The Office of University Communications recently launched a weekly podcast program aimed at keeping listeners informed about UA news, said media relations manager Jeff Harrison.

The first podcast was released Thursday. A new 10-minute program will be available every Thursday at www.uanews.org. Podcasts will feature a variety of subjects, ranging from research to events currently happening on campus.

“”There are thousands of interesting things going on at the university, so there is no shortage of potential stories and interviews,”” Harrison said. “”We are just trying to keep our stories timely.””

Harrison, who previously worked in radio, conducts all the interviews and said the communications office hopes to get the podcasts placed on iTunes. Eventually, he would like to conduct interviews in Spanish.

Harrison said he also hopes local radio stations will use the podcasts in their shows.

The communications office has been discussing the podcast idea for more than a year after looking for ways to become more proactive with multimedia, he said.

“”We are trying to reach anyone interested in the university,”” Harrison said. “”The podcast is just another available voice for the UA.””

The Office of University Communications spent nearly six months developing the podcast’s concept, determining the format and learning the necessary technology to produce a quality show, said Johnny Cruz, director of media relations.

Harrison said the new program has received a lot of support around the university, including from President Robert Shelton, who was interviewed during Thursday’s podcast. During the interview, Shelton discussed his reasons for coming to the UA, as well as his goals for the future.

Now that the podcast program has launched and technological problems have been worked out, the communications office will work to advertise it to the UA and surrounding community,
Cruz said.

“”We’ve had a good start,”” he said. “”Advertising is the next step, since we had a ‘soft launch.’ “”

Cruz said the show’s format is not likely to change anytime soon.

“”This is a program, not a lecture,”” Cruz said. “”People don’t want to take a huge chunk of their schedule to get the news.””

Tomorrow’s podcast will feature an interview with Steven Permut of the Eller College of Management’s marketing department, who will discuss the latest products and technology.

Lauren DeJonghe, a pre-journalism freshman, said she would have listened to the first podcast, but she didn’t know it was available.

“”I’d listen to it in the future, but it would help if they could put it on iTunes,”” she said. “”Everything’s on iTunes now, so it’s just
more convenient.””

Not all students are jumping at the chance to be inundated with more UA news.

“”I’d listen to it if it was required for a class,”” said Morgan Larson, a dance freshman. “”Other than that, I’d only listen to the podcast if they advertised a topic that was really interesting to me, like something to do with fine arts.””