Last month, more than 1,000 podcasters gathered in Texas for the second annual “Podcast Movement” to discuss the latest in the industry. Jason Loviglio, associate professor and chair of media and communication studies, published a first-hand account of his experience at the conference in Antenna, a popular media and cultural studies blog.
Loviglio, who is an expert in media history and radio studies, wrote in great detail about the various conference sessions which ranged from an awards session presented by the “Academy of Podcasting” to the keynote address by Sarah Koenig of the overwhelmingly popular podcast Serial.
“Koenig’s talk was exquisitely produced and disarmingly personal. After nearly a year, she still manages to seem genuinely staggered by the podcast’s runaway success. And yet somehow she knows exactly which sorts of behind-the-scenes tidbits about the reporting, production, and post-fame spin-control we’re desperate to hear,” Loviglio wrote.
Loviglio noted that Koenig took the time to explain the importance of collaboration in creating successful podcasts, which many view as a highly individual process. “Koenig credited producer Julie Snyder with providing some of the most important improvements draft to draft, a valuable lesson about the importance of collaboration, another point often lost in the highly individualistic, ‘bootstraps’ narratives and underfunded business model of the business podcasters.”
Read “What I Learned at Podcast Movement 2015” on the Antenna website.