The Word on Campus University FM

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 Spotify
Ted Lasso on Apple TV+

Guest Profile:
John Boccacino - Senior Internal Communications Specialist - Syracuse University | LinkedIn
John Boccacino Twitter/X

Listen as they discuss his role in making the Short Coat podcast, navigating medical school dynamics, prepping for intense episode topics, and adding humor and levity to institutional podcasts.

Most university podcasts come from the marketing or communications team, using audio to promote their departments initiatives. But some podcasts, like the Short Coat, come from a bored guy working in an admin department.

Our guest today is David Etler - an Administrative Services Coordinator at University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the producer and co-host of the Short Coat Podcast

David sees his role in the medical school as being a cheerleader for medical students. When he can point a student in the right direction, or offer them a way to achieve something without sacrificing who they fundamentally are— he says he can go home feeling good about the day.

Host Robert Li and Dave get into an episode from January 2022, a conversation we had with Judge Rosemarie Aquilina (the judge in the Larry Nassar/USA Gymnastics abuse case).

The Word on Campus is produced by University FM.


Episode Quotes:
Providing relevant information to prospective medical students is valuable
05:46: The thing about medical school is you never really understand it. People could tell you ad nauseam what medical school is like, but you're never really going to understand it. And I think most people who are thinking about applying to medical school know that, and so they crave more information.

How did the podcast change David’s work mindset?
2:23: I am forever grateful for it because it really changed how I see my work. It kind of made me part of the process rather than being just a cog, gave me some investment in it. And it taught me a lot about what these students here at the College of Medicine are going through, what's changing about them, and how they think what kinds of things they want. So I'm really grateful for that.

On balancing humor and information
20:41: I do enjoy the episodes where we get to be a little bit less reverent when we get to engage with our humor a little bit more cause there's a lot of funny stuff that happens in life, and I think that's my default: to look at the world as though it's pretty crazy, ridiculous place, and look what just happened. I think that's just who I am and who a lot of the co-hosts are; they're a young group, generally speaking, and the audience is pretty young. They're, for the most part, I don't think they forget how serious their lives will become, their professional lives will become. And so I don't want to force that upon them just yet. So I want to have a good time.


Show Links:
Breaking the Silence: Judge Rosemarie Aquilina on the Power of Trauma-Informed Care | The Short Coat
The Short Coat
The Short Coat | Podcast on Spotify


Guest Profile:
Dave Etler - Administrative Services Coordinator - University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine | LinkedIn