Higher Ed Podcasts Are Starting To Grow, Organize
A week ago, in a conference center on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago, nearly 150 podcasters and podcast support providers gathered at the first Higher Education Podcast Conference – HigherEdPodCon, as it aims to brand itself. Attendees have podcasts, or support podcasts, with specific themes, audiences or tie-ins to higher education or higher education institutions.
The conclave was interesting not as much for what happened, but for what could happen.
But first, are there really 150 podcasts focusing on higher education?
No.
According to Gregg Oldring, Founder of HigherEdPods and CTO of Podium Podcast Co, that 150 number is just a tiny fraction of higher education podcasts. Oldring says that he already has a list of a staggering 1,130 podcasts in higher education – and that's covering just 191 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Considering that there are about 4,000 higher education institutions across the two nations, the real number of higher education podcasts could be in the tens of thousands.
Not all are big, and not all are overly active. But many are. And a few are quite large. Even so, thinking about as many as 25,000 podcasts is a staggering number.
'After interviewing a number of higher ed podcasters on the Continuing Studies podcast, we noticed that most podcasters in higher education were working in isolation. To combat that, we wanted to foster a vibrant, collaborative community for higher ed podcasters, where we can share expertise, build connections, and get better at podcasting,' Oldring said.
Indeed, nearly all the sessions and presentations in Chicago were about raising the performance, delivery, quality, or impact of podcasts and podcasters. Topics and tips included understanding metrics, the power of guests to drive listeners and subscribers, and, of course, how to monetize podcast shows and brands.
Stepping outside the conference programs, with such a large pool of higher education podcasts, it's not hard to comprehend the power that potentially rests in 25,000 independent microphones in orbits in and around higher education, delivering insights, opinions, and experiences across some of the largest and most active social media platforms. Even if each podcast has an audience of just 100 listeners, that's a combined audience of 2.5 million.
For comparison, CNN averages between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers during any given weekday.
In other words, the potential impact and reach of higher education podcasts, should they be able to coordinate or even communicate with one another, is deep. And probably highly effective, even subtle. As evidenced by this being the first such conference, no one had been tracking or watching what these podcasts and podcasters were saying or doing collectively. Or that they even existed. But that could change quickly, and with high impact.
So far, the podcasts are not organizing to, or even discussing, coalescing messages or policy. The objectives and audiences seem far too diverse for anything like that right now, especially among just the 150 or so leaders who attended the Chicago conference. But as they get better, grow, and start to talk to one another, the potential is powerful.
'This is just the beginning,' said Joe Sallustio, EdD, host of one of the largest and best-known higher education podcasts, The EdUp Experience. Sallustio helped organize the Higher Ed Pod Con and made presentations to attendees on the show's successes and learning moments.
'We believe this conference can grow exponentially in future years, the podcasting community in higher education is emerging and looking for a platform to connect and share best practices. HigherEd PodCon could become the premier higher education media conference in North America,' Sallustio said. The effort, he said, is growing rapidly and that, 'Having 100 institutions represented at the first conference shows the eagerness among the audience for this to happen.'
As podcasting has settled into its post-pandemic renaissance as a top-tier driver of information and entertainment, the higher education community has somewhat spontaneously, even accidentally, developed an organ of tremendous potential – a new planetary system with its own growing gravitational pull.
Since many of the podcasts engaged at this stage are directly affiliated with colleges, universities or their professors or programs, it's doubtful that the podcast tail will ever wag the higher education dog.
