You might have seen a flier or you might have heard a radio ad about it, or you might have just tuned into WUPI 92.1FM and listened to it. The rumors are true: there is a podcast made here at UMPI every month. Part of a partnership between the UMPI History Club and the WUPI 92.1FM Radio Station, the History Hour Podcast made its debut last fall of 2019 here on campus in the studios of WUPI 92.1FM in Folsom Hall. The podcast is about history and fascinating stories throughout the world. Since September of 2019 it has produced 13 episodes with topics varying from local history such as “The Only Lynching in New England, the Story of Jim Cullen,” to global history such as “The Story of Otto Von Bismarck” and many more.
The motto of the podcast is The podcast for history, about history, by students, and it promotes the idea of sharing while learning. The show is recorded at the WUPI 92.1FM studios and it has been on the air on 92.1FM every Saturday at 4 p.m., while at the same time the podcast owns its own YouTube Channel and periodically it also manages a SoundCloud page. This partnership between two clubs on campus has created a listeners’ sensation on the WUPI station, according to the station manager Max Bushman “Since the History Hour Podcast started broadcasting on WUPI, I have received many compliments about it. One person told me that it was something different and unique from what any other station in the county was playing.” Bushman added, “As the station manager, I keep track of our programs that we have to understand what people in our community like and what they don’t. We can only keep track of our live stream listeners, but have continuously noticed that the History Hour Podcast has the most listeners by far.”
Everything on the podcast from the music, the sound, the graphics, to the editing and the ideas for the episodes are created by students. The music is composed by Billy Zarkadas, a 17-year-old high school student who is a musician at heart. Billy will be going to college to study music next year and he has already received many music awards and honors. The graphics for the podcast were created by one of its own members on the show, UMPI senior Bethany MacPherson. Bethany is an art major and enjoys creating art. She has created both logos that have been used so far for the podcast and as mentioned, she has been part of the podcast team since its inception. The podcast producer, editor and content director is the person who is writing to you right now.
This semester, the podcast will have seven episodes, with one already recorded and released in February. The podcast team has in line some very interesting and fun episodes with many special guests. Some of the episodes are: “The Untold Gospels of the Bible,” with Dr. John DeFelice, “The History of the Acadian People,” with Lise Pelletier, the director of the Acadian Archives in Fort Kent, and “Lost Atusville, A Black Settlement in Maine,” with Marcus LiBrizzi, the author of the homonymous book.
The podcast team is very happy with the way the podcast has been made so far and is always excited for more episodes and even more knowledge to be shared with the public. If anyone is interested in listening to the History Hour, the link to its YouTube Channel is the following: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg09t90hP4i9xXij0puEnPw?view_as=subscriber
For more information you can email the team members at historyhourpodcast@gmail.com
The History Hour Podcast Logo for Spring 2020, designed by Bethany MacPherson.
