By Donovan Darling
The Mountain Times
In an ever-changing digital world, how does a local newspaper keep up with the times? This year, The Mountain Times has made monthly issues available online for readers’ convenience — just in case you might have missed this month’s paper — and also to archive and preserve that information for future generations. In August, The Mountain Times went a step further thanks to the ambitions of Justin Nelson.
As of August 22, the first podcast episode went live for The Mountain Times: Audio Digest, available online at www.mountaintimesoregon.com/podcast. “I’m super happy with how it’s turned out! This is my first time being the lead of a project like this.” Justin is no stranger to performing for the public, however. He attended annual acting camps as a child where he performed acting showcases for real agents. “I had a ton of fun participating in that program, and even booked my first agent and went on a few jobs during that time,” Justin said. Playing video games further exposed him to the possibilities of voice acting, and “the way these actors have to bring characters to life only through their vocal performances” really piqued his interest.
What inspired Justin to create The Mountain Times: Audio Digest? “I see this podcast as the first stepping stone of my career in voice work,” Justin said. Publisher Matt Nelson also wanted to extend the paper into other mediums, Justin said. As The Mountain Times is a lengthy 40 pages, not all articles can make it into the podcast. So, how are they chosen? “The episodes are formatted with three articles per episode in the order that they appear in the paper.” Articles such as profiles, opinions, upcoming events and classifieds are not included in the podcast. News stories are the majority of what’s included in the podcast, which is “a verbatim narration of what is written in the paper,” Justin said.
A newspaper podcast may seem redundant at first, until one considers how people learn and process information differently. “I’m so happy that we are able to provide an audio version of the paper. I hope that it will help anyone who is visually impaired, as well as help folks free up some of their time by listening to the articles while completing other tasks,” Justin said. As journalism continues to evolve and our society continues to quicken its pace and consumption of information, diverse forms of media will need to be available. Print, digital, and now audio, The Mountain Times is available however readers or listeners want to participate in media. “It’s interesting to think about how differently everyone absorbs information,” Justin said. “Because this podcast is the narration of a newspaper, there is still a written version for anyone who likes listening to stories while reading along.”
However, there are definite challenges in the adaptation from print to audio. “The trickiest thing to nail down is, without a doubt, name pronunciations,” Justin said. “I do everything I can to look up names I’m not familiar with, as well as repeating pronunciation before hitting record, just so I can do every name justice. I deeply apologize to anyone whose names I’ve mispronounced!” The process of preparing to record a podcast involves a voice warmup, as well as practicing lines, Justin said. “It takes me a few takes per paragraph to get all of the inflections and pacing down the way that, I believe, the writers intended them to be read.”
What does the future hold for The Mountain Times: Audio Digest? “At this stage of the podcast we are looking for local businesses to act as sponsors for each episode. We hope that this will help locals discover businesses they might not have been aware of, as well as to support our show.”
Listen to The Mountain Times: Audio Digest at www.mountaintimesoregon.com/podcast or on Spotify. If you own a local business and would like to sponsor an episode, please reach out to Zac Wright at zac@mountaintimesoregon.com.