The opportunity then is to figure out how can those of us who exist in sort of
this liminal space in between traditional and public help translate that high
quality scholarship into something that makes for a compelling story.
And so it's really thinking about who are the audiences we're trying to reach.
Of course, with each show, we have very specific audiences in mind, but we'll take
everyone who wants to come to the table.
Welcome to Continuing Studies, a podcast for higher education
podcasters to learn and get inspired.
I'm Neil McPhedran, founder of Podium Podcast Company.
And I'm Jennifer-Lee and the founder of JPod Creations.
Podcasting is broadcasting.
We want you to know you're not alone.
In fact, there are many of you higher ed podcasters out there, and
we can all learn from each other.
We are growing that community and we talk about it all the time, but
we're growing that community on Higher Ed Pods, HigherEdPods.com.
And we're inching towards getting a thousand podcasts in there.
Today we are chatting with Jeanette Patrick and Jim Ambuske and they
are with R2 Studios, which is a network of history podcasts.
Yeah, I'm really excited to talk to them.
They've got a few great ones, which I wanna be an avid listener of.
Of course Your Most Obedient and Humble Servant, A Woman's History
and Worlds Turn Upside Down.
So we're gonna chat with them what it's like to create these
podcasts because they're like full fledged research podcasts.
They are historians.
There's sound effects in them.
They are really like a treat for the ears.
Yes.
This is a great conversation because, and we've chatted with a few different
networks as of late, but I like this, that it's a network that's all
focused in on, on the humanities, but more so focused in on history.
And so we get into talking a bit about how they've created this
network, but also as Jen, you're saying the, you know, the specific
podcast that they've created within.
So with that said, why don't we jump in.
Leave it to the experts.
Let's chat to them.
Jeanette and Jim, it's so nice to have you here today.
Thanks for joining us on Continuing Studies.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thanks for having us.
So let's get into it.
This is really exciting.
R2 Studios, as your website says, explores history through podcasts.
We tell unexpected stories based on the latest research to
connect listeners with the past.
Maybe just tell us a bit about the story behind the founding of R2 Studios.
R2 Studios was founded through a grant from the Mellon Foundation with the
idea of finding ways to take quality scholarly research and translate it for
a public audience through podcasting.
And so we've been fortunate to make a series of series that
we think really do that well.
Since then, we've been able to work with a lot of different scholars internal to
the Roy Rosenzweig Center of History and new media at George Mason University,
but also a number of great external scholars just to, again, help find ways
to connect a very interested and excited public audience who wants really exciting
and interesting stories about the past.
But they're not gonna go read journal articles and they don't have the
time to read the latest research.
But they like hearing these stories and they wanna learn more and dig deeper.
Yeah.
And it's keeping with the Rosenzweig Center's mission, which
is 31 years old now, of using technology to democratize history.
Our center was kind of at the forefront, really at the cusp of digital history,
digital humanities in the early 1990s of figuring out how to as Roy Rosenzweig
would say, put history on the web.
And the podcast is the next iteration of that.
Podcasting technology emerged about 10 years after the Rosenzweig Center started.
It really became a thing in terms of listenership in 2014 with series
like Serial and whatnot taking off.
But historians, although they are out there on podcasts, uh, and producing their
own podcasts, not as much as we would like to think that they should or could.
And in this moment when we're facing all sorts of challenges in the humanities,
when we have public audiences who may not have been history majors and thought
history was boring, but have found history through other means in their adult life,
that podcasting is a really critical way to educate them about the past and a very
entertaining and hopefully compelling way.
Maybe I'm stereotyping here, but I'm wondering if, because there's not a lot
of history-esque podcasts out there, do you think it's because some of the
historians are maybe a little camera shy or maybe, you know, we always think that
they've just got their nose in the book and they're studying, so maybe they just
don't really want to speak about it.
And that's why we see so many written forms.
I think that's part of it.
I mean, and I'm, you know, Jeanette is properly trained as a public historian.
I'm trained as a traditional historian with a digital humanities background,
but I think that's a concrete part of it.
