A Broadcast Journalist Starts A Hyperlocal Podcast
Also, Warner Bros. Discovery announces its merger, and The New York Times streams another important documentary
Thank you for the tremendous response Remote Notes received for last week’s newsletter, where we interviewed NBC News Now Executive Producer Mike Milhaven. We had our biggest audience yet - nearly 300 views. This week, we’re going from national news to hyper-local.
THE LEDE
Ally Donnelly was a TV news reporter for more than 25 years in the Boston area, working at NECN, which covers all of New England. Now, she’s gone hyper-local, having started an audio podcast for her hometown, Hingham, Massachusetts.
(Photo Courtesy Ally Donnelly)
The Hingham ‘Cast (Spotify, Apple) deals, on its face, with news about the town of about 25,000 people. But the issues of this town, on Boston’s South Shore, are becoming universal. Ally has reported on school masking, a local brew and even did a great, natural sound-filled podcast about the town’s memorial bell tower.
I interviewed Ally by email. Disclosure: Ally and I worked together for years at NECN.
The Hingham ‘Cast is billed as “hyperlocal.” What does that term mean to you, and how does it differ from “local” news?
My definition of “hyperlocal” is news or coverage that is hyper focused on one community or one small, geographic area. You and I both worked in “local news,” but that was a pretty broad swath. NECN covered all six New England states with the bulk of the resources focused on the Boston area. It’s local in the sense that you’re looking at what’s happening nationally and globally through a lens of how the news affects the Greater Boston or New England area.
Hyperlocal is much more intimate. You’re looking at how global, national, regional and truly local news is affecting your community. It’s thrilling actually, to connect with your community in such a granular way, particularly during Covid. What were our testing capacities? How was the town responding to the pandemic in terms of public health resources? What was happening with the schools? How were we responding to online learning, masking or mental health access for our kids? How were we ensuring equity in access and resources? What was happening in our health and long-term care facilities? How were we supporting our local restaurants and small businesses? How were we rallying around our doctors, nurses, teachers and other first responders? Who do we want holding critical positions on the Select Board, School Committee and other town posts?
The Hingham ‘Cast stays relevant with local election coverage, profiles of dynamic members of the community, features on local history and interviews with leaders who can and should be held accountable for a myriad of issues in our town.
What gave you the idea for the ‘Cast? Who came up with the name?
I had always wanted to try podcasting so I called my former editor Kristin Keefe (a tremendous talent!) (ED. NOTE: Yes, she is!) to see what she thought. She was excited and committed to try something new too so we dug in. We played with all sorts of names and ran them by a lot of people for reactions. Hingham is an ocean community so ‘Cast had a nautical connotation that was nice and Pod made all of us think of online learning so we abandoned that avenue pretty quickly.
As a veteran reporter, were you keen to try podcasting, or did you want to stay in broadcast news?
Getting laid off as a 50 year-old woman is incredibly painful and felt deeply personal. I started freelancing for NECN in my early 20s. As you know, there were a lot of us who felt like we “grew up” at NECN. I have lifelong friends from NECN with whom I’ve been through so much, and saying goodbye to them was really hard. What was incredibly special about NECN was how committed so many of us were to outstanding work.
We were not the most high-profile or highest-rated station, but we put our blood, sweat and tears into great journalism. It was a gift. When we launched NBC Boston, I had a fabulous team to work with on specials and investigative stories and we finally had resources to spread our wings further. I still talk to “my” photographer and editor nearly every week and chat with other news friends on a regular basis. That said, after the dust settled, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to go back to TV news and wanted to take my time to figure it out.
I took the time to be there for my girls and my husband. I volunteered for things I never would have had time to do before. I had my weekends and holidays back and that was pretty darn sweet. What I didn’t want to lose was the storytelling and that’s what really launched the Hingham ‘Cast. Kristin and I still crave to tell good stories.
How has the podcast been received? What’s your audience size, and how has it been growing?
It’s been amazing. It really has. Being on Boston TV for so long, people would recognize me from time to time in the grocery store or out at dinner and they’d say nice things. Now I go to the store and people really want to connect, to share what’s happening for them or their family, to tell me I should do something on X, Y or Z or tell me what an episode meant to them. That is the absolute best.
From the jump, we’ve gotten great audience numbers. Depending on how people connect with a certain topic, we get anywhere from about 500 to 900 downloads an episode. That may sound small, but according to the main podcasting stat sites, a podcast episode that has been live about 30 days averages 141 downloads. Obviously, Michael Barbaro’s job is safe at The Daily, but my head’s held high!
Are you presenting this to local advertisers?
Yes, local small businesses have been phenomenal supporters. I would never have made it this far without them. We just signed on a flagship sponsor so look for news on that soon. If you want strong, relevant, quality community journalism, you have to support it. It takes time, resources and heart to dig into what matters in your community, I hope more people will see value in it and invest.
