This semester, we are reviving the Fogpod, the original Foghorn podcast. Started in 2018, the Fogpod takes a deeper dive into our stories, gives us a chance to talk to our interviewees and each other organically, and allows the USF community to hear directly from us. During the two years of remote learning, the Foghorn staff produced podcast episodes that helped record history by exploring topics like dating in a pandemic and the experiences of international students studying remotely from abroad.
One of the purposes of the Foghorn as a whole is to help record USF’s history from a student, insider perspective. We are excited to talk to students, staff, faculty, and administrators in our three episodes this semester and talk to them about issues that pertain to the student experience.
Today, nearly 80 million Americans are weekly podcast listeners and there’s no question as to why. For one, podcasts adapt to your day’s schedule as the medium to listen to whether on the go or at home. Hearing human voices tell a story rather than reading them off of a page also creates an immersive and intimate experience for the listener. A podcast host can make you feel like you’re on a facetime call to your best friend or a field-trip into a bustling news room.
The Fogpod opens up as a space that allows listeners to connect to our writers and break the wall of print anonymity while keeping the community informed. Whether it be something as major as who represents the student body in our government, or something as minor as the University’s lack of toilet seat covers in campus restrooms — we plan to cover issues that students want to hear about. The podcast will also give us space to dive deeper into stories that might be too expansive for our limited word counts.
Though we take the Fogpod seriously, our professionalism will not come at the expense of hiding our team’s playful spirit. So much of the culture of the Foghorn has not been captured and shared with all of USF, and we want to expand our reach and personability with our readers. We want to create an atmosphere that makes students look forward to our episodes because it feels like a group of friends talking instead of just tuning in to hear a report of what’s happening around campus.
Our first episode will drop at the end of September and it will highlight our first issue’s initiative to change USF’s mascot, Don Francisco, to something that aligns with the mission of the University and its student body. In the two weeks since its publication, the initiative has generated discussion on the Foghorn’s social media and with students on campus. We will continue this conversation by detailing the historical context of the initiative and inviting community members to join us for an interview or send in their thoughts for us to discuss.
In early November, San Francisco residents will have the opportunity to vote on state and federal legislation in the midterm elections. Our October episode will discuss these elections as part of a Foghorn initiative to connect USF students to the political and cultural landscape of San Francisco at large. The episode will outline ballot propositions, introduce candidates, and speak with USF Votes and the McCarthy Center to help students who are able to vote in these elections make informed decisions. Stay tuned for exclusive interviews in the works for our November episode.
