What Is the Patriot Podcasters Club? UT Tyler Student Org Spotlight

If you've ever tried to teach yourself podcasting, you know there's a lot to learn. Between recording equipment, editing software, public speaking, show branding, and more, getting started from scratch can feel overwhelming. 

That's where Patriot Podcasters comes in.

This week, Dr. Ross and student producer Ashley Worley spotlight a newly formed club at UT Tyler which is dedicated to providing a fun, service-oriented community for campus podcasters. Club President Bryleigh Brown and Script Manager Ivan Paiz-Batres join the discussion, sharing their stories of how the student organization has already begun building its production team. Whether you're a veteran podcaster, just getting started, or simply looking for a way to meet new friends after class, this episode is for you.

Have more questions about the Patriot Podcasters Club in college life? Email us at ADRquestions@gmail.com or leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!

Patriot Podcasters can be contacted directly at PatriotPodcastersClub@gmail.com.

Transcript

Welcome And Host Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Stay tuned to the Ask Dr. Ross Podcast. It's created to give you info to succeed at college. Our hosts are highly qualified. Dr. Katherine Ross is a member of the University of Texas System's Academy of Distinguished Teachers. She's also a popular professor of 19th century English literature. Ask Dr. Ross is a community service of the University of Texas at Tiger.

Meet The Patriot Podcasters Club

SPEAKER_02 0:31

So today we're talking to the Patriot Podcasters Club, which is a special project of the wonderful student producer of Ask Dr. Ross, which is Ashley Worley. So why don't you tell us a little bit, Ashley, about the genesis of this project, and then we will interview our two guests who are Briley Brown, who is the rising president of the club, and Ivan Pice Batros. So, Ashley, talk to us about what's going on here with this podcasters club.

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Yeah, so this is going to be our second semester. But we started as my honors junior year service and leadership project. And because I'd been working on the Ask Dr. Ross podcast so long, I happened to come across some information just online that there had been four or five other podcasts run out of College of Arts and Sciences when I was just doing like daily routine work. And I was like, wow, we could have all been talking to each other, you know, because so much of podcasting is very entrepreneurial. You have to teach yourself a lot. And it can feel sort of isolated. There's not as much of a built-in sense of community as it would be for maybe a more complex production or one that involves a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Aaron Ross Powell Like a newspaper or a radio station.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

So my idea was apparently there are other people who are interested in podcasting on campus. We just kind of haven't connected yet. And so that was the main goal behind creating a club was to have a space for podcasters to connect and to also create a space where people who were just interested in podcasting but who hadn't taken steps to try and learn it could learn from other people who were already doing it, could learn with other people who were new to it, so that the entire process felt a bit more accessible. Because it can be intimidating, especially if maybe you haven't used the studio equipment before, or if it's just your first time trying to edit an episode and you open up a crazy, you know, digital audio workspace DAW and it just looks insane. You know, it's it can be intimidating. And it's much better of a learning experience if you have other people who are learning with you.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Aaron Powell Well, and this is one of the reasons why I have a student producer rather than trying to do it myself. Because I took one look at all of the things that all the bells and whistles and things that you have to do technically. And I thought, oh my goodness, I've got too many other things to do. So that's a big part of what the job is. In fact, you've taught yourself along the way. Which is one of the cool things about a project like this is that it's a chance to learn. I mean, this is what universities are all about, so we're trying to learn.

How Members Found Podcasting

SPEAKER_02 3:09

So how did you two find out about Biley? How did you know about the project?

SPEAKER_03 3:13

So I met Ashley through the Honors College at the beginning of the semester and through Dr. Jessup's creative writing class. And we were in class one day, and Ashley goes, Guys, I have news for you. And she tells us about how she's starting the club. And she was like, if anybody wants to join, you know, just let me know. And I thought it was kind of an awesome thing. I did a little bit of podcasting in high school. So I thought, you know, it would be really cool to join something like that and get involved. And I reached out to Ashley, and here we are.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Here we are. Here we are. And Yvonne, how did you find out about it?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

It was a similar story. It was in Dr. Jessup's class creative writing, and I heard Ashley talking about the club, and it piqued my interest because I know that a lot of people interested in the more creative works of like production, they often enjoy or prioritize being an audio editor or speaker and not that much a writer. So I decided, okay, I'm gonna put my input there. I love writing for media and let's go.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

And I think that's kind of the interesting thing we want to talk about here about what is podcasting. I mean, it it's a really interesting complex of skills, interests, and of course there's the big issue of the audience. So Briley, what is it about podcasting that interested you just, you know, before you ever came to UT Tyler, for example?

