Today was ribbon-cutting day for Livingstone College, because the HBCU just opened a podcast cafe! Get the story from David Whisenant at WBTV below.
Livingstone College is on the air again – this time from the pod. The college cut the ribbon and celebrated the grand opening of its podcast café at noon on Thursday, March 10.
The podcast café, located on the first floor of the Walls Center, is the only podcast hub in the county and is believed to be the only one among historically black colleges in the state.
It was made possible through a $30,000 Home Depot Retool Your School improvement grant for 2021, which is based on consumer voting.
Livingstone repurposed its existing game room into a podcast café that includes three sound-proof podcast cubicles and a control room. Each cubicle is outfitted with a podcast microphone, and audio and video components for broadcasting.
The main entrance of the game room area was reconfigured to include a stage for performances and small events, such as tiny desk concerts, open mic nights and independent artist showcases.
The grand opening featured Livingstone College band members, a deejay and remarks by Dr. Orlando Lewis, vice president of student affairs; Anthony Brown, student activities director; Keith Anderson, multimedia director; Ne’Kahia Ray, freshman class president; and Livingstone President Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins, Sr.
Jenkins culminated the event by producing the college’s first podcast in an interview-style format with Lewis as host. You can find this podcast and others produced by Livingstone College on its official YouTube channel, SoundCloud and eventually other podcast platforms.
“We worked hard to bring this podcast cafe to fruition and have invested many volunteer hours and sweat equity into the project,” Lewis said. “We are grateful to the volunteers who assisted and to Home Depot for this grant program that provides resources to historically black colleges for campus improvements.”
The podcast industry (online audio broadcasts) is growing and appealing more to a younger audience, according to Forbes.com. There are more than 2 million podcasts with more than 48 million episodes. Nearly six in 10 U.S. consumers above age 12 listen to podcasts; and U.S. podcast advertising revenues are expected to surpass $2 billion in 2023.
“Staying current and providing our students with programs and services that are popular and in demand is how we remain relevant as an institution,” Brown said. “This podcast café provides an opportunity for students to engage and embrace this popular tool of communication.”
Livingstone also plans to rent podcast booth space to other podcasters.
The podcast café is located next to the campus radio station and will be utilized as a part of the college’s proposed communications program.
