Instructor Matty Staudt, an on air-radio personality with a host of national credits, manages the campus station, UrbanKnightsRadio.com, and teaches radio and podcasting classes in the School of Multimedia Communications.
In today?s digitally saturated world, it?s easy to overlook the power of radio, a multibillion-dollar industry that?s evolving on the web in addition to broadcast. Preparing students for successful 21st-century radio careers is one dimension of what the Academy of Art University?s School of Multimedia Communications does. Here, instructor Matty Staudt talks about that mission.
Staudt, a radio consultant, producer and on-air talent with a host of national credits (including helping movie director Kevin Smith ? Clerks, Chasing Amy ? set up the online streaming station SModcast Internet Radio), got the call to start teaching at the Academy last fall and is developing new coursework.
What are you working on now?
Right now I?m teaching a class for podcasting and radio broadcasting. I?m teaching students how to do a very tight, professional-sounding show, so when they?re done they can put it on iTunes or use it as a demo to get a job at a radio station.
I?m also preparing a new class that?s going to be about running the campus radio station, Urban Knights Radio, which we recently relaunched. Everyone in the class will have an actual job: program director, music director, we?ll have somebody doing sales. It will really be hands-on. We?re going to show how a radio station works.
From left: Students Javon Carrington, Joe Pearce, Josh Garn, Eric Bryant, Cameron Harris, Will Overton and Bado McQuade; instructor Matty Staudt
Is it your goal to put together a concentration for radio within the degree in Multimedia Communications?
Yes, a concentration and eventually a graduate program. By the way, I think it?s important to say that this is all about radio/podcasting. The two are inseparable at this point.
When I started in radio I was 16 years old. I walked into a station, begged for a job, and got one. At the time, a small station could hire a kid and put him on overnights, let him put in commercials, and he could learn his way up.
Unfortunately, those days in radio are pretty much gone. The stations are run by big companies, and there?s not a lot of opportunity. This is where podcasting comes in. You can do your own show and make it something special that you can take to a radio station or a podcasting distributor. There are people now who make a living just in podcasting.
Students Javon Carrington and Josh Garn in the studio
How did you get involved in podcasting?
Having done morning shows in New York City, San Francisco and Washington D.C., I decided I wanted something different ? I think I got tired of getting up at four in the morning. I had an opportunity to join a startup called Stitcher ? an easy explanation is that Stitcher is Pandora for news and talk. It tries to learn what you like, like Pandora does. We were really ahead of the game creating an app for podcasting.
Students Bado McQuade and Will Overton
I?m guessing that most students are interested in becoming on-air talents, but do you also offer more technically oriented courses?
With the way today?s industry works, you have to do it all; you can?t just be a talking head anymore. That goes for television as well as radio. We want to teach the whole package. You can?t just walk into a studio, do a show and forget it. You need to know how to produce it, how to get the content, how to complete the finished product ? because nobody is going to do it for you these days.
What are your plans for the Academy?s radio station?
We?re going to be reporting to College Music Journal, so we?ll be part of a nationwide network of college music stations. We have a variety of talk shows including one in Mandarin called ?What Happens in San Francisco,? which gives advice to our Chinese students on things to do in the Bay Area. Students are doing a sports show, a dating and advice show, a show about old-time radio, and we air an audio version of the video news that is produced at the School of Multimedia Communications. There?s really good interaction so far. People are psyched.
Student Joe Pearce working with Matty Staudt in the studio
I understand you?re working on branding the station. Are you working with other schools at the Academy?
The Athletic Department has been very supportive of the station. We play the men?s basketball games live, and we plan to expand our sports coverage. We?ve also worked with the School of Graphic Design in putting together banners and visuals.
Do you have any advice for students looking to get into radio?
I just helped one of my students get an internship at my old station in San Francisco. One of the first things I told him was, ?You want to do a good job? Get in there on time in the morning. Those first hours of a show are most important.?
Helping students get jobs is our real goal: When they leave this program we want them to have a head up on most people in radio, who still haven?t embraced how things have changed. Electronic media and podcasting is virgin soil and just starting to grow.
Listen online to the Academy?s own UrbanKnightsRadio.com.
Images by Bob Toy
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