Map page 16
The Broad Ripple Gazette
Vol. 15 No. 07
Including the Cultural Districts and Midtown: Meridian-Kessler, Butler-Tarkington, and Meridian St.
New Podcast Features Broad Ripple Village Residents and Business Owners
Crossword page 13
Mar 30 - Apr 12, 2018
To commemorate Vogue Nightclub’s 40th anniversary as a live music venue, the Gazette is bringing back its Vogue Theater history feature. This three-part piece appeared back in 2004, when the Gazette was an 8-page paper.
By Mario Morone
mario@broadripplegazette.com “Podcasts have reawakened people to the joys of storytelling” says Brian Wheat, owner of the Village Recording Studio in Broad Ripple. “That is what I want to do with the Broad Ripple Village Podcast.” Launched in February 2018, the podcast features residents and business owners who live and work in Broad Ripple and surrounding areas. “There are wonderful and interesting people here who have stories to tell”, Wheat adds. In the ongoing podcast series, longtime residents tell stories about days gone by, business owners tell stories about starting and running their business here, and newer residents tell stories about what happened to them just yesterday. “I want to help keep the ‘Village’ aspect of Broad Ripple alive through storytelling” says Wheat. The first five episodes feature Alan Hague - owner and operator of the Broad Ripple Gazette; Jill Ditmire - resident and host of Curious Mix on local PBS station WFYI; Jessie Davis and Blake Roberson - managers of the Runners Forum and hosts of Running On Indy podcast; Dave Schnieders - resident and retired teacher for the Indiana School for the Blind; and Debra and Chuck Hasbrook - residents, owners and operators of Hotel Broad Ripple (see photo). courtesy of The Vogue
The Art Deco interior of the Vogue Theater when it opened in 1938.
The Vogue Theater A Historic Look Back - Part 2 by Alan Hague photo courtesy of Village Recording Studio
INDEX
As the host, Wheat’s approach to the podcast is very conversational and easygoing. “I think the best podcasts are unscripted where the listener feels like they are over-hearing an interesting conversation between people at a party or get together.” Says Wheat. “There really is no preparation required on the part of the guests - they show up and talk about things they already know about”. Village Recording Studio is set up in such a way that guests do not have to wear headphones or worry about speaking directly into a microphone. “People literally sit around a coffee table and have a conversation” says Wheat. “This does a lot to make people comfortable and ready to talk”. This is not to say Wheat wasn’t a little nervous about his first recording. “I had doubts in my abilities before I started,” says Wheat. “But I quickly realized that if you can have a conversation with someone, you can do a podcast.” And like many people, Wheat did not like hearing his own voice in the recording - but that faded quickly as well. “Everyone’s voice is unique, and so I just accepted mine for what it is.” In future episodes, news-oriented stories are planned such as the recent rescues of kayakers caught in turbulence of White River. Wheat also plans to add music and spoken word poetry to the mix. “Storytelling comes in many forms and I want the podcast to be both entertaining as well as informative,” says Wheat. Wheat wants to give others the opportunity to start their own podcast – it was always part of the plan when Wheat opened Village Recording Studio located in the heart of Broad Ripple in the spring of 2017. “At its most basic level, Village Recording is a storytelling studio,” says Wheat. “It is here for songwriters, musicians, authors and poets, as well as individuals, families and businesses to record stories that entertain and/or inform listeners.” Wheat says families come to his studio to capture stories that can be passed along to current and future generations. “Hearing your great grandmother’s voice tell stories of her life is a deeply moving experience,” says Wheat. “The studio was designed to capture all of the characteristics and nuances that make a person’s voice unique and special.” Local businesses use his studio to engage with their customers on a regular basis with podcasts. “Business owners have deep passion and knowledge about the subject matter of their business, whether it is music, brewing beer, outdoor adventure, exercise, or beauty,” says Wheat. “Using their own voice to share this knowledge with their customer base is a very effective way to keep customers coming in the door. Plus, the audio format is much less expensive to produce and just as effective, if not more, as other means of communication.” Because of its many enjoyable attributes and popularity among young adults, Wheat thinks podcasting is here to stay. “We are entering the second golden age of audio. The first started with radio broadcasting in the 1920s where people gathered around the radio console and listened to a very limited number of programs,” says Wheat. “Today, people have access to an unlimited number of podcasts on every subject imaginable and can listen where ever they might be or whatever they might be doing–driving to work, riding a bike, walking the dog or even at home gathered around their Amazon Echo smart speaker.” Broad Ripple Village Podcast is available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, Soundcloud, and Stitcher. If you want more information about starting your own podcast, call or text Brian at (317) 432-4306, e-mail at bwheat@villagerecording.com or visit www. villagerecording.com.
Recap: In part one, Carl Niesse opens the Vogue Movie Theater at 63rd and College Avenue in 1938. Niesse tried a new idea. He eliminated the double feature and showed a new concept instead: “Short Subjects”. Until that time theaters regularly showed double features, and one of the films was usually considered “filler”. Although many patrons did not like the double feature, surveys showed that women liked two movies for one price because they thought it was a bargain. Movie studios agreed with the concept of the short subject, which allowed them to produce fewer and better full-length movies. Here is what the newspaper had to say about Carl’s idea: “Mr. Niesse is introducing a novel courtesy of The Vogue note, for these Stylish ushers in front of a poster advertising the Vogue Variety times, into his Hour, shown with each feature film. program. He isn’t cutting it brief with a solo feature, but simply substituting a carefully selected group of short subjects under the title of The Vogue Variety Hour, for the much-abused second attraction. The current bill, for instance, includes an Audioscopics (the pictures jump out at you), Pete Smith’s How to Train a Dog, one of the Crime Doesn’t Pay series, a cartoon, a fashion subject, a musical comedy brevity and a full newsreel–62 minutes of interesting this and that in addition to College Swing. He hopes you’ll like the idea–and we suspect you will.” The single feature idea worked for a few months, but when Niesse returned Please see Vogue page 11
1 BR Village Podcast
4 Random Rippling stop
6 Public Notices
1 Vogue part 2
4 Random Rippling Verdigris
7 Random Rippling Scarlet
10 Round the Ripple
9 Poetic Thoughts
13 Crossword 14 Wine Scene Jill A. Ditmire
2 Random Rippling Legion 99
4 Frog’s Random Rippling
7 Local Contacts
11 BR Farmers Market
15 Directory / Maps
2 Random Rippling Ice Nails
5 Random Rippling Corner
7 Mistakes winner
12 Where in the Village?
19 Life of the Party
3 Random Rippling BestOne
5 BR Brewpub Quiz
8 Buzzing Around Town
13 Historic Ad
19 Reader Random Rippling
3 Calendar
6 Classified Ads
9 Random Historic Rippling
12 Hidden History / Sudoku
20 Random Rippling derby