Dave Cathey|Oklahoman
Show Caption
MOORE — Eightmonths ago, Jordan and Amber Robinsonknewtheirfamily of fourwas growing, but theydidn’t expect it tobeby six digits.
The fifth Robinson, Luca, was born in August, joining a family of more than 150,000.
His parents aren't cloning, they’re building an internationalglobal congregation on the spirit of music. As ofDec. 23,their Rob Squad Reactions andRob Squadchannels on YouTube had a combined audience of 200,000.
Folks from as far away as Australia, stream the hours away watching Jordan and Amber react tosongsthey’venever heardon Rob Squad Reactions, and share family activitieson The Rob Squad.
“Life-changing”is what Jordan Robinson calls their 21st-century side-hustle,butthe extra income these two local educators get from YouTube palesin comparison toconnecting with people from around the world.
“What the channel has given us is restoring our faith in humanity,” Amber saysonly half-joking. “It's been a grim year, and when I think about how I've gotpeoplenow that I would call my friends wholive in Germany, one in Switzerland, it's absolutely crazy.I think that's honestly, the channel’s real value.”
Rob Squad born
The Robinsons met asfreshmenat Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah and started their family not long after. Jordan, who is from Wagoner, was a wide receiveron the football team, and Marietta nativeAmber ran cross country.
They were blessed with adaughter, Bria, now 8, while in Tahlequah. The couple transferredtoSoutheastern Oklahoma State University andgraduated witheducation degrees.
When the familymoved to Moore two years ago, ithad grown tofour with the addition of Kiya, now 5.
Today, Jordan and Amber are 28. Heteachesgeography to sixth-graders and coaches basketball and football at both the middle school and high school levels in Moore. Amber is on asabbatical from teaching elementary schoolphysical education to give birth to Luca.
They launched their first YouTube Channel called The Rob Squad about a year ago to share videos with family, including Luca's gender reveal. That channel has more than 12,000 subscribers and shares a variety of content aimed at young families.
Rob Squad Reactions
In each Rob Squad Reactions video, Jordan, or "Ya' boy Jay," reminds the "RSR Fam" he and Amber record "three videos a day, every day."
They've now accumulated a library of hundredsof reaction videos toclassic rock, country, symphonyandopera performances.
Jordan's first video was an attemptto get a friendwho had a channel to quit bugging him about reacting to rock music.
"Ikept telling him, 'That's just not me,'" the lifelong rap and hip-hop fan recalled.
Weeks later, Robinson finally relented, promising to launch his own channel if he enjoyed the experience.
"It was AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck,' and that's where my love for Angus Young was born," Robinson said. "But that's a whole other story."
As promised, Jordan launched Rob Squad Reactions with Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music."
"It got some good feedback," he said. "Got a couple thousandviews, couple thousandfollowers, andI kept posting every day."
Growth was steady until Amber came aboard a couple of months later witha tearful reaction to "Believe" by Brooks & Dunn.
"That's when it just completely blew up," he said. "It went from a couplethousand subscribersto 10,000, 20,000 to30,000. Thousandsof subscribers every day, so she's really the star of the show."
Pop music royalty reacts
When the reaction channel began to take off, theRobinsons converted their spare room into a studio, decorating thewalls withframed photos and artwork of Amy Winehouse, Frank Sinatra, Janis Joplin and The Bee Gees sent in by RSR family members.
The incoming booty became so intense, Amber recently asked the RSR family to steer that spirit towardcharity.
The spare room isn't the only thing that's gotten an overhaul. Once upon a time, Jordan's morning routine included a soundtrack of Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., Lil Wayne and Nas. Now it includes Corey Hart's1983 hit"Sunglasses at Night."
"He loves that song," Amber says with a little eye-roll.
But Jordan's affinity for Canadian synth-pop might be colored by what the channel has meant.
"The journey that it's takenus on, and the opportunity that it's given us has just completely blown up," he said. "It's been a total whirlwind."
Amber's musical roots were broader, growing up onPink, Alicia Keys, and hermom's love of 1980s pop music.
"My dad listened to rap, but he didn't like me listening to it, so he played a lot of bluegrass when I was in the car," she said.
She's enjoyed broadening her musical horizons, but she wasn't prepared for what happened after they celebrated bringing babyLuca home with with a reaction to John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy."
"Yoko Ono congratulated us on the birth ofourof Luca," she said. "And shethanked usfor reacting to her husband's music."
Neither was she prepared for Tom Jones.
The 82-year-old, golden-throated Welsh crooner loved the Robinson's reaction to his performance of "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" enough to leave a comment, "Thank you for listening, glad you both enjoyed it!"
Amber was so excited she calledJordan while he was in the middle of practice.
"I totally freaked out," she recalled.
The positively simple secret ingredient for reaction video success
Rob Squad’s recipe for success is only eight months intesting, but one ingredient is never missing.
“We like to bringpositivityto everything we do whether we’re on YouTube or not,” Jordansaid.“But when you see the RSR family having these great conversations in the comments of your videos it’s the best feeling in the world.”
Respondingto Michael Franti and the Spear's "A Good Day for a Good Day" a few months ago, Amber had trouble holding back tears describingthe "hard journey" she and her husband have traveled and how the song represented the positive vibes they aspire to share daily.
Sure, they come across songs they don't enjoy as much as others, but Jordan said, "The RSR family usually recommends amazing stuff."
The cost for broadening their pop-music horizons has mostly beentime, but doing it together has given the young couple alone time that's usually hard to come by for parents with twoelementary-age children and a newborn.
"It ends up being our time together," Amber said. "Sometimes Jordan doesn't get home after practice until almost 9 o'clock, and we'll go straight in and start recording."
The constructive time spent togetherhas bonded their relationship, and it's provided a nice boost to theireducators wages.
"We never really started this to make money," Jordan said. "It's almost a full-time job right now, and we can see how it could be."
Jordan said YouTube pays them a variable rate for every 1,000 page views a video gets. Views for RSR videos range anywhere from 10,000 to more than half a million.
"They might pay 50 cents per thousand for a certain kind ofvideo one day, and then the next day it may be like $1.25 per thousand," he said. "So it's not really something that's super consistent.
"Some people will flood their content with ads to make money, and you know that's fine, butweweusually let YouTube place twoor threebecause like I said, we'renot here about the money."
The Rob Squad's plans for 2022 include a movie reaction channel and some travel.The Rob Squad channels helped the couplesurprise their kids on Christmas with plans for a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World.
The most important person they'll meet on the trip will no doubtbeMickey Mouse, but Jordan said the last eight months has created plenty of kind of kinto visit.
“There are RSR familymembers allaround — that'sthe coolest thing."
