Classmates, creators and coaches, talking through how they got here.
On The Drive Program, Tom Driver interviews friends, classmates and other guests, and each conversation follows where that guest has been. Episode titles run from hip-hop and NFTs to yoga and breathing, startups and history, coaching, and teaching in China.
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The Drive Program is an interview show hosted by Tom Driver, and several of its guests come from his own life. Coach Brown, who also goes by Wheezy, went to school with him, belonged to the same fraternity and was his roommate one summer. Hafiz Bhuyan knew him through the Society of Entrepreneurs, a club at JMU, and then answered an Instagram post looking for history enthusiasts willing to record. That closeness sets the tone. The conversations are informal and quick to leave the stated topic behind. The range is wide. Episode titles cover hip-hop, digital art and NFTs; coaching and spirituality; yoga, breathing, cinematography and investing; startups, history, leadership and tech; and teaching in China and military school. Juice Bruns, a rapper and digital artist, talks about his creative process and about stepping back from music when COVID hit. He also describes an Instagram message from a man in Copenhagen who had heard one of his songs. Coach Brown explains his push-up mentality: when he catches himself watching too much TV, he drops and does a few push-ups. He also describes how coaching kids in soccer made him want to be more of a coach in the rest of his life. Some of the best moments are unplanned. In the episode with two guests named Sai, a yoga instructor called Kalyan leads a breathing exercise with a straw, and afterward the host admits that his running list of questions has gone blank. The conversation with Hafiz covers his company, Drivence, a blend of 'driven' and 'excellence', and also how much the humble screw changed what people could build. James Driver remembers being asked, on a trip downstairs for a snack, whether he would ever teach in China, and the conversation also turns to China's economic reach. That episode is the frankest here, with strong language and a candid look back at drinking, a rough stretch he connects to bank fraud and trusting the wrong person, and his current job at a bar. The show has a fitness side as well. One episode opens with a welcome to the Drive Fitness Program, and in it the host announces that the Drive Fitness app is out on Google Play and the Apple App Store and asks users to send feedback. He also plans to treat each new year as a new season with its own cover art and theme song, and jokes that because programmers count from zero, everything before was season zero. For a first listen, the breathing exercise with Kalyan shows the show at its most surprising. The Juice Bruns conversation shows how far a single episode can travel, from rap to digital art to Web3.
Made for: Suits a listener who enjoys relaxed conversations with people like a rapper, a soccer coach, a yoga instructor and an entrepreneur, and who is happy to let an interview wander far from where it started.
What sets it apart: Several guests are the host's own school friends and club contacts, so the talk feels like old acquaintances catching up rather than a press interview. The same feed also carries the launch announcement for the Drive Fitness app.
The Drive Program is a collection of conversations that are intended to motivate and inspire the listener! Every week host Tom Driver interviews a guest about a project or topic that they are passionate about.
A breathing exercise blanks Tom Driver's next question, and you get to hear the conversation find its feet.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid account of teaching in China, military school, sobriety, and a changing sense of self.
The Drive Program follows James Driver from a casual agreement to teach in China into nine months of English teaching about two hours from Wuhan, then back through military school, substance use, and the question of who remained once drinking and smoking stopped.
Juice Bruns connects rap, digital art, NFTs, and renewed creative focus in a candid conversation about working across mediums.
The Drive Program tracks Juice Bruns across rap, digital art, and his move into releasing digital art as NFTs, framing creativity as a practice that depends on commitment and renewed focus.
A reflective conversation on small acts of discipline, coaching, faith, and the effort to live with purpose.
Coach Brown, also known as Wheezy, frames coaching less as a sideline role than as a way to direct the self. His recent move into coaching soccer opens onto a wider interest in becoming more coachlike in daily life.
A live breathing exercise turns a talk about intuition into something the microphone can test.
The Drive Program uses meditation, yoga, and investing as a way into attention itself. Tom Driver asks Kalyan to lead a straw-based breathing exercise, and the shift is plain: Driver says the list of questions in his head has gone blank.
Fitness tracking in real-life weather.
["The Drive Program has James Driver describing how a drunken yes to Hong turned into nine months teaching English in Hongshui, about two hours from Wuhan, and then a classroom arrest by four undercover cops.", "He says he was the only white person most people saw in town, used a translation app and the phrase \"sheh sheh\" to order food, and lost 40 pounds on Chinese meals.", "The police story escalates to handcuffs, jail, a school-paid $80,000 settlement, and a passport stamp that gave him two days to leave China.", "The episode also moves into military school, freestyle rap, and how James says divorce and sobriety changed what he wants from money and legacy."]
["Juice Bruns says a planned Black & Decker job disappeared after COVID layoffs, pushing him from Towson graduation into full-time freelance art and music in Baltimore City.", "He describes a workflow built on Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere, and Procreate, plus a style that mixes doodle graffiti, realism, and mural work.", "Juice ties his rap path to a sports injury, a concussion that ended contact sports, and later opening slots for Dave East, Blackbear, A Boogie with a Hoodie, and Felly.", "He also walks through his first NFT drops on OpenSea and Foundation, including additions that sold within 48 hours after a commission helped him learn minting."]
The Drive Program #38 features Tom Driver talking with Coach Brown, also called Wheezy, whom he says he knew from school, fraternity life, and one summer as roommates.
Episode 37 of The Drive Program brings Tom Driver together with Sai Manodage and Sai Kalyan, two guests whose shared first name becomes a running joke.
Hafiz Bhuyan describes how a $200-to-$250 calculus textbook led Drivence to test a subscription model before publisher partnerships made the market impractical.
Host Tom Driver announces the launch of a new fitness app, discusses rebranding the podcast into seasons, and invites listener feedback.
Host Tom Driver interviews professor Morgan Benton about adapting teaching methods during the pandemic and discusses capstone projects.
Host Tom Driver interviews Alex Sorrell about her fitness journey, diet plans, and improving mental and physical health.