people of Somerset do, their contributions, I think it could really expand the city’s notoriety,” he said. “If people outside the area hear what we do here, the hope is that it will drive more people to Somerset, while at the same time keeping local talent local.”
Bray’s enthusiasm and ideas have been met with positive feedback from the community, echoing his views and the podcast’s mission.
“Everyone I talk to loves hearing that I’m doing a podcast about the people of Somerset,” he said. “Hearing the stories about how Somerset’s artists, leaders, and luminaries came to be who they are, the path they took to get there, and the experiences that shaped their lives — it fulfills something within all of us. It creates a bond of trust and love, and might inspire others on whatever path they travel.”
As for Bray’s path? He credits SPEDA for helping him move forward in his goals — not just financially, but on a more personal level.
“What the SPEDA mini-grant means to me is that there’s tangible proof that the people and city of Somerset believe in me and what I want to do with my life,” Bray said. “It is definitive proof that I’m doing the right thing. The SPEDA mini-grant is Somerset’s stamp of approval and affirmation.”