A light of hope in the struggling media world, the podcast is a fun and useful medium for any media industry professional to have experience with – especially when that experience comes without a price tag.
Remember that time in 2014 when everyone was not just talking about, but inhaling “Serial“? Even with its disappointing second season it hasn’t let the wind out of our podcasting sails. Fast forward to today, and there’s a FREE 8-week program to school you on the podcasting essentials, held by Dumbo’s Made in NY Media Center by IFP.
For an 8-week program, the curriculum looks pretty solid. If you’re one of the 15-20 chosen to participate you’ll learn the technical aspects of reporting through the audio medium, taking on smaller projects such as editing a podcast to 10 minutes and assembling various interviews into one cohesive piece. As any (super aggressive) aspiring rapper/CD hawker on Fulton St. can tell you, creating something is not the end of the process, so distribution and monetization (we have a hunch Patreon will be mentioned) will also be covered. At the end of the program you’ll receive a Podcast Certificate. We’re not sure when a certificate has gotten anybody in media a gig, but it’s nice to have.
Can you take on this course if you have a full-time job? The answer is, it depends. The classes take place from 6pm-9pm and require an extra 2-3 hours to accomplish assignments. You’ll also have to listen to podcasts, which shouldn’t be too hard if you dig ’em enough to want to go into the industry.
While it says professionals in the industry will be teaching the courses, it doesn’t specify which ones. We wouldn’t get our hopes up that one of the instructors will be Sarah Koenig of “Serial” fame, but one can dream.
The deadline to apply is this Friday, December 22. Accepted applicants will hear back by the 29th, and the program begins January 8. Being Millenials (some of us), we’re doubly supposed to follow our dreams and find contentment in our careers, or some crap like that. Anyway, it’s an exciting opportunity, so go for it.