In the academy setting, your audience is your peers and your peers expect a
very specific form of writing that's not necessarily to inspire you to
think about new ideas, but not exactly designed to move you emotionally
or carry you along through a story.
It's very analytical, it's very critical.
It's very steeped in historiography.
You can do that in this mode, but you have to be willing to accept the fact
that your audiences may be smaller.
But the opportunity then is to figure out how can those of us who exist in
sort of this liminal space in between traditional and public help translate that
high quality scholarship into something that makes for a compelling story.
And so it's really thinking about who are the audiences we're trying to reach.
And it's, we'd like to say the widest possible audiences.
Of course, with each show we have very specific audiences in mind, but
you know, we'll, we'll take everyone who wants to come to the table.
Love it.
And when you're historians like yourselves, was this something
you guys always wanted to be and get into or did you totally
wanna do a different career path?
I think I stumbled into history more.
I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the storytelling.
It was a subject I always really liked, but I didn't initially start out majoring
in history and it was kind of one of those, I missed those types of classes.
So I eventually found my way back into history classes and just really enjoyed
them and wanted to continue pursuing it.
And then it was the realization of like, you can't do anything with a bachelor's
in history, so might as well continue on.
But I think it was,
I think that's most degrees.
Right.
Yes.
And then the public side was more just the, I was never especially interested
in writing anything incredibly long.
Like I did it when I needed to, but you know, I liked to find different
ways to reach wider audiences and enjoyed those types of classes.
And then internships and experiences outside of a
traditional educational setting.
And so, kind of how I ended up in public history.
I fell into it by virtue of being hired at George Washington's Mount Vernon, where
I actually first worked with Jeanette.
As you know, I was a traditionally trained historian with a background in digital
history, digital humanities, but when I was hired to run the Center for Digital
History at Mount Vernon, part of the gig was hosting a podcast that was then called
Conversations at the Washington Library.
I had no idea how to do that.
I had to learn very quickly, and fortunately I was able to rely on
previous teaching experience to think about how I was going to shepherd
a guest through an interview.
And then from there, actually Jeanette and I developed a narrative series
about the enslaved community at Mount Vernon called Intertwined that helped
us think about what it would take to write narrative history podcasts.
And then we ended up both at George Mason.
That's, that is I, I, I, I love the twists and turns there.
My son is just going to University of Toronto and history, so we've been
talking about the importance of a history degree and what he's gonna do
with his history degree and everything.
So, but I have really been personalized a little bit.
I think podcasting has really helped me get into history more.
I mean, obviously I live in a podcasting world, so I listen to a lot of podcasts.
But other than like the business podcasts and the podcasts about
podcasting, which I listen to a lot of, I've really been drawn to history
podcasts as of late, and there's more out there than you think actually.
Jeanette, why do you think that podcasts are such a particularly
powerful medium for engaging a, a wider audience with history?
I think some of it is just the medium.
I mean, people can listen to whatever they want, you know, wherever they
are while they're doing other things.
But I think good history is all about really interesting stories and it's
easy to think about how to turn the critical arguments into a story.
And so I think that podcasting lets us think about a discipline that the general
public doesn't understand as story focused and help them see that aspect of it.
The, the good history podcasts don't harp on dates and facts and memorizing things.
They really wanna pull you in and show you the complexities and show you
different players and help people just understand better what was happening.
And, and there are many different ways to do that.
We do it mostly through narrative, but also through some interview shows.
But I think the interview shows also allow scholars to do that by, you know, pulling
out the most interesting people or events or moments and really dig into why they're
interesting or, you know, those archival moments that are fun and that you discover
something that no one else knew was there.
And so, you know, I think that that just, it allows people to see the
aspect of the discipline, that I think is why a lot of historians end up in
the discipline, that people just don't realize is such a key point to it.
So I'd love to just sort of dig in a little bit like, 'cause as our show,
we're really talking to other podcasters in academia and in higher education.
Maybe just sort of like, let's just, I'd like to drill a little bit on the network
you've created because I think this is a really interesting thing for podcasters
to sort of think about a network.
