Article, Arts & Culture, Community
Below the Radar Celebrates 250 Episodes!
The release of States of Injury — with Wendy Brown marks Below the Radar’s 250th episode—a major milestone since the podcast’s inception in 2018.
What started as a side-of-the-desk project soon became a cornerstone of our programming during pandemic times, when restrictions on public events shifted our programming to the digital sphere. Below the Radar set out to make academic scholarship accessible, and to engage with ideas and experiences that are often excluded from academic spaces.
Through the podcast format, we were able to connect with people locally and internationally, platforming valuable conversations from activists, artists, writers, and academics. Over the past 6 years, we have not only hit our 250th episode, but also garnered over 142,000 listens across all platforms.
We have hosted renowned scholars such as Glen Coulthard, Leela Gandhi, and Ruth Ben-Ghiat; pillars of Vancouver’s arts and culture scene such as Norman Armour, Glenn Alteen, and Germaine Koh; and longtime community organizers such as Ann Livingston, Eris Nyx, and Ken Lyotier. We have also shared conversations with SFU faculty and staff such as Alberto Toscano, Svitlana Matviyenko, Ebony Magnus, and current SFU President Joy Johnson, among many others.
There have also been many special series produced over the years, ranging from partnerships with community members such as Megaphone Magazine’s Voices of the Street series and community organizer Al Etmanski’s Power of Disability, to our timely The Climate Imaginary series. We’ve also had series produced by VOCE staff past and present, such as See How We Run!, The Trip Diary, and Women, Work, More.
To celebrate our 250th episode, we gathered friends from previous Below the Radar episodes, colleagues, and community members to join us in our 312 Main satellite office space.
As sharing is in our office ethos, it only felt appropriate to commemorate the milestone by sharing cake and snacks with our community.
The cake cutting was preceded by remarks from SFU VOCE director and Below the Radar podcast host, Am Johal. We were also delighted to receive a surprise visit from the newly-appointed office mascot @maybe_the_somebody, who joined in on the celebration.
SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement team celebrates 250 episodes with cake!
Below the Radar host Am Johal cuts the first slice.
Am Johal and research assistant Kathy Feng unbox the cake.
The team take photos behind the scenes.
SFU GCAPES Director and friend of the office Miles Lavkulich speaks with Program Coordinator Steve Tornes.
A surprise appearance from Maybe!
From all of us at the Below the Radar team, thank you so much for your continued support over the years. We’re grateful to celebrate our past projects, partnerships, and conversations, as well as those that are still in the making.
We also recognize the contributions of former staff including Program Assistant Jamie-Leigh Gonzales and Paige Smith; Communications Coordinators Melissa Roach, Rachel Wong, and Alyha Bardi; past Program Coordinator Fiorella Pinillos; audio editors Alex Abahmed, Debbie Chan, and Sena Cleave; and co-op students Jackie Obungah, Gabriel Alegbeleye, and Alex Masse.
Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes this fall season, and we’ll catch you next time on Below the Radar!
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