Welcome to “The Flipside of the Microphone” – a new podcast series on Q4G.  Think…. Inside the Actors Studio….. but instead of an actor – we talk with a member of the NASCAR Media.  They travel from track to track each weekend sticking their microphones in front of our favorite drivers…. and I thought it would be interesting to flip the microphone around….. and get to know more about some of our favorite NASCAR journalist.

Where did they grow up? What other jobs have they had? What’s the biggest story they ever broke?  All that plus we talk about the state of journalism in the NASCAR press box.

This week we speak with Marty Smith from ESPN.  You can follow Marty on twitter (@MartySmithESPN) and like him on Facebook.

Marty and I talked about his small town roots, how he started writing, how he found racing and finally wound up on TV.  At times, it gets a little emotional – one thing I have always loved about Marty….. he holds nothing back.   He also has some good advice for those of you who want to break into the biz.

Click play to listen to the entire interview:  

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

If the embedded player does not work for you (iPhone and iPad users) you can click here to play the episode with quicktime.

You can also check out the previous episodes of The Flip Side of the Microphone:  Reid Spencer: from the NASCAR Wire Service, Lewis Franck from Reuters and Ryan McGee from ESPN and Jeff Gluck from SB Nation.com  and Jim Utter from the Charlotte Observer.