As part of the Gephardt Institute’s Civic Café weekly dinner and dialogue series, St. Louis Public Radio reporter Chad Davis and producer Danny Wicentowski spoke to a crowd of students on Oct. 1 about their experience in making the podcast “We Live Here: 10 Years After the Ferguson Uprising.”
The podcast, hosted by Davis and produced by Wicentowski, is a continuation of the “We Live Here” podcast, first launched by St. Louis Public Radio in 2014.
This original iteration was developed as Michael Brown’s killing and the Ferguson Uprising drew international attention to the St. Louis region. Its purpose was to center community stories to both shape and translate St. Louis’ identity.
While embracing this original purpose, today, Davis and Wicentowski also seek to honor history and reflect on where the St. Louis region is 10 years later.
In itself, however, this mission doesn’t demonstrate the intricacies of storytelling decisions that the duo dealt with the developing the podcast. At Civic Café, Davis and Wicentowski reflected on how they decided to tell the story of St. Louis: the decisions they made and the questions they asked themselves.
“What is storytelling supposed to help you do?” asked Wicentowksi at the start of the Civic Café, a question that was considered in the development of the podcast.
Although storytelling can be used for a variety of purposes, he and Davis ultimately concluded—through many conversations and months of reflection—that they wanted to use their podcast to tell a specific and new story; to appeal to a certain audience; and to have their audience feel something, specifically to feel tension.
The idea of the audience was highlighted throughout the Civic Café as an important aspect of storytelling, especially as it factored into Davis and Wicentowski’s next question: What exactly the focus of their story would be.
“Over the course of 10 years…looking at George Floyd and these protests of the past years, there was this thought of, could you make Ferguson the nucleus for this? The start of the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Davis, talking through their thought processes. “Could we show that St. Louis was something that stood out, and spread to other cities in this movement?”
“And just because we could make that argument, there was the still the question of should,” added Wicentowski.
The two acknowledged that their own identities and experiences influenced what they thought the story’s focus should be, which is where the audience comes into play.
In making this decision, Wicentowski and Davis prioritized having conversations with their audience to see what they saw as the focus. Hearing these different opinions and perspectives shaped their story into what it has become today.
“Make sure you’re always aware of your own background, and bring that out too…don’t take any of that for granted, always acknowledge that and realize that—for better or worse—that can shape your viewpoint on an issue,” said Davis.
Ultimately, they decided on exploring why St. Louis-area schools are more segregated today than they were 10 years ago, reconsidering the legacy of live streamers who brought visuals from the frontlines of protests directly to people around the world, and talking to the changemakers who are staying—and leaving—St. Louis.
“There was nothing right or wrong, but we had to make choices,” said Wicentowksi. “We had to reflect on the kind of story we wanted to make, and consider the best way to bring that to life.”
Listen to “We Live Here: 10 Years After the Ferguson Uprising” on Apple, Spotify, and most popular podcast platforms.
Civic Café, part of the Gephardt Institute’s Engage Democracy Initiative is a weekly discussion series hosted every Tuesday at Stix House from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Graduate and undergraduate students of every discipline are invited to share a meal together and learn about civic topics from a community or campus expert.