Pam Parry of Southeast Missouri State is the 2020 winner of the Best Podcast Guest Award from Journalism History.
Parry’s “Episode 25: Eisenhower: The Public Relations President” is the top-rated episode of the podcast with over 400 downloads. Her frequent promotion of the podcast and use of the show with students also contributed to her selection as the year’s top guest.
“I am honored to be selected for this award because I am a big fan of the podcast and of the other guests who have been on it,” Parry said. “I enjoy listening to other scholars and learning about aspects of media history. I also share these podcasts with my students and that has enhanced my classes a great deal.”
The Journalism History podcast recently crossed 7,000 downloads in its first 18 months and has been listened to in 50 states and 66 countries. The show’s transcripts have been viewed nearly 2,600 times.
Parry is the only member of the Podcast 400 Club. Members of the Podcast 200 Club with at least 200 episode downloads include Bailey Dick (Episode 35: Dorothy Day and The Catholic Worker), James Farrell (Episode 14: Salem, Murder & The Press), Greg Borchard (Episode 1: Abraham Lincoln and the Press), Caryl Cooper (Episode 34: Violence Against the Media) and the hosts’ Christmas episode (Episode 39: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus).
“I am very proud that the History Division continues to find innovative ways to share the historiography of the American mass media,” said Parry, who was recently selected as the next editor of the Journalism History journal.
Parry will be recognized with her best guest award during the History Division Awards Gala in August during the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference.
The 50th episode of the Journalism History podcast will air May 25 and will be followed by a special bonus episode with clips from prior guests discussing why journalism history matters. The show is booked with guests through November.
Executive producer Teri Finneman said the show is expanding its marketing with a new YouTube page to enhance global searchability. New show opens and closes will start this summer, and the show is also exploring the use of Instagram Live shows.
“We continue to explore more ways to get our members’ research out to as large of an audience as possible to share these fascinating stories from journalism history,” Finneman said. “There is so much potential for this podcast to have an even bigger audience. We continue to encourage professors to use these episodes in their classrooms as podcasts are tremendously popular with college students and serve as easy ‘guest lecturers.’”
Journalism History podcast episodes are available on iTunes, Spotify and Podbean, as well as at https://journalismhistorypodcast.podbean.com/. New episodes release every other week. Show transcripts are available at https://journalism-history.org/podcast/.