Podcasts by High School Journalists: The Pit Stop Music Podcast
What is your name?
Archie Barnes
Where can your podcast be found?
https://cardinaltimes.org/category/podcasts/pit-stop-music/
Please describe your podcast and why you thought it would be a good topic to have a podcast on.
Me and my friend’s podcast, Pit Stop Music, is a series in which we both discuss issues, topics, and releases that surround the music industry today, and in the past. We recommend and critique music in an entertaining, yet educational way. In the past year, we’ve reviewed recent and old albums, discussed award ceremonies, and interviewed local artists here in Portland, Oregon. We though this would be a good topic because we knew it would be something that students would want to listen to. Our podcast series recommends new music every episode spanning all the way from hip-hop to yacht rock, and tries to expand the mind of the everyday listener by poking them with provocative, unique, and enticing opinions.
How has the podcast changed since the first show? What are some things you’ve learned and done to make it better?
Over the past year, we’ve gotten much more efficient with producing and uploading episodes. With our first release, it probably took a whole week to get the episode recorded, edited, and uploaded, and each step required a different member of our staff to help out. Now, after a lot of trial and error, we can get an episode done in one class period. Aside from that, not much has changed. We’ve stuck to our traditional structure of each episode, keeping each one at a healthy 10-15 minutes, and making sure nothing is left out, or over explained.
What tools do you use to record, edit and publish your podcast?
We use school-provided microphones, and logic pro X to record and edit the audio. We then publish our podcasts to the school newspaper website which is under the host SNO.
What advice do you have for others looking to make a podcast?
Have fun with it! People won’t enjoy listening to you talk if you’re not enjoying talking. It’s also helpful to have a rough idea of what you want to say before each episode; we tried improvising for 10 minutes and it just ended with us rambling about random things that had nothing to do with the topic at hand. Make sure you know your adviser’s rules and regulations surrounding what you’re allowed to say or not say, because it’s a complete pain to edit things into or out of your podcast once it’s all been done and dusted. Include other people to spice it up a bit too. This could include a guest speaker to help talk about the topics you have planned, or a guest to interview for the course of an episode.
