O’Fallon man known as ‘The History Guy’ tops one million subscribers on YouTube
Lance Geiger used to celebrate with champagne every time his YouTube channel got 100 new subscribers.
That seems almost comical today.
Geiger, 57, of O’Fallon, better known as “The History Guy,” recently surpassed one million subscribers. That earned him a Gold Creator Award from YouTube, where he’s been posting videos on historical topics for more than five years.
Geiger has managed to thrive, despite increased competition.
“YouTube has changed a lot,” he said Thursday. “It was impacted by COVID. Stuff that used to be on television now has been moved to YouTube because (companies that had to close TV studios) figured out they can make money there.
“So now the little creators like me who are working out of their basements are competing with people who make TV documentaries. The History Channel puts a lot of their old shows on YouTube.”
Competition aside, Geiger continues to be amazed that he’s making a living doing what he loves: Researching people, places and things from the past that have been largely forgotten by modern society.
Geiger narrates five- to 15-minute videos on what he’s learned and posts them on his channel, “The History Guy: History Deserves to be Remembered,” every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Geiger always wears his trademark suit coat, bow tie and black glasses. He delivers scripts with a down-to-earth yet animated style.
His recent titles have included “Your Fraudulency: The Election of 1876,” “Jonathan Martin: Arson and Insanity,” “The 1862 Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas,” “Rum Runners and the U.S. Coast Guard,” “Carpatho-Ukraine: The One Day Republic” and “1908: When New York Banned Smoking for Women.”
“I’ve loved history since I was a little kid, and I firmly believe that history does not need to be boring,” Geiger quips in an introduction video.
Geiger launched his YouTube channel in 2017, two years after getting laid off from his job as a corporate trainer for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. He had spent his severance package and come to the realization that he wasn’t going to get called back to work.
Since that time, “The History Guy” has accumulated more than 161 million views on about 700 videos. Some 1,033,467 people from all over the world were subscribing as of Friday, meaning they signed up to receive notifications when something new gets posted.
Subscriptions are free, but producers earn money every time someone watches an advertisement before a video. Channels also can get “sponsors,” who pay for their businesses, services or products to be pitched.
The two are related because the more subscribers a channel attracts, the more potential sponsors want to advertise.
“We limit it to two sponsors a month, and we don’t have any trouble finding them,” Geiger said. “... We can be picky about our sponsors now. We chose products that we think our audience would like and enjoy.”
Geiger turned down sponsorships for hair-replacement and sexual-enhancement products. They just didn’t seem to fit the theme.
Geiger has gotten to know some of his fans through The History Guy Guild, an online “community” at locals.com, a crowdfunding website that allows people to financially support businesses, organizations and individuals that they admire. He holds live chats with some of its 961 members.
“The History Guy” has comment sections for YouTube videos, as well as a Facebook page with more than 14,000 followers.
About a year ago, Geiger launched “The History Guy Podcast,” which includes audio versions of videos, combined with Zoom discussions between him and his son, Josh Geiger, now a full-time employee of the business. They produce two podcasts a month.
Josh Geiger, 30, of Casper, Wyoming, developed a love of history through his father and minored in the subject while earning a communications degree. Today, he writes some of the “The History Guy” scripts.
“A lot of history classes end up boring people, and while I don’t think we replace history classes, we’re trying to tell stories in a way that makes them engaging,” he said. “... The truth is, history is really very interesting, and it’s full of amazing stories and amazing people.”
An occupational perk for both Lance and Josh Geiger is traveling to places such as Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, the U.S.S. Texas in Houston and The Tank Museum in England for research.
Lance Geiger hesitates to name a favorite video, but he knows off the top of his head which one has been the most popular. It’s titled “Robertson, Phillips and the History of the Screwdriver,” and it’s been viewed more than 2.6 million times since being posted in November, 2019.
The second-place honor goes to “When a Blackbird Disintegrated,” a video about Lockheed Martin test pilot Bill Weaver, who survived a 78,000-foot fall when his SR-71 airplane fell apart in 1966. It has racked up more than 2.2 million views since being posted in October, 2018.
Beyond videos, podcasts and online chats, Geiger is a public speaker who appeared twice last year at Hettenhausen Center for the Arts at McKendree University in Lebanon as part of its speaker series, first as a panelist for an “Idea Lab” and then as a solo presenter.
“He did a piece on the Spirit of St. Louis, and it was fascinating,” said Hettenhausen Director Liz Crabtree. “It was very well-received by the audience. He’s a great speaker. His stage presence and warmth filled the room.”
Geiger originally named his YouTube channel “The History Guy: Five Minutes of History” with plans to limit videos to about five minutes each. But he found most topics needed more time, so he changed it.
Geiger and his son consult books, newspapers, periodicals, scholarly articles and a variety of online databases as part of their research. Many videos include photos, maps and other documents.
Geiger considers himself a “hobby historian” and storyteller. He doesn’t provide footnotes or sources at the end of videos. He doesn’t suggest students cite them in term papers.
Mainly, Geiger is trying to spark discussion and provide a little entertainment for history buffs like himself. He’s stopped trying to figure out why one video does better than another. He just rolls with it.
“It’s something I do for a living, but it’s not just about the money,” Geiger said. “It’s something I love to do that also happens to pay the bills.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
