“The Umble Masterclass brings experts in communication and theater to Goshen College every year,” said Duane Stoltzfus, co-chair of the GC communication department, when he introduced the first Umble Masterclass lecture of the year on Tuesday night.

The guest speakers of the night were Dan Charles and Brigid McCarthy, who both worked for National Public Radio. Their masterclass covered both Charles and McCarthy’s 40-year journey through the journalism and media landscape.

Their talk consisted of four chapters: “Bare Bones Broadcasting,” “Public Radio Grows Up,” “The Internet Arrives” and “An Uncertain Ending.” They also walked the audience through their careers in broadcasting, from working at local public radio stations to being producers and reporters for NPR shows such as “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”

McCarthy, who graduated from Georgetown University, began the talk by describing the power of audio storytelling. She explained “It’s the medium of sound: talking, telling stories, explaining things, exploring ideas and delivering it all over the airwaves or the internet.”

McCarthy also made reference to the fact that, despite the industry evolving massively in her time within it, there are some parts that have remained consistent. “Some things have not changed: our voices, our ears, also the skills involved in telling stories in audio journalism. Those, I would argue, are still pretty much the same as when we started in the business,” she said. Charles also built on the consistency within the industry, recognizing that “the heart of it is still the human voice, conversations and stories.”

One of the biggest developments in the conversational communication landscape is podcasting. Charles, who graduated from American University, commented on the current state of the podcasting world: “Podcasting is now dominated by old-fashioned talk shows, one or two people, just sitting around a studio with microphones.”

Charles also commented on the simplicity of podcasting nowadays, quoting Sarah Koenig, saying, “Highly produced podcasts were really expensive to make. They took a lot of time, basically a lot of people, and to pay for that through advertising, you needed a huge audience.”

This year, GC applied for the Lilly Endowment grant, the recipients of which will be announced in November. If successful, will give the college funds for five projects. Two of the five proposed projects are podcasts.

Stoltzfus believes that McCarthy and Charles have come to GC at the perfect time. “To be able to bring Dan and Brigid here to deliver a public presentation on the recent history of radio, but also to spend significant time with us in the Globe studios, helping to shape and give feedback on several tapings of pilot episodes of these two podcasts, was great,” he said.

One of these podcasts will focus on justice. The episodes will be hosted by Robert Brenneman, professor of criminal justice and sociology, alongside Regina Shands Stoltzfus, professor for peace justice and conflict studies,

In her podcast episode, Shands Stoltzfus will discuss justice with Dr. Melinda Berry, a professor at the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart.

“We want to get started now, because we do have a studio, we have equipment and we have people that can step in,” Stoltzfus said, eager to begin recording.

Shands Stoltzfus also shared some of the ambitions that she and Brenneman have for the podcast series. She said, “We would like to be able to have a wide variety and full portfolio of people talking about justice and why it matters for us as human beings, and also why it matters when we’re thinking about things like the criminal justice system.”

When asked about the podcasts, Jason Samuel, general manager of The Globe, said, “It’s a great opportunity to engage not only with the local community, but the community at large.”

Samuel believes that the podcasts will benefit GC because they will “be able to tell these important stories that otherwise wouldn’t be told.”

When asked about advice for aspiring broadcasters, Charles encouraged people to “start local, try to get a job, any job at a local station and be willing to start from the bottom and be patient and learn as much as you can on your own.”

Attendance at this masterclass was also mandatory for some communication classes. One of the students in attendance was first-year journalism major Eva Carlson. She praised the masterclass, saying it was “beautifully refreshing to hear that this industry is a place that contains consistent things.”