Did R2 start out with this vision of we're going to be a network?
I think there's seven podcasts as part of R2 Studios, if I have that right.
You started with a grant, as you mentioned, which is fantastic, but
like was the vision always we're gonna create this network of podcasts, or
did it start with one or two of those projects you mentioned and kind of
just sort of turn into a network?
Yeah.
Vision was always a network.
Abby Mullen created Consolation Prize as kind of a test case to see how
could academic scholars create podcasts that were for a wider audience.
And through that series and learning how to make a, a show
with a wider focus, we were able to then grow and build on that idea.
And so from the beginning, the hope was that R2 Studios would
be a network of series created by historians for a wider audience.
I think our thought was that we're fortunate to work with a lot of
great scholars who can tell just so many different types of stories
to different types of audiences.
And from the start, we wanted to make something that was more than just our
research center, putting out one series at a time, but really thinking about
this network and how we could bring people in and have them listen to some
of our shows and then broaden to others.
Yeah, it's about creating an ecosystem.
Certain shows like the Humble Servant, Your Most Obedient Humble Servant, which
is an interview type program and a few others we've got in the works in terms
of the interview format, something like that we can conceivably produce at higher
volume and then bring those listeners back into our ecosystem so that they can
enjoy some of our more narrative shows, which take a lot longer time to produce.
So if, if we can kind of create a, a productive feedback loop between
our series and, you know, strike partnerships or work collaboratively with
colleagues, not only internally to our university, but elsewhere, then we can
create relationships and networks that enhance our existing infrastructure.
And offer our audiences a number of choices and selections that hopefully
they can't get anywhere else.
And podcasting is a lot of work, regardless of whatever theme
you're talking about or whatever topic you're talking about.
But for you guys, because history, obviously you're always studying it,
you're always researching it, but it, it takes long lengths to know
what you guys are talking about and to make sure that you're credible.
So how long does it take to put these podcasts on?
Excellent question.
It varies by series, but to kinda give you a sense of World's Turned Upside
Down, which is my primary series, between reading, doing research, finding
some primary sources, interviewing scholars, sitting down and thinking
about what we've recorded and what we want to achieve, and then actually
writing a script and recording it.
We're probably looking at a two month production time on an episode.
The thing I wanna stress though, is that this is not a series that
I could have done 10 years ago, fresh out of graduate school.
I mean, I, my primary focus is the American Revolution.
That was my PhD and so I had read a ton of books by that point, but the
subsequent literature and the publications over the last 10 years have been so
compelling and have really begun to reshape thinking about the revolution
in pretty amazing ways, that in a lot of ways, it required this buildup time
so that I could come to the table with this literature in my head and say, all
right, here's the framing for this series.
Here are what the episode themes are gonna be.
Here are the top people we want to talk to.
Let's get after it.
I think it would've been difficult to launch a series soon after I graduated,
'cause as well read as I was at that point, now I feel like I'm in a very good
position to make a real contribution.
I don't think that enough people do their research before cracking the mic on.
It doesn't necessarily have to be history related.
It could be current events, it can just be fashion, it could
be whatever we're talking about.
You need to know what you're talking about.
And everyone has this misconception that like, oh, if I'm prepped, I'm
not gonna come off as like loose and like it's just gonna seem natural.
And I'm like, no, no.
That's how you seem natural.
Is it 'cause you know what you're talking about.
So I would just feel that in history, two months.
That feels like a lot of commitment to make sure that your episodes are solid.
Yeah, it's, it's pretty intense and, you know, I'm stubborn and so I probably
don't help myself sometimes, where I'm like, I must read one more book,
or we must interview one more person.
But again, I think, as I said earlier, it could not have happened a few years ago.
And I, I come at this series very different, I think, than a
lot of other historians of the American Revolution might have.
In my case here, I'm less interested in the independence of the United States than
I am in the collapse of British America, which transforms not only people and what
becomes the United States, but of course up in Canada where some of you are now.
And that makes our history intrinsically and inevitably linked.
