“I was hired to sort of create a program around podcasting and figure out how we could approach podcasting as a system instead of little pieces operating independently, like I think a lot of universities are,” DesRoches said.
Quinnipiac University is in the process of opening a new podcast studio. The idea to create a studio started after professor Ben Bogardus created a podcast, according to David DesRoches, the newly hired director of community programming.
“Ben Bogardus had done a podcast about hunger and Hamden previously,” said DesRoches. “As sort of a way to show what kind of work the school could be doing if they produce podcasts.”
DesRoches wants the studio to be a hosting site for podcasts and a place to support students, not just where podcasts are recorded.
“I can get a computer and I can push record and I can make a podcast,” said DesRoches. “But if you want a program that’s taken seriously and has high quality you need to think.”
DesRoches was hired by Quinnipiac to help unite all the potential podcasts under one service.
“I was hired to sort of create a program around podcasting and figure out how we could approach podcasting as a system instead of little pieces operating independently like I think a lot of universities are,” DesRoches said.
DesRoches doesn’t want Quinnipiac’s podcasts to be like any other school.
“People are sort of podcasting on their own with no sort of guidance and just sort of figuring it out, to various levels of success and of quality,” DesRoches said.
David DesRoches and students meet to discuss the studio and run through a sample podcast.
DesRoches believes uniting everything under one platform would improve the overall quality.
A big component of the podcast studio for DesRoches will be allowing students to use the studio without much oversight.
“I don’t want to restrict people,” DesRoches said. “We’ll let them use the studio. They just wouldn’t necessarily get direct support from me, but the studio is available for people who want a podcast.”
Quinnipiac has already been producing podcasts, which are now under the wing of the podcast program.
“We have been working with the athletics podcast, which has already been publishing for a while,” DesRoches said. “We’re migrating that into the new platform.”
The platform also hosts Bogardus’ podcast on hunger in Hamden. DesRoches says there are ideas for new podcasts, including a podcast on developments in medicine, a podcast looking at wellness without a euro-centric worldview and a podcast on polling by the Quinnipiac Poll.
Tom Conley-Wilson, a student and producer of podcasts, said the studio has worked well so far.
“I’m a producer for the show,” he said. “It was tentatively named QCast. We’re actually rebranding and naming it TruQ. It’s gonna be a podcast centered around issues in the Hamden and New Haven area.”
Conley-Wilson said the studio hasn’t started officially making new podcasts yet but has made some shows as trials.
“We’ve done two test shows so far,” he said, “and they both went really well. We’re just interviewing prospective students just to kind of get a feel for it. Our first actual recording is gonna be this week with President Judy Olian. That’s gonna be our inaugural episode.”
There is also an effort to expand the scope of podcasting to the community as a whole. DesRoches knows the podcast station can not replace WQUN.
“I don’t think you can,” DesRoches said. “I think it was a special thing that they did. But what I hope to do is build upon some other things that they were doing and sort of offer some of those similar services like news in a podcasting format.”
DesRoches and the podcast program are currently in the process of reaching out to the mayor of Hamden and the first selectman of North Haven to meet with Quinnipiac President Judy Olian to discuss podcasts. It is a goal of DesRoches to reach out to the community as he leads the podcast program.
“It’s a big part of what I want to do,” DesRoches said. “Content that reflects the values that we share as a university and community.”
The studio has a computer desk for controlling the podcast shows, as well as cameras linked to each microphone.