Dr. Wesley Phelps’ podcast Queering the Lone Star State describes itself as a “documentary-style podcast series about the historic struggle for queer equality in Texas.” Its first season features eleven legal cases within Texas history, the late 1960s to the early 2000s, that occurred as a result of Texas’ former sodomy law. The podcast is recorded in collaboration with the University of North Texas radio station, KNTU 88.1, and is hosted by Dr. Phelps. Phelps is a historian at the same university, his expertise is in LGBTQ history and the 20th century South. This podcast is one of the ways in which he educates about the gay rights movement in Texas, another being his book, Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement.
Writing about audiovisual narratives that relay history to public audiences, scholar Enrica Salvatori posits that “as a tale made by sounds and images, the ‘story’ must have its
own styles, special effects, pauses, and rhythms, which have a decisive and primary
importance related to its contents.” Queering the Lone Star State achieves that imperative. Though Phelps is the sole narrator of the podcast, the show incorporates many different recordings of interviews and recorded clips, meaning that listening doesn’t get monotonous. The episode I am specifically reviewing is the seventh episode in season one, Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University. There was a portion of this episode that was slightly confusing; clips from interviews with several of the students that took A&M to court are played throughout the episode, but the listener is never given the context for these interviews. The portion of the recordings where the interviewer asks questions are edited out, meaning that it is unclear whether Dr. Phelps is the one doing the interview or if these are older clips that are being incorporated into the podcast. An estimated half of the podcast is Dr. Phelps’ speaking, the other half is recorded clips and interviews. Overall, the blend of narrative, interview clips, and commentary works really well.
Transitions between topics within the episode flowed smoothly. The episode was structured with three “Acts” and an epilogue. Each act features several minutes of Dr. Phelps’ commentary, which contextualizes the recorded clips that follow. Each act concludes with more explanation from the narrator. The podcast’s music, composed by Nicolas Neidhardt, is quirky and is slightly reminiscent of the 1980s. I think this works well, since many of the cases covered by the podcast occurred during that particular decade. The podcast’s score therefore helps place listeners within the time period sonically.
Another way the podcast stands out is through its incorporation of study materials in the show notes. Each episode comes with links to primary sources, a quiz, guided discussion questions, and essay questions. This makes it easy for teachers to incorporate listening to an episode into their lesson plans, with ready-made assignment materials provided by the podcast.
Overall, I think that this is an example of an excellent podcast. It provides multiple ways for listeners to engage, the production quality is stellar, and the material covered is both interesting and relevant. I can see myself listening to the rest of the episodes in my spare time.
Sources
Salvatori, Enrica. “The Audiovisual Dimension & the Digital Turn in Public History Practices” In Handbook of Digital Public History edited by Serge Noiret, Mark Tebeau and Gerben Zaagsma, 495-504. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110430295-044
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