Continuing Studies: for Higher Ed Podcasters

[00:00:00] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Welcome to Continuing Studies, a podcast for higher education podcasters. In each episode, we talk to a university podcaster to ask some questions, get answers, and share tips and ideas about higher education podcasting. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lee. I'm a radio broadcaster and a podcaster.
[00:00:21] Neil McPhedran: And I'm Neil McPhedran. I've come to podcasting after 25 years in the digital agency world. Together, we've hosted, executive produced and launched seven and counting Higher Education podcasts.
[00:00:33] Please remember to follow continuing studies in your listening app of choice and drop us a rating and or review. We love to hear your feedback, while you're at it also join the University Podcaster Network on LinkedIn.
[00:00:46] So Jen, I'm super excited for today's episode while I'm excited for all the episodes, but I'm really excited for today's episode. And today we are talking about podcast networks and what goes into building a network for podcasts. We talked [00:01:00] to Jenna Spinelle and Brandon Stover from The Democracy Group, a nonpartisan network of podcasts that's united around the goal of helping listeners understand what's broken in our democracy, there's lots broken, and how people are working together to fix it.
[00:01:18] Jenna is the founder and Brendan is the manager of the network. One of the reasons I'm super excited for this conversation is, as you know, I'm a political nut and I don't work [00:01:30] on any politically focused podcasts. I work on science podcasts, business podcasts, communication podcasts, leadership podcasts, law podcasts. But no politics. So, I'm really excited for this conversation.
[00:01:44] Full disclosure, I'm working on starting a network, a podcast network, for one of our podium clients, University of British Columbia. So, I'll be keenly taking notes throughout our conversation.
[00:01:57] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Great. You're going to get all the secrets. I'm really excited about this as well because I love politics. And the Democracy Group is not only in higher education, but it's organized and funded by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State. Most of the podcasts in the network are higher ed related, but the network and how it is structured is super applicable to higher education as it's not built around advertising and monetizing, but rather a common purpose in educating the public. Making us all understand how democracy works.
[00:02:28] Neil McPhedran: Okay, Jen, let's jump to the conversation with Jenna and Brandon.
[00:02:34] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Thank you guys so much for taking your time out today, and I'm excited to get started.
[00:02:37] Jenna Spinelle: Thanks for having us.
[00:02:38] Neil McPhedran: Okay. Yeah, great. Well, why don't we just start with Jenna? Why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role with the Democracy Group Network?
[00:02:47] Jenna Spinelle: Sure. So, I'm Jenna Spinelle. I'm based at the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University where I host two podcasts, one called Democracy Works and one called When the People Decide. And the Democracy Group Network was really born out of some of the work I did around the Democracy Works podcast I had set up.
[00:03:11] We founded Democracy Works in 2018, and the first year and a half or so of the show, I did a lot of one-off cross promos and ad swaps, and feed drops and all of those sorts of things. Uh, and I thought, wouldn't it be great to put some more structure and some process around [00:03:30] these processes and, um, also give, you know, listeners more options if they, you know, like politics and people who are into politics tend to be really into politics.
[00:03:41] Neil, you, you may be able to speak to that, but I also learned about just the breadth of the content that's out there. Both, you know, different partisan perspectives and different racial and ethnic perspective. Just all the myriad podcasts that made up the political landscape and some [00:04:00] from universities, some from nonprofits. And so, um, everybody seemed like they could benefit from each other's help. And so that was the impetus behind starting the network.
[00:04:09] Unlike a lot of podcast networks, we're not really looking to generate ad revenue or do deals, although we have done some of those. things, but you know, we're really focused on giving a voice to the democracy community. There's a whole host of organizations out there that's working, whether it's in civics education or student voting or bridging divides, um, all kinds of, of fields out there that, you know, want to get their message out on podcasts and otherwise.
[00:04:40] And so our network has really become the hub for some of those efforts. And thanks to a lot of the work that Brandon has done, we’ve been able to branch out into education and professional development and some other things over the course of the past three years.
[00:04:55] Neil McPhedran: That's a great answer. Thank you so much for that. Why don't you introduce yourself and, uh, what's your role with the Democracy Group?
