This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - Bethany Shipley (Snowed In 26)

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

In this Snowed In episode, we are joined by fellow podcaster Bethany Shipley - another Kansas City based podcaster! - and she turns the tables and interviews Mike.

Check the mic will go live. Stories told they rise and dive. Topics fresh with every spin. You won't guess what's coming in. We can lose surprise. Minds away never lies. Conversations bold and free. Just now just wait and see.

Just press play. We're on our way. Voices sharp opinions bright. Hi, everybody. Welcome to a very special Snowden version of the podcast and got another great guest here. Please welcome Bethany to the show. Bethany. Thank you so much, Mike. And I'm getting a little alarm on my computer that says my Wi-Fi might be having trouble.

And it might be because of the snow that we're dealing with. But Mike, if it's okay with you, I could actually connect to a different Wi-Fi that I brought out here. we might have a better time overall. Do you want me to take the time to do that right now? Yeah, let's go ahead and do that. Okay, let's do that. All right. And we're still recording on my end. And at this point, I'll just kind of with a little music and are we good? All right. I believe we are back and I think we're better than ever. All right. Great. Awesome. So Mike, you have this podcast, this uncalled for podcast. And And obviously your audience loves you.

I saw that you have 25,000 downloads. Right. Congratulations on that. That's a huge deal. So obviously your audience loves you. They listen to you. And a lot of times they listen to you interviewing other people. And so I thought it would be kind of fun to come in and interview you and get to hear maybe a different side of the table.

So thank you for letting me come on your podcast and interview you. Well, thanks for, thanks for answering the call because I put out a call just before the Storm decided to hit our area and then finding out that we're basically local. I'm North O.P. Your Lee Summit. Yep. And yeah. Yeah. And which was kind of crazy because we met in a podcasting group that is like international. And so the odds of us being 30 miles apart from each other is pretty crazy. But yeah, my first question to you is how do you pronounce your last name? Chernevsky. Okay. And where is that? from polish okay and did you do you have uh connections there still or is it just uh so uh i'm polish by

way of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania okay and uh I learned in recent years that there is actually a hotel Chernevsky in Warsaw in Poland oh wow and that's your fame so we might be related to them I don't know so all right very cool And do you think that you'd ever do one of those, like, DNA tests to figure out if you are? You know, before I started recording, I mentioned Carl. And he asked exactly that's when I had him on. And I felt bad, but I don't know. Yeah.

It is kind of crazy these days, what they can connect you with in the information. But, yeah, okay. So, Mike, what's life about for you? What matters to Mike? It's kind of what the podcast is all about. If you stop the thing about it, it's been about exploring topics that's kind of interest me and bringing in, especially early on bringing in friends from the local film community or from my current job as a chess instructor. You're a chess instructor? Yep.

No kidding. What in the world? How did you get into that? So I got into it through board gaming, actually. So I'm sort of a regular at Tabletop, not too far from me. And one of the guys I game with turns out he's a chess instructor as well. And I needed a job, we're on late 2016 at this point. And, yeah, got in and got the job.

I've had it since. And are you mostly teaching youth or adult? A little bit of both. So our bread and butter is going into the schools after school and doing after school clubs and everything. There's a couple of schools we do before school and everything. I mostly do the middle schools out there in Blue Springs. Okay. So specific to Lee Summets, Delta Woods Middle School is in Lee Summit, but it's part of the Blue Springs District, and that's one of the schools I do actually.

That's very cool. I actually grew up. Well, when we moved to Kansas City in my late teens, we lived in that neighborhood right behind Delta Woods. Nice. So I know right where that's at. I used to run around on that track trying to get faster. So you're probably an early bird then. You have to get up early in.

Not really, but yes, I do have to get up. early to get to that specific club like five in the morning early. I'm in Ovalon Park. Yes, to get on the road. Yeah. Oh, man. Okay. Well, that is so cool.

