A recent conversation with Jewish Link Publisher Moshe Kinderlehrer, Editor Elizabeth Kratz and Digital Editor Channa Fischer highlighted the world of The Jewish Link’s podcast, “The Jewish Link Pitch Meeting,” which first aired in March 2023. Produced by Fischer and hosted by Kinderlehrer and Kratz, each episode features a guest sharing new and exciting topics in their world, inviting our readers to broaden their horizons about what’s happening in our community. Guests include community leaders, elected officials, entrepreneurs, Jewish Link writers, heads of chesed organizations, comedians, rebbeim and more. The podcast was created as a “fresh and dynamic platform for discussing the news that matters to our readership,” according to show notes.
The podcast’s name holds significance as a podcast formed by a newspaper’s staff. Fischer explained: “A pitch meeting is one where either the writers of a newspaper or the producers of a new show will meet up and talk about the stories that are coming up or the stories on their agenda that they have their eye on, and they want to pitch their stories to the publisher or editors. … We wanted it to be as if you’re sitting in on a pitch meeting at The Jewish Link; kind of putting your ear to what’s coming up in the community.” Essentially, guests are “pitching” their ideas and experiences to Kinderlehrer, Kratz, and The Jewish Link’s readers.
It took time for the podcast’s vision to become fully crystallized. Kinderlehrer said, “It took us a little bit of time to figure out how we wanted to be different.” The breakthrough came when Kratz connected with freelance podcast editor Alan Tuszynski from Pretty Easy Podcasts, who teamed up with Fischer to start logistical planning.
When discussing the podcast’s goals, Kratz enumerated the depth a podcast can provide compared to an 800-word article in the paper. Both she and Fischer, who work as regular reporters for the paper in addition to their other responsibilities, emphasized their aim to show that The Jewish Link is more than just a “Shabbos paper” and has diverse content to offer, particularly online and in the realm of social media. The podcast also broadens the Link’s reach, being available on all streaming platforms for easy access.
What is the process of creating a podcast episode? As the producer, Fischer provided the details, from finding guests to episode launch. First, the team identifies an interesting guest. Fischer schedules the recording based on the guest’s schedule, and then it’s time to record video and audio. Once the episode is recorded on studio cameras and microphones and with an audio platform called ZenCastr, Tuszynski edits it within a week, then Fischer listens to it before greenlighting it. “I try to listen to it as one of our listeners. I try to see it through a lens of, like, if I was just listening to it as a podcast would I understand what’s going on?” Fischer said. Then, the podcast gets uploaded to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and more.
The format of the podcast has evolved since the first episode as the team continually discovers what works best. Overall, though, Fischer said, “the podcast is something straightforward that we can offer our readers. We’re talking about these things anyway; we’re in touch with these community leaders. Why not create content out of that?”
Each team member shared their favorite aspect of the podcasting process. Fischer loves witnessing the organic evolution of conversations. “Those pieces of the conversation that we weren’t expecting to have end up being the best parts of the conversation.” Kratz enjoys meeting influential or charismatic people and seeing how their minds work. Kinderlehrer values the personal connections formed by these meaningful and sometimes emotional conversations, and said he “feel[s] like after a podcast interview they’re my friends. Many of them are people I’d never met before. That’s powerful for me.”
Stream “The Jewish Link Pitch Meeting” podcast on all major platforms, or watch it on YouTube. For questions, topic ideas, or to be featured as a guest on the podcast, contact Channa Fischer at [email protected].
Eliana Birman is a digital intern for The Jewish Link. She is beginning her studies at Barnard College in the fall and lives in Teaneck.
