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316: Building Trust Across Print and Digital with Ojus Jain of Esses Magazine (Formula 1)
Welcome back Magazine Makers! We’re having conversations with magazine-makers— big and small, new and seasoned, independent and commercial—from all over the world, who are sharing what they do and how they do it. This year’s line up includes folks making magazines for kids, art and culture, as well as luxury lifestyle magazines, and a massive global publisher who covers all of this and more. There’s something for everyone in these 4 episodes. This episode features Ojus Jain,

Diana Varma
Jun 262 min read


311: “Copy, Podcast joy”: NASA’s Artemis II Digital Strategy with Thalia Patrinos
Today I have for you an extra special, extra ordinary, out of this world conversation (literally) about Moon Joy and the digital strategy that surrounds it. Our guest today is Thalia Patrinos, who seeks to make science accessible for everyone through storytelling. Thalia has worked for NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, as a contractor since 2018. Today, she is the Artemis Digital Lead within the Office of Communications. She leads and strategizes all digital communication

Diana Varma
Jun 162 min read


294: How to Wrap a Semester-Long Podcast Project
"This is the conclusion of a successful semester, where concept, creation, and distribution plans came together. Professor Diana welcomes the class for a final reflection and listening party, handing hosting duties over to Shana and Alex. This episode is a celebration of the creative energy poured into the course, covering everything from the development of a central concept to planning final distribution strategies. The discussion explores the powerful concept of "class citi

Diana Varma
Apr 22 min read


293: How to Master Multilingual Podcasting
"On this episode of Lights Microphone Podcast, we sit down with Winnie Liao, a multilingual creator navigating the world of podcasting outside the default English-speaking bubble. Winnie brings us inside the reality of building content in a different language, carving out space for cultural identity, and pushing back against the idea that creativity only counts when it fits the dominant market. She shares the story of starting her show in Mandarin in Taiwan, the unexpected de

Diana Varma
Mar 312 min read


292: How to Optimize Your Podcast for Growth
“If you want to grow your podcast, you need to stop thinking like a social media star and start thinking like a librarian. This week, we are honoured to have Jordan Blair, Podcast Producer for Buzzsprout and host of the Buzzcast, joining us to talk about the core mechanics of making your show grow. Jordan brings us inside the world of podcast distribution, breaking down why platforms are search engines, not recommendation feeds. You will learn the single most useful metric fo

Diana Varma
Mar 232 min read


291: How to Build a Millionaire Machine
"If you're stuck in the planning phase, you're losing the game. The secret to success in any venture, especially podcasting, is fast feedback and radical adaptation. This is 100 Ways to Make 100K, and this week, host Javon Martin is going behind the scenes of his own show. For over 70 episodes, Javon has been on a relentless hunt to find 100 different paths to generating $100,000 per month. In this special session, Javon reveals the brutal, yet necessary, truth about what it

Diana Varma
Mar 172 min read


290: How to Compose an Iconic Podcast Theme (Serial)
Quick Summary - Show Notes Nick Thorburn (the musician behind The Unicorns and Islands ) talks with host Shana about creating one of the most recognizable pieces of podcast music ever: the theme song for Serial. The whole thing happened almost by accident. A friend made a connection, and Nick treated it like any other freelance gig. He listened to the pilot episode, got inspired by the dark, true-crime vibe, and cranked out a library of music in one weekend. He had zero clue

Diana Varma
Mar 102 min read


289: Launching a Podcast From the Ground Up
“ Welcome to Ctrl+Alt+Narrate , the show that explores the diverse journeys behind digital media creation. But what happens when the creators become the story? In this episode, host Alex flips the camera around to interview the brilliant team that brings the show to life: Sneesha, Alisha, and Victoria. Together, they dive deep into the production process of " Ctrl+Alt+Narrate ," covering everything from managing a massive post-production backlog to the learning curve of hosti

Diana Varma
Mar 33 min read


288: Introducing Lights Microphone Podcast
Hello Everybody! The next 6 weeks of this podcast, we’re doing something a little different. I can’t wait for you to hear what’s to come. In the Fall 2025 semester, I had the great fortune of teaching my first for-credit course in podcasting. Since I started Talk Paper Scissors in 2019, I’ve informally helped and consulted on a number of projects in the space, but I had never (until now!) planned a full curriculum, thinking through what I would’ve loved to know when I was fi

Diana Varma
Mar 24 min read


287: net.art Pioneer, Olia Lialina
This episode has been three conversations in the making. It started in episode #273, when I spoke with Amanda Breeze of TRIPPER Magazine, who mentioned being inspired by George Wylesol’s grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book, 2120 . In episode #276, George joined me to talk about the book and how Internet culture and GeoCities websites shape his work. Then, in episode #280, I spoke with Jill Blackmore Evans, creator of GeoCities Memory , a personal and scholarly project arc

Diana Varma
Feb 242 min read


280: GeoCities Memory with Jill Blackmore Evans
Weeeeeeeee! In today’s episode we’re heading further down the rabbit hole—where one episode leads to the next, and new ideas lie around every corner. In the two previous episodes in this series, I spoke with Amanda Breeze of TRIPPER Magazine ( #273 ) where she mentioned George Wylesol’s incredible grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book, taking inspiration for her own magazine’s navigational features. So I reached out to George to learn more about his publishing and illust

Diana Varma
Jan 132 min read


272: Living at the Intersection of Art, Design & Digital Media with Julian Brown
Welcome back everybody! We’re 6+ weeks into the fall semester and I have the great pleasure of teaching my first podcasting course at Toronto Metropolitan University! The course is called MDM Podcast Lab: Design, Develop Distribute with around 20 students actively working to create their own podcasts. It’s been so much fun to imagine what a more linear path to podcasting than my own experience would look like, and build a workshop-style course to help guide digital media st

Diana Varma
Oct 16, 20252 min read
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