CLT Crushes The WFAE Podquest

By Tim Miner

We Charlotteans have a lot to say. But, you probably already knew that.

WFAE definitely found out in a big way when they received a whopping 370+ submissions for their inaugural Queen City Podquest competition, which offered Charlotte podcasters the chance to vie for one of five one-on-one mentorship with WFAE’s programming team and, possibly, cash prize and a chance to land a coveted podcast on the public radio station’s network.

Okay, so interest was high with podasters. How about from the public? Well, on the first day the public could vote on their favorite podcast, they crashed WFAE’s voting system. So … pretty high.

Thankfully, the WFAE team recovered quickly and the public can vote one time a day EVERY day until Feb. 20 for their favorite idea.

This brings us to our shameless plug. The Biscuit submitted an entry to co-produce a podcast  with John Short and Miller Yoho of The Charlotte Podcast about a seminal moment in Charlotte civil rights history.

The Charlotte Podcast scratched the surface of this story in 2018 with a three-party segment. But, we want to tell the story over eight 30-minute episodes using the voices and perspectives of those who lived it. And, we need your vote. Here’s the pitch:

Enshrined: the Fight for Justice in the 1965 Shrine Bowl

In 1965, Charlotte’s best high school football player was one of just four black players at Myers Park High School but was excluded from the 1965 Shrine Bowl because of his race, a situation that led Julius Chambers (a rising civil rights attorney) to take Charlotte Parks and Recreation Commission and the Mecklenburg Board of Education to court and to those who opposed change to bomb Chambers’ home and the homes of several other activists in Charlotte. It’s a story that gives rise on the best and worst the Queen City had to offer during a critical time when the civil rights movement was shaping our city.

Listen to John Short and Miller Yoho, founders of The Charlotte Podcast, describe this podcast series in under two minutes.

However this goes, we’re proud to live in a city where so many people want to share their stories through creative podcasts. We would love for you to vote for our project, but if that doesn’t pique your interest, please vote for a podcast that does. Thanks to WFAE for inspiring so many people to come forward through the Queen City Podquest.

 

To give you a sense of the importance story, listen to The Charlotte Podcast’s initial three-part series on the 1965 Shrine Bowl we’ll expand on in our 8-part series.