Special Topics in Media

About Special Topics in Media

Special Topics in Media Studies is a lecture-based podcast that tackles media history one artifact at a time. Each season of the series we will investigate a different mass media theme, medium, or programming genre. While our focus is educational (it is an academic podcast after all), we tailor our conversations toward a broad audience of media enthusiasts.

Publisher

Garret Castleberry

Category

education · tv & film · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

11 Oct 2022

Latest episode

27 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

193 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Oct 2026

   Guest Lecture Special: Dracula (1931) (REISSUE)

   Send us Fan Mail Celebrating the Special Topics "Anniversary Month" alongside Guest Lecture Week, we are visiting the first lecturecast converted for wide public release. In this RE-ISSUE of the Season 7 premiere, co-hosts Garret Castleberry and Scott McMurry wade into the entertainment genre of American Horror Film. Their dialogue begins with an "origin story" segment in which they share personal introductions to the genre (2:18) before setting the stage for a focused discussion of Uni...

2. 

   13 Oct 2026

   Anniversary Announcements Special - "Where We Are, What Is Coming!"

   Send us Fan Mail This is it. "[We are] him!" Special Topics in Media celebrates its fourth anniversary (seventh overall) with an "Announcements Special". Host Garret Castleberry previews the production strategies underway in summer, fall, and beyond, as Special Topics in Media counts down to episode 200! Books, TV, Film, Podcasting - there is something for everyone in the world of media, and we are primed to confront these topics alongside innovations in emerging technolog...

3. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Conference Spotlight Series (OSTCA): Podcasting as Digitized Routes of Passage in 21st Century Higher Education

   Send us Fan Mail In this finale to our 2026 "Conferences and Conferencing" miniseries, host Garret Castleberry is joined by colleagues across the State of Oklahoma to engage in a panel for the Oklahoma Speech, Theatre, Communication Association (or OSTCA). This year, OSTCA is hosted by Southwestern Oklahoma State University (or SWOSU) in Weatherford, Oklahoma, USA. SWOSU is celebrating its 125th anniversary, while Weatherford rests comfortably along the famed Route 66. Route 66 celebrat...

Who has been a guest on Special Topics in Media

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Annabeth Fehrle
• Jacob Mallozzi
• Kaelten Schier
• Brady Allen
• Michael Harris

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

23,225

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 54 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

55

Social presence

0

YouTube

72

Engagement

60