[00:05:02] Brandon Stover: Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. My name's Brandon Stover, I'm the Network Manager for the Democracy Group. So, I help manage the backend systems that Jenna was just mentioning for the network in order to have all of our shows collaborating with one another and do that in a streamlined way.
[00:05:18] But then also work with organizations in the democracy space, in the bridge building space, the political space uh, and having our shows be a part of those interactions, uh, helping to put together different, uh, collaborations or initiatives that we do together, and then also branching out what we do as a network.
[00:05:37] So, uh, some of our initiatives have been doing a educational fellowship for Gen Zs to get into the podcasting space and get their voice out about different democracy topics and the important things that we're speaking about on our podcasts. Um, we've also published podcasts as an entire network, for each one of the shows, drop in an episode about that topic.
[00:05:56] Uh, our last one was around the midterms. And then we've also curated a lot of educational resources that come from each one of our shows that people can use inside of their classroom. So just a wide variety of ways for our podcasts to collaborate and then also get their shows out more than just your regular marketing that you do.
[00:06:13] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: I know I was looking at your website, and you've got so many learning tools to help different people in the education field and just people that want to know more and you're making it more accessible. I really want to know, like, have you guys ever had any big, like, debates or fights on any of your podcasts? But maybe that's for another time.
[00:06:29] Jenna, I know you did mention a little bit about how you founded it, but uh, let's go back to the very first day. How did you start building this network?
[00:06:38] Jenna Spinelle: I will say, uh, to your first point, Jen, civil discourse is one of our pillars as a network. So, uh, I think there's definitely healthy disagreement. In fact, I know there's healthy disagreement between several of our member shows, but, you know, I like to think that we can keep all of our debates constructive, uh, and that's, I think, one of the things that separates our network from some other political podcasts and other content out there.
[00:07:01] But the early days, I enlisted the help of a podcast consultant. His name's Jeremy Helton. He does a lot of different things in podcasting and marketing and PR and outreach. So, he and I identified a list of initial network member shows and came up with the pitch to invite them and many of them were people that I had already worked with in some capacity. So, um, we came up with an [00:07:30] initial list, had meetings with everyone, built kind of bare bones website and some other assets, got a newsletter going, um, just like you start any new project, right?
[00:07:40] And started building up our lists, um, and followers and all of those things. And asked the, you know, member shows to help spread the word. And many of those shows are still with us today. And we've added new members over time and have continued to refine those processes about what we're looking for now when we onboard a new show.
[00:08:01] Um, I think we're in a place now where we can be a little more selective as far as, you know, we wanted to be a two-way street, you know, we can offer our member shows things, but we're looking for them to help promote the other shows and the network as a whole in return. You know, in the early days, it was like the, will you come to my birthday party kind of mentality, right?
[00:08:22] Like, we didn't have anything to offer. We were just asking people to help, uh, and with the exchange, hopefully of some free publicity for their podcasts. But thankfully people said yes, and we've been able to grow ever since.
[00:08:35] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: And the fact that it is nonpartisan, how do you create that environment in these times? Because how do you kind of keep the podcast like even and like not having anything that's going to be totally dead? Like you want people to be able to speak their mind, but you don't want anyone to really hurt the audience out there.
[00:08:51] Jenna Spinelle: I guess I'll say that first off, we would never try to censor any of the shows in the network.
[00:08:58] We don't have editorial control over them. This is, you know, a purely volunteer thing on their part. Um, but I think when we're vetting shows, and this has been true since the beginning, we're looking for shows that provide educational content or who help people see different perspectives other than their own. We're not going to invite shows to be part of our network that have people on just to throw flames or to, you know, have those more trash talking kind of conversations.
[00:09:30] Brandon Stover: From a nuts-and-bolts perspective, we implemented doing an application. So, they have to apply and there's a few questions and they're asking about what their goals are with the show and sort of what their audience base is.
[00:09:40] And then we have an interview with them to get a full picture of who is it you're speaking to? What kind of perspectives are you putting out there? Because we're looking for shows that not necessarily match ours but open up our audience to new perspectives or talking to a new audience. So, trying to expand the ideas that are coming in and have a full representation across the network.
[00:10:00] Jenna Spinelle: One that we brought on, uh, within the past year, it's called Talking Politics and Religion Without Killing Each Other.
