The Answer is 42 LLC is the newest contender in the world of sports and entertainment. Founder and Host Daniel Wettstein II takes you on a journey.
I was a 34-year-old with a dead-end job. I was doing what everyone said I should be happy doing. Answering calls for the highest bidder. Bills were paid, the family was happy, but something was missing. There was a hole inside me since the day I laid my then 14-year-old nephew Gavin Hoff to rest in 2016. At first, I thought it was just because of the loss of a dear loved one. Slowly I realized the promise I made at his casket was the true cause. I swore if God took his talents, I would give the world mine. I promised I would immortalize his memory, Never Forgotten. His passions were sports, architecture, and video games. Well, I’m no architect, but I’m a sports nut and love video games. So I chose to go the sports entertainment route.
My deepest passion is sports, the inclusivity, and meritocracy of sports has always had a strong allure to me. It’s the one place that everyone can forget what you look like, what you believe, or what your politics are and root for a common cause. Sports are the ultimate unifier, you will never find a more close-knit melting pot of cultures as you will in a Major League locker room. So as I was on my commute to work one February afternoon. And I heard Colorado Media School alumn and current on-air personality at 92.5 FM Josh Dover come on the air and do a live read for CMS. I showed up at the campus the next day and enrolled before I left.
Then I started in March 2019, after a few trials and tribulations, including being robbed at gunpoint and assaulted by 2 different customers in the same night while working as a Manager at Family Dollar, on my wife’s birthday January 2, 2020. I graduated on January 10, 2020, then was able to secure 3 jobs within my industry. As an editor for BurstMarketing, a contributor at Roxpile.com, and an on-air personality for 5280milehighsports.com. I was scheduled to begin work in March 2020. Well, we all know what happened at that time, this was the beginning of the original shutdown for the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this and all sports closing down, all the work dried up and all 3 companies laid me off. I was lost and looking for anything to hold onto, a sign for the direction I should go.
Then this happened:
This was a true wake-up call to the reality of this industry. In front of the camera, it’s all love, once that red light disappears, truths are told. This was my first encounter with the ugly of this industry. Everyone I had met up until Allbright and his co-host Ryan Edwards and producer Anthony Rodriguez were wonderful. For full context, it all began from me retweeting Edwards as you can see below:
The hardest part of this ordeal is Anthony Rodriguez was an instructor of mine. It really messed with my psyche to have someone I thought was in my corner take the side of my “opposition”. You can see, all I did was retweet Edwards, and make a joke. I honestly didn’t even think the man would see it. I mean, according to him, he has influence, why would he go after “the guy with 74 followers”. Why would it matter what I said?
Well according to Anthony, I was fully in the wrong per a DM. Now I’m not that guy, I’m not going to post our DM convo, but my lawyer has seen it, that’s all that matters. But after some reflection, this was what sparked the creation of The Answer is 42 LLC. I filed for my business license exactly 30 days after this interaction. I was infuriated that someone like Benjamin Allbright could consider himself a “gatekeeper” of any sort. So I created a gate he couldn’t block. I created a safe place for those trying to make it in the industry but get turned away because of how they look, the color of their skin, or the choice of their pro-nouns. I decided to create a truly inclusive community that mirrored my ideals of what sports and entertainment should be.
We will be providing content for the 21st century, socially conscious sports content the consumers want. When we say socially conscious, we mean anything that affects the common man. We will not shy away from stories simply because they contain controversial topics such as police brutality, racism, economic inequalities, etc. No subject of substance is taboo. We are here to listen and report, not manufacture and obscure. This is a spin-free zone that sticks to the facts, even our opinions are formed from trusted information coming from the leaders in their respective industries. We not only listen to the “experts” but to the common man by “listening” to all social feeds and keeping on top of the hottest conversations in Denver sports and current events/politics. Up until the above interaction, I had every intention to follow the typical arch of a sportscaster’s career. Getting a job as a producer/PA with ESPN, NFL Network, or MLB Network and moving to where the job was. Well, I realized there were too many snakes in the grass and a Pied Piper was needed to lead them to their demise.
Embed from Getty ImagesThat’s the concept, I planned to be trucking along by now. But life rarely works the way you want it to. I realized quickly, my CMS certificate would not be enough to do what I wanted to do. I needed more training, and I needed more info on the inner workings of the entertainment industry. So I went on a search for the best place to receive this training. I decided the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting at Full Sail University was that trump card I needed. The instant credibility Dan Patrick’s name gives has opened so many doors for me.
Everything I did got a boost just by having that name next to my education. Before this, I had people leave me on “read” when I simply had CMS next to my name. Now, I get almost immediate responses when I reach out to people and businesses within the sports media industry. The knowledge I have procured there is what has helped me not only start but keep those communications going.
Then life hit again, after getting to the point of pumping out daily content with a new website I found out my father had skin cancer (he is fine and cancer-free now), and my 9-year-old nephew would be needing open-heart surgery. The same dread of 5 years washed over me and put me into a daze. I took a couple of months to get my head straight and re-focus. I have to retire my parents so they can enjoy their golden years as they should. My nephew deserves to see his Uncle push through and succeed, no matter the obstacles. So he knows he can too, as well as every other one of my loved ones. I am here to show it’s never too late to chase your dreams and capture that star.
So here we are again, getting back up, dusting ourselves off, and coming back stronger. Starting on September 1, 2021 the TAI42 studio was officially up and running. Starting September 13, 2021, with this article, content is back and will be ramped up until October 1, 2021. This. is when we will be launching the TAI42 Streaming Service with 24/7 content across 25 channels and a Twitch Gaming channel. The streaming service will be launched on our website http://www.theansweris42media.net with both free and paid content available. Content will be both original, such as this article or the many podcasts mentioned below, as well as content procured from all over the web and made by your favorite influencers/creators. No longer do you have to scour YouTube, Vimeo, or your other preferred video content provider. All you need from sports to news to politics will be available all in one place and FREE.
The streaming service will also be where we launch all-new video podcast episodes for Breakin’ Broncos, The Answer is 42 Podcast, Skippin’ Rox, Nugg Life, The Big Red Connection, and Sasquatch Sayz. We are currently listening to what content you all want to watch. But if you would like to make a suggestion directly to us, please feel free to DM or IM us through any of the social media accounts. We have a 100% reply rate across all of our social media accounts and website. No idea is too big or too small. We want to listen and learn, this is not a one-way street. When we say “Don’t Question the Blue” it’s because you don’t have to question our reliability and integrity. Not because we don’t want input.
Now that I have given our story, it’s time to hear what you have to say. Go to the comments or any of our social feeds and let us know what you want, and how we can do better!