Podcast Network Focuses On Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - This is a staggering number. Apple just announced it has 700-thousand podcasts available on its app. 700,000...and that’s just on Apple. So how does a local podcast standout in all that? A Charlotte businessman thinks he has an answer.

I watched as Holly Haze, Jen Byrum and Kristen Burns were recording their weekly podcast called Prime After Prime. They talk about a variety of topics on their podcast.

If you’re not familiar, podcasts are basically audio programs on countless subjects that you can download and listen to at your convenience. The Prime After Prime podcast is part of the newly formed Queen City Podcast Network, which is the brainchild of by Brian Baltosiewich. He says, "The Queen City Podcast Network is a collection of local podcasts. Produced in Charlotte, by people who live in Charlotte, for listeners with some sort of connection to Charlotte."

A longtime audio producer, Brian brought together five podcasts a year ago and put them under one umbrella. Each podcast promotes the other podcasts in the network as opposed to individuals promoting themselves, meaning a greater opportunity to grow listener numbers.

According to Brian, “They’re produced by people in Charlotte, talking about things happening in Charlotte. Things that affect people who live in Charlotte. So where in a lot of ways, commercial radio has left the local listener behind, we’re kind of here right now to sort of fill in that gap.”

And that's what makes the Queen City Podcast Network so unique...is that its content is exclusively hyper local as Brian calls it.

Miller Yoho, who hosts The Charlotte Podcast says, “Our goal is really just to, one, educate the listener as much as possible about different, unique and interesting people in Charlotte. And really the interesting things that are happening that may not be at the top of the surface, but just underneath.”

Sarah Pollock is an associate producer of Queen City Podcasts, and adds, "60 people a day are moving to Charlotte. So, that's a lot of people that need to know what's happening in Charlotte." And not only are the network podcasts produced locally...they're hosted by diverse local personalities.

Will Jacobs hosts The Comedy Zone podcast and says, "Because a lot of times you'll come to see things and sometimes only one perspective is represented. So to come in and say, listen, we don't want just one kind of Charlotte, we want all that Charlotte is to be represented in this network. The richness. It's not about color blindness. It's about appreciating other cultures and appreciating other people and that's something else I thought we could do with the network and why I'm excited to be a part of it as well."

The network studios are located here in the Advent Coworking building which houses a unique business and arts community which, by the way, is getting its on podcast that will debut on the network next month. Brian thinks people want to know more about Charlotte and adds, “I believe in this idea. I believe that, I believe that there’s an appetite for local audio content in Charlotte.”

And if all works out well there will be 30 or so shows on the Queen City Podcast Network in the next year. You can find all of the podcasts on the Queen City Podcast Network by going to www.queencitypodcastnetwork.com and it’s free of charge.

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