[00:10:07] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Love the Title.
[00:10:07] Jenna Spinelle: Um, kind of sums up the name right there. Um, but the host, his name is Corey Nathan. He is, I think he identifies as like a center right kind of person, but he has on all kinds of people on his show. Some people he agrees with, some people he doesn't. And it really is a model of civil discourse around topics that tend not to foster civil discourse. Right? And so, I [00:10:30] think that, uh, you know, Corey is a great evangelist as well for podcasting and for the network. And he's really helped us out with a lot of the things we've been doing.
[00:10:37] But, you know, those are the kind of shows that we're looking for people who are not afraid to, um, you know, tackle things that might be divisive, but do it in a way, um, that is civil and that encourages learning and understanding rather than deepening divides.
[00:10:55] Neil McPhedran: That's great. Uh, so as you know, our audience is fellow podcasters. So, for those out there that are thinking about starting up a network or maybe haven't even thought about it, what are some of the key benefits that you've seen? What's some of the power of the network that you guys have witnessed?
[00:11:21] Brandon Stover: It depends on the network that you're joining. Ours is a little unique because we are not looking so much for advertising revenue. That is the first benefit that you'll get joining a network.
[00:11:31] Neil McPhedran: Ya.
[00:11:31] Brandon Stover: Where we come from is the promotional and marketing side of it is the most benefit that our podcasters will see. They come into a network that is in a niche that's specific to the people that they want to talk to. So, when they come in, they get dumped into our processes for, uh, collaborations, cross promotions and those sorts of things. And that allows them to start getting new audience members, maybe that they weren't reaching before, especially because we pay so much attention to what audiences are we not already reaching.
[00:12:01] But it also, especially with our podcast network, because we're focused on that educational aspect and educating the public, it gives them an opportunity to maybe get out some of their content in unique ways, like getting their podcasts inside of classrooms or working with, you know, different influencers or content creators that maybe they weren't working with before.
[00:12:19] Jenna Spinelle: And I'll say, too, on that point, um, we have had some success on the cross-promotion front, working with larger organizations or people that have bigger platforms like Foreign Affairs Magazine, for example. Kind of major media outlets like that any one of our shows on their own might not have enough of an audience size or reach to make a cross promotion feasible.
[00:12:46] But as a network, if you add up the audiences of all of our shows, we do. Um, and so that's something where there is strength in numbers, being able to pool our resources to go after larger opportunities like that.
[00:13:00] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: And Brandon, you already mentioned a little bit that you have an application process, but are there any other rules or anything else that you need to submit to be considered to be part of this network?
[00:13:10] Brandon Stover: We often have them submit, uh, like their favorite episode or their best episode that think exemplifies the type of people that they're speaking to. So, we can get a touch, we like to listen to a few just so we get a taste of what's going on. Also, what marketing channels that they have. Again, that was the major benefit of joining the network, you were going to get access to [00:13:30] everybody else's marketing channels, but what are you bringing to the table as well? So, it's an equal exchange on both sides.
[00:13:36] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: And the people that are applying, are you finding that it's, uh, early days for them? They're brand new to podcasting or their show has been gone on for a while and they have a little bit of a following?
[00:13:45] Brandon Stover: The ones that have recently applied are smaller shows and they're like starting to get a grasp. That's obviously very attractive for a smaller show to come into a network like this, be able to gain a bigger audience. But the shows in our network range in how many downloads they're getting. We have heavy hitters that are 20- 30, 000 downloads and we have smaller shows that are a 100 downloads.
[00:14:05] As Jenna was mentioning, by being within the network, they get access to maybe, you know, a large publisher like the Foreign Affairs and being able to come in and get publicized even though you only have, you know, 100 downloads per episode.
[00:14:17] Neil McPhedran: So just sort of curious, any other requirements that you ask of the podcasts in the network?
[00:14:23] Jenna Spinelle: Yeah, we do, um, encourage folks to utilize that branding and to uh, you know, link to us in their show notes and on their own websites. But again, because there's no money changing hands here, we're kind of limited in what we can ask people to do.
[00:14:40] Neil McPhedran: Right.
