Community-building and storytelling. That’s what Director of Community Programming David DesRoches said he aims to achieve with the Quinnipiac University Podcast Studio.
“We want to be a resource for the local community, for students, for faculty to take advantage of the fact that we have this great studio where you can come and tell your story,” DesRoches said.
So far, the studio produces 17 podcasts, with topics ranging from journalism and media, the arts, health sciences, law and justice, athletics and many more.
“A wealth of podcasts and opportunities for storytelling is critical to community-building,” DesRoches said.
“Hearing students’ voices is exceptionally important,” he continued. “I think students who want to come to Quinnipiac or students who are here, especially now, might feel kind of isolated and kind of detached from their community because everybody walks around with masks and, you know, there’s a sense of disconnect from each other.”
Hearing students’ voices is exceptionally important.
David DesRoches
The podcast studio allows people to hear diverse voices and perspectives.
“Behind the White Coat” is a show DesRoches produces about underrepresented people in the medical field — be it students or doctors.
Another show, “The Special Ed Files”, addresses real-world problems in special education for students with disabilities by talking about what the root of the problem is and how to improve the system in the future.
DesRoches’s goal is to bring in different voices to share diverse stories and offer community to listeners.
The new podcast “Fluid Truth” shows the importance of confronting storytelling and truth.
“I think we can accept that truth is changing all the time, because facts change over time,” DesRoches said. “Like if I have a glass of ice in front of me today, it might be a glass of water tomorrow. So that fact of the glass being ice, it’s not no longer true tomorrow because it’s now melted. And so that idea carries itself in all kinds of truths.”
“Fluid Truth,” hosted by attorney Shirley Skyers-Thomas and produced by Quinnipiac media studies major John Marquardt, the show tries to answer the question, “Is there equity in the justice system?”
DesRoches said the show brings attention to important issues.
“I feel like they’re tackling issues that are hard to talk about and, and are very related to some of the persistent problems that seem to be turning up constantly,” DesRoches said.
In each episode, Skyers-Thomas sits down with a new guest to discuss their personal issues and experiences with the justice system.
“Even if it’s not our personal experience or our personal truth, to just get that chance to have that empathy or listen in on someone else’s life for a moment,” Skyers-Thomas said.
My big hope — and that’s like the big, Hail Mary prayer — is that people walk away having the opportunity to step in someone else’s shoes, even for a moment.
Shirley Skyers-Thomas
Skyers-Thomas said she teamed up with DesRoches in June 2021 and saw the podcast studio as a chance to take her experiences as an attorney and writing legislation for criminal justice reform and turn it into a conversation listeners could be comfortable with.
Skyers-Thomas said that the Quinnipiac platform lends credibility to her podcast.
“Everyone at this point could just pick up a phone and record [their] own stuff and do [their] own podcast, there is an ability and accessibility to do it, thanks to technology,” she said. “But having Quinnipiac partner with me in this way is so significant, because Quinnipiac is a wonderful university, so the credibility is amazing and the support is really great.”
As a producer, Marquardt said that having access to the podcast studio makes his job much easier.
“It just makes everything feel so much more professional,” he said. “Everything comes out in a much higher quality audio and it sounds like a regular episode of any other podcast you would hear out on all of the streaming platforms.”
Moving forward, Skyers-Thomas said she wants to continue building a repository of stories belonging to everyday people.
“Friends and family were asking me, ‘hey do you want to get this really popular person to be on your show?’” Skyers-Thomas said. “That’d be great and all but I’m really interested in us going in the way of the untold story, the untapped story, that you would not have heard of otherwise.”
Looking to the future, DesRoches looks toward expanding other storytelling opportunities in the community to develop a listenership.
“I do think we have work to do in expanding that audience locally doing some more local content,” DesRoches said. “We’re in talks right now with doing some profiles about local businesses.”
DesRoches said he is eager to pursue experimental and documentary-style podcasts in the future.
So, you know, if anybody out there is interested in getting a little wacky with their stories, I’m all up for that as well. So reach out to me.
David DesRoches
“Fluid Truth” along with all other podcasts that are partnered with Quinnipiac can be found on the studio’s website and anywhere you listen to podcasts. Community members can reach out to DesRoches with ideas or a want to be involved.