On Sept. 27, Bull Horn Media, a podcast that reports on the interests and concerns of USF St. Petersburg students, will launch on iTunes. The podcast will be the first broadcasted medium on campus in more than three years.
USFSP was formerly home to the “Bull Horn Web Radio Club,” a now defunct group that published podcasts and offered a way for students interested in broadcasting to develop their talents. The group has been inactive since 2010, thus prompting College of Business senior Danielle Freeman, 20, to create a new organization with a long-term outlook.
“It started freshman year. Myself, Anissa and John all used to hang out in my room and have discussions and debates about things,” Freeman said. “And I just remember one day saying, ‘I wish I could bring this to the campus.’ That’s really how it developed.”
Freeman will be joined by Devon Alter, 19, Jonathan Boyd, 20, and Anissa Fitz, 19. The four hosts will record the show’s main segment together, before splitting off into groups or on their own. Though the main hosts have already been established, other students will still have opportunities to get involved.
“The bread and butter of this program is the fact that we have student guests. I think that’s where students on campus can take the reins and voice their opinion,” said Boyd, an international business major and student leader on campus. Once the show is better established, the hosts will allow students to audition for their own segments.
Since Bull Horn Media is run independently, it does not fall under the same umbrella other clubs and organizations do and cannot request funding from Student Government. This also means it will not be subjected to the same rules and regulations that govern most on-campus organizations — a quality that intrigued Alter, the only mass communications major in the group.
“The reason that I’m attracted to this is because it’s being independently run; we’re really just going to be able to get to the grit of everything. We’re going to interview people; we’re going to be right there with them for their story or their opinion. That’s the attraction to this: Someone who isn’t interested in the written journalism aspect of the news now has this outlet.”
Bull Horn Media will tackle problems occurring on campus, important happenings in students’ lives and various other things are on the minds of young adults across the country. Its main purpose is to give students a voice while providing them with relevant broadcasting experience.
According to Freeman, the main challenge in getting Bull Horn Media launched was deciding what direction the group wanted to take it. Numerous questions arose during the planning stages, such as whether or not the show should be broadcasted on AM or FM radio, what type of equipment would be needed to conduct the broadcast and how to get the word out about it.
“The biggest challenge getting this started up was the scope,” Freeman said. “When we first started we were really young, and all we knew was that we wanted to have this thing come to life and we didn’t really know how to go about it. Getting experience with other organizations has helped us solve those issues.”
Boyd, Fitz and Freeman are all involved with student government, and in 2012, Alter started up his own podcast called “18 and Balding.”
Boyd hopes the crew’s outside involvement will cultivate student interest.
“We’re looking for the next generation of leaders. I think this is the perfect opportunity for them.”