[00:14:40] Jenna Spinelle: And, you know, because everybody's at a different organization, they all have their own rules that they have to follow. Everybody has a different level of what they're able to do as far as branding and how that relates to their own organization. But I mean, the only other requirement is that you, uh, do have a consistent publishing schedule.
[00:15:00] If we are working on, you know, ads or cross promos or network wide initiatives, if somebody you know, publishes an episode and then doesn't have another one for three months and we don't know about that in advance, that can be a problematic for some of the things that we're working on. We also have a newsletter that goes out every other week where we feature the newest episodes from the network. So, if somebody doesn't have things coming out consistently, then those are not an asset that we have to draw from what the things we're putting out.
[00:15:31] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Oh, that's really cool. Yeah, I, I like it. Um, you have to be serious because I feel like a lot of times, and a lot of people starting podcasts are not necessarily serious, or, or know that there needs to be consistency in order to grow. And so, you as a network, needs to make sure that you guys are gonna get everything or you're never gonna grow as a network either.
[00:15:49] I know as you guys offer media training, but media training for podcasts. Can you touch a little bit about that of why you guys, what it is you offer and why you're offering that?
[00:15:57] Jenna Spinelle: I think that, um, we've heard from our hosts in our network wide meetings that we have that, you know, everybody has done a bad interview or been with a guest, particularly if you interview academics or other expert types, um, they can be very dry and boring and unrelatable to a podcast listener and not always do a good job in being prepared or responding to the questions the host asks. So that was the idea, like, what could we do [00:16:30] to help the people that we work with? Uh, and it's, it evolved into helping academics, thought leaders, nonprofit leaders, um, people working in political reform, um, helping them hone their stories and their messages to be effective podcast guests. Um, so we have an intake form where we ask them about, um, what some of their key messages are that they want to get out and what some [00:17:00] of their past experiences have been, where they may have stumbled in interviews before. And then Brandon and I will work with them to do a training and a mock interview.
[00:17:10] Uh, the deliverable of that is three clips that they can share on social or in the case of a, if they're working with a publicist, um, the publicist sometimes likes to have those clips to send out to the podcast or other outlets that they're pitching.
[00:17:26] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Oh my god, this is brilliant. So brilliant because I've just, it's such a unique feature. I usually coach a lot of people that are hosting the podcast because again, interviewing format is the hardest format. But it takes a long time to learn that craft. But on the other side of it is the fact you guys are helping the guests too because just as hard it is to be the interviewer; the interviewee sometimes is really hard too. So, I love it.
[00:17:51] Neil McPhedran: We bring different things to the table. I'm learning how to ask questions. Curious how, what else and other ways the individual podcasts are able to collaborate and interact with one another? Are there network wide Zooms or events or anything like that?
[00:18:06] Brandon Stover: Yeah, so we hold about bi- monthly a network meeting with all the hosts or their producers. So, each one of our podcasts have their own publishing teams are helping to produce their podcast, so they might send one of their producers to sit in. And during that time, we'll often share tips and tricks between the podcast hosts, what they've been doing with their podcast, maybe how they've been growing it.
[00:18:26] Especially if they're a new show, like we had one join not too recently called Democracy Decoded and they had a very good kickoff and marketing campaign that they used to grow their show very early. So we had them share some of their tips when they first joined the network, kind of help some of our other shows, but then I will also sometimes do training within those network meetings about some of the tricks that I am learning as I stay up to date on the podcast industry or I'll bring in other companies or, you know, people that are very good at what they do to kind of help our podcasters.
[00:18:56] And then sometimes we'll do Webinars or Twitter spaces or virtual events, where we'll have some of our hosts sit in as panelists, and then we'll bring in some of the external organizations that we've been working with as experts to come in to talk about a topic.
[00:19:11] Neil McPhedran: Wow, that's fantastic. You guys provide incredible support. You know, back to the, off the top saying it's this, this network's not about the advertising or the monetization side of things, which most network, uh, or podcast networks really are kind of grounded in. It's incredible actually, you can see like the massive benefit [00:19:30] of, of a podcast, uh, joining, the network. So, you must have them beating down the door to join at this point in time.
