I'd like to give you an inside look at Mamalode. Ever since joining the Mamalode team as Digital Director in 2014, I've wanted to do a Mamalode podcast. The first-person quality of Mamalode's writing always struck me as perfect for an audio format. I've dreamed of people listening to Mamalode in their cars, not just reading us online or in print.
I didn't have any trouble convincing the rest of the team that it was a great idea. But let's be honest, we're a busy bunch, and no matter how much we wanted to do it, we didn't have the time to get it started.
So, for two years, it's been high on our list of things to do. And then, last November, we found Johanna Bernhard, one of several wonderful and talented interns we've worked with from the University of Montana's School of Journalism, and she not only brought the know-how to record and edit a good interview, but a voice that we felt brought a wonderful dimension and interest without drowning out or over-powering the voice of the person being featured.
We sat down with long-time Mamalode friend and contributor Stephanie Land back in December. She came to Mamalode's office and sat with us for an hour. Just one hour. I remember Stephanie was in a hurry to get to another appointment, so we had to be efficient with time. But it was our first effort recording a reading and interview. We were nervous about getting it right in the time we had. We didn't want the recording to sound rushed. So we started with having Stephanie read one of her pieces, MFA vs. Mom. She quickly found her rhythm and we got the entire reading in (more or less) one take. Then Johanna jumped in with her interview. I remember sitting there listening to the two of them talk and feeling the energy fill the room. When Stephanie left, we were giddy. We felt like we had done something really powerful.
Obviously, we didn't just edit and post that interview and call it our first Podcast episode. We all went in different directions for the holidays and got busy with all the other aspects of running Mamalode. Then, we got busy doing all the podcast set up stuff, looking for and licensing music to incorporate, validating feeds, submitting it to iTunes, and whatnot. And meanwhile, Johanna has continued recording and producing episodes with great people, so now, at long last, we are ready to release our first episode, and we know that there are already more episodes ready to follow.
We are really excited to be starting something new. We're excited to be bringing you Mamalode in a format we feel is powerful, mobile, and different, but still at it's heart, Mamalode.
Take a few minutes, it you will, and listen, or better subscribe in iTunes, on SoundCloud or Stitcher, and rate/review. Like anything new, the more people who show their support by reviewing, sharing and listening, the more certain the future of the effort is. And we hope this is the beginning of something that will be a big part of the Mamalode experience for years to come.
Thank you all for reading – and now listening – to Mamalode.
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