What a fun, interesting fact that you're a chess instructor. And then you, I mean, you had this idea to start a podcast. And I feel like a lot of people hear that and think, oh, I'd like to do that someday. But very few people actually take action on it. Like, what made you pull the trigger to decide that you want to? wanted to do this. Turning 40 and needing an outlet to record my life experiences. Because no one else is going to do it.

No one else is going to, like, create your podcast and say, okay, here you go, step it up. But I've done a couple podcasts before this one, too. So my first podcast was actually 2012. It's called Sunflower Brew. And it's about politics. and they're all drinking beers at the same time. Okay, I'm sure that got crazy. Yeah.

And Kansas politics in case you didn't pick up on the sunflower part. Okay, yeah, I actually did. Okay, so that I see, yeah, sunflower. And some of it has been recycled into uncalled for, yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know. And then I did a second podcast right after that.

It's called Winningside Coaches, and that was sports discussion. Okay. Because I'm a big sports fan. I was going to ask you about that because I noticed you have a lot of episodes kind of featuring or surrounding the idea of the NFL. How did you get into sports and being passionate about that? I grew up a sports fan, similar to that. The first baseball game I went to was for my eighth birthday, A's at Royals, was now Kaufman, right after Royals won the World Series in 1990. 85 and got to see, yeah, that A's team had a guy's name

Maguire and Konseco, who turned that to be pretty big deals, especially that McGuire guy. Yeah. And see, I don't know much about baseball, but I do love taking my family, and especially I have two young boys. So as you tell me that you went there right before your eighth birthday, I can only imagine how formative that was, Was that specifically a birthday present that you went?

Oh, yeah. Okay. And it was like your family or who? Yeah, the whole family, the whole family. So, yeah. Now, fast forward to today, I have a 10-year-old nephew who's big in the baseball. And he and his family lived down in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. And he's one of him not the best kid on his team.

So that's exciting. Yeah. Do you get to go down there and watch him and? No, I haven't gotten a chance to go down there. In fact, the last time I actually went down there was before he was even born. It was his older sister who was now 13. She was now growing up and everything. Yeah.

Thank goodness for technology, though, because then it seems like you're pretty connected to your nephew. and his games and stuff like that even without being able to take a trip yeah that's and and they come up here from time to time to the fact they were up here just last weekend okay that's so cool wow eighth birthday i'm just imagining little mike there watching the a's watching the royals and just being like wow okay and but clearly i mean it's more than just understanding the game it sounds like you are passionate also about watching the players of the game yeah yeah you kind of have to be if you're on me in sports, yes. Yeah, that's cool.

Well, I saw it. Now, NFL, I'm going to talk NFL for a second. The chiefs have never been my team. I was a Rams fan and grew up mostly an Eric Dickerson fan when they were in L.A. the first time around, they moved to St. Louis during my junior year of high school, which coincidentally was the year I started playing football. And I was an even bigger fan of the Rams in St. Louis. And then 10 years ago this month, they get lied back to L.A. for no good reason.

And I am, I'm done with them. You're done with the Rams? Yeah. Who's your team now? Arizona. And it's only because their owner voted against the Rams moving back to L.A. So you're like, that decision in itself made you a fan. Mm-hmm.

Okay. That's awesome. So when all the hype is around here, you know, Chiefs, all that, are you just kind of unaffected? Yeah. Okay. With one exception, it's not out as of the time we're recording this, but one of my chess co-workers was neighbors with Travis Kelsey. Okay. So he got to see early on when he and. Taylor Swift went public. The chaos that happened there and everything. So it was

described to me as it was her security saying everyone's going in and out of that neighborhood because it's a it's not a gated community up there in Briarcliffe and all that. So it was so it really wasn't a quote unquote you know like I kind of imagine

you know I don't know football players house it's like gated and protected. It sounds like that wasn't the situation. That was not the situation here. So it is a upper class community up there, Briarcliffe area. I don't know how well you know Northland. Not super well, no. Okay.

