The first podcast festival at San Diego City College took place on Wednesday, April 24, giving an audience of about 60 advice on how to have a successful podcast.
Stacey Lauren of the “Do The Thing” podcast, members of KPBS’s “Port of Entry” and “The Finest” podcasts and San Diego radio and media personality Chris Cantore all spoke about their careers in podcasting and journalism.
Each panelist covered a range of topics including how to start a podcast, and what equipment is needed, while also providing insight into what inspired them to start their podcasts.
Film Journalism Media Production department professor Jodina Scazzola hosted the event and credited fellow FJMP professor Cy Kuckenbaker and her students for helping inspire her to make Podfest happen.
“Cy was talking about the film fest that he wants to do. And he’s like, you know, these pod fest things are becoming a big deal. You should probably think about doing a pod fest,” Scazzola said. “We started to brainstorm ideas for it in last semester’s class and then just had to make it happen.”
After each panelist presented, they all answered questions from the audience. Each answer came from a panelist who specialized in what was asked.
City College student and podcaster Amy Blankemeier attended Podfest and asked panelists about copyright laws when playing songs on her podcast. Afterward, she reflected on what she learned from the panelists.
“Hearing about the different shows that are available and seeing KPBS come in and share the different formats, and then hearing Chris Cantore talk about his show, how he got started, and hearing his background on the radio was really interesting, and I learned a lot,” Blankemeier said.
Although attendees were given a bevy of information, there were topics that weren’t covered, giving Scazzola inspiration to create another Podfest in the future.
“I think one of the things is people started asking a lot of questions about content, and there were still so many questions about technical aspects and about how to monetize,” Scazzola said. “But that just tells me that we need to have a Podfest 2026.”
For more information on classes in podcasting, radio, or any class in the FJMP program, click here.
Edited by Luke Bradbury and David J. Bohnet
