“We should call it Downtown Phoenix Unscrambled,” joked Host Kelsey Hess as we tossed ideas back and forth for Downtown Devil’s new podcast. “Or Jacob and Kelsey’s Great Adventure.”
Just hours before it was published, Deconstructed: a Downtown Phoenix Podcast had no name. Eventually, Kelsey and I settled on Deconstructed and realized that the name was a perfect fit.
The goal of our new podcast is to provide even deeper coverage for Downtown Devil readers. As our Executive Editor Sophia Kunthara wrote in August: “Rather than just reporting on what’s happening, we want to spark discussion about issues downtown Phoenix residents should know about and get to know the people involved.”
A week ago, we aired the first episode, where listeners can hear Steph Carrico explain why The Trunk Space left its original location in her own words.
Deconstructed aims to peel back the layers of downtown Phoenix, including the Downtown Devil itself. The key to any news organization is transparency and accountability, and Deconstructed allows listeners to hear how reporters think. Just how do we decide to cover the news?
We sat down with Managing Editor Sarah Jarvis at the end of last week’s podcast. Showcasing her perspective on why we even chose to cover Trunk Space allows Downtown Devil to be transparent in a way that few publications are.
Nikole Tower, who wrote Downtown Devil’s original story on The Trunk Space’s pop-up shows, explained the story to us in a series of interviews.
Normally, the reporting in a broadcast story is highly scripted. The reporter writes a script and then reads it. Deconstructed’s off-the-cuff style requires our reporters to become semi-experts in their beats. They know the story inside and out before they come on the podcast. They also get to reveal just what it takes to write a compelling story.
Each segment of the podcast is part of a conversation.
Additionally, at every level, Deconstructed is a completely local venture. Our album art is drawn by artist Lerman Montoya. Our intro and outro music is composed by Brandon King, a Blaze Radio volunteer with a passion for instrumental scoring.
This isn’t the first time the Downtown Devil has experimented with long-form audio storytelling. From 2012 to 2014, Downtown Devil staffers created several podcasts and audio stories under the direction of Annika Cline.
In 2015, we published two episodes of On the Record, a local music podcast produced by Claire Caulfield and Alexandra Watts.
As a one-off podcast, Caleb Manning and Alex Scoville created Art School Dropouts to cover Art Detour 28 in March 2016.
And also in the spring of 2016, we began working with Blaze Radio to air audio stories and share reporting resources. (Full disclosure: I also serve as Blaze Radio’s current production director).
Deconstructed combines all of these efforts into one weekly show.
Starting Monday, Sept. 26, you can look forward to the publication of a new episode of Deconstructed every week. Episodes will air on Blaze Radio the same day at 4:30 p.m.
For future episodes, we’re looking forward to taking a deeper look at homelessness in downtown Phoenix and neighborhood concerns over rising rent prices and increased development.
Ultimately, as this podcast develops, I hope the boundaries between Downtown Devil reporters and community members will begin to be deconstructed.
Contact the reporter at Jacob.J.McAuliffe@asu.edu.
