When Travis and Jason Kelce started the New Heights podcast in September of 2022, they probably had no idea how big the program would get.
As the name of the podcast suggests, the Kelce brothers’ weekly talk show reached incredible success and became the world’s biggest sports podcast in less than two years. But like anybody else trying a new venture, the Kelces were not always as comfortable on the mic as today.
The pilot of New Heights blatantly appeared like the trial and error process that it was. The first episode – which currently has just over 340,000 views on YouTube – was a stutter-filled and eardrum-shattering experience. To open up what would be a glue to their brotherhood and respective fanbases, the Kelces followed a 12-question format to structure their conversation.
The rest, as they say, was history.
‘Welcome to New Heights,’ Travis said to open the first ever show, smiling in his Cincinnati Bearcats baseball jersey as he rubbed his palms together. ‘A Jukes original show presented by Wave Sports and Entertainment.’
At this point, both Kelces had won a Super Bowl and were no strangers to the bright lights. But the mics and cameras around the NFL shined differently than the ones of their latest venture. While Travis appeared to be holding his laughter in, Jason looked stoic as he nodded through his younger brother’s intro.
After laying their football accolades on the table, Travis choppily explained the premise of the program.
‘New Heights is our new talk show, where we will be giving you next-level access in the NFL,’ Travis stuttered. ‘From Philly all the way to Kansas City.’
‘We’ve talked about this for some time,’ Jason said. ‘So to finally be able to get this started, I’m excited.’
The Eagles star explained how they and the producers agreed to do 12 questions to honor their 12 combined Pro Bowl selections. As Jason tried to get the Q&A started, Travis interrupted to break down the title.
Travis explained that ‘New Heights’ had two meanings to it.
‘Obviously, me and my brother venturing into a new world, into a new playing field, which is on mic and camera. Showing our personality, showing our dynamic and we thought it’d be fun to bring that to you guys,’ Travis said.
‘Also, we are very prideful of where we come from. From Cleveland Heights, Ohio,’ Travis continued. ‘We actually got some ties at Jukes and Wave Sports, both throughout the industry and back in Cleveland.’
‘Whenever we get to rep the Heights, it’s always something that we try and do,’ Jason added.
The conversation took several different turns as their answers ventured outside their world of football. While being asked about the highlight of his offseason, Jason shared that besides his daughter Eliotte learning to talk, he also castrated a bull on a trip to Missouri.
‘You gotta do branding and you also gotta castrate the ones you don’t keep as bulls,’ Jason said. ‘So I had to castrate my first bull – it was hard.’
‘I had my granola crunch hiking boots on while I was knuckles-deep in this bull’s n***ack .’
The brothers raised decibels, with smiles on their faces, as Travis opted out of Jason explaining the castration methods.
‘You asked me what I did this offseason,’ Jason exclaimed, red in the face. ‘This was the highlight of my offseason.’
The screaming resumed when Jason described the moment he first played against Ray Lewis. He admitted his curiosity about how it would feel to play against people he idolized before entering the league.
‘In the middle of the play,’ he screamed as Travis laughed on the other half of the screen. ‘Not only am I doing my assignment, but I’m like, ‘Holy s**t, I’m blocking Ray Lewis.”
Like much of the episode, the ending saw the brothers talk about the NFL as they discussed their upcoming seasons. Jalen Hurts and Andy Reid were mentioned in the hour-long conversation before they compared Super Bowl rings in the final segment.
One year later, the podcast grew bigger when Travis began dating pop star Taylor Swift. On an episode over the summer, the three-time Super Bowl winner admitted that he failed to give Swift a friendship bracelet with his phone number.
Nevertheless, the pair started dating in September 2023 and dominated headlines around the NFL.
The relationship added another layer to their conversations while they continued to provide their weekly breakdown of all things NFL. The podcast became something that fans waited for every Wednesday, especially in light of Travis’ most recent Super Bowl victory with the Chiefs.
New Heights now holds the top spot on Spotify and Apple’s sports podcast charts. More importantly, Jason said the weekly talk show has brought him and his brother closer to each other.
Jason admitted that before starting the program, he and Travis had not connected as much since college.
‘It has been fun doing it another year, talking to my brother,’ Kelce said. ‘I haven’t been this connected with Travis, over the last two years, since college.’
‘And that has been one of the best things, probably the best thing, of the podcast. It forces us – because we are brothers, before this we would go months on our own without talking. We would text, send a funny video but [to] truly sit down and talk with him, it would be a long time.’