But as they organize, the future nonetheless includes their growing prominence and influence. As such, more and more people, companies, and institutions will start to listen, and cater, to what they say. Going forward, engaging higher education podcasts will move from a nice-to-have to essential, from value-add to place to start. That alone will represent a significant shift in how people think about and communicate to – and with – the entire education universe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Journals
14 minutes ago
- Business Journals
New Wells Fargo program is fueling businesses on the brink of expansion
Yuta Katsuyama came to Chicago from Tokyo in 2018 to study at Illinois Tech's Institute of Design. When he arrived, he found foods like sushi and ramen throughout the city, but he couldn't find his favorite food from his homeland: rice balls called onigiri. In 2020, Katsuyama invited Cristina Tarriba to join him on a five-week business prototype project for school. They cooked in a shared kitchen, took pre-orders and delivered onigiris in his Chevy Volt — dubbed the 'Onigiri Shuttle'— across the city. After the project ended, the partners decided to become food entrepreneurs full-time and launched Onigiri Kororin inside food and beverage incubator The Hatchery. By the end of 2024, the business had grown to where its grab-and-go products were sold in more than 60 stores across Chicago. To satisfy increasing demand, the partners needed to expand operations. That was going to require a significant capital investment — one the business could not afford on its own. Instead, it found another way, through Wells Fargo's new $20 million Open for Business Growth program. The program had awarded a $2.5 million grant to the Chicago-based nonprofit Allies for Community Business (A4CB), which co-owns The Hatchery with the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC). A4CB provided Onigiri Kororin with $210,000 in revenue-based financing, which allowed the business to expand to a larger kitchen at ICNC's Make City incubator and increase staffing. 'Our new kitchen is three times bigger, and we can have eight team members working at the same time, more than doubling our staffing capacity,' Katsuyama said. 'We want to continue to grow by introducing other types of products and eventually expand to other states across the U.S. The loan was transformative to allow us to take the next step.' Katsuyama's school-project-turned-business now has 25 employees. Creative capital makes expansion more accessible A4CB — which provides capital, coaching and connections for entrepreneurs — was the first grant recipient of the Wells Fargo Open for Business Growth program, which was created specifically to support small businesses on the brink of expansion. The challenge: Many of these businesses need more than a microloan but are not yet large enough for traditional financing, said Kimelyn Harris, Wells Fargo's head of small business philanthropy. expand 'When small businesses don't get the capital they need, they remain stagnant,' she said. 'Flexible capital is what's needed most.' The program gives nonprofit partners like A4CB the opportunity to develop products and services that empower small businesses looking to scale so more of them can achieve next-level growth. With its Open for Business Growth grant, A4CB will focus on growing the construction industry around Chicago and helping retail and restaurant businesses like Onigiri Kororin that have fluctuating revenue flow. The organization is piloting a new revenue-based financing model — the same one provided to Onigiri Kororin — and expanding access to its partnership with HIRE360, a specialized construction loan program that offers advisory services and mentoring. The Wells Fargo grant funding also supports free business coaching for A4CB's clients. 'We'll be able to expand our offerings to far more entrepreneurs because of Wells Fargo's support,' said Brad McConnell, CEO of A4CB, noting that this is 'creative capital' that doesn't dilute the entrepreneur's ownership. Flexible financing, he said, allows debt payments to better align with revenue as it fluctuates. A4CB estimates clients supported by the grant will generate as many as 260 local jobs as they execute larger contracts and create new opportunities. 'Supporting entrepreneurship is hard, expensive and risky,' McConnell said. 'We're really good at what we do, but we can't take on those risks and expenses on our own. Wells Fargo cares about the same things we care about: investing in communities so there is wealth building. This collaboration allows us to invest in entrepreneurs who are ready to create jobs and wealth in the community.' Building on a track record of small business support The Open for Business Growth program builds on the success of Wells Fargo's $420 million Open for Business Fund, which collaborated with community organizations during the pandemic. According to grantees, the fund has benefited roughly 336,000 small businesses and has enabled them to keep or maintain 461,000 jobs nationwide. The impact the new program is generating in Chicago is just the beginning. In the coming year, it will expand to other markets across the U.S. 'This program supports the businesses that are ready to scale, hire additional staff, build capacity and deepen their community impact,' Harris said. 'This funding empowers nonprofits to develop innovative products, solutions and services to help these businesses grow sustainably. These businesses play a vital role in creating jobs and sustaining the vibrancy of local communities. Our mission is to strengthen their ability to thrive for the long term.'