SPEAKER_03 4:40

A lot of it was kind of, you know, just some of the topics and stuff. So when I was in high school, we had a teacher that was like, hey, do you want to create a podcast for my class? And we were listening to, as a class, each other's podcast. And it was really cool to kind of see what each person did for their topic. It was just a senior seminar class. She just needed a grade to kind of get us through the end of the semester. Because she was like, Hey, I don't have any ideas. What are we gonna do for the last assignment? And so a lot of the topics ended up being there were some adventure ones, some food ones, some mystery ones. So it was really cool to kind of hear all the different things come to life and how each student represented it.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

What was your podcast on?

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Mystery. There was a Netflix documentary about the Texas killing fields. And a friend and I had both watched the series. So we took information from the series and kind of like looked up a bunch of interesting facts and we did a little podcast about what it was and what happened during that

Why Audio Feels So Personal

SPEAKER_03 5:35

time.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

Now, Briley, one of the things you just mentioned is that you worked with another student. This is a big part of doing podcasting, I think. Wouldn't you agree, Ashley?

SPEAKER_04 5:43

It ought to be. And if you're starting a podcast just for the first time on your own, it can be sort of an isolated experience. You're Googling stuff, you're learning how to use the equipment on your own. You may even be just like one host and one producer. But the collaborative aspect is really important, I think, in a lot of different ways. So much of my favorite podcasts to listen to, it feels like there's just people sitting in the room and you get to be part of a conversation. And podcasting is this medium that, like Briley was pointing out, you can change it and create different styles for whatever your purpose you're trying to accomplish is. So it's very interdisciplinary, it's very collaborative, and there's a lot of different skills that are applicable to a lot of varied career fields. So there's something in podcasting for everyone, is my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I would agree. Yvonne, you came to us to UT Tyler, you're now a graduate student, but you did undergraduate work at your home country of Guatemala. Were you doing podcasting in in Guatemala?

SPEAKER_01 6:41

We didn't do podcasting, but we did radio shows. So it's adjacent. I remember doing a project of making my own radio novel, Ten Minutes Was the Limit, and I did nine minutes, 59 seconds.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

You got it all in, huh?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

So how did you go from radio programming to your interest in podcasting?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

When I was studying mass media, podcasts were not that famous yet. Yeah. So by the time I came here, I started listening to a couple of podcasts and I found them super interesting, entertaining. Driving in the car, just listening to someone talk, or just hanging around doing a project or playing a video game and just having something playing in the background.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Do you remember the first podcast that really caught your interest?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

It was a podcast about card games. Magic the Gathering. They were talking about the game in general and their opinions on many things. And it was very entertaining.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

You mentioned one aspect of podcasting that I think is real interesting. It's something you can do with your ears while your eyes are doing something else. And that's actually a quotation from one of the meetings I went to or one of the conferences where people were trying to say, what is a podcast? Something to do with your ears when your eyes are otherwise employed. You're driving, you're walking the dog, you're doing the laundry. So tell me a little bit more, Ashley, about how it's gone having this podcasting club.

Building The Club And Roles

SPEAKER_02 8:10

What does it involve? What have you had to do to get it launched?

SPEAKER_04 8:13

Well, we just had our very first semester that we were actually active. And the really remarkable thing about it was that it ended up being entirely formed, the founding group from people that I knew in creative writing class with Dr. Jessup. And the fact that the majority of the club members were and still are English majors was really interesting to me. Not MassCom majors. Not MassCom, not anything production related, which I think also comes back to just how much podcasting has to offer for people with different types of interests. But our groundwork has been mainly establishing how do you run a student organization, what are our goals, how we're going to accomplish them, and then creating these roles for the officers that work to give some practical, like skill-building experience that can be applied to a resume for these student officers. So it's not just I did some volunteer work, you know, Ivan is our script manager, Briley is going to be our president. There's different tasks that are involved in creating a production, especially the more people that you get involved. So creating those roles was something that I think was important right from the get-go to make sure everybody had something to do that was not only a good skill-building experience and that taught them how to do podcasting and media production, but that was also relevant to what they want to do when they graduate. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:38

