By Richard Tew
The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
Just a short five years ago, J.R. Shaw, creator of “Galveston Unscripted,” was working in Houston for a tug boat company. These days he can be found documenting interesting people, places and events on Galveston Island.
Galveston’s one of those storied places in Texas. In fact, it might well be the most-storied city in Texas. It’s old, has a varied history both with native peoples and immigrants from other countries alike; all influencing both historical and modern island life.
It was both a relocation to Galveston and an interest in its history which encouraged Shaw to develop his interest in sharing details about Galveston’s past.
“I was kind of tired of driving to Houston every day and everything and kind of looking for something else looking for something new,” said Shaw. “We’ve been gone for a few years, and we realized how much investment time and money was really being fed into Galveston at the time. I mean, the whole downtown area was really being transformed with new bars and restaurants and things like that.”
Shaw says he would take his dog for walks and noticed tourists reading historical markers around town. This gave him an idea.
“I understood a lot of the history around there so I would go and tell these people like, you know, there’s some more content, give us more context, tell us some other stuff, point out some of the things and that evolved into a tour,” said Shaw. “So then I developed a tour in 2019, which is based on running Galveston running tours. So it was a 5k Running tour through the downtown historic district through the eastern historic district of Galveston, and just a big loop.”
Shaw says the first year he offered a tour, he offered the service for free. COVID would come a year later along with new ideas for his fledgling service.
“I was like, You know what, I’m going to create this audio tour like I’m going to create an audience or based on my running tour. So that’s how it started,” said Shaw. “I started recording these short little audio guides three to five minutes long.”
Shortly after he started recording audio guides, Shaw started a podcast to expand his reach.
“I never really realized how big the media is and how many people are searching for specific things,” said Shaw. “But yeah, it’s kind of taken on a life of its own.”
Over time, the Galveston Park Board, local news outlets, and even tourism boards from other cities and states have asked Shaw to partner with them to help tell their stories to interested parties.
To learn more about Galveston Unscripted, visit their site at: https://www.galvestonunscripted.com/
Photo cutline: Galveston Unscripted’s J.R. Shaw. Photo provided by J.R. Shaw.
