The missing piece in the “podcast revolution”
Postloudness is a new collective of independent audio shows by people of color, women, and queer-identified hosts, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
In 2013, James T. Green, my creative partner and co-host of Open Ended, and I started a Twitter-based music blog by the name of Post Loudness. It started as a joke, someplace where we could dispel random conversations on the music we were listening to and rate on a scale along with a blurb. It was a novel idea, but it lasted a total of 4 tweets, quickly dying off by the end of the month.
Three years later, while having lunch at a local deli, we were in search of a name for another project. We had just celebrated a year of producing Open Ended, deliberating what to do next. Receiving many requests for podcast collaborations, we wanted to weigh our options before committing. To put things into perspective, we were working on pilots for two separate shows while searching for a way to make all three projects align. A production company proposal was backburnered several months before, but we felt like right now was the right time, and by the way, let’s name it Postloudness, especially since we owned all the social media accounts and domain name. James developed a quick mock up of the triangle logo, and tested the reaction by placing it in the show art for Gossip Girls, a podcast I host with Subi Shah recapping the CW’s Gossip Girl, from the beginning, to see if it would get a reaction. And it did.
Alexandra Cox worked closely with James over the past year, including developing and launching their tech podcast, Refresh. She reached out to us, a few days after the first episode of Gossip Girls had launched, and asked about the mysterious logo in the corner.
Within a week, she became the third and final founder and Postloudness was born.
Over the last three months, we developed five other programs, ranging from wellness and self-care, to economics and mental health. We wanted to create a space we couldn’t find ourselves: where underrepresented voices could produce their stories, without fear of censorship. We hear these stories all the time in-person, but could rarely find a single space access it. Many audio networks cater to niche demographics, but few seemed to fill ours. So, why not us?
We currently have four podcasts in production, all of which can be found on iTunes or anywhere podcasts can be downloaded:
We have Open Ended, a weekly dive into tech news and code, to code-switching and gender. Hosted by James T. Green and Cher Vincent.
Next on the list is Roboism, a show about robots and feminism, but mostly robots. Hosted by Alexandra Cox and Savannah Million.
Third is Refresh, a show about technology and sex positivity. Hosted by Alexandra Cox and James T. Green.
Last but not least, Gossip Girls, a weekly discussion about Gossip Girl’s everlasting effect on society. Hosted by Subi Shah and myself.
But wait, there’s more!
Our first Postloudness new release is this Thursday, April 21st, 2016. Highwater, hosted by Chakka Reeves, is a practical pop-culture driven advice show for the everyday artist and creative.
Upcoming releases include:
- Devil’s Avocado, a show about navigating personal finance. Hosted by Sharlene King and Molly Marshall
- Podcast Club, podcasts you should be listening to and recaps of the popular monthly Chicago meetup, #PodcastClub. Hosted by Molly Marshall
- Black Girl in Om [title pending], a show focused on wellness and self-care from self-identified Black woman perspective. Hosted by Black Girl in Om co-founders Lauren Ash and Zakkiyyah Najeebah
- Basket Case, a narrative driven, storytelling show exploring the hidden side of mental health, produced by James T. Green, Alexandra Cox, and myself
So that’s it! Welcome to Postloudness, audio on the fringe. I hope you enjoy what we have lined up for the months to come, and we are excited to share more stories with you.
— Cher Vincent, Chief Marketing Officer
