Special Topics in Media

Send us Fan Mail It's a mid-season interlude ripe with nostalgia! Helping transition from early to mid-summer focus, Special Topics in Media offers a "2025 Summer Movie Season" side story. Host Garret Castleberry sits down with scholarly cinephile Kyle Hammonds to unpack the phenomenon of retro film screenings. The duo examine a partial sample of recent rewatches while theorizing ab...

Send us Fan Mail It's an early fall celebration! The rainy season arrived unexpectedly this August, and to commemorate the cool down, Special Topics in Media offers a "2025 Summer Movie Season" reprieve. Host Garret Castleberry dims the lights, curls up with a remote mic, and let's the thunder roll while recollecting a " Top 5 Rainy Day Movie Theater Drop-Ins ". It&ap...

Send us Fan Mail The Special Topics in Media event " 2025 Summer Movie Season " expands with a deep dive into the major releases of May! Kyle Hammonds joins host Garret Castleberry to assess the technical start to summer. The rhetorical reviewers chart their May moviegoing, and make the ultimate case for what went horribly wrong with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning . Hosts: Gar...

Send us Fan Mail In this early interlude within our Special Topics in Media "2025 Summer Movie Season", host Garret Castleberry accesses sentimental bias to recall his " Top 5 First-Run Summertime In-Theater Heart-Pounding Experiences ". It's a Top 5 Countdown to help listeners cool off during the dog days of summer. Hosts: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry,...

Send us Fan Mail The extended " 2025 Summer Movie Seaso n" wrap-up conversation starts here! Host Garret Castleberry is joined by media scholar Kyle Hammonds to list, rate, and respond to the films that ushered in the summer movie season back in April. Hosts: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Re...

Send us Fan Mail As we get set to premiere our " 2025 Summer Movie Season ", host Garret Castleberry ushers in a secondary moviegoing conversation that strikes at the heart of memories, movies, and personal preferences. It's a Top 5 Brainstorm to coincide with the dog days of summer.  Hosts: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner...

Send us Fan Mail The cinema harvest is nearly here! Tune in to our " 2025 Summer Movie Season " preview event. Host Garret Castleberry and Kyle Hammonds dart under the velvet rope, cut through the concession lines, and sneak into their local theaters to dive in and dissect which movies are making waves in summer 2025. Hosts: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry...

Send us Fan Mail This week we wind down our " Talking Mass Communication Perspectives " season of Special Topics in Media . Garret Castleberry and Season 13 guest host Annabeth Fehrle reflect on how technologies challenge traditional educational systems, spring-boarding conversation out of Brian Gilchrist's essay, "The Smartphone as Permanent Substitute Teacher," which is...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the " Talking Mass Communication Perspectives " season of Special Topics in Media . Once again Garret Castleberry is joined by Season 13 guest host Annabeth Fehrle  to discuss Multistep Flow Theory and how it functions as a part of #Hashtag Advertising strategies. Reading Reference : Andrew Sharma & Chrys Egan. "Hashtag Television Advertising--The Mul...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the " Talking Mass Communication Perspectives " season of Special Topics in Media . This week Garret Castleberry and Season 13 guest cohost Annabeth Fehrle  discuss Muted Group Theory and how it can be interpreted within the narrative framework of a trio of Disney-Pixar animated feature films: Brave (2012), WALL-E (2008) and The Incredibles (2004).  Reading Re...

Send us Fan Mail In this summer interlude, host Garret Castleberry looks back at the past year's programming themes, while setting the stage for ongoing programming to come.  Host: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art), Austin Foster (Music) Ways to Connect with us online: Follow and engage with Special Topics in Media on Twit...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the " Talking Mass Communication Perspectives " season of Special Topics in Media . This week host Garret Castleberry is joined by Annabeth Fehrle to discuss Fantasy Theme Analysis and how it applies to two politically oriented TV programs, ABC's Scandal (2013-2018) and NBC's Parks & Recreation (2009-2015).  Reading Reference : Fogle, Krystal. &q...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the " Talking Mass Communication Perspectives " season on Special Topics in Media . This week we tackle Disney, Hegemony , and the role that Critical Theory plays in shaping our views of the world.  Reading Reference : Applequist, Janelle. ""Let it go, let it go"--Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony in Disney's Frozen ". In Communication The...

