Academy students have the opportunity to have their podcast featured on UKR
By Kirsten Coachman
Always seeking to be on the cutting edge within the world of college radio, Urban Knights Radio (UKR) at Academy of Art University is now accepting submissions for time slots during Podcast Weekends. Open to all Academy students, Podcast Weekends is an opportunity for those with a podcast to gain more exposure, receive feedback, and become an active part of the UKR community.
“I don’t know of another school that’s doing it,” said UKR General Manager and Jam Street Media President/Founder Matty Staudt, who started UKR back in 2012 alongside his first student staff. The station boasts six million listeners in the past year and also continues to be one of the top college stations streamed on iHeartRadio.
Podcast Weekends stemmed from “the idea that on the weekend people are more likely to want to listen to talk programming and using that time in the weekend to put on podcasts,” according to Staudt. While the Academy offers podcasting courses through the School of Communications & Media Technologies, there are plenty of students that have branched out on their own.
“I’m anxious to see what kind of podcasts the students are doing,” said Staudt.
Content-wise, UKR is open to a wide array of podcasts, however, there is criteria to follow. Students’ podcasts should be under an hour and contain content that can be played on the radio. Podcasts should have a “defined audience,” meaning that the podcast should be aimed at certain groups of people, like gamers, TV/movie fans, or fashionistas, but ultimately it should speak to the students’ passion for that subject.
“They’re doing a podcast about something that is their niche—something that they’re into—well, [there are] certainly other students who are going to be into that,” said Staudt, later adding, “We want to be able to give a voice to their passion from the radio station so they can feel a part of it and be part of the community.”
In addition to growing their listening audiences, students will receive feedback about their podcasts from Staudt and the UKR team. “I’m going to try and get feedback to all of the folks who submit, and hopefully their podcast will get better from being on the radio station,” said Staudt.
With such a unique opportunity being offered across the Academy, Staudt and UKR look forward to hearing submissions and the subjects being covered, as well as encourage students to give podcasting a try. “We want to hear your podcasts, we want to know what you’re doing, and hopefully, if someone was maybe thinking of doing a podcast, [Podcast Weekends] will stimulate them to go do one,” said Staudt. “I’m a big believer in the medium, and it’s beneficial for students on a lot of levels to be doing podcasting.”
Students should email their Podcast Weekends submission to Urbanknightsradio1@gmail.com. Submissions should include a link to the podcast as well as a short write-up.