Meet Scott DeHuff | Podcast host & Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott DeHuff and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I moved around a lot as a kid, but always have been in Colorado. The majority of my childhood was in the great city of Broomfield, Colorado.

I credit my creativity to my crazy upbringing.

My father passed away when I was five, and my mom was left to raise three kids on her own.

I went through a period of time where I hardly spoke to anyone due to depression, and I would wander off and talk to myself. Doing this, I’d play the role of different characters. So this is where I started working on my unique abilities of voice manipulation, thinking outside the box when it comes to entertainment, and self-reliance.

As I grew up, my older brother, Chris, was a huge influence on me. He and I went through similar struggles, but he took on the leadership role between the two of us. Why? Because someone had to.

That’s something I carry with me to this day. Sometimes you need to follow, and sometimes you need to take the lead. And there’s nothing wrong with either, but you need to embrace whichever role you’re in and be the best at it.

While he had his own demons to battle, Chris helped guide me in the right directions, including encouraging a strong work ethic.

Eventually my mom would remarry, but my brother was still a strong influence in my life.

We used to steal my step-dad’s VHS video camera and make fake commercials and TV shows. My creative juices were starting to be expressed to others, and I was falling in love with it.

This taught me early on that you can make entertaining elements, despite a little to no budget.

My first jobs were in the grocery and restaurant industries. This is where I started to fine tune my work ethic and understanding that I need to bust my ass in order to achieve success.

I also learned in the restaurant business that not everyone has the same skills, and you need to think creatively put people in positions so that they can flourish.

At one point my brother was my manager. We worked at a Quiznos in Boulder together and he molded me into a detailed oriented beast.

Success is not sloppy. It’s filled with details, and those details need to be polished and organized. There’s no room for doing a half-ass job when you want to be successful.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Being myself – that’s what sets me apart from everyone else. While I can observe others in similar industries and see where they’ve succeeded and failed, ultimately, I need to be me. Adding on to that, I do like to learn about other industries and how they function. You might be surprised what you can learn from a business that is nothing like yours.

But to paint the picture of how I got to where I’m at now, I really started moving in the right direction about 20 years ago.

For the longest time I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my career. I was hopping around from one restaurant to another, and I wasn’t really happy with my career. Then one day my wife saw a commercial for a broadcasting school. I went to check it out, I enrolled and my life in broadcasting began.

I busted my butt going to school, internship and working at a restaurant (to pay the bills) in order to keep moving in the proper direction.

Once I graduated, I got a job at 950 The Fan, which is now known as 104.3 The Fan. I learned quickly that there were a lot of people who desired my job, and this forced me to be fearful that someone was going to take it. So what I began to do, is make it harder for them to do so.

I put myself in positions to learn more than pushing buttons. I learned how to create beautiful audio production pieces for station imaging and commercials.
I took time to learn from the station engineers on how equipment works and how to fix them.

When I would do entertainment bits on the air, I would later go back and listen to it, pick it apart, and highlight what I liked and what I didn’t.

I listened to the on-air talent and had discussions with station management on how segments should be structured to maximize the listening experience for the listener.

My goal was to be the hardest person in the building to fire.

All of these things I was learning because I was fearful of losing my job, I was actually starting to really enjoy. Also, while I was doing this, I was creating a strong foundation to what I needed to become a solid business owner.
Achieving success in business comes from the knowledge of how everything inside and outside of it is supposed to function.

And all of this was not easy. I had to grind nonstop. I was consumed by the job I loved, knowing deep down that one day I was going to do something on my own.

Then that “one day” happened and I left the radio station, and my wife pushed me to start my podcast. Something that was honest and entertaining. Something that allowed me to take all that I have learned and form it into something that can put a smile on someones face.

I continued to learn. I taught myself how to build my company logo. I developed and continue to develop stronger video editing skills for the ever evolving social media platforms. I took the knowledge I had obtained over almost 20 years in Denver radio and transferred it into my podcast.

The big difference between my podcast and radio is, my podcast doesn’t have to walk the company line. It doesn’t have to fear that it’s “too edgy” and honest. I get to make a product that makes me happy and helps people who are having a tough time in life.

They can forget about the crap hand that life has dealt them, at least while they listen. They can laugh and they can be happy.

I look at what I do now, it makes me fill with pride. It’s still not easy. I’m still always thinking of how I can improve my product. What does the consumer need out of this? I’m always promoting it. I’m always making sure it’s clean and organized.

And yes, I still make mistakes. But, I make sure I learn from them. I fear my mistakes, but I still need to respect them.

I can’t achieve success without failure. That failure is what helps build a solid foundation for my podcast, DeHuff Uncensored.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am one of the least exciting people in the state of Colorado. I’m very boring. That being said, You’d have to take them to a Nuggets or Avalanche game at Ball Arena. Maybe catch a Rockies game at Coors Field. Before the Rockies game, you’d have to go to Blake Street Tavern in downtown Denver – get the Western BBQ Burger!

Another great place to go, Lazy Dog in Westminster. You have to get their Smoked Maple Bacon Old Fashioned. It’ll give you happy thoughts for days.

Defiantly you’d have to go on hike. Even something as simple as walking up Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison. If they’re from out of state, I wouldn’t take them very far, because they probably couldn’t handle the altitude.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I could give you a giant list of amazing people who have supported me over the years. My father in-law – Tim, my brother – Chris, Mike Evans, Mark Schlereth, Sandy Clough, Scott Hastings, Alfred Williams, Nate Lundy – the list could go on and on. But the one that stands above everyone, is my amazing wife, Brandy. Of all the people in my life, nobody pushes me harder towards my goals, guides me in the right directions, gives amazing feedback on projects, and trusts my judgement when it comes to what I want and need to achieve greatness. My path to success would be much more difficult, and unfulfilling without her by my side.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dehuffuncensored/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dehuffpodcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeHuffUncensored

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjdKdgT0Ge_ZGcyuOsBe-KQ/videos

Other: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvNDk1NTk1NS9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk/episode/aHR0cHM6Ly9hcGkuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL2VwaXNvZGUvNDk2NDc4ODE?ep=14

Image Credits
Brandy DeHuff