And you know, one of the things that all of the employers out in the real world out there tell us, as college professors, is that one of the most important skills students can have is learning how to work in teams and work together. And yet that's one of the hardest adaptive skills. Most college students don't want to do it. You know, they say, Oh, you got a group project. They go, Oh no. Because there's always somebody who falls down or someone who kind of takes all the credit or does all the work. So yeah, that's something I admired about it as a I guess I'm sort of an unofficial or faculty sponsor. I've visited a couple of your meetings and I've been real impressed with how you all are already a team and you're working together. And Ashley, I've admired your skill in leading the group without being bossy, which is, you know, that's a trick. It's really a trick. And I'm sure you all have enjoyed working in it because of Ashley's collaborative nature.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Aaron Powell Well, I don't think the club would be what it was without this group that we got right away. We really did find a very lovely group of people. And that's the only way that it worked. That's the only way that we've even gotten through that first semester. So I appreciated them. Aaron Powell And how many are in the group? Well, see, we have several people who just enrolled via Patriots Engage, but they haven't come to a meeting just yet. So I think the max number we have, if we're including those people we haven't quite met yet, we haven't brought into the production team, we have about 10.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Aaron Powell The Core Group, the original core group was a what, about five or two. Five, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

And now we have Cody, so we have six.

SPEAKER_02 11:07

Aaron Powell So what are your plans for the podcasting projects? Ivan, did I hear that you're the uh script manager? Script manager. Are you in charge of picking the projects or who picks the projects?

SPEAKER_04 11:17

Aaron Powell So it's kind of a group effort and it depends because multiple people can have multiple projects happening at one time. So if we had someone who came in and was like, I want to do a murder mystery podcast, that's great. We'll help support you and give the resources that you might need to help make this happen. We also have club-sponsored projects that are going on at the same time that everyone who's officer works on. We haven't launched them just yet. This is technically our production season where we're going to actually planning and well, you gotta get organized.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

I mean, this is to do an official Patriot-engaged club, you have to I mean, they give you a budget,

Budgets, Studio Access, Fundraising

SPEAKER_02 11:55

they give you a bunch of things you have to do, don't they? And that was kind of a little daunting as I recall.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

Aaron Powell It was. And that's why I say most of the first semester was laying groundwork and finding out how we run the club, because I had a lot to learn. It was a first time for a lot of people, I think. And getting those administrative aspects out of the way frees us up to have more time to actually be creative, to get in the studio, and to do editing work, and we'll have stuff hopefully to launch in the fall. That was our goal.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Aaron Powell To be ready to roll in the fall. So now having a Patriots official club, doesn't that include you got a budget, you got some money from the university?

SPEAKER_04 12:33

Aaron Ross Powell So it depends because a lot of the things we would have liked to use our funding for were things that are not eligible expenses. So equipment we might need. You can't buy equipment using the club? We can't. It's not a meeting-related expense. So meeting related expenses like food or you know, tabling costs. If we needed merch to put on a table, we could use expenses for that. Aaron Powell But the university has provided all the the studio and things like that, right? Aaron Ross Powell We have this studio space here, and we hope to maybe find some sponsors, talk to local businesses, and do a little bit of fundraising starting next semester. Aaron Powell That's a skill.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Learning how to do it. Well, so let me ask you this then. So you're kind of laid the groundwork, you think you're almost ready, you got yourselves organized, you got your space, you got your officers, you got some plans. And if I understand it right, every member of the club can do their own private podcast, or the podcasters club has some joint projects in mind.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Absolutely.

Club Series Plans For The Fall

SPEAKER_04 13:35

Our joint projects are what we're hoping to work on more this summer. And we have two main series ideas that we're splitting off into. One has more to do with campus culture, campus life, things that are more current events, and those we might need to record a little closer to the actual fall semester. And then we have another series called Tech Talk Tutorials. It's a working title. It may be different by the time this launches. We don't know. And that is about helping new podcasters and especially our new club members have video tutorials and walkthroughs on how not only to do podcasting in general, but use this space that the university provides, how to navigate uploads, decide on their schedule, coordinate with the podcast club team.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

All the things you had to learn how to do to be the student producer for as Dr. Ross. Absolutely. And now you did do a podcast before Briley. Yes.

Personal Shows From Mystery To DnD

SPEAKER_02 14:30

And have you done another podcast yet of your own, Yvonne?

SPEAKER_01 14:33

As a school project, yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Here at UT Tyler?

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah. I just remember that for one of my classes last semester, we had to do a podcast as a final project.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

And what was your topic?

SPEAKER_01 14:44

We did it about Dungeons and Dragons. It was really fun. We mixed and matched two styles of conversation. We did one about role-playing, it was more uh narration focused. It was more like storytelling a DD game. And then in the middle of that game, we did a conversation just about DD and its benefits for education. We focused on math and physics because the game uses a little bit of math and makes you think of the game as a physical space. And even though it's not as complicated as like an exam for physics, you are still practicing those mental skills. Also the benefits of role-playing games in general benefiting social anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Oh boy, that's an important topic, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. So what about you, Briley? Have you actually produced since when you didn't high school?