And so we have to think about what were the consequences for that imperial crisis
that not necessarily created just one country, but several in a very real sense.
I, I gotta say, I have started listening to the World's Turned Upside Down podcast
and, um, a couple episodes into it.
I'm really enjoying it, and I can understand how it is so time consuming.
We'll put the link to everything in our show notes just for people listening.
But there's a lot of sound engineering there.
There's not just narration, there's sound effects and music and really good
storytelling, but it's super interesting to hear your background take on it
as well, like just what you've said.
I just find that really interesting, that overarching narrative
that you've just provided.
Well, thank you very much.
Yeah, and I'm curious because with history, obviously there's a lot of
research in it, but some people might think they know better than you.
Do you guys ever get comments challenging what you're talking about
or people adding to the conversation, maybe some tidbits that you didn't
know or you missed or left out?
Occasionally, particularly on YouTube, it seems, and usually it comes down to
my pronunciation with certain words.
Sometimes I will just bungle an indigenous name or place name.
Not intentionally, but sometimes I just don't get it right.
Somebody was critical of the way I said Tobago versus
Tobago in one of the episodes.
But we work really hard to ensure that what we produce meets muster with our
peers in the academy, so that when we do the storytelling aspects of it, it will
be correct and consistent with the best interpretations, but also then compelling.
And, you know, Jeanette plays a critical role in this because sometimes my scripts
can get very long as if you've looked at the timestamps for Worlds on the
episode lengths, and so she's always very good about, all right, we need
to cut the fat, this is ridiculous.
You can't say it this way.
Is there a source for this?
So it's really good to have that feedback loop with each other to ensure that
we're really doing our due diligence.
Who do you see as your ideal audience?
You did say a while back that you've got a wider audience,
but who is that ideal audience?
And maybe just sort of second part of that is have you been surprised
at all by who is actually tuning in?
Anything that sort of surprises you there?
Yeah.
I think the ideal audience varies for each of our series.
They are similar in style, but we know that one of our series, The Green Tunnel,
which is a history of the Appalachian Trail and the target audience was for
people who really enjoyed their hobby of hiking and spending time outdoors
and wanted to learn more about the history of their leisure activity.
And so for that series it was thinking about what topics and I would bring
them into the series, and how could we hook that audience, who maybe wouldn't
describe themselves as history lovers, but did in fact want to learn more
about how they spend their free time or the locations that they're in.
With series like Worlds Turned Upside Down and Your Most Obedient Humble
Servant or Antisemitism USA, I think we were thinking of a slightly different
audience in that we were thinking about people who were interested in learning
more about the history of our country or a specific aspect of that history.
And people who would describe themselves as in their free time wanting to
go to museums or historic sites and who just really wanted to better
understand these different moments in our past or how they're interrelated.
And like learning new things as part of their leisure activity.
And so they're the people who wanna listen to a history show while
walking the dog or doing the dishes.
I think what surprised us the most about the World's audience is we've gotten a
number of comments from people who talk about listening with their children,
and I think that that's not something we were expecting because, you know,
it is a, it's a very violent series.
There's a lot of death in most episodes because it was a bloody
time in our country's history.
It's not something that I think we thought would be a family activity.
So that has been really fun to hear people talk about, you know, excited
to listen with and we suspect they're older children, but I think that's
what surprised us the most about like comments from the World's audience.
I do like what you said about the audience and there's different audiences.
And then if I go back to what you were saying about the network, and
that network effect is you may pull someone in through one podcast, they're
exposed to other ones and you can really sort of cross pollinate, open
up that audience and like obviously that's part of your strategy there.
That you've got different shows, different audiences, but there's
that cross pollination if you will.
And I think that's a really interesting strategy that you're employing.
Yeah.
And it's fun to see how people who were listening to The Green Tunnel
engage with some of our other shows.
'Cause that is a very different audience than a lot of the people
who listen to Worlds or Humble Servant or Antisemitism USA.
It's an opportunity, right?
You're not gonna capture 50% of one show on another show, but if you get 10%
who are like, oh, this is interesting.
