Elizabethtown College is trying to become something out of the ordinary with the start of a podcast called JayPod. The podcast has started up from the brilliant mind of Instruction and Outreach Librarian Joshua Cohen. 

Cohen’s podcast is designed to reach a wider audience than the typical staff, faculty and students it would get to if it was an organization to be promoted in the library. It’s a way of having conversation about topics beyond work, so it could be about things that professors do in their free time or what they would maybe want to teach. 

For instance, Cohen’s first podcast was called “Writing Flash Fiction,” in which he talks to Etown Assistant Director of Academic Advising Curtis Smith about the writing of flash fiction and his attachment to this genre of writing. The reason he had Smith as his first guest on the podcast was because his flash fiction on the internet caught Cohen’s eye. 

Cohen said that his next podcast has been recorded and will be published around late September. In this episode, Cohen had senior history major Eric Schubert come onto the podcast and talk about his journey of solving murder cases around the state of Pennsylvania that have been cold cases for a long time. They spoke about the national attention Schubert has gotten and what it could mean for him in the future as a possible detective. The podcast is constructed as an interview type of conversation that can be illustrated to viewers around the country. Viewers can then respond with suggestions of content to be discussed on the podcast with guests.

This podcast is a way for people to come together to listen to something being produced by an Etown staff member about topics taught and discussed around campus. Teenagers and young adults are starting to interact with this kind of technology to listen and be educated by others. For college students, this could be used as a resource for classes and future arguments. 

Cohen is open minded for topics and guest speakers for subjects for which they are well known. Cohen stated, “I’ve talked to a number of faculty members about recent publications or things they are working on that are going to be published to maybe talk about.” 

Cohen is excited about being a local podcast channel that shows what is going on in the interlexical environment of the college. Cohen said that he’s had audiences from not just near Etown, but also from California, Europe and all-around Pennsylvania. This podcast is becoming a global opportunity for listeners to think about what they could learn and experience in college. 

From the start of this construction, Cohen has had all the weight of this podcast on his shoulders, putting this podcast together mostly by himself, with some help from other faculty and staff members. Cohen had mentioned in the next year or so, if audience numbers start rising progressively, he would like to have some help from students, staff or faculty with production of upcoming podcasts. 

Cohen is making this podcast a way of putting the College on the map and increasing numbers of students and faculty. The brilliant minds of people that could be interviewed is something in which listeners would be interested. With the rise of listeners of this podcast, the people who invest their time in the creation of the episodes will have more of an audience to educate.

To listen to the Jaypod: A High LIbrary Production, visit https://thejaypod.buzzsprout.com/.