Alumni podcasts are such a big part of the higher ed podcasting world, so we are going to be discussing another show focusing on the lives and stories of faculty, staff and former students. John Boccacino is the Senior Internal Communications Specialist at Syracuse University, as well as the host and producer of the ‘Cuse Conversations Podcast. As a passionate storyteller, John’s career has focused on creative multimedia storytelling across multiple platforms and mediums and he is going to tell us all about his journey and into podcasting, as well as his favorite ‘Cuse Conversations episode, that connects us with an alum with a role on the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso. John joins Host Robert Li to talk about finding guests past those big name or active alumni, moving from sports broadcasting to higher ed comms, collaborating with other podcasts from your university, and how you never really know who has Orange running through their blood. The Word on Campus is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:Unveiling tangible tie-ins and takeaways in every podcast episode 21:22: We try to be tie-in-friendly to current events happening on campus. I mean, look, if there's something that's crazy cool, yeah, we'll tell that story too, but we want to give you a reason for listening—not just doing an episode because we can do it, but making it a tangible tie-in and a tangible takeaway. We have a content calendar that I actually have mapped out, a design of episodes all the way through June, and we go two or three times a month. So it's important to really think about this and also spread the love around. There‘s 13 schools and colleges within Syracuse, and thanks to great relationships with the communicators who run those schools and colleges, we make sure that we get balanced. So it's not always going back to the broadcast journalism well, which is one of our most famous programs. We want to tell the architecture success stories. We want to tell engineering success stories. We want to tell the teacher stories out there too. It's really a cross-section. It's very diverse, and I couldn't be prouder of that. What makes an episode strong? 19:26: We feel that what makes our episodes so strong is the audience is sticky. We could buy audience members. But the people we have are diehards, and they want to listen to the episodes. And I'll tell you one more little humble brag about the pod, if you will. So, you know, attention spans are shorter than ever. People tune out from a YouTube video after, like, three to five seconds. If it doesn't hold their attention, we have almost 70 percent of our audience retained all the way through an episode, and our episodes are 25 to 45 minutes in length. If you get 300 to 500 people and 70 percent of them check out an entire episode, that, to me, is worth more than if we had 10,000 people listening to an episode because it's an engaged audience that we are delivering the messaging that's really hitting the mark. Cuse Conversations goes beyond name-brand alumni stories 05:49: This is kind of what this podcast is all about. We do tell the great success stories of your name-brand alumni. I've talked to Bob Costas. I've talked to Marv Albert. I've talked to Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin. But we've also been telling the stories of first-generation college students, what it takes to go away from home to find the resources to be successful. We are not just notable alumni. We are your everyday faculty and staff members who are really making a difference that you might not have. Show Links:Zava! Meet Maximilian Osinski '06, the Breakout Star of Season 3 of ‘Ted Lasso’’Cuse Conversations Podcast'Cuse Conversations on SpotifyTed Lasso on Apple TV+Guest Profile: John Boccacino - Senior Internal Communications Specialist - Syracuse University | LinkedInJohn Boccacino Twitter/X
