Sharon Says So Podcast launches in Top 20

When Sharon McMahon released the trailer for the Sharon Says So podcast, it immediately rocketed to No. 1 on Apple Podcasts.

"It was surprising. It was unexpected," McMahon said. "I looked up well, how many podcasts are there in the world? And it is hundreds of thousands. So to be No. 1 out of hundreds of thousands, that was very surpising."

On Tuesday, the show sat at No. 18.

McMahon lives in Duluth and has amassed a following of more than 650,000 on Instagram. In the podcast, she’s expanding on the type of content she posts on Instagram, where she breaks down the headlines, explains the intricacies of the U.S. government, and shares interesting tidbits about history and culture.

Her followers have been asking for a podcast for six months or longer.

"This has been in the works for a very long time. I have been working on getting this put together because people want stories that are more in-depth. They want more than I can just share in short clips on social media," McMahon said.

The first three episodes launched July 19. She’s organized them in alphabetical order by state and is sharing an interesting story with a tie to each of the 50 states. For example, in the second episode, she outlined the infamous Serum Run to Nome, Alaska.

"I decided that I wanted to tell stories that were things that you probably never learned in school but that give you those what I refer to as brain tingle moments where you’re like, ‘Dang it! I did not know that, and now I need to tell everybody at work that story,’" she said.

She also wanted them to be something parents would be comfortable turning on during a car ride with the kids. And she wants teachers to be able to use the content to supplement their syllabi.

Three or four episodes drop every Monday, and she has 26 episodes slated for Season 1, which will wrap at the end of August. Episodes featuring Minnesota and Wisconsin stories will be included in Season 2, which is planned for this fall.

"As a teacher, my goal has always been helping people enjoy learning things," McMahon said. "If you can listen to it and have those kind of moments where you’re like, ‘I just love learning that kind of stuff!’ If you have that kind of moment, that would be extremely gratifying to me. If you enjoyed learning something new, that would be all I could ask for."

You can find her on Instagram @sharonsaysso.