Joel Engelhardt‘Top of Mind Florida’ podcast shines a light on Stet News
Podcasts these days are not just audio sessions conducted in soundproof rooms with big boom microphones.
- They’re videos, too, recorded in studios more like a TV station, with comfortable chairs and logos on coffee cups.
What’s happening: “Top of Mind Florida,” the podcast hosted by former WPTV News anchor Michael Williams and former Palm Beach Post political reporter Brian Crowley, invited me to appear on a recent 30-minute show.
Zoom in: They record four interviews in a day at the Ko-Mar Productions studio on the second floor of the WPTV Channel 5 building in West Palm Beach.
Of note: Downstairs is where Michael and Brian for many years did WPTV’s Sunday morning talk show, “To The Point,”helping to draw attention to important local issues and holding public officials to account.
Michael and Brian are still questioning newsmakers, or in my case, news chasers, about local and statewide issues.
Here are some highlights from my comments during our conversation:
The future of news: “There are some in the industry who think the nonprofit model is the future, mainly because the for-profit model is collapsing and has been collapsing since 2008. … You can’t support yourself just on subscriptions — it’s not enough to pay the salaries to get the news. So a lot of people think philanthropy has got to fill the void.”
Documenters in Palm Beach? “You train people who live in the communities to go to their public meetings, take notes … and write up what they saw at the meeting and share it with their neighbors. … We (at Stet) are working our way toward trying to get it going with a pilot project using high school students where we’re trying to raise money right now to pay for that and get it launched (at) Inlet Grove High School. … You show your face and the people behind the rostrum, they know you’re there, they know someone is listening, and that’s really important.”
Winning over readers: “The most gratifying thing I find is when I dive into an issue that nobody else knew about, nobody’s covering — a lot of times because a neighbor calls up and says, ‘Hey, look at what they’re doing.’ They are so grateful. They subscribe and they remain loyal readers because you cared enough about their issue and no one else will listen.”
Driving force: “As long as we can still have a voice we should try to have it because, you know, there’s a chance that two or three years down the road either the economic or social pressures will shut us down.”
You can watch the entire discussion at “Top of Mind Florida’s” YouTube page here.