Let's give this a try, then we've done our job in a sense.
We've exposed them to a different aspect of history they may
not have considered before.
I think this is the power of networks and thinking about this way, and we
talk about this with a lot of higher education podcasters, is we'll come
across or we work with, you know, one podcast in one school and we're trying
to encourage them to think about, you know, rising tides lifts all boats.
Like just 'cause you're in the law school doesn't mean you can't engage
with this great podcast coming out of the school of engineering kind of a thing.
And R2 Studios is focused on, is more tightly focused on history.
But I think there's something here for all of us higher education podcasters
to think about this network effect and pulling someone in through one
introduces you to these other podcasts.
Well, you're absolutely right, and what you're describing is a very
university thing to do, which six different departments or divisions
are all starting kind of the same methodology or same project or a podcast.
And, you know, at Mason we're very fortunate to have an internal recording
studio, but we could walk to the library, there's a sound booth there.
There's, in the student center, there's actually two I think, and
then in the new Arlington campus they have built another one.
And it's just what universities do, right?
The parts are so big they don't talk to each other.
And there are some attempts at coordination, but you know, it would
be to the university's benefit to kind of have these all under one umbrella
or at least a centralized place.
So if somebody was interested in the University of British Columbia
or George Mason University, they could go to that place and see
what's what on campus or what people are doing on campus and producing.
And I think we've seen this a lot with the commercialized networks.
I mean, that is how you see these large studios, some as big as Wondery, but
then there are smaller ones that have slightly more niche topicality, but
they're using the network method to do, which is what you've described, to
funnel people in and get them interested in one show and then expose them to
all of the other connected shows.
And so I think that's something that we've also been trying to pay attention to is
who is being commercially successful.
And even though, you know, we have a different mission than those
organizations, how can we think about using those strategies with R2 Studios?
That's smart.
Because I think sometimes, you're right, there's a different mission for, you
know, there's a different reason for podcasting than a monetized podcast per
se, but it doesn't mean that we can't look to those commercial monetized podcast
networks for learnings and to apply those learnings in the academic world as well.
I also feel like there's missed opportunities sometimes with these
universities that maybe don't realize there is networks or there's other
podcasts out there that if you have the right topic or you are able
to bring people on why don't we do cross-promotion to help everybody?
Yeah, and it's funny too, it's particularly an issue in the humanities
where there's this idea, well, we have contributed to the knowledge of
humanity and we will not talk about it because that would be bragging.
And it's like, you know, if you're fans of the, of Boiler Room, which was sort of
my generation's Wall Street, one of the big lessons from that is A, B, C. Right?
Always be closing.
Like you've gotta get out there and, and sell your stuff and
with it in a very strategic way.
And I think it's in this moment as, as we've been sort of talking about when
the humanities are in question, when universities themselves are in question,
I think it's incumbent on us to do as much as we can to talk about the work
and the value we bring to society.
And this is a really great medium to do that.
And why should we spend so much time and effort on these projects if we're
not gonna tell people about them so that they can listen to them?
It's not even like thinking about like, oh, we're bragging about, no.
It's like we did this so people can listen.
Let's tell people so that they do listen.
Yeah.
You're completely right.
You're totally right.
So I'm just gonna switch gears a little bit here.
I think one of the things that we come across or hear is when
launching things, getting things up and going, is that initial funding.
And I think unfortunately we're gonna start to see more of that I think in the
coming months in the academic world with sort of the political climate right now.
But how did the, just sort of recognizing the fact that it's other
podcasters listening to this and what we can learn, but is there anything
you can share about that initial grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation?
And how that helped get things up off the ground.
And does that help fund ongoing?
Is there sort of anything there you can share with us from a
support and funding perspective?
I think you'd mentioned something else as well, Jim, about that, but maybe
you could help unpack that for other podcasters in higher education trying
to figure out how to fund things.
You know, we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Mellon
Foundation that allowed us to establish both of our positions.
But part of that was thinking creatively about how to continue funding the studio.