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Not yet.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

But you got one in mind.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Another mystery? No, this one is going to be more than likely. I want to do starting in August, I want to take some of the other clubs on campus and come in and have them with me on a podcast so that we can help not only outreach our club, but also outreach theirs across the campus to help other clubs get new members and help us get new members this year.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

So it'll be kind of advertising and connecting with others. Okay. Do you have other clubs targeted already?

SPEAKER_03 16:09

Yeah. So there's a couple of the fraternities and sororities that I want to talk to. And then we have the talent media. I kind of want to have them come in and talk. I think that one's going to be really interesting talking about two different media productions. I do at some point want to have the honors college come in and kind of have them talk because I think that's really important for the campus. They're growing a lot. And I think that it's also important in there to talk to clubs that are growing as well, just because you never know how much more from there they can grow and who they can help later, you know, if other clubs are growing. Maybe they have tips and tricks to help.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Absolutely. That's a good thing. Now, Ashley and I have some tips and tricks too, because we've done podcasts on the Greek life. You can do it in your own interesting way and follow up and jump on the things that we failed to talk about.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

We're also happy to connect you with the people that we talked to and see if we can just get you in touch with who you need. That would be great.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

So this summer y'all are working. You all are not just hanging out at the swimming pool or going on visits to Georgetown with your girlfriend or watching all the movies. You're actually working on projects for the club.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

And Briley's driving in from quite a substantial distance as well to keep working with the club, which we appreciate.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

Where are you driving from? I live in a town called Deweyville on the Texas, Louisiana border. Oh my goodness. So I drive about three and a half hours to come up here and help them with the club. And then I drive back because I'm actually helping with our church in my hometown. My sister and I are starting our own business this summer. I'm helping my grandparents run the family business. And then I am kind of helping with other things for other groups. What are you and your sister's business going to be? So this is the second time we've started a business. The first time was a snow cone stand on my hometown. Now there's a company called Bomb Party that my mom used to work for. And my sister and I are starting our own, I guess you would call it, our own line. It's little bombs. You put them in water, and it out comes rings. And you can get from any range of sizes and making models and just kind of prices too. They even put diamond rings in there, and you could buy a $30 ring and it could be a diamond ring inside. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Like a ring for your fingers. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

It's all real jewelry. We just yesterday filmed us opening our first box with everything in it.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

And what about you, Yvonne? You've got some ideas for besides Dungeons ⁇ Dragons for projects you're gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

For the summer, I wanna continue on the novel that I started in my creative writing class, because I put a stop to it to focus on my first semester as a grad student. So it will be mostly on the club, my personal project, and keep focusing on studies. Hopefully looking into I know that they're talking about uh Master of Fine Arts in English program. Hopefully get into that program as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

You're gonna have more degrees than anybody here on the campus. So do you have ideas about the direction of this podcast yet?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

For a personal podcast, the main idea will be storytelling. So I'm thinking about telling stories that I write or that I hear from friends, even stories made up in the Dungeons and Dragons games that I've played. I like the way stories are told like voice to voice, just with a narrator or a conversation about a story. So that's the idea.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

So one of the things about our podcasting is that of course it's unscripted. We want it to be kind of a natural conversation. And I could imagine that what you'd be doing if you're actually reading your stories, it's almost like Libravox or Audible, one of the audiobooks productions too. So what are you looking forward to in the fall?

Growing Membership And Weekly Meetings

SPEAKER_02 20:00

How's it gonna look? Because I think we're gonna lose Ashley for a while. She's gonna go off to the big city.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Do you intend to keep in touch with the club? Yeah, I'm gonna be vice president for next semester. So a lot of remote duties, things that are just admin that would maybe get in the way of people who are doing production, that I can handle remotely.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

So tell me what we can expect from the fall Patriot Podcasters Club.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

Yeah, so this semester we're hoping for lots of new and interesting podcasts for everybody to listen to on campus.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

So these will have been produced over the summer?

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Some of them, yes. Some of them we'll be producing kind of as we go through the year, and I'm really excited for those ones because you never know what entails when that happens week by week. I'm excited for new members this year. As Ashley's mentioned earlier, we are starting out kind of small this semester. I would really love to see it grow and see who all joins and what their new ideas are, because I think it's beneficial to have ideas and then find new ideas as well and see how everybody wants to collaborate, who wants to talk about what, and just general, you know, everyday let's see what happens as the days go by.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Will you continue to meet weekly as Ashley had your meeting?

