How do you Produce a Finale? You go back to the beginning…

As I reach the end of my University career, I can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia; looking back at what came before.

I started working for the Innis Herald in my second year as a writer/contributor, picking up/submitting pitches and writing everything from movies to politics to a ranking of podcast shows and hot chocolate.

Put simply, The Innis Herald was my escape from writing serious topics on disability advocacy in The Varsity. Sure, I wrote one serious political or personal essay from time to time, but The Innis Herald is a small newspaper that is able to remain “quirky” and an overall conversation between friends. After all, Innis College is one of the smaller colleges at Uoft’s St. Geroge Campus.

It wouldn’t be until the end of my second year that I was asked repeatedly to apply for the 2020-2021 masthead. I had some experience with web management, and conveniently I had a job with the Canadian Hard of Hearing right before where I learned how to manage a WordPress site and perform other communication tasks like social media and newsletters.

Being the Online Editor of the Innis Herald was fine, but all year I was itching to do one thing: podcasting. As the Communication Relations Officier Intern at CHHA, I was also responsible for producing a summer student podcast Speak Up! It may not have been perfect but it gave me this infectious drive to produce more podcasts, no matter how stressful it was.

While it may have taken a few months to kick it off, we dropped the trailer and pilot episode in March 2022, and later than the fall and winter semesters, we would produce about eight more episodes, two episodes every two months.

Each episode was interesting to produce. So here are some of my favourites.

The first one I ever recorded was V58E3 Jack McGrath’s Registrar Break Down. It was done over a teams call during August and was supposed to be the first episode until we thought it was best to interview our acting principal Karen Reid. Jack was the first Innis Staff to interview because as a front-line advisor of the Registrar, he was someone who helped me navigate my first year. Whenever I was lost, confused or panicking over some information, I could send him an email or phone call and he was there to break things down for me. So I thought it would be best to inform incoming students that the Registrar is not some stiffy office, they are friendly and care about their students and their success.

When I said we decided to release our Interview with our acting principal as our first episode, I lied. No, out of thin air, the podcast team found ourselves scrambling to produce a Halloween special as our “first episode.” Even though Karen Reid’s episode would be the official first episode, the Halloween special kicked off the 2022-2023 school year with a crack of lighting and rumbling of thunder. Despite being a last-minute idea our Editor in Chief really wanted to do, our Podcast editors really pulled all the tricks with this special. The dramatic read was nice, but the spooky special effects really pull it together.

Even though I did not host this particular episode, editing the Innis Lore episode was truly a lot of fun. Our editor-in-chief interviewed one of our alums who were behind the Innis Herald back in the day, so to keep it within the theme of a “blast to the past,” I challenged myself to produce an old-timey sound for the episode. Between producing a new theme using vinyl record scratches and jazz, and learning all about how Innis used to be, it was truly a treat.

Of course, there were many other episodes that we worked on or that I edited/produced myself that I also enjoyed. But none of them can compare to our finale

Other than being the FINALE of season 1, it was the first episode where we had more than three people in the studio. Between the five of us, the room was electric with laughter, inside jokes, and heartfelt comments as we look back on how the Innis Herald performed this year. Even though it was nostalgic, looking back, it was also looking forward as it was the first episode in the CIUT-FM’s new Podcast Studio at Hart House. It was the reason why we could have so many people in the studio, to begin with.

The Innis Herald will always have a special spot in my heart, and I will look forward to seeing what the new podcast team creates.