Fast Company
2 hours ago
- Fast Company
Trump rollback on clean energy subsidies stalls major solar, wind projects and manufacturing plans
Singapore-based solar panel manufacturer Bila Solar is suspending plans to double capacity at its new factory in Indianapolis. Canadian rival Heliene's plans for a solar cell facility in Minnesota are under review. Norwegian solar wafer maker NorSun is evaluating whether to move forward with a planned factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And two fully permitted offshore wind farms in the U.S. Northeast may never get built. These are among the major clean energy investments now in question after Republicans agreed earlier this month to quickly end U.S. subsidies for solar and wind power as part of their budget megabill, and as the White House directed agencies to tighten the rules on who can claim the incentives that remain. This marks a policy U-turn since President Donald Trump's return to office that project developers, manufacturers and analysts say will slash installations of renewable energy over the coming decade, kill investment and jobs in the clean energy manufacturing sector supporting them, and worsen a looming U.S. power supply crunch as energy-hungry AI infrastructure expands. Solar and wind installations could be 17% and 20% lower than previously forecast over the next decade because of the moves, according to research firm Wood Mackenzie, which warned that a dearth of new supplies could slow the expansion of data centers needed to support AI technology. Energy researcher Rhodium, meanwhile, said the law puts at risk $263 billion of wind, solar, and storage facilities and $110 billion of announced manufacturing investment supporting them. It will also increase industrial energy costs by up to $11 billion in 2035, it said. 'One of the administration's stated goals was to bring costs down, and as we demonstrated, this bill doesn't do that,' said Ben King, a director in Rhodium's energy and climate practice. He added the policy 'is not a recipe for continued dominance of the U.S. AI industry.' The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has defended its moves to end support for clean energy by arguing the rapid adoption of solar and wind power has created instability in the grid and raised consumer prices – assertions that are contested by the industry and which do not bear out in renewables-heavy power grids, like Texas' ERCOT. Power industry representatives, however, have said all new generation projects need to be encouraged to meet rising U.S. demand, including both those driven by renewables and fossil fuels. Consulting firm ICF projects that U.S. electricity demand will grow by 25% by 2030, driven by increased AI and cloud computing – a major challenge for the power industry after decades of stagnation. The REPEAT Project, a collaboration between Princeton University and Evolved Energy Research, projects a 2% annual increase in electricity demand. With a restricted pipeline of renewables, tighter electricity supplies stemming from the policy shift could increase household electricity costs by $280 a year in 2035, according to the REPEAT Project. The key provision in the new law is the accelerated phase-out of 30% tax credits for wind and solar projects: it requires projects to begin construction within a year or enter service by the end of 2027 to qualify for the credits. Previously the credits were available through 2032. Now some project developers are scrambling to get projects done while the U.S. incentives are still accessible. But even that strategy has become risky, developers said. Days after signing the law, Trump directed the Treasury Department to review the definition of 'beginning of construction.' A revision to those rules could overturn a long-standing practice giving developers four years to claim tax credits after spending just 5% of project costs. Treasury was given 45 days to draft new rules. 'With so many moving parts, financing of projects, financing of manufacturing is difficult, if not impossible,' said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. 'You are looking to see what is the next baseball bat that's going to hit you on the head.' About face Heliene's planned cell factory, which could cost as much as $350 million, depending on the capacity, and employ more than 600 workers, is also in limbo, Pochtaruk said in an interview earlier this month. The company needs more clarity on both what the new law will mean for U.S. demand, and how Trump's trade policy will impact the solar industry. 'We have a building that is anxiously waiting for us to make a decision,' Pochtaruk said. Similarly, Mick McDaniel, general manager of Bila Solar, said 'a troubling level of uncertainty' has put on hold its $20 million expansion at an Indianapolis factory it opened this year that would create an additional 75 jobs. 