Send us Fan Mail A New Season begins!  What is on deck? Who is covering it? And why should you listen! Reading Reference : Roberts, Kathleen Glenister (Editor).  Communication Theory and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applications .  New York: Peter Lang, 2016.  Host: Garret Castleberry, Annabeth Fehrle Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio Engineer), Alli Garner (Cover Art),...

Send us Fan Mail Closing out our Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry visits with graduating senior and MACU's Men's Baseball pitcher Jacob Mallozzi, a student athlete blurring the lines between reporter and player. Jacob talks about his Texas roots and how this background provided the basis for his journeyman shifts in degree focus and professional outlook.  This May, S...

Send us Fan Mail Winding down this month's  Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry visits with junior Kaetlen Schier, a student athlete "thriving in the chaos" of work-life balance. Kaetlen talks about the value available when students seek internships that align with areas of passion and/or study;; in this instance interning with a men's semi-pro volleyball orga...

Send us Fan Mail Rounding the corner with May's Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry connects with junior Brady Allen, a missions-minded media production specialist interning in areas that connect lighting, audio, and multimedia production in cooperation with a multi-campus ministry organization.  This May, Special Topics in Media is proud to recognize college students demons...

Send us Fan Mail Continuing May's Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry connects with sophomore Jared Hinkle, a burgeoning videographer and social media coordinator affiliated with Major League Fishing who travels the country by day while casting lines that deepen his social media imprint by night.  This May, Special Topics in Media is proud to recognize college students demon...

Send us Fan Mail Diving deeper into May's Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry sits down with graduating senior, MACU Women's Volleyball player , and recipient of the 2024-25 Media Production Award , Annabeth Fehrle. Annabeth discusses her passion for public speaking and how it translates into and out of the classroom. This May, Special Topics in Media is proud to recogn...

Send us Fan Mail Kicking off May's Internship Interview Series , host Garret Castleberry sits down with graduating senior, MACU Men's Baseball Pitcher, and recipient of the 2024-25 Communication Award Jordan Smith to discuss his transition from collegiate student athlete to junior varsity assistant coach. This May, Special Topics in Media is proud to recognize college students demonstrat...

Send us Fan Mail This May,  Special Topics in Media is proud to recognize students demonstrating excellence through participating in internship partnership this year. Throughout the month we will spotlight one-on-one sit-downs with current and graduating students in the Media Production and Communication program at MACU.  Host: Garret Castleberry Producers: Garret Castleberry, Will McMurry (Audio...

Send us Fan Mail Celebrating independent bookstore week , Special Topics in Media host Garret Castleberry sits down with indie book store aficionado, universal book lover, and nonfiction author J Hall to discuss the release of his newest book  College Unpacked: A Practical Guide to Choosing, Preparing For, and Excelling in College . The book provides a user-friendly guide to the increasingly compl...

Send us Fan Mail Vinylthon month is here! Which raises a fun question: How does vinyl intersect with other mass mediums?  To connect the dots between vinyl and film history, Scott McMurry joins Special Topics in Media for a discussion about films that capitalize on the music craze.  Celebrate " Vinylthon " by tuning in to the nonprofit event this April, or consider supporting vinyl radio...

Send us Fan Mail Vinylthon month is here! Which raises an important question:  What exactly IS Vinyl? To deepen listener appreciation for Vinylthon month, Scott McMurry joins Special Topics in Media for a discussion about what distinguishes vinyl from other forms of physically reproduced media. Celebrate " Vinylthon " by tuning in to the nonprofit event this April, or consider supporting...

Send us Fan Mail Vinylthon month is here! Which raises an important question... What IS Vinylthon? Joining us to discuss "Vinylthon" and more, Dr. Tim Craig (Warner University) joins Special Topics in Media for a discussion about the origins of Vinylthon, grassroots growth of this musical movement, and the ways in which it continues to diversify its programming strategies.  Host: Garret...