[00:19:38] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: I want to join, I don't have a political podcast; you guys just make it sound so great. I noticed that you guys have the fellowship. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that is and what the benefit is for the network?
[00:19:50] Brandon Stover: We've been doing two fellowships. We launched the first one, uh, at the beginning of this year, and it was aimed at helping the next generation to get their voice out about these democracy topics.
[00:19:59] And we go through 12 weeks of curriculum with them to help them, uh, find their voice, find out which audience that they want to be talking to, what topics they want to cover, and then helping them develop that voice through running them through recording and interviewing, editing their podcasts, and then showing them the tips and tricks that we've learned as a network in the marketing side of things so that they can actually launch it and start getting that out there.
[00:20:23] When they do launch their podcast, we help promote it some within our network. So, putting it on our network wide feed, so it gets dropped to all of our listeners, as well as if they would like to interview one of our hosts or somebody that we are connected with, we help them get in touch with that. And likewise, if they would like to go on one of our shows, we put them in touch with that host to see if that's a good fit. So, it's a good way to kind of help the next generation uh, start getting out there.
[00:20:51] Jenna Spinelle: The students that we have are just so talented and so thoughtful, you know, reading their applications and meeting them makes you wonder, like, what have I been doing with my life? Like, I was certainly not as motivated, uh, and as into these topics when I was, uh, you know, 16 or 18 or 20, uh, as these students are. So, it's, it's definitely a breath of fresh air and very motivating for me and I think for others in the network as well to be able to interact with them.
[00:21:24] Brandon Stover: And we match the students with mentors, uh, in our network. So, one of the hosts will be also going alongside the student during the fellowship to help them craft and refine their idea.
[00:21:35] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: What you guys are doing is even beyond podcasting, helping young people. I sound like an old person. I think it's a great way because, you know, politics is important, and understanding is important. And it doesn't matter who you vote for. It's just understanding why you're voting for that person and what that makes you feel.
[00:21:51] Brandon Stover: And we, uh, include a few different lessons. And, um, during our live workshops, talk about the landscape that they're living in now, especially in the social media age and talking about media literacy and where are they getting their information. And then, their responsibility as a podcaster to, you know, put out good, uh, thoughtful information to the people that are listening to them.
[00:22:11] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Correct information is the important key as well. Making sure that what you're doing is you're researching properly and any information you give out, you have a responsibility to yourself that you're giving out the correct info.
[00:22:23] Neil McPhedran: So why don't we just sort of change gears a little bit, and dig into, tactics for growth and discovery. I mean, I think that's a key part of a podcast joining a podcast network is that growth and discovery, side of things? So, the website, for the, for the network as a whole, and as we've talked about a couple of times, is super impressive. So, my assumption is the website itself is a central channel for the network.
[00:22:54] Brandon Stover: Yeah, the website definitely acts as a central hub for all of our shows, um, that we have as part of the network and then all the initiatives that we're doing as a cohesive brand, um, try and make it as easily navigatable and they've, you know, whatever you're looking for. If you were an outside sponsor, if you're trying to be part of the media training, or if you're just coming to listen to shows, you can find what that is, but the website kind of leads to first and foremost, are network newsletter um, because that is our direct contact with our audience. As a podcaster, it's very hard to know how is your content landing with the people that you want listening to it. Uh, and we've tried a bunch of different ways of trying to build a community, but the newsletter seems to be the best thing.
[00:23:37] And then we've kind of developed a few different strategies by having the different resources that you would opt in. And then once you're in there, in our newsletter, um, you kind of get dispersed to the rest of our shows, you know, go check out this episode, that episode, um, that's how we kind of bring the audience together and then disperse them out.
[00:23:54] Jenna Spinelle: While it is definitely a promotional vehicle for our shows, it is more than that. Uh, we have heard from our audience that they're, they want to learn more about some of the topics that we cover in our episodes. So we will write articles, which we also repurpose as blog posts on the website, um, about different topics or do Q and A's with partner organizations.
[00:24:17] Um, we end every newsletter with a call to action. So, our community is very much interested in understanding what they can do to foster a healthier democracy. So, we try to uplift opportunities for them to do that and also create resources. We just had five ways to take action resource guide that we published on the website. Um, and that is again, a way to, to get people subscribed and into our orbit, so to speak.