'NorSun is still digesting the new legislation and recent executive order to determine the impact to the overall domestic solar manufacturing landscape,' said Todd Templeton, director of the company's U.S. division that is reviewing plans for its $620 million solar wafer facility in Tulsa. Five solar manufacturing companies – T1 Energy, Imperial Star Solar, SEG Solar, Solx and ES Foundry – said they are also concerned about the new law's impact on future demand, but that they have not changed their investment plans. The policy changes have also injected fresh doubt about the fate of the nation's pipeline of offshore wind projects, which depend heavily on tax credits to bring down costs. According to Wood Mackenzie, projects that have yet to start construction or make final investment decisions are unlikely to proceed. Two such projects, which are fully permitted, include a 300-megawatt project by developer US Wind off the coast of Maryland and Iberdrola's 791 MW New England Wind off the coast of Massachusetts. Neither company responded to requests for comment. 'They are effectively ready to begin construction and are now trapped in a timeline that will make it that much harder to be able to take advantage of the remaining days of the tax credits,' said Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
Tesla's stock is tumbling after Elon Musk failure to shift the narrative
Elon Musk's big promises apparently no longer seem to be enough for many Tesla investors. Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell 9% on Thursday following another dismal earnings report, released after the bell Wednesday. Tesla's earnings and revenue both fell by double-digit percentages following the biggest sales drop in the company's history. The automaker also faces a number of financial headwinds, including the loss of a $7,500 tax credit for US EV buyers starting in October, and the vanishing market for regulatory credit sales, which has earned Tesla $11 billion since 2019. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk barely talked about that on the earnings call Wednesday, although he did acknowledge the company 'probably could have a few rough quarters.' Instead, he talked about his grand vision for the future, including Tesla's long-promised robotaxi service; and its humanoid robot, Optimus, which is still in development. The lack of details about the company's plans to solve problems in the near term disappointed some investors and analysts. 'Investors have been very forgiving of Tesla for several quarters now, despite obvious headwinds to their business,' Garrett Nelson, analyst at CFRA Research, told CNN Thursday. 'But I think its investors are taking a more realistic view of the story at this point. Some of his brilliance has been his ability to keep investors focused on the long term and ignoring the near term and intermediate term. Now, headwinds are difficult to ignore.' Nelson downgraded the company's stock to a neutral rating in April. But even some of the Tesla bulls on Wall Street are saying that the time for Musk to take action is running out. 'The street is losing some patience,' Wedbush Securities tech analyst Dan Ives told CNN Thursday, although he said he still believes in the autonomous vehicle and artificial intelligence vision laid out by Musk and Tesla. Musk has made big promises about his robotaxi service, including that it would be in service within a year as early as 2019. Tesla's robotaxis finally rolled out in June this year, albeit in a limited portion of Austin, Texas, to friends and fans of the company, and with an employee sitting beside the empty driver's seat. However, that limited rollout wasn't enough to stop Musk from making extraordinary claims on Wednesday that the service would be available to half the nation's population by year's end. To achieve that, Tesla will need to get regulatory permission to operate in two states per week through the rest of the year, including New York, which does not allow autonomous vehicles on its roads. Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said that while he does believe Tesla will eventually be successful in its robotaxi venture, 'the software will require further testing' and he does not expect a full robotaxi product until 2028. But Musk has a history of making grand promises that do not pan out. Like the Cybertruck – the only new vehicle Tesla has offered in the last six years. Musk said Tesla was supposed to be delivering 250,000 vehicles annually by this year. But full-year sales of the Cybertruck and Tesla's two other expensive models were less than 80,000. Sales of the three plunged 52% in the most recent quarter. Tesla also started the year forecasting it would achieve higher sales following its first annual sales drop in its history in 2024. But after two quarters of record sales declines, most investors now assume that it will not meet that goal either. And with Musk himself barely mentioning car sales during an hour-long conference call, it doesn't appear that is enough for shareholders any longer. 'We are mixed on Tesla's ability to meet its robotaxi timelines, cost targets, and scale,' wrote Ben Kallo, an analyst for Baird, in a note to clients late Wednesday. 'So far Tesla has received a pass due to how ambitious/revolutionary these products are, but we think continued sluggishness in the auto business could cause more focus on the near term.'
