Q&A with The Podcast Pairs: Emry and Anahita

Did you know that the first wireless radio was invented in the mid-1890s? Since then it has revolutionized the way we communicate and share ideas and stories, becoming one of the pillars in modern day media. Podcasts are what we call the present day radios. Platforms such as Spotify, have made it easier for anyone— regardless of age or experience— to start their own podcast and reach a wide audience.

In this week’s interview series, we will turn to The Podcast Pairs, a teen podcast hosted by best friends Emry and Anahita. Their mission lies in talking about real issues that many teenagers face and can relate to. In this article, we will dive into their journey, the challenges they face, how they overcome these challenges as well as what’s next for The Podcast Pairs.

Can you give us a brief overview on what The Podcast Pairs is all about?

The podcast pair is about two best friends who came together to bring light to issues they care about. Whether it be fun and unserious conversations, to actual problems they face.

How did you two meet, and what inspired you to start the podcast?

We met freshmen year during Spanish class and as we were assigned to sit together we discovered common interests and similarities and instantly clicked. We decided to create the podcast to make a safe space for teenagers to hear about issues that they can relate to. We also love talking and have great chemistry so a podcast sounded like the best option.

What are some challenges that you guys have dealt with on the podcast?

Emry: Some challenges that I faced with the podcast is finding topics that are relatable and current in daily life. It’s also a bit challenging to be able to find time during school to sit down and record and edit the footage. But, it’s always worth it in the end to be able to have a platform and hear people relating to the struggles that we’ve also gone through.

Anahita: Well a challenge that was most prominent for me was finding the motivation to film on some days. School can be very draining so finding the energy to film and then creating a post for our Instagram, pretty much all on the same day is tiring at times. However, knowing that we have an audience and people willing to support us makes the challenge worth it.

How do you balance running a podcast and other responsibilities such as school, family etc.?

As sophomores, the workload at school has become more than ever before, and trying to balance weekly episodes poses somewhat of a challenge. But in order to keep up with all we have to do, we often plan our episode topics early in the week and set a color scheme for our posts. So the workload is more manageable, as we often divide tasks up so it’s not all on one person.

How do you guys choose topics for the podcast?

We sometimes choose topics based on the season, hence scary stories during Halloween, or winter blues during dry winter months. But we also talk about things that we personally relate to and would want to share with the community. Collabs are always welcome but we often take requests that resonate with our audience. Finally, we monitor trends and sometimes make episodes that are comedic, hence our “hear us out” episode.

Do you both have a say in choosing or does one of you take the lead?

We both come up with topics, and would discuss and edit it together to accommodate both our ideas. We split up the editing work, taking turns each week, and divide our social media by working on the graphics and promotions separately.

What are your current goals for the podcast?

Our current goals are to reach a broader audience and come up with more creative topics to discuss each week!

Bonus Question: If your podcast had a theme song, what would it be and why?

Satellite by Harry Styles would describe our podcast because at some point in everyone’s lives, we have all felt like a satellite to someone. Simply revolving around a planet that’s distant and constantly spinning, but never truly contacting. In this digital world we have all felt this way and it’s not the best feeling at all. We wanted to change just feeling like satellites and start connecting with others through our voices and discussions. Particularly the line, “I can see you’re lonely down there, don’t you know that I am right here?” describes our podcast perfectly.

In this constant orbit in the world it can get lonely, but the podcast pair will always be here to talk!

And with that we conclude the interview. Be sure to check out their latest episode— Screen Dreams, Real Jobs. Where the two discuss the media’s influence on our career decisions. Don’t forget to follow their Spotify and Instagram page to hear more from them!