So this is just north of the downtown airports along 169. You'll see some upper class restaurants and shops right there on the corner. Well, that, behind that, that's the Briarcliffe neighborhood that I'm talking about. And Kelsey's house is on that through street going through the neighborhood, bridging that intersection to Vivian Road. Wow, that's so cool that you work with someone who's kind of got the inside scoop. Wow. Okay, I saw on your podcast, and tell me if I'm wrong, did I see that you interned at one point with PBS? Yeah, I interned at the local PBS station.

What was your, what was that like and what was your role there? I still maintain this the best job I ever had, even though I wasn't getting paid for it. Mostly I did studio work for the, like in the shows, in the studios, I'll help them set up for the different shows that they do, which is pretty much limited to weekend review and a ruckus at the time and the local show. and getting everything right for those pledge drives. And yeah, make sure all the, everyone got water during their performances on camera. And, oh, and running the camera itself.

So you kind of did a lot there. I did, yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, did some of those skills transfer to what you're doing now with the podcast? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. The only major difference between editing

for an audio podcast and editing video is you don't have to worry about the video. Yeah, because you don't do, there's not a video portion for yours. For this podcast, I know. Yeah. Yeah. However, I do have a YouTube channel where if I wanted to, I could take these

Zoom videos, the video, and post it to the... Yeah. You know, I have a podcast and I don't, I prefer not to post the video. Just because I think podcast for me as a listener, I enjoy listening better than I like doing other things while I'm listening. Exactly. It's kind of been an intentional choice for me and it sounds like same for you. What do you think has been, this is kind of a deeper question, feel free to answer however you're comfortable. But what do you think has been one of the biggest challenges that you've been through in life?

life itself this is something I have talked about on the podcast I am on the autism spectrum and that has really affected me in a number of ways including the fact that I'm still single at age 47 and no sign of that's ending anytime soon

unfortunately so and do you feel like that's something that you're looking for like looking for in life like looking ahead in the road, you know, looking for a partner? I've been doing that for off and on for pretty much my entire adult life. Yeah. Yeah. But.

Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Yeah. I have some friends who are single, but like it's such a different world too with the apps and all of the technology because it just. just seems like it so much can be judged ahead of time instead of just getting to know a person. Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's probably why, yeah, the few times I have been fortunate enough to date someone,

she winds up breaking up with me, nine times out of ten, yeah. You know what, Mike, I think there's going to be somebody coming into the check. There's chess club, right? Like downtown Kansas City, because I've almost come to chess club before. Our chess club is based in the Northland. Okay, that's right. Okay. So I'm just believing I'm going to call it in, Mike,

that your person is going to come into chess club someday. I don't know. And if she were to come into a club, I act 100% professionally. Yeah. I don't hit on anyone that comes to the club. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, it just might be one of those things that, like, somebody, it's perfect fit. but it's it's in a way that we least expect that would be awesome um would what about this is another question what are you most proud of oh that is a good question uh aside from this podcast uh so i so of course i'm a videographer as well and uh anything i'm able to finish and posts to like youtube or stuff and stuff like that's i i'm pretty proud of um i'm also proud of uh Being an instructor, I'm proud of when the kids I'm instructing continue on with chess and continue with a grown-up.

Like there's one kid, I'll never forget this. He was the only kid in that particular club that actually paid attention. And it translated to his winning championships at the club. Wow. And then we don't see him for a while. And then within the last year, he starts showing up. He's now full-blown adult going to Juko and everything. And yeah, he still remembers everything.

And he's still coming to a play once in a while. And I mean, that just has to feel like you made such an impact on his success. Well, I'll take partial credit for it because, at playing of other instructors as well, and not just me. Yeah. But it sounds like, yeah, that the, when you see the kids continue on with chess

and maybe even have success with it, that feels pretty, I mean, I would certainly be proud of that. I'm not good at chess. Like my rating, I mean, I'm good enough to sometimes beat my 11-year-old son.

And your 11-year-old in chess club. Yes. Yes, he has done a few, or he's done one competition, one chess meet. What do they call it? A chess tournament. And kind of funny story, which is so sad. We took him to this tournament. He was very into chess.

