Podcasts: the audio trip to new realms
From the advent of the radio, it was made possible to spread information to a large community without much effort. Even after television brought video and audio together, radio still held strong, with some inspiring quotes popping up such as “On TV people can see it, while on radio you’ve gotta create it”. It was relatively cheap, had contents for different tastes and you could listen to it anywhere. Decades have gone past, and now something quite similar but with an untapped potential(for now) has begun: Podcasts.
What is a podcast? Well the dictionary definition of it is “A digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.”
But a more friendly definition would be something along the lines of “It’s all of your favourite blogs, shows, and topics (some you didn’t even know you’d enjoy!) wrapped up in a huge hub of recordings (Apple Podcasts, etc) that you can explore, download and listen to on your own time. In the car, at work, at home, working out, anywhere. If you can Google it, there’s probably a Podcast about it!” (Thank you Podcastinsights.com for this)
At first glance it seems similar to the Radio or Tele, but it’s not. For it’s freedom. No longer would one have to go to radio stations or TV channels to get their content aired. Now, you can do it at the leisure of your home! This gives rise to ten-folds the amount of content that was previously on other mediums. An internet connection, a bit of googling and voila! You can get whatever content you’ve thought of, out to the masses. “If you can google it, there is prolly a podcast of it.” Amazing choice of words, because it lets the people know that they don’t have to stop at googling. They can subscribe to the podcasts of their choice for more content in the future. The communities built around podcasts are supportive and incredibly informative. There’s a bit of it for everyone!
The next probable question is, why the MEC Podcast? Well, it all started when I was shouting at the top of my voice to try and sell sandwiches during the arts in college. That night one of my seniors, Joel Zachariah, texted me and enlightened me with the idea of a podcast and asked me if I was “enthusiastic” enough to be the host of a podcast or not. Having nothing else to do in the college and also seeing a great potential in improving the standards of the college, there was no doubt in my mind on hosting the podcast.
The faculty, alumni and students often had concerns regarding different issues such as the quality of students, the approachableness of teachers, students being unaware of the so called “golden age” of MEC(Model Engineering College, for those who do not know it) and how the college came to be renowned for its placements and its proficient students. Considering these challenges, we thought of having a podcast, since it was an unused platform till now, which would hopefully try to resolve a part of these concerns, if not most of it. This also includes bridging the gap between the three main entities of the college: Students, Faculties and Alumni. We also hope this would bring about more opportunities for students to talk about and also exhibit their talent, works and experiences.
The team of “THE MEC PODCAST” as of now includes me, Abhiram Vijayakumar, and Rohith Suresh as hosts, Shreyas Rajeendran as the sound engineer and Adil Rafeek as the design engineer. All of us are completely new to this and are excited to embark upon this new adventure.
The first episode is out now and it’s with Shyam Menon, an ex-mecian from the batch of 2000. You can check it out here at :https://anchor.fm/the-mec-podcast
The feedback we’ve currently received is immense and much appreciated. We’re ready to take into consideration all the constructive criticism, and working on ways to resolve the problems.
We expect that the podcast would be able to amplify the thoughts and experiences of the alumni, faculty and students and would hopefully bring all the three entities closer, with more interactions amongst them, producing a better and stronger community of MEC.
THE MEC PODCAST:- https://linktr.ee/the.mec.podcast
