U.S. Marine and entrepreneur Waco Hoover dives into three reasons why VET Tv is successful and new shows in development.
Veteran Entertainment Television (VET Tv) is an online streaming service dedicated to the military community that tells authentic stories of veterans by veterans, often through humor. They were onsite at the 103rd American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee to stream and cover topics important to American Legion members, such as the “Be the One” veteran suicide chat where VET Tv CEO Waco Hoover served as the moderator.
Hoover, a U.S. Marine veteran and entrepreneur, joined the Tango Alpha Lima podcast this week to talk about three reasons for the nonprofit’s success, and expanded VET Tv content beyond humor that is available or in development.
“I, we oftentimes, we think that collectively we can do a much better job of how we portray the veteran or the member of the military,” Hoover said. “There’s a lot of stereotypes that exist with that. We want to do for a lot of our storytelling … we want to tell the aspiring, celebratory aspects of what’s out there.”
Hoover joined VET Tv three years ago and contributes the success of what founder and Marine veteran Donny O’Malley and team has built to:
1. No one else has created this content for the military until now. “Mainstream media, mainstream Hollywood, they don’t create film and television for those who served,” Hoover said. “We want to be a part of positive storytelling within the military community that can harness the same power that happens in other aspects of mainstream media. If we can in some way inspire, inform and entertain our community to pursue their dreams or be a better version of themselves, or learn something or take a chance or whatever it might be … that’s the power of storytelling.”
2. The team at VET Tv are all veterans who are creating stories and serving their community.
3. There is passion in everything VET Tv does. “We are a mission-first brand. The company was started to build community, reinforce camaraderie, and ultimately improve the mental health of our community servicemembers and prevent suicide because social connections save lives. We are doing that through entertainment by having a commonality in shows and things that are relatable to people.”
Podcast host Jeff Daily asked Hoover about new content that goes beyond humor, a focus of VET Tv.
“Comedy is part of the military experience,” Hoover said. “Laughing at the really messed up situations that we experience along the way. But to serve everyone, we have to expand.” VET Tv just released its first documentary titled, “Let’s Talk About the War.” Another series is in the works called “Operation Hidden Treasures” where one person’s junk may be another’s treasure. And a new show called “Interpreters Wanted” discusses how critical interpreters were to executing America’s missions in Afghanistan will soon be released. The show follows the danger interpreters were in while operating alongside U.S. forces, and their journey to coming to America and becoming U.S. citizens. “That is going to be a really, really powerful one that we’re incredibly proud of,” Hoover said.
And listen to the podcast to hear what type of VET Tv show Daily thinks should be made that would have American Legion National Judge Advocate Mark Seavey “choking on his lunch.”
VET Tv content – including interviews conducted at Legion convention – can be viewed on veterantv.com/ or by downloading the app available on Apple, Google Play, Roku and Xbox.
Check out this week’s podcast and the more than 150 Tango Alpha Lima episodes available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on iTunes, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.
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