And so a lot of it has been thinking about this commercialized model and you know,
just figuring out like, institutionally, how can we set up, you know, some sort
of like Patreon or something like that.
And so thinking about like as part of a history department.
You know, membership is not a thing.
And so it's been, you know, spending a lot of time thinking about how to
create standard commercial podcasting processes inside a university setting.
And some we've been successful with and others like George Mason
University is a state school.
And so there are just some like weird hoops we've not been able
to jump through no matter how many times in different ways we've tried.
And so, you know, we are still heavily reliant on grant funding
and philanthropic gifts as a studio.
And so I don't think we have cracked how to, you know, how to really
do this on that side of things.
Yeah, it's tough.
The Mellon funding was instrumental seed funding.
We were very fortunate to win an NEH grant for Worlds Turned Upside
Down and secure some philanthropic funding for Antisemitism USA and
also another grant for that as well.
But as we're recording this, in April of 2025, things have gone south with
the federal government in the United States and the NEH is under siege.
You know, the NEH has long been a generous partner for many universities
to fund projects like these, and we were already kind of thinking about how to
change the revenue mix or the income mix, so to speak, through other income
opportunities, other grants, other forms of revenue like ads and things like that.
But the recent changes has complicated those efforts.
What we have to do, at least from our part, but I think also less
applicable to others is, even before the recent crisis, we need to do a
better job of communicating that what we are doing is not free to make.
It's free to consume.
History delivered right to your ears.
But that takes a lot of effort and there are very good podcasts that
people do is on the side for fun.
But we want to be out there in the forefront of leading the charge for
really good, intellectually rigorous, yet accessible history podcasts
and that takes a chunk of change.
And so I think part of the strategy going forward is really to communicate
more seriously with prospective donors and supporters that between $5 and
$5 million is very helpful and we will take all of that in whatever
currency you wish to send it to us.
So kind of an NPR model almost is what you're envisioning
when you're saying that?
Absolutely.
And helping people understand the amount of work and effort that
goes into creating these series.
'Cause they do take a lot of work and we enjoy doing it,
but we also enjoy getting paid.
Yeah.
Funny you how that works.
Yeah.
I think universities are starting to get smarter and they're realizing
that these are a lot of work and either they outsource some of the
production limits to people like Neil and I. And then have you guys come in.
Or some of them are adding the jobs on to people that already have
them and either upping their pay.
Or that we've seen in cases where they will hire somebody that specifically their
role is the podcast like Kate at Purdue.
That is her role as a podcast person for the universities.
I come from broadcasting.
It's similar.
People don't realize the value in it and a lot of people, it's like, oh,
can you not do this for us for free?
It's easy and it's not easy and it's a lot of work and it's obviously pays
off in so much for the university.
So that being said, what are some of the success that you've seen,
obviously besides getting donations, what are some of the other successes
you've seen with the podcast?
Well, in terms of non-financial success, I will just say, so
I'm a native mid-Westerner.
And our, our goal as Midwesterners is to hide and never be seen.
And so it's profoundly confusing to me when people come up to me at a conference
or in a public forum and as one person did at a conference in France of all
places, she said, you're that podcast guy.
And I was like, yes, I am.
So it's, it's been very rewarding to get the approbation of our peers.
Even if they don't necessarily agree with the interpretation sometimes.
And that's, you know, we're in that business of, of arguing over
what actually happened in the past.
It's been really gratifying to hear some of their compliments, particularly from
people that I respect and would tell us if we were doing something that was trash.
But also from the general public, you know, just things like, I
hadn't considered Jamaica as part of British America before.
That's something that's, that is standard for historians of the
American Revolution, but to get people to see beyond the 13 colonies and
to see the 26 I think is rewarding.
And the same with the other series as well.
Um, Jeanette's got a number of stories.
Yeah, I think the audience reaction is always, the thing that I find
most rewarding is just, you know, with our series, Your Most Obedient
Humble Servant, in each episode, our host Kathryn Gehred and a guest do
a deep dive into one primary source.
And so it's often a letter between two women in the 18th century.
