SFU podcast amplifies voices from the periphery

By Melissa Roach

Sharing progressive research and giving a platform to community knowledge has always been at the heart of the programming agenda for SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement (SFU VOCE).

Ever-looking for new and more accessible ways of sharing information and perspectives, the team set out to launched the Below the Radar podcast in the fall of 2018, as a means of circulating and exchanging knowledge from within and beyond the walls of the university.

“Below the Radar does its best work when we're amplifying voices that are on the periphery that deserve to have a wider audience,” said host and SFU VOCE Director Am Johal. Guests of the podcast range from researchers doing innovative work to tireless community organizers and advocates, to artists and creatives who root their practice in social and environmental justice.

Johal shared, “We have incredible community activists doing work on the ground in the context of a pandemic, who are sharing stories and contexts that ought to be pushing and shaping public policy.”

When the pandemic hit, Johal says Below the Radar became one of the primary ways SFU VOCE could continue to safely engage in and share vital conversations — not only about the COVID-19 public health emergency, but also about the many other crises and inequities that are ongoing throughout.

“The pandemic has really forced us to think about this in a more complicated way in terms of what a podcast can be in this social moment, where there are increasing signs of authoritarian populism, and ways that people are looking for new information and conversations.”

The podcast hit a milestone this January. The team released their 100th episode, featuring an interview with SFU’s 10th president and vice-chancellor, Joy Johnson. Going forward, the Below the Radar team plans to continue amplifying voices that need to be heard and adding more knowledge to SFU’s research repository.

They are also working to support the burgeoning community of podcasters at SFU and are energized by efforts to incorporate peer review processes and embrace podcasting as an exciting mode of scholarly communication.

Learn more about Below the Radar by visiting them online, and you can find all 100+ episodes of Below the Radar on your podcasting platform of choice.