Last year, we launched The Vilest Rag, The Ubyssey’s podcast. We’d dipped our toes into short-lived audio projects before, but never anything like this.
It was an imperfect year. We bought a pair of sub-par microphones. A couple editors stuck some print pages and photos onto the wall and dragged in two old armchairs, transforming a corner of our office into a makeshift recording studio. We sat down with our editors — who are typically the interviewers, not interviewees — to talk about their jobs and what journalism means to them, generally.
This was one of the first opportunities our audience had to learn about how our newsroom operates. But we’ve outgrown that structure. Margins is filling the gap that The Vilest Rag once did, and we knew the podcast wouldn’t contribute much to our audience without a major overhaul.
Inspired by The New York Times’ hit podcast The Daily — which, in each episode, expands on an article or beat in audio form — we’ve pivoted to centre our reporting. Of course, this style of podcast isn’t exclusive to the Times; it’s also common among outlets like CBC, NPR, and more recently, The Tyee. The four episodes of The Vilest Rag released so far each take a recent story from one of our sections and really get into the weeds, without the pressure of a word count.
News podcasts are a way to reach anyone who may not feel connected to our reporting in written form, but still wants to know what’s going on in the UBC community. Or maybe you are a reader, but are curious to know a bit more about the work that went into reporting a story — the podcast exists for you, too. Like our pilot year of the podcast, we still think it’s important to talk about our practices, except now, that’s embedded into a conversation about how a specific story comes together. The Vilest Rag will not pursue its own reporting; it is an extension of our print and digital stories, only with a bit more leeway to pick reporters’ or editors’ brains on a given topic.
We’ve also shifted from video podcasts to focusing solely on audio, which gives us room to tap into the medium’s full potential through transition music, B-roll noise and interview clips to create a more immersive, personal experience. In the interest of supporting local creativity — and rejecting AI-generated “music” — we’ve commissioned Dylan Fitzhenry, a UBC composition student, to create a music library for our audio and video projects.
Throughout the summer, you might’ve noticed that we’ve been introducing aesthetic changes to our social media, which will soon make their way to our website, too. In line with our new visual identity, The Vilest Rag now has updated cover art, loosely inspired by the designs on vintage tape reel packaging.
Most importantly, we’ve introduced an audio producer position to our masthead. The Vilest Rag deserves to be overseen by someone who isn’t working off the side of their desk between responsibilities for another role. Sophie Clark — who now hosts and edits footage — is dedicating her full attention to creating space for audio at The Ubyssey.
We’re excited for the future of The Vilest Rag, and we hope you’ll listen along. You can find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Episode transcripts are posted a few days following each release at ubyssey.ca/the-vilest-rag.
