Since its initial online inception in the spring of 2013, Dateline Downtown has finally made its way into the digital age.
Assistant/Web Editor
What started as just a Facebook and website page for Dateline under former editors Jacqueline Reyes and Alma Garcia has now expanded deep into the podcast world with new editors Ted Shull and Juan Hernandez. Former editors Jacqueline and Alma took it upon themselves to create an online media destination for Dateline in spring 2013, with hopes of creating a bigger audience within University of Houston-Downtown’s community. Under new editors Ted and Juan, the idea to launch a podcast that would make Dateline a full-fledged multimedia destination was deemed only as a school experiment/project between the two. With only 3 episodes under their belt, it was not until Episode 4 that feature guest Kristopher Sharp, that Dateline’s podcast was picked up by FM radio stations Democracy Now and Progressive Voices. Both stations have online syndication that provides for a global audience. Sharp’s episode reached nearly 7,000 plays and more than 100 downloads, which boosted Dateline’s Facebook and website pages to a combined total of 1,000 people reached.
Dateline Downtown will continue to push the envelope to develop itself into a multimedia destination for people within the UHD community. With a variety of guests and topics that are planned for future episodes, Dateline Downtown’s goal is to become the benchmark for future school podcasts.