SPEAKER_03 21:23

Yes. My plan is to still do weekly meetings. I think that's gonna be helpful for a lot of students as far as like editing goes and just, you know, everybody gets kind of busy in the semester. So sometimes it can kind of be a reminder, hey, you know, you joined the club, you know, it's still here to kind of keep everybody together as much as they can and collaborating and helping each other.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

So well, my impression is that even though everybody I saw when the two meetings I attended were busy and it was the end of the school year, they were still very actively participating. And that was exciting to me. That tells me you've hit on a good idea. It's something that young people your age are doing something that feels proactive, positive, productive, fun. And also something like you said after you can put on your resume. It doesn't hurt. Now tell me a little bit more about if you're doing scripts, Yvonne, that means you've got something already in the hopper.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

One of our club members, Moy, he's talking with people that we're gonna invite for some of the episodes. So I will come in once we get an episode idea and then start getting the guideline. Depending on the style of the episode, it will be more scripted or less scripted.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

So you'll help him make sure he's got form to his discussion.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Why is it important to have this on campus?

SPEAKER_03 22:46

Incoming students, most of them sometimes they can't drive. So you know, having something like this that's on campus is readily available. And the other thing is, you know, just general meetup. I mean, sometimes you have 10-minute turnarounds between classes, so you can pop in and listen a little bit and then go on to your next class.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Most of the school actually is a commuter school. And well, the great thing about what you can do with podcasting as well is that although you can get a lot of stuff done asynchronously, the value of having the club was people getting to come together and work on things together. So everyone can do their own piece independently. You learn how to do those skills on your own, you learn those self-sufficiency things. And then when you come together in one shared space, you're also getting teamwork and collaborative skills.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

What you've put together is the beginning. You know, you got a plan. You know, a good idea is nothing without a plan and without some hard work laying down the foundation.

Time Management And Leadership Handoffs

SPEAKER_02 23:46

So you think you're ready for that? Yeah, I think I think we're ready. What do you think the big challenges will be, Ivan?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

The biggest challenges will be time management.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

It's always time management.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Finding time together, some people have jobs and other responsibilities, so especially the speakers.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Just a little bit of helpful guidance here is that Ashley has done almost all of that arranging as the producer. That's one of her big jobs, as she emails the people. That ends up being it's not just time management, it's sort of managing people, making sure they know where to come. So those are skills, you know, they really are. So, Ashley, how do you feel about going away from your club? I guess you're not really going away from it too far.

SPEAKER_04 24:32

It would be more ideal if I could stay on campus, just because so much of the fun and the great stuff we get to do is when we're all in a room together, or when we all come back to a club meeting with different projects. Hey, what's everybody working on? So, of course, it would be better if I could be on campus, but I'm also really excited for the opportunity of the Archer Fellowship. My parents used to live in DC, and they still have good friends there, they still have connections there, and so I'll be enjoying going not just for the great job experience, the great academic program that they have set up for us there, but also because I get to sort of meet my family friends, I get to see places where my family was. It's gonna be a really good experience in a lot of different ways.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Aaron Powell Well, and I'll tell you all something. Having written recommendations for her for the Archer Fellowship, her being the podcast producer contributed, I think, to her being selected because I literally couldn't do it without her. And I think what you'll discover is you all can't do it without each other. And isn't that nice? Well, I think we've talked long enough. Is there anything you want to add here to this conversation?

Invitation To Join And Closing

SPEAKER_04 25:40

I would say if there's just anybody listening who's not really sure if this sounds like it's for them or if they're interested in podcasting, but it's been kind of the scary, intimidating thing they haven't started yet. Just come join us. Just you're not obligated to do anything. To do anything if you come to a meeting. Just come and meet us, just come and learn about podcasting, even if you want to do it through observation. It's still a good experience. This is still a good way to make friends. People are lonely.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

People are lonely who are my age. I know, but she's absolutely right that it's nothing to be afraid of, and our podcast has evolved. I guess we're going on three years, but we keep changing it and making it better, I hope better all the time. So thank you so much. You want to finish up with your usual closing?

SPEAKER_04 26:24

Of course. If anybody has any questions about the podcasting club for Briley, our incoming president, or for Ivan, who's our script manager, you can email us at adrquestions at gmail.com or leave a comment under our YouTube video. Thank you for listening.