Denton County announced at the beginning of September it launched a podcast as a new way to keep citizens informed and help them understand how county government functions.
It is a project that has come to fruition after lots of collaboration between Denton County’s Director of Community Relations Dawn Cobb and Commissioner’s Court.
“This is something Dawn and us have been talking about for a while,” said Denton County Judge Andy Eads. “We know print media still plays a vital role in this area, but this is a new and different way to communicate with our existing and possibly a new audience.”
Cobb said she prepared to start the podcast by listening to some herself and figuring out what kind of appeals they each bring. She said she talked with many residents and realized it was a trend that both younger and older audiences could enjoy.
“We put it together a small studio for cheap with some furniture laying around,” said Cobb. “All we had to buy were some microphones and some minor equipment and we were ready to go.”
Eads said he had a sound studio in mind when he helped design the new county courthouse in 2019 to use it for audio and video recordings. So, seeing it turn into a podcast studio was exciting.
It is part of Denton County’s mission to stay up-to-date with modern technology and trends to ensure the county can communicate with its constituents as efficiently as possible.
“We’ve grown our social media following over the years and people have come to follow us and rely on communications like our electronic newsletter,” said Eads. “And we want to meet our audience where they’re at and this new platform is an efficient and economical way to do that.”
Each episode will feature local voices and different perspectives on topics that impact the daily life of Denton County.
This includes topics such as emergency management, transportation, public health, development and historic preservation.
“Some of it will be based on timeliness of community events,” said Eads. “I was in a committee meeting about workforce solutions and we talked about the growing workforce and what that means for childcare and other issues. As those things happen, we’ll want to talk about it.”
Denton County said the goal of the podcast is to make county government more transparent and accessible while sharing real stories about the work happening across departments and communities.
Eads said it could give the county an opportunity to answer some of the public’s questions and encouraged residents to share ideas for future podcasts.
“I think there’s a human element and a sense of authenticity you get with a podcast,” he said. “So, we would love for people to learn more about the people in the county, the processes involved and the rationale behind decisions being made.”
The podcast is available online at the Denton County Conversations website or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts as “Denton County Conversations.”
