July 26th, 2017; Columbia Journalism Review
The podcast world is divided into two sectors: pre- and post-Serial. Followers in the know can tell how the landscape of podcasting changed when Serial, a spinoff of This American Life, came onto the scene. A podcast “boom” has emerged following Serial’s success and many nonprofits are exploring whether hosting a podcast is the right direction to go. Experts declare that while podcasting is growing, it is “suffering from a talent gap.”
Enter the Podcast Garage, a year-old facility in Allston, Massachusetts that operates in a repurposed garage. Think of an old Jiffy Lube building, freshly repainted. The original idea was for Public Radio Exchange (PRX) to create a “listening lounge” for locals to create podcasts and connections between podcast newcomers and experienced producers.
“There’s a real hunger to learn how to do audio storytelling,” says Kerry Hoffman, CEO of PRX, so she suggested…