Climbing Magazine introduces new monthly podcast

For every sentence included in a story, there’s at least one left out that was just as compelling. More and more, media outlets are recognizing that their readers want to know the subtext and backstories that don’t always make it to print. Tapping a new storytelling format, Climbing Magazine just launched a new podcast that will delve into the lives of athletes, writers and photographers, industry VIPS, and, the Climbing editorial staff. We caught up with Editor-in-chief Matt Samet to ask him why listening is complementary to reading the magazine.

Why start a podcast now? What spurred the idea?

Matt Samet: No one was like, “Hey, when are you guys going to have a podcast?” But I think seeing more and more climbing podcasts emerge, and seeing all the great storytelling they’ve been able to do, we decided to do it ourselves. Two or three years ago when Shannon Davis was editor of Climbing, he wanted to get something going. He bought a microphone and had some equipment, but it just never quite launched. It’s an idea that’s been around for a while. I’ve been listening to the climbing podcast, The Enormocast, since the early days and there are a lot of other lot of podcasts out there for training and beta. Other magazines are starting to do podcasts. It just seemed like the timing was right. Basecamp: A Climbing Magazine Podcast is a good way to complement our print and online content and some deeper storytelling that we wouldn’t have space for in those other venues.

As you said, there’s a bunch of podcasts on the scene. Why is yours different?

MS: Kevin Riley is hosting it. We’ve been friends and have worked together since 2006 when he did ad sales at Climbing an was the associate publisher for a long time. He left a few years ago and started his own podcast, Action in Solitude. I was listening to it and thought he was doing some great interviews with climbers and distance runners and mountain bikers. I thought, “Huh, Kevin would be a perfect host.” We were thinking we could try to do it in house but ideally we’d have somebody with podcasting and interviewing experience, so we brought Kevin in. He’s a seasoned podcast host who knows the climbing media space and the community.

Each episode is an hour. In the first 15 minutes we have a mini interview about timely, newsy things. In the preview episode, we talk about speed climbing, the new records, and the recent terrible accidents. The other 45 minutes of it will be longer form interviews. Because of the brand and its longevity, and because of our connections and being in Boulder, we’re able to talk to a lot of really interesting people who are at the cutting edge of the sport whether it’s in terms of athleticism or product design or some other form of creativity.

What’s on deck that you’re stoked about?

MS: Coming up, we have interviews with Daniel Woods and Matty Hong, both accomplished young climbers, who are doing pretty interesting stuff. Hong is a photographer and filmmaker. Woods has been pushing the envelope since he was 14 years old. He recently went through a divorce and got a DUI and he talks to Kevin about that stuff. He’s up front and honest. I’m really excited about both interviews because we talk to the guys about their process and not just their accomplishments. We haven’t lined up our third guest yet, but we hope to have that ready by July or August.

We’re going to have a new episode every month no matter what. If we can get some support and momentum, hopefully we can come out every two weeks. I think everyone who’s been working on it is just fired up. We’re psyched to jump into this new form of storytelling.

Where to find it: 

• iTunes (opens in app)
• Google Play
• Youtube
• Soundcloud
• Stitcher
• Spotify