Pop of culture

Michael Klass likes a good laugh — and that inspired his portion of an Audio Production II project.

“Some people did stories about specific movies or TV shows, but I wanted to do something a bit more lighthearted,” the Media Arts major said. “I was thinking about what to do for a project and it just hit me: I thought it would be pretty funny to talk about laugh tracks.”

Klass’ three-minute podcast is one of 11 created by the class for 92.7 The Revolution.

For Klass, the idea of the laugh track — and its decreasing use in modern comedies — was an ideal subject matter.

“One of my favorite shows is ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,’ which has no laugh track, and people praise it for not using one,” Klass said.

Since he drives for work, Klass listens to podcasts regularly, especially “My Brother, My Brother and Me” and “The Always Sunny Podcast,” which delves into behind-the-scenes stories from the cast of Klass’ favorite sitcom.

“Podcasts are important, I think,” he said. “Sometimes I need something just a bit more engaging than music to listen to; it makes me feel less lonely in the car.”

WHAT: Students in COM 275, Audio Production II, created Popcasts, a series of podcasts about pop culture.

WHERE: SUNY Adirondack’s Radio Studio

WHY: Students selected a topic under the broad “pop culture” category, then created a podcast that aired on 92.7 The Revolution and is available at http://www.wgfr.org/.