The Project
Inspired by reporter Sam Evans-Brown's environmental reporting and research that confirms NHPR's audience has a deep passion for the outdoors, the podcast Outside/In is demonstrating our commitment to a key coverage area with a sound that is fresh, fun, and singular.
Building on our strengths, Outside/In expands our existing beat, taps into the creativity, skills and enthusiasm of the current staff, generates radio, podcast, video, and online content of great interest to our audience, embraces the natural beauty, recreation, and bounty of New Hampshire, and fills a notable gap in the public radio program menu.
Outside/In isn't an "environmental show," it's a show about the environment - and how we use it.
The Outside/In logo is the touchstone for many of the show's branding elements
A Fresh approach
Outside/In has a sound-rich, smart, and irreverent voice. The program is grounded in journalistic integrity and invites our audience to explore, understand, and fully engage with the outdoors and a broad range of environmental issues and ideas.
The Outside/In team has generated several flights of hour-long, on-air seasons of broadcast episodes, and the podcast version of the program has been steadily growing its feed and audience, with nearly 100 episodes produced and more than a million and a half downloads to date. The podcast has also appeared on numerous prestigious "best-of" lists, including from Outside Magazine, Adventure Journal, and The Dyrt.
Click here to explore the Powerline series and to see photos from Sam and Hannah's reporting trips to Canada.
DEEP-DIVE REPORTING
In late 2017, the team released an ambitious series of episodes called "Powerline," a deep-dive into Canadian hydropower's origin story, and its impact on indigenous people.
BRANDED CONTENT
As the radio show and podcast have developed, the team has created branded segments designed to explore various aspects of the environment and employ new storytelling techniques. Each segment has a home on Outside/In's website, on which the show's branding and interactive design elements draw inspiration from the sound of the show, and influenced by the idea of acquiring badges in scouting.
Outside/In's branded segments include:
Listen NOw
Outside/In was inspired by the ambitious multimedia journalism Sam has created while working as a reporter at NHPR. Click here to listen to podcast episodes and stories.
This animated gif was created for the 10X10 segment "Puddles in the Woods"
Digital initIatives
Outside/In is conceived to be a multi-platform production – content made available when and how our audiences want it. Early digital properties include the Outside/In segmented podcast, videos, photography from the field, animations, and more.
Program content will have a strong visual presence online, with branding elements inspired by the idea of acquiring badges in scouting, and episode-specific title cards, animated gifs, and visuals designed to share on social media.
Video content will include behind-the-scenes footage from the production of radio stories, a series featuring animations of "Sam Explains" segment content, and standalone videos produced as companion content to the radio show and podcast (see examples below).
Video: Sam and the Outside/In team and cook (and eat!) nutria, an invasive species of rodent found in the wetlands of Louisiana.
Video: Sam and the Outside/In team forage for and cook (and eat!) periwinkles, an invasive species of snail found on the N.H. Seacoast.
Program content will have a strong visual presence online, with branding elements inspired by the idea of acquiring badges in scouting. The appeal of the content coupled with the visuals open future possibilities of creating Outside/In branded products.
Engagement and partnership opportunities
Outside In provides endless engagement opportunities from guided outdoor adventures to educational projects. Ideas include hands-on learning for elementary and middle-schoolers including downloadable classroom tools, program content packaged to piggyback on learning units, sponsorship of environmental science fair prizes, and more.
Editorial partnership opportunities are myriad, and have so far included Outside Magazine and its branded podcast, Slate, WBEZ Chigaco,
INITIAtiVE STAFFING: A NIMBLE TEAM
Sam Evans-Brown hosts Outside/In, and the Creative Production Unit's Executive Producer Erika Janik leads the editorial team. Maureen McMurray oversees the production unit in her role has Director of Content Innovation and Audience Development.
Taylor Quimby is the team's Senior Producer, with Hannah McCarthy, Jimmy Gutierrez and Justine Paradis working as multi-platform producers of both radio and digital content. The show's digital and podcast strategy is overseen by Digital Director Rebecca Lavoie.
A segment in which the team explores some previously enjoyable aspect of every day life that Sam's reporting or environmental take has inadvertently ruined.