[00:24:44] Brandon Stover: Yeah. Every year we try and run a listener survey and they're telling us basically what they want to see. So, we're trying to put that up on the website or in our shows or in our newsletter, uh, so that it's more valuable to them and then hopefully get shared with other people.
[00:24:57] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: I just feel like you guys are so smart and so savvy. Like everything just like I look on your website, I was like, this is well organized. You've also playlist wise, you've created a standalone show called The Democracy Group in the website navigation and links to Chartable. From there, listeners can pick up their app of choice. But can you unpack, uh, this tactic for us and how this is executed, why you're doing it this way?
[00:25:19] Brandon Stover: We're also part of a collective that gathers every once in a while. I'm called the Podcast Network Alliance. So, it's a bunch of network heads that come together and talk shop about what's going on. And a few of them had mentioned that they had network wide playlists that were either dropping in all their shows or just like a selection.
[00:25:36] And that was one of their best performing podcasts, uh, in their network. So, we figured, well, why not try and do it for us as well? And then it allows our listeners to go to a place to kind of get a taste of each one of these shows because it's going to be hard to like, listen to all 20 shows at once. Instead, you can kind of pick up a few episodes and then maybe, you know, drop in your favorite ones and subscribe to those.
[00:25:56] Neil McPhedran: It's great. I followed it, actually. Um, because I think it's a great way to sort of, uh, pick your way through all of the various shows. And then I guess the great thing about that is, you know, one of those individual episodes really piques interest, and then you go to that show and follow that show. So, I think it's a fantastic tactic and I love how it's actually in your website navigation.
[00:26:17] And I saw that there's also, uh, a quote, unquote, playlist shows built around themes. Um, Jenna, I think you'd mentioned off the top or a few minutes ago about the 2020 midterms, what's at stake show. So that's interesting. That feels like a moment in time.
[00:26:34] Brandon Stover: Yeah. I think you guys give us a lot of credit for all the amazing things we're doing. It really was throw like spaghetti at the wall a lot and see what trying works and continue doing the things that work and the ones that don't. We're like, well that was a good toss.
[00:26:47] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: I think that's any podcast. So, I feel like everyone's like just throwing spaghetti at the wall and what works, works.
[00:26:53] Brandon Stover: Ya.
[00:26:53] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Podcasting is still really new as someone said at the conference, it's still in its first inning. So, the more we stick spaghetti on the wall, the more we're able to help each other out.
[00:27:01] Neil McPhedran: I think it's kind of the nature of the beast too, with an RSS feed that you're putting out there to a whole bunch of individual apps that are doing all their own things with Spotify's and the apples and the whatnot. So, you're gathering these followerships in the apps at sort of at that level.
[00:27:16] So I think we're all just trying to figure out like, how do we pull this whole thing together? And I think your website and your email are incredible tactics to sort of do that as you've laid out. So, you know what, we should respect your time here, but I'd love to end with a couple of questions here.
[00:27:30] One is some key learnings that you might share for others that are getting started or have recently launched a network, and maybe that's two separate answers. Um, for those that are just getting started and are thinking about starting a podcast network, is there any parting thoughts, tip that you would share with them?
[00:27:48] Jenna Spinelle: Yeah, I would definitely, um, from the beginning, think of it as a two way street to the extent that you can and, you know, think about what you hope your network will [00:28:00] offer to them or what you plan for your network to offer to them, even if you're not quite there yet when you're just starting out and what you expect of your member shows in return and have as much of that thought through as you can, knowing that it will change along the way as people come in and things get going.
[00:28:19] And then just be, you know, be really mindful about who you want to have in your network, you know, what their mission is, how that, that aligns with. your organization and the organization you're building in the network. And then yeah, thinking about what the relationship is between the network as a whole and the member shows.
[00:28:41] And again, this is a place where we're still throwing spaghetti at the wall in some respects. But I think keeping those lines of conversation open is important and having opportunities like network wide meetings for people to share.
[00:28:58] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Perfect. And I have one more question for you. [00:29:00] I want to get into all the juicy stuff. So, has being part of this network changed your political participation or views on democracy?