He's like eight years old at the time. And he got in there, you know, parents are not allowed in the tournament. It depends on the tournament, but for the most part, you're right. Okay. Okay. So the one he was in, we weren't allowed. And I'm thinking, gosh, and I just thought he looked so nervous. he almost looked pale and I thought well you know this is the right thing to do to push him and he said his

tummy wasn't feeling right I said that's normal for nerves all that well he finished he finished his last game and he came to the cafeteria and I bought him a piece of pizza and this is a kid who always eats pizza and he said I do not want that and I thought okay maybe we're dealing with something more we barely got out in the parking lot Mike my son Moses got sick everywhere and I just thought Oh my gosh. Thank God that happened in the parking lot, not in the room where he's at his table. Yeah. Oh, man. Well, I kind of wanted to just, yeah, maybe wrap up with asking you what you think a total success for this podcast. Like at the end of your life, if you look back on it and you've done all these episodes, you've had all these conversations. Like what do you hope it's either either you're remembered for or the podcast is remembered for?

Just as remembered, I guess is a good way that. All I can do is put put the material out there. And if people listen, they'll listen. Yeah. Do you hope that they walk away from your podcast or your episodes or I guess even interactions with you with a specific feeling? Just having a good time. Yep. having a good time well that then has been a win because i've had a good time on this i appreciate you

having me on and yeah letting me ask you some of these questions it's been really fun to get you know you and now hey i have another friend out there in the well i guess you're not technically north of me but i have i'm northwest of you so okay okay very good very good well thanks for having me and and that wraps up all my questions all right yeah all right and uh while i have you on here tell us about your podcasts then so yeah well if anyone wants to listen it's called your personal brand with bethany shippley and i talk all about people living in their magic and so like mike i'm sitting here talking to you and like you like when i say your magic what i mean by that is there's in there's all these elements that make mike you know and that has never been repeated before like there's never been exactly you on this planet before

in all of the and i i totaled it up you know of course there's no way to know exactly but it's like 10 billion people that I've ever lived. And how insane of the odds, I think scientists say it's the likelihood of particularly you being born with all of the way that you are, your isms, is like one in 400 trillion or something like that. So it's like insane. And I think a lot of us, you know, we all have things that are our challenges or are things that we're embarrassed of or are things that we are like, man, it's hard to live with me,

you know? I feel that for myself. But like, okay, hold on. that's like an intersection of what what I came here to be like some of the things that I struggle with you know for me I get obsessed with something and I go all in you know I'm working on these like have you ever seen diamond art it's not real diamonds but it's like these little tiny beads and they each correlate with a number and you just work on this huge canvas and it takes forever and I'm obsessed with it right now where I'm like my shoulder literally hurts but I can't stop doing

Right. Okay, so that's like an example of something that's annoying, but it's also kind of fun to be obsessed with something. So yeah, on my podcast, I like talking about encouraging people to continue living in their magic and find out what are those things. For you, obviously it's like chess, you're good at it, you're using it for a positive influence, you're having interaction around it. You've got this football and sports love and obviously like even a personality that connects with other sports enthusiasts. you know, you're remembering the names of the players, which you might just think, oh, yeah, that's how you got to be. I would argue that's a gift that you have, you know, to retain that.

So that's what my podcast is about. It's called your personal brand with Bethany Shipley. And I talk all about every part of that. But that's the main gist of the conversation is each of us is really unique and what a power it is when we remember that. Yeah. Good deal. All right.

Well, we're going to wrap up the recorded portion of this. feel free to stick around and talk a little after I stopped the recording. Sounds perfect. All right. Well, thank you all for listening at home. Another Snowden episode in the Books. And we will talk again very soon. This podcast is uncalled for the Snowed In Edition.

It's hosted, produced and edited by myself, Mike Chirney. both our opening music and our closing music for these episodes were created at suno.com s uno.com great to a i music resource so check it out this podcast is uncalled for but that's what we're here please support the podcast and purchase our exclusive uncalled for merchandise t-shirts sweatshirts mugs stickers and so much more. Go to www. www.cafepress.com slash

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