Today we’d like to introduce you to Hillary Dougherty and Tina Jaramillo.
Hillary and Tina met as activists with the Women’s March, Broward Chapter. We’ve always been politically conscious, and after the 2016 election, we became more engaged. We have helped organize workshops, events, and actions to advocate for human rights in our community. While working together, we realized that we shared another interest – true crime. Working closely in the political arena, we often heard stories of local officials making poor choices, and then somehow maintaining their seat or getting re-elected. So, we decided to merge these two interests and share stories about politicians gone bad. We started the podcast in December of 2019, and have published weekly ever since. Our aim is to not only highlight the dark, strange, or ridiculous hijinks politicians have found themselves mired in, but we also highlight the importance of local elections, vetting candidates, and educating our audience about historical wrongs.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The chemistry between us has been incredible, and we have had so much fun engaging with our audience. Still, there have been some challenges. Podcasting requires navigating various equipment, so we’ve had to learn new platforms and deal with issues like faulty mics or deleted sound bytes. We both work full-time and have young children, so finding the time to research, maintain a social media presence and balance time with our families can prove challenging as well. Yet, the challenges have led to growth and innovation and access to an incredible online podcast community that has been welcoming and supportive.
The Muck Podcast – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Muck Podcast focuses on true political crime. There are a ton of true crime murder podcasts out there, but we have created a niche with politics that hasn’t been done before. Our stories highlight crimes from racketeering to murder. But, we are most proud of our work that has looked at the political failures and fights surrounding important issues like LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, and more. Also, we have a new segment called Li’l Muck, where we speak to people in the media and politics about their favorite stories or experiences. We’ve spoken to award-winning journalists about their investigative work as well as politicians who are making differences in their communities.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
We would definitely start off with better equipment. When we started, we just had a couple of mics, and we’ve learned along the way that better equipment leads to better audio quality. But, we’ve worked with what we had and continue to build as we go along.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://themuckpodcast.fireside.fm/
- Email: themuckpodcast@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themuckpodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheMuckPodcast/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/muckpodcast
Image Credit:
Alfredo Olvera
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