Our readers and followers are constantly asking us how they can “get into” the cannabis industry. Our answer: combine cannabis with a skill or obsession you already do well and see where it goes. A good example of this would be the Cannabis Man Podcast created by Don Kleppin.

Kleppin, who is currently a news anchor for WGN Radio 720 AM and Midwest Traffic reporter for iHeart Media, combined his passion for cannabis and podcasts to create the Cannabis Man Podcast.

Host and Producer, Kleppin realized history was happening right in front of him, and he wanted to talk about it.

“I want to share with others the life-changing lesson that I learned so many years ago: that cannabis can greatly improve quality of life for so many people—and yet there are many manufactured misconceptions that have kept people fearful or at least wary of exploring it,” he said. “I have to change that. I believe it is critically important for people in Illinois and across the country to have a better understanding of what cannabis is and what it is not,  and what it can offer their lives.”

Cannabis Man Podcast

Despite the pandemic delaying his initial start, Kleppin officially launched the Cannabis Man Podcast April 20, 2022.

“I knew podcasting was something I wanted to keep doing,” he said. “I also have been a cannabis user for most of my adult life, about 15 years or so.”

So Kleppin created the Cannabis Man Podcast as a thorough look at all things cannabis from America’s complicated past to the present efforts to federally decriminalize it, plus new industries, companies, and products exploding in states that have legalized.

Kleppin was introduced to cannabis in college and found it helped him sleep, which was something he’d struggled with.

“I also found after my tolerance grew that it helped me focus,” he said. “I know it doesn’t work that way for many people but it does for me, so I use it now to help me complete certain tasks like editing audio.”

Kleppin was introduced to podcasts around 2010 when he was at Columbia College Chicago and continued a couple other podcast projects. His real opportunity came while working at WLS AM.

“I got an opportunity to run Steve Dahl’s podcast network for a year and that was when I really got a master’s education in not just what a podcast could be but also editing, marketing, hosting, interviewing, the works,” Kleppin said. “I then co-hosted a comedy improv podcast called Boxcar Buddies for a while, it never really caught on but it was fun.”

His ultimate goal is to grow the show’s numbers so that he can reach more people in Illinois and across the globe and share with them the information and perspectives of his interview subjects.

“I would also like to showcase more businesses, products, services and entrepreneurs who are sprinting headlong into these new industries as they form companies and products that will become household names in the future and that more and more people will benefit from,” he said. “I would also like to add a video segment to the show to help showcase these products, so I envision that in the future.”

Kleppin, of course, is not the only person working on the Cannabis Man Podcast. Yoo Soo Kim (a.k.a. Good Son) is the show theme composer, Pat Perez is the Quick Hits segment and sponsor reads, and Kurt Vor Broker does show logo designed.

Kleppin can be reached at his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. For more Illinois cannabis industry news, click here.

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