Podcast Pitch

Podcast Proposal

Bouldering in Tuscaloosa | Spencer Pennington

Purpose

Bouldering is a popular and accessible style of rock climbing that is gaining popularity across the country. The purpose of this podcast is to give a brief introduction to bouldering and a few ways to get involved around Tuscaloosa. It will be styled as an informative podcast, so it will aim to present useful and easily applicable information, give specific instructions, and be as descriptive as possible. It could also be used to promote bouldering, so it will not be objective like most informational podcasts are – it will intentionally encourage the listener to try bouldering.

Design

The weather over the weekend I will have to record looks pretty bad, so some portions of this may not happen. Outlined below is the best-case scenario. Whether I can get to every place or not, I will cover everything listed.

1. Equipment and general information

2. The first section will briefly introduce basics of bouldering and the necessary information.

3. I have to go exchange some climbing shoes this weekend, so I will try to get some audio inside the store (feat. The store owner’s voice).

4. Indoor climbing

5. I will go rock climbing on campus on Thursday to get some audio from an indoor climbing wall.

6. I will primarily record brief conversations with my climbing partners answering questions like “Why do you like rock climbing” or “How did you get into bouldering.” Most questions will be organic

7. I will also try to record some sounds, like chatter of trying to figure out a problem, or the sound of hitting a crashpad.

8. Outdoor climbing

9. Weather permitting, I will take some friends to Hurricane Creek for some light bouldering.

10. This will be much the same as the indoor climbing section but with questions specific to outdoor climbing.

11. Connections and getting started

12. I will conclude with some suggestions on how to get started bouldering or climbing.

13. This will include information about campus climbing walls and walls in Birmingham, as well as how you can get into outdoor bouldering.

Execution

On-site audio will be recorded with an audio recorder from the library, and I will overlay this with voice recorded on a USB mic. I will use GarageBand to edit and create the podcast. Every section will feature background noise from the relevant area to set the scene. The final section will have a song subtly playing under it – one that reminds me of climbing. I do not expect to need to learn anything new for this project, except how to operate the recorder (which shouldn’t be difficult).