For years Scott Simons ran a thriving radio advertisement business, Scott Simons, The Voice Networks.

“I did many of the radio advertisements you hear in Bermuda,” he said. “I was doing regular work for clients such as local banks and insurance companies. I created this fun ace boy character for SAL Ltd.”

Recently that line of work started to fizzle out.

Looking for a new angle, he created his own podcast, Curiosity on the Rock.

Operating out of a studio in his Southampton home, he aims to inspire with stories of local trailblazers.

His most recent interview was a six-part series on Bermudian cricketer Kamau Leverock, who was recently contracted to play in the Legends Cricket League in India, alongside West Indies star Chris Gayle.

“He was back in Bermuda for a very short time and I managed to get him into the studio,” Mr Simons said.

Curiosity on the Rock is set up as a business. The plan is to attract advertisers and sponsors and maybe one day use it to train others in the audio field.

Globally, interest in podcasts is booming. According to the website Linko, there are more than 546 million podcast listeners worldwide, with podcast advertisement spending hitting $4.02 billion last year.

Still, getting advertising dollars from Bermuda firms has been hard work.

“I am in talks with some advertisers and potential sponsors, right now,” he said. “They often want numbers and data.”

Mr Simons argued that the number of listeners for his podcast might seem smaller than a radio broadcast but the figures are more solid.

“In radio you might have a pool of 60,000 listeners,” he said. “But you have no way of knowing how many of those are actually listening. With podcasts, you have a better idea because you know how many people have downloaded your podcast.”

Years ago, he worked in broadcasting as a DJ and radio producer.

“Working at Power 95 Bermuda, I was head hunted by Elroy R.C. Smith and Glenn Blakeney of Hott 107.5FM,” he said. “I was a producer on 107.5 from Day 1. I worked for the radio station as a personality, not a DJ.”

That ended when Mr Simons was fired. He said he got a little too full of himself.

He talks about his successes and failures on his podcast.

“I champion my failures because lessons have been learnt from them,” he said. “We present too much of the glossy picture of life, particularly through social media.”

Although he cannot prove it, he suspects that radio advertising started to fall off for him because of the rise of artificial intelligence.

Many firms are now bypassing the expense of human talent by using generative AI programs to create advertisements and marketing campaigns.

Mr Scott is not a fan of AI.

“On YouTube there is a guy that says, ‘probably until now you thought you were listening to a real human, but this is AI’,” he said. “What the heck is a real human? Is there any other kind of human?”

However, he believes that “real” humans have the advantage over AI, in that they are emotive, empathetic and creative in a way that AI is not.

“It opens up another opportunity for creators to show their worth,” he said. “Do not try to sound like everyone else out there. That is what AI does.”

Mr Simons has been visually impaired since botched eye surgery in 2013.

“After that, I experienced depression for the first time,” he said. “Now, I look at life a lot differently. I am very thankful for every day. I try to challenge myself and not to worry about what I cannot do.”

Referring to a quote from actor Danny Glover he said: “Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. So drive!”

• Curiosity on the Rockis available for download on iTunes, Spotify and other major podcast streaming services