Frequently it's between sisters.
And so it's just so fun to listen to people talk about the series
who are not historians who didn't really find history class as fun or
interesting, but they enjoy the series because it's just, it's a deep dive
into these personal correspondence.
And they talk about important things, but then they complain about their parents
or their spouses or their children.
And so it's just, it's fun to hear people understand how much scholars
get out of reading dead people's mail.
Helping people see how historians do their work has been really rewarding.
And how sometimes we get to put scholars who don't agree with each
other in conversation with each other in episodes and just help people kinda
understand that, yeah, we're in the business of arguing over what happened.
And it's okay when we don't agree and we can still think about the complexities
of the past and draw conclusions.
So yeah, I think helping people kind of understand the discipline
has been really rewarding.
That's great.
Well, thank you so much for your time.
I was thinking one last question was maybe just sort of looking
ahead the next couple of years, like what's up next for R2 Studios?
More shows?
You're gonna try new formats?
What are you guys thinking as the road ahead?
That's a good question.
We have too many ideas, is the answer.
Yes.
What isn't on the horizon at this point?
That's right.
So ideally, Worlds Turned Upside Down will have five seasons.
We're almost done with season one.
That'll take us through the end of the Revolutionary War, and we have
at least one more season we hope to make with Your Most Obedient Humble
Servant where I think we're gonna dive into letters that specifically
look at parental relationships and children in the 18th century.
We have a couple of other shows that we're excited to make and that hopefully
we'll get to bring to people's ears soon.
Yep.
A few things on the horizon, but you know, Finding Jane Austen, we've
announced and so that's out there.
That'll be out later this year, starting later this year with
our colleague Anne Fertig.
A few things out there that you'll just have to stay tuned for.
It's exciting.
Love it.
Yeah.
Jen and I have been doing this for a couple of years now the Continuing Studies
podcast, we're coming up on our 50th episode, and it's like peeling an onion.
Like the more that we dig into this world of higher education podcasting,
the more we find really amazing podcasts and networks like R2 Studios.
It's just incredible what's out there.
And how it's really, I mean, the challenge of podcasting is the discovery
side, and I just think more and more if we can surface some of this amazing
work that's being done in academia.
And the way I've been looking at it lately is it's a way to break
through the rhetoric and just to give a direct voice, if you will, for
that's happening on campuses and the academia and the work and podcasting
is just such a great medium for it.
So congratulations on what you guys have created so far, and you got a new,
you got at least one listener here.
But thanks for joining us today and thanks for sharing your journey and
all the amazing work that you're doing.
I.
Yeah.
Thank you guys.
I love the fact that you guys are making history more accessible because you guys
do all this great work, but back in the day, only so many people would read it.
Now you're able to expand the stuff that we maybe would not know.
Now we get to engage with it and hear things that are really intriguing
that we wouldn't know about unless they were super significant that they
would be brought to light on the news.
So thank you guys.
Thank you.
Well, that was great.
What a really interesting conversation we had with Jeanette and Jim.
I quite enjoyed that conversation and learning more about R2 Studios.
And just so honest and candid specifically towards the end, they
are putting a lot of work in it and they do need funding and I think
sometimes we don't get enough attention of why these things need funding.
Everyone just thinks, oh, they're like something fun or they're easy to do, but
there's a lot of work that goes, so I love that they were so candid about it.
Yeah, I think it's really important conversation to have right now.
As Jim mentioned when we were recording, this is April of 2025 and yesterday was
when we just heard that Harvard really pushed back and they're, you know, in
theory they're turning their backs on $2 billion worth of research funding.
It is just incredible times we're in that if you think that the funding for
all this great research is going to it's just gonna go away or it's gonna be,
try to be controlled in a different way.
It's a really shocking time we're in.
So I, I, I agree, jen.
It was great that they were candid sort of about their funding and I think
that's gonna be a challenge overall, but I think we're gonna start to see this
in the podcasting space as well too.
No, I agree.
I think it's something we all have to be mindful of and it's interesting
time and we're gonna have to figure out different ways to get through it.
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