By day, Bill Corcoran Jr. is an ambitious salesman for specialty and traditional print products. But his nights and weekends are dedicated to building a media empire. Over the past 4.5 years, the Hanover native has devoted every spare minute he has to turn his passion for podcasting and digital media into an obsession that has produced a thriving business and successful podcast based out of Kingston.

And it’s all thanks to a seemingly ordinary snapshot that went viral. See, after graduating from Penn State University Park in 2011 and trying his hand in the corporate world for a year, Bill took a job at his family’s business, Corcoran Printing. Fast forward to 2019. Bill took a silly photo of himself posed atop a stack of 1 million envelopes. And as one does, he posted the pix to Facebook.

And the people loved it. They liked it. They shared it. And then they started asking if they too could get their photo “on dem stacks”, as his first guest called it. And #OnTheStacks was born.

Then, two years ago, with the series popularity ever-growing, he launched the #OnTheStacks podcast. Now, with his own studio, full video production of the show streaming on Youtube, and an expanding media company, even he finds it amusing how one photo led to a life-changing opportunity.

We caught up with Bill at his studio where we talked Penn State football and taking the podcast on the road for the very first time. With a passion for the opportunities available locally, he had no problem telling us Why NEPA? is forever home for him, his wife Jess and their growing family.

How long have you lived in NEPA?

34 years.

What do you love about your town?

I don’t want to sound cliché. I know you probably get these same answers all the time. But definitely the people. I don’t want to be the person who’s like, ‘oh, we’re so close to New York.’ And all that’s great. But it’s the people in the community here.  I think this is a great place to call home. It’s always been home. It’s a great place to raise a family. To have a family. I’ve always been a promoter of this area. Just for a million different reasons. But I think it’s my goal and my mission to make people understand and realize this is a great area. I want to have a positive change on people’s attitude and outlook.

Also, there’s so much opportunity here. I think people just don’t see it. Or maybe they don’t realize they could do it or that it’s possible. I think I’m a perfect example of that. Literally. I laugh about it because it’s comical that I took what was just a photo, or photos, on social media and turned it into this multi-media company. You can create something out of anything online and be the best in the world and be based right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. And I think people have the misconception that you have to go to New York or Philadelphia or L.A., or wherever, just anywhere BUT here. And I disagree with that. And I’m proof.

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

We just had a very good dinner. I don’t want to say it’s my new favorite, but I’ll say it’s my favorite and it’s MVD. I was never a fan of small plates. I was never really one to frequent a place like that. I’d rather just eat one meal. But it’s 100% worth it. We just recently went there for Jess’ birthday and just the quality of the food is, in my opinion (and I’ve eaten at every single restaurant possible in this area), the food is by-far the best at MVD. Hands-down. They have the best food in this area. Best food and the service is also just as incredible. Everything about it, from the service to the food, is five-star.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

I’m not a huge outdoors person by any means. I don’t really go hiking. But I just love the fall and being outside. Even if it’s just in my backyard or having a nice fire. Fall weather has just become more of my favorite time of year. It’s also football season (laughs). But ironically, I never liked the fall like I do now, even when I was a student at Penn State. The fall didn’t mean anything to me besides football season. That was the only cool part of fall then. But now, for me, enjoying the fall weather in this area, it’s the best. It’s great. The scenery. There’s just something about the air in the fall I really like. I enjoy being outdoors in the fall, even though I’m not kayaking or riding a mountain bike (laughs).

What’s next for you?

Not only being a good husband and father, obviously that’s my number one priority, but growing this business, of course. Just growing this into more of a media company and doing more things within the company. There’re multiple verticals of things that we’re doing. We’re possibly getting into having some partnership with higher education locally. That’s a vertical to help educate and work with colleges on their programs in terms of content creation, entrepreneurship and meshing all that together. So there’s some things like that in the works. Really just building out all the verticals and taking this thing to the next level.

For the last 4.5 years, I’ve spent countless hours and money that I’ve reinvested back into this. I feel like I’m just getting warmed up is where I’m at, or where this is at, and we’re ready to do more. I built this great foundation to foster creativity, entrepreneurship, community, connection. All that stuff. And it’s going to translate across a variety of verticals and people and platforms and take this thing to the moon is what the kids say.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

To the moon with OTS (OnTheStacks). Kidding (laughs)! I think there’s a lot of really cool things happening in this area. I might even be one of them. I’ll throw myself in the mix of things that people don’t realize are here and are happening. And that you could do something like this. For my generation and people younger than me, it’s opening the door for so many more opportunities in this area for people like myself, and people doing similar things, to really be able to make a difference in the area. Not only with their business, but with the community, personally, professionally. All that.

You don’t have to leave the area. And also, there’s a lot of people coming back to this area and realizing you can still do big things here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. You don’t have to be in New York City to do it. The opportunity in this area is tremendous and I guess I just encourage people to just try something. Try something new. Something different. You can literally do anything. You just have to have the vision and the work ethic and the drive to do it.

Why NEPA?

I was born and raised here. It’s home. It’s family. It’s a great place to not only live, obviously, but to work. There are all the right tools here in this area: there’s people, there’s resources, there’s everything. If you really, truly want to be here and stay here, but don’t know how to pursue your dream or dream job, there is a way to do it. There is a way to get there. You just have to get yourself connected to the right people to do it. And that’s all here. It’s literally here. All of it.