Posts Tagged ‘mspp’


I was an active podcaster for over seven years. I posted my first video podcast under the name of Melrose Scouting Productions on April 4, 2007. The goal was to post two or three videos each month, usually featuring the Boy Scouts of Troop 68.

The podcast became fairly popular, considering the niche theme of Boy Scouting. It had a small following of Scout leaders from around the country. Some videos also introduced Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, to the Internet.

The podcast attracted the attention of a few other scouting related podcasters. We got together under Chris’s leadership and became a channel known as PTC Media. The PTC stood for packs, troops, and crews. Many of these podcasts can still be found online and in the iTunes Store.

In 2011 I retired as the scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 68. It did not take long for my Podcast to feel the result of that decision. My posts to the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast became fewer as time went on. By the end of 2014 it looked like my podcasting days were over. In December of that year I posted my 140th video.

I did not add any videos to the podcast during the next three years. Then, in February 2018, I added a new video of the mayor of Melrose and his visit to the Cub Scouts of Pack 68. In August I became a little more ambitious and created a video about my Scouting patch blankets. I guess you could say there was a small podcast revival that year, right?

As we begin the new year of 2019 I am thinking about trying to bring the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast back to life. I think I may have enough material to add one or two videos per month. I would like to know your opinion. Do you think I should bring back the scouting related podcast? Do you think this podcast would be popular again? Should I bring back Buttons, the radical Boy Scout? Let me know by leaving a comment.

It has been quite awhile since I have posted a video to the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast so I thought I would try something different this time. In the past I have posted articles about the two Scouting patch blankets I have. I thought it might be fun to record a short film highlighting the blankets. So, here it is!

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MPSC2014P1The opening campfire of a week of Boy Scout summer camp. It is time to meet the staff that will play an important role during the success of your troop’s time at camp. Is the staff enthusiastic? Are they energetic? Are they ready to provide you with the totally awesome program you have come to expect from camp? Are they a little bit crazy? In the case of the 2014 Many Point Scout Camp Buckskin staff, the answer is yes to all the above, and their opening campfire was a great demonstration of how enthusiastic and crazy they could be.

This video was recorded during the July 6, 2014, opening campfire. This will be the first of a few videos filmed during the campfire that will be posted to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast. As you can see when you watch this, this year’s staff was pumped to start working with a new week of Boy Scout campers. This video features the staff introductions and the singing of the Many Point Rouser. As all “repeat after me” songs, it gets pretty loud and rowdy by the end.

Video Information: 960 x 540, time 05:22, 145.4 MB. m4v format.

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Subscribe to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
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Don’t forget to leave a comment below, or at the iTunes store. It is great to read what you think of these videos.

Philmont Wagon 1984

Philmont!  I attended a week long session at the Philmont Training Center (PTC) this month and on the way back from the trip to New Mexico Bob and I looked at the pictures I had taken of my trip to the facility in 1984, which also happened to be the first time I visited Philmont Scout Ranch. It was interesting to see what had changed over the last three decades, and also what had stayed the same. If you have been to the ranch a few times over the decades you will know what I mean.

I thought those of you who have been to training center years ago might enjoy seeing this slideshow of my 1984 trip posted to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast. Even those of you who have been there recently will enjoy seeing the new buildings and other changes to both the training center and the base camp from which the Boy Scouts leave on their 12 day treks into the backcountry. You will notice that one of the biggest and best changes has been the new Welcome Center at the base camp.

By the way, three of the songs used in the video are song by members of the Philmont staff over thirty years ago. They are from a cassette tape I bought in 1984 at the base camp trading post. The album is called Philsongs: Remembered Days. I checked the store this month and did not see this available to buy anymore, is cassette or cd formats. I converted the cassette to mp3’s several years ago so I could listen to the songs on my iPod.

Video Information: 640×360, time 10:31, 108.9 MB. m4v format.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Subscribe to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast at http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
or through iTunes  (and rate the show).
Don’t forget to leave a comment below, or at the iTunes store. It is great to read what you think of these videos.

EagleScoutThomasSHas it really been five months since I last posted a video to the Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast? I guess so. Time to get busy with that once again. After all, I do have a few more videos to share with you.

