School of Communication Launches New Podcast Studio
The School of Communication is celebrating the opening of its new podcast studio, and the first official guest to sit down at the mic was one well worthy of a listen.
Actress, singer, and comedian Ana Gasteyer (C89) conversed in December with Max Herteen, assistant director of alumni engagement at Northwestern, a graduate student in the Master of Science in Communication program, and the host of the Northwestern Intersections career podcast. The newly dedicated Caryl Bristol Kushner ’59 Podcast Innovation Studio Lab made for an exceptional backdrop for Herteen’s high-wattage guest.
“It’s great,” said Gasteyer—no stranger to podcast studios—while surveying the space. “It’s such a foundational element of entertainment right now, and there are a lot of things that already fold into what the School of Communication does in terms of storytelling.”
The studio lab is designed to support everything from simple voiceovers to fully produced, broadcast-quality shows, with a professional-grade digital mixing console, Pro Tools audio interface, Luxul patch panels, as well as a multi-camera video set-up with an HD control board, 4K recording, and a camera controller for switching and precise framing. The space includes a round table for multiple guests as well as lounge chairs for more informal conversations.
Building a podcast studio was one of the first major initiatives articulated by E. Patrick Johnson when he started his deanship in August 2020. Built to innovate within the School’s already stellar narrative traditions, the studio lab will additionally serve as a playground of sorts for new storytelling partnerships across the University.
“This space is designed to facilitate connections and reveal truths through interpersonal engagement. Note: inter-person-al,” Johnson said. “And while we’ll be using the best technology to record and amplify the stories that result, what’s bringing them to life are the unpredictable, sometimes messy, often funny, perfectly imperfect qualities of being human.”
The explosion of podcasts as an entertainment medium comes at a curious parallel with the rise of artificial intelligence: the latter poses life-altering technological dependency while the former is a testament to our most enduring, human-centered form of communication: a face-to-face conversation.
“People want to be in spaces together and enjoy experiences without interruption for anywhere from an hour to four hours, depending on what you're doing,” said Gasteyer, referring to live art. “So, I think podcasting has a really similar emotional component for people. I've noticed that people want the sense of imaginative freedom to listen to something in a very intimate, private, and thorough way.”
She adds: “I feel like for all the AI ‘doom speak’ that we read about and hear about every day, more and more you're hearing about the original human tales and experiences coming up on the other side of it. We've been storytelling for a very long time. It's hard to imagine we won't keep doing so.”
The podcast studio was made possible by a generous gift from Caryl Bristol Kushner (C59), whom Dean Johnson honored during a dedication event in early December. Kushner’s own love of storytelling, forged in her studies at Northwestern and the career pursuits that followed, prompted her to support building the School’s newest facility.
The podcast studio will be used primarily by students in the Master of Science in Sound Arts and Industries program as well as undergrads throughout the Department of Radio/Television/Film.
Listen to the Ana Gasteyer episode of Northwestern Intersections.