[00:29:08] Jenna Spinelle: For me, it has exposed me to perspectives that I might not seek out on my own. Um, and open my eyes, especially to the field of bridge building, which I wasn't really familiar with, but there are literally hundreds of organizations that are aimed at bringing people with diverging views together in a variety of ways to have conversations and foster constructive dialogue and hopefully reduce political polarization here in the U. S.
[00:29:35] Brandon Stover: From my side, interacting with all of the network hosts and then all the organizations that we collaborate with, I've gotten like a osmosis education about politics and all the different views that maybe I wasn't seeking out on my own, which then has driven me to gain more interest in these things.
[00:29:51] I am 29 years old, so I'm in the millennial, you know, reaching into Gen Z and I feel like our generation, like, got interested and then kind of skipped it and then is interested again. And I'm definitely gaining a greater interest now, uh, in everything that's going on, having worked here.
[00:30:08] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: We could continue to talk to you guys all day long because this is fascinating.
[00:30:12] Neil McPhedran: Yeah, that was tremendous all that you've all that you've shared and congratulations. It's quite impressive what you guys have built. There's definitely a need for what you guys were doing. Um, as far as I think the polarization, not just in the U. S., but you know, we're in Canada, we see it too. And I think, you know, across the world. Thank you so much for doing what you do.
[00:30:31] Jenna Spinelle: Thanks for having us.
[00:30:32] Brandon Stover: Yeah, it was great. Thank you.
[00:30:33] Neil McPhedran: Well, Jen, that was great. I don't know about you. I learned a lot. I'm sure you did too. Uh, I think what was great about this episode is, and the conversation, is we really got into the mechanics and tactics around building a podcast network, and I know we took the conversation there.
[00:30:51] Just knowing the audience, I'm super inspired. I thought going into this conversation, and I really believe it coming out of it, that I think net podcast networks are just a really big opportunity for higher education. You know, that, that could be on campus. Universities networking themselves under the, you know, within the same university, but also similar to the democracy group that could be across multiple common subjects.
[00:31:17] So different schools within multiple universities gather a network around, around a subject. I think what we've learned is it's. Just a fantastic discovery tool for each of those individual [00:31:30] podcasts in the network. But also, hey, let's be honest, podcasting can be lonely. It's nice to have colleagues and to, you know, share those best practices, etc.
[00:31:40] For me, I think sort of the big takeaway, uh, is the, is how key for a network, the web. And the email components are, those channels are really key to the network. And as we talked about, what the Democracy Group has created is like an [00:32:00] incredibly robust website. And their email, I had a peek at a bunch of them and I signed up for it, it's really cool too. Those are obviously some super key components for a network to be successful as the Democracy Group is. What do you think, Jen?
[00:32:14] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Yeah, I thought the whole conversation was great. Like, I enjoy all these conversations because they're so unique, and especially this one because it is a little bit political.
[00:32:22] What I also enjoyed about them was using the network to truly shape the future generation because every generation has this problem of how to get [00:32:30] young people involved in politics and just democracy, period. And so, it's really nice. They have that fellowship program where they're kind of encouraging young minds to give their opinions.
[00:32:41] And like they even said a lot of us didn't really have these opinions on the different topics that they discussed, but they said some of their students that come into them and take part in the fellowship are kind of like saying all these like profound So I really enjoyed that point and the network is also in teaching civil discourse and also educating the public on democracy.
[00:33:02] Like I said, I think it's hard for sometimes a lot of us, even now, like I would say this is a good resource for any age group because I don't think there's a lot of people even in their 30s and 40s that necessarily know how democracy works. So, I think this is a great tool.
[00:33:16] Neil McPhedran: Great. Well, we hope that everyone else got as much out of this episode as Jen and I did. And we look forward to our next episode.
[00:33:25] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Yeah, I'm excited. I don't know who we're interviewing, but yes.
[00:33:31] Neil McPhedran: Bye.
[00:33:32] Jennifer-Lee Gunson: Bye.
[00:33:35] Neil McPhedran: Thank you for tuning into the Continuing Studies Podcast, a podcast for higher education podcasters. We hope you found this episode informative and inspiring. If you enjoyed the show, we encourage you to follow and subscribe to our podcast on your preferred platform, so you'll never miss an episode.
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