Media Tips: Holly Hutchings, Breaking into Podcasting
As part of a practicum class at the Reynolds School of Journalism, Holly Hutchings is pursuing the production of a podcast called How I Broke This, which she started in a podcasting class the previous semester. It’s about people making big mistakes but then recovering.
A Love for Podcasting
Any tips for podcast wanderlusts? “Just start because you’ll get better as you go, and you’ll get more confident in your own abilities, and you’ll find your voice,” Hutchings says.
As she perseveres, she says, of all the media she has worked on while a student, podcasting is her favorite.
Audio vs. Video
A so-called non traditional student with a husband and kids and her own courageous recovery stories, Hutchings says there has been some family pressure for her to be on local TV news.
“I prefer radio and podcasting though,” she says. Her audio portfolio is growing quickly, as she also does audio stories for the campus NPR affiliate KUNR, which you can find here. She was also selected for a 2017 NPR Bootcamp.
Less Pressure, Future Plans
“I don’t have the pressure to be on camera,” she says of podcasting. “If I got a comment of how fat I looked in a dress, I’d quit the same day,” she says of working in the TV industry. “I couldn’t handle that.”
Previous episodes of How I Broke This have highlighted an artist who survived her husband’s suicide, a friend dealing with divorce, and how ‘Grammar Girl’ passed on lucrative opportunities earlier in her career.
After she graduates, Hutchings plans to continue her podcast in hopes of monetizing it. She also plans to do “minisodes”, including one about herself. Follow her podcast via Twitter here: https://twitter.com/howibrokethis