This video is a slideshow of the Scouting life of Eagle Scout Thomas Schwinghamer. Thomas became an Eagle Scout early last year and held his court of honor outdoors in the spring. Unfortunately, this video was not a part of the court of honor since it was an outdoor ceremony, but I did include it on the DVD of the event. Just in case you are wondering, the song used is Faith Of The Heart by Russell Watson.

The video can also be found on his Eagle Scout page on the troop’s website. Thomas was a member of two troops as a Scout, finishing his Eagle Rank while a member of Melrose Troop 68. Thomas in now in college but still helps with troop activities a few times a year.

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princess2000We all have our favorite campfire skits. Sometimes they are short ones and other times they are a bit on the long side. They usually make us chuckle or laugh out loud. If they are really a good one, it will be one we want to be a part of when it is performed in front of an audience. Today’s post to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast is one of my favorite skits, and yes, it does include me as one of the performers.

I first saw the “I Want To Marry The Princess” skit while I attended summer camp as the troop’s scoutmaster during the 1980’s. The staff did such a good job performing it that the Scouts and adult leaders in attendance where laughing hard and very loudly. It was a skit I immediately learned to add to our troop’s repertoire. As we began to learn the skit we decided to try to make the first act nice and slow, pronounced well, and acted perfect. But when it came time for the second act we threw everything out the window and went for speed. The faster we did it, the better the audience liked it. If we made mistakes, and we often did, the audience laughed even harder.

This video to the podcast features Jay and myself performing the skit during our 2000 Laughs For Lunch Show. Usually, the Boy Scouts would have performed this skit but I wanted to be a part of it that year. Jay and I really got into it. In fact, I was so much into character the at one point a forgot where the chair was and landed on the floor. Well, when you watch it I am sure you will understand.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
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Melrose Scout Productions Podcast

Nearly every spring in the past twenty years the Boy Scouts of Melrose Troop 68 have spent a weekend at Camp Watchamagumee, usually in May. The camp is actually privately owned forty acres found north of Melrose. The land owners have allowed the troop to clear out campsites and create our own camp setting. The site currently has three patrol sites, an adult leader site, a scoutcraft open area, a treehouse, and a troop campfire area. We camp near a small pond. A short hike from the campsites is an open field in which the troop has played softball, volleyball, and disc golf. It quickly became one of the troop’s favorite camping sites.

A tradition has developed over the years, the annual Egg Drop Competition. Each Boy Scout, or team of Scouts, is given a raw egg. He must build a package for the egg usually only natural materials found around the camp. This package must protect the egg when it is dropped from various heights. The winner is the Scout who’s egg survives the highest drop without breaking. The boys must use their imagination to create a package that will not only withstand the actually drops, but also cushion the egg to keep it from becoming scrambled. I have seen a lot of various packages over the years using a wide variety of materials from bark, grasses, moss, mud, and sticks. This year one Scout even used a cow pattie.

This post to the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast features the video taken during the 2013 Egg Drop Competition. Six Boy Scouts were part of the contest. An added feature to the rules this year was that the package must fit inside a plastic wash basin. Some boys did very well. Other did not make it past the first round. Watch the video to see who winds and how his package was created.

Oh, and since the new Star Trek movie had hit the theaters the same weekend as the outing I decided to use a Star Trek theme at the start of the video to introduce the Boy Scouts and their packages. Let me know what you think of it.

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
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or through iTunes  (Don’t forget to rate the show).
Leave a comment below, or at the iTunes store.

The year was 1986. It was a good year for the Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68 program. There was a large membership for Troop 68, and good turnout for the monthly activities and courts of honor. Winter camp, a primitive campout, the Ripley Rendezvous, a Scout-O-Rama, and a local camporee were just some of the events. It was the first year we sent a crew to Philmont Scout Ranch. I recently finished a video featuring pictures from the year which I hope to share with the troop alumni. I thought you might enjoy traveling back in time also and see what the troop program looked like in 1986.

Were you a Boy Scout in 1986?

Click here to DOWNLOAD and watch this Podcast.
Or watch it online at the Melrose Scout Productions Podcast channel at PTC Media.

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