Monday, October 1, 2018 4-6:50PM

The Theory of Podcasting: A Conversational Art

Laura Scudder Conference Room, Roosevelt Hall 121

Supposedly, Andy Warhol said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Well the future is now, and if by world-famous he meant have a podcast, he was right. There are thousands of podcasts out there in numerous formats--comedy, news, interview, panel, audio drama, others even--so how do you stand out amongst the din? By being marginally famous of course! Barring that, you have to make sure the quality of your show is beyond reproach.

This workshop will introduce participants to the basic technical aspects of podcasting, but most importantly it will unveil the lie of podcasting that most shows are just “friends being friends.” Nothing is more boring than listening to friends catch up, which is why this class will focus on the underlying structure of a show, the art of conversation, and how the rules of improv can be applied to just about any show format.

Mike Gravagno, Chapman University MFA Creative Writing Alumnus, 2017; Host of Writers’ Block; Co-host of the Super Hero Hour Hour; Director of Operations, YourPopFilter.com

Mike Gravagno has been podcasting since 2010, way before Sarah Koenig made it “hip” and “the next big thing,” mom! While serving seven years in the California National Guard and later pursuing his BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, Mike co-founded yourpopfilter.com with Ryan Haley, and the two launched the PopFilter Podcast, Nutflex: Building the Ultimate Netflix Queue, and the Super Hero Hour Hour.  During his time at Chapman, Mike started Writers’ Block as the audio arm of the interdisciplinary graduate journal, Anastamos. This is also when podcasting stopped being something he lost money on, as he started producing and engineering The Coast Conversation with Samantha Dunn for Coast Magazine, and Catalyst: A Cultural and Creative Industries Podcast for Chapman University. His poems, interviews, and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Calliope, The Gordion Review, and the poetry anthology, Lullaby of Teeth. In addition to Writers’ Block, and The Super Hero Hour Hour, you can also catch Mike on The OC Disorder and Movie of the Year.

Ryan Haley, Host of The OC Disorder; Co-host of the Super Hero Hour Hour; Creative Director, YourPopFilter.com

Ryan Haley has been podcasting since 2009, a whole year before Mike Gravagno started podcasting and made it “lame” and “for losers.” He co-hosts and co-created all of the podcasts that Mike is on that aren’t dumb. He has a BA from Cal State Fullerton, the Columbia of the West Coast, along with his teaching credential in English Language Arts, which he has used to teach English and Literature to students of all shapes and sizes. He doesn’t understand why you would write poetry and bore a couple of people when you can teach high school students how to write poetry and potentially bore the world. You can catch Ryan on such podcasts as The Super Hero Hour Hour, The OC Disorder, and Movie of the Year, starting sentences in the middle of each of Mike’s sentences.