Audio Recording

Striving to reach Montana agriculture producers through new technology, I created Montana State University’s first podcast for agriculture called MT AgCast.  This podcast provides listeners with candid insight from MSU Extension and other agriculture professionals, that they may not recieve from attending a presentation or reading an article.  The objective of the podcast is to provide producers with an informative listening experience that they can access in the tractor or truck cab while in the field.  The podcast operates using BluYeti® microphones, a Yamaha® mixer, and a Tascom® recorder, purchased through a Western SARE mini-grant. I host the podcast and interview two to three guests, on a monthly basis with a theme to guide the discussion.  I edit the episode in my extension office, using the audio editor Adobe® Audition®.   The process of recording and editing takes between five and seven days to complete.  Buzzsprout.com is utilized to maintain the podcasts and disseminate the audio to common apps such as Apple® Podcasts, Google® Podcasts and Spotify®.  Buzzsprout offers data analysis capabilities which measure the amount and type of downloads, the city the podcast was downloaded from, and the technology used to download it.  There are two live episodes; Episode 1: Montana Cattle Industry uploaded on January 21st 2020, and Episode 2: Schutter Diagnostic Lab uploaded on February 26th 2020, with future episodes occurring monthly and can be listened to here https://www.buzzsprout.com/813026.  Currently, there are 230 episodes downloaded, with 70% downloaded on a mobile device and 30% listened through the browser.  The podcast has been downloaded in 82 cities in the U.S. with rural Montana towns having the most downloads.  Once three episodes have published, listeners will be able to make comments and review the podcast on its available apps, which will increase the impact.  As technology develops, residents of Montana are utilizing more modern forms of communications.  The MT AgCast is an innovative way to reach audiences that may not have had access to our information before, in a way that is both convenient and enlightening.