What’s been your favorite story so far?
I’ve done a lot that I’ve really connected with, but I did an episode on cutting (a type of self-harm where often young people will cut themselves) because a friend, who’s daughter starting hurting herself in the pandemic asked me to. I profiled a young woman who is now a mentor to other kids and the response was overwhelming. I heard from 8 families who were either in crisis or had recently gone through it and too many others to count who said their kids were suffering mightily. It felt good to give people a sounding board and resources for help.
We worked together at NECN. We had a busy newsroom that, like most, was even chaotic at times. Do you miss the buzz of the newsroom?
Definitely! I took a new job creating video and audio projects for Fidelity. Everyone is ridiculously nice and smart and forward thinking, but nobody yells or swears here! As you know, you get bizarrely conditioned to both of those things in news.
For our geeks: What equipment and software do you use?
I use a Blue Yeti mic, a pop filter, the podcast recording site Zencastr and hosting site Captivate.fm. I’d be nowhere without my giant couch pillows for sound buffering.
Anything else you’d like to add?
If you’re interested in doing a hyperlocal podcast for your own community, I say go for it! It’s an amazing medium and you’ll never feel more connected to your community and the role you play in it.
Thanks to Ally Donnelly for taking the time for these thoughtful answers. It’s my feeling that local news is the news that matters most and gets spun the least.
NEWS AND NOTES
MERGER ANNOUNCEMENT LEAVES OUT STREAMING: It’s now officially “Warner Bros. Discovery.” The two entities completed their merger and spoke in lots of platitudes at the announcement. Even though their TV holdings are comparatively small, the company CEO boldly announced Warner Bros. Discovery is “the fifth network.” Oddly, there was little talk of streaming. No mention of HBO Max or Discovery+. That couldn’t have been an accident. Consider it a warning flag …
TEGNA LOCALS GET APPS: Tegna owned stations are getting new apps and local 24/7 streaming channels. Tegna will be rolling out the new platforms across its 64 stations starting soon. This should look something like what CBS and NBC are doing with their always-on news channels and modern apps.
STREAMING IS SINKING: Remember how people wanted to pay for their own channels instead of cable bundles? With all the streaming channels, like Discovery+, Disney+ and the late CNN+ (Couldn’t anyone come up with something besides the “plus” key?) people are finding out that buying channels one at a time doesn’t save much money, if any at all. People coming out of COVID restrictions are dropping streaming media channels in big numbers: Netflix lost 200,000 customers during the first quarter of the year, its biggest drop in more than 10 years. The company has laid off 150 people and its stock is down nearly 70%, year to date:
Graphic Courtesy Google
Oh, and binge Downton Abbey now. After the end of May, it disappears from Netflix. Sorry. We’re certain Lord Grantham doesn’t approve of this change either.
LINKS AND LIKES
RECOMMENDATION: “The New York Times Presents Elon Musk’s Crash Course.” The Times has done a great job with its documentary unit, which it streams on Hulu. This one will be an eyeopener to both Tesla owners and non-owners alike. The documentary focuses on the dangers of Tesla’s “Autopilot” mode, and how Tesla often blames accident victims, while its navigation software is not bug- nor blame-free.
STREAMING LIARS! A poll showed more than half the respondents lied about watching at least one popular show, with “Stranger Things” leading the list. As The Guardian puts it: “Fake Views.” Why do they (you?) lie? People hate feeling left out.
UPCOMING STREAMING: Last Friday, May 20th, was “National Streaming Day” which is totally a real thing and not a PR idea cooked up by the streaming networks. In honor of National (Why not “International?”) Streaming Day, here are five of our most-anticipated streaming shows coming up:
Obi-Wan Kenobi (May 27th Disney+, which owes us one after “Boba Fett.”)
Stranger Things (Season 4 starts May 27, on Netflix)
Hacks (HBO Max, now in its second season. Episode 5 drops on May 27th
The Flight Attendant (Season 2 began in late April, episode 8 drops May 26th on HBO Max.)
Shoresy (A “Letterkenny” spinoff, season one begins May 27th on Hulu.)
PODCAST TO CHECK OUT: “Rex Rivetter: Private Eye.” (Spotify, Apple.) Whether you remember the Golden Age of Radio or just enjoy a great audio play, this is one you should definitely check out. Call it “Podcast Noir.” The show is a highly-produced, episodic detective series that started in 2016. The music, the writing, the acting - it’s straight from the ‘40s and yet true to the podcast medium. Each episode is only about 25 minutes long, and there are four seasons all ready for your listening. (Thanks, Izak!)
If you have a podcast to recommend to the RemoteNotes audience, please let me know about it in the comments.
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