Want to hike the Catskills, walk through a sleepy local hamlet, or listen in on local lore without leaving your headphones? Kaatscast is a richly layered, documentary-style biweekly podcast that has presented stories from the Hudson Valley for over five years, garnering a large listening audience, especially among longtime locals.
Behind the mic is Brett Barry, a professional voice talent, educator and longtime Catskills resident with a passion for storytelling. After years of producing audio content tied to the region, launching a podcast was a natural next step. As both host and producer, he weaves together immersive field recordings and compelling interviews to create a free, searchable archive of Catskills culture, history and personalities. We spoke with Barry about the origins of the podcast, what keeps him going, and why good audio storytelling is always worth the effort.
1. What inspired you to start the podcast? Is there a mission behind it?
Brett Barry: We’d already been producing audio content for the Catskills and Hudson Valley, and a podcast seemed like a logical next step. We’ve been at it for 5+ years, with a new show every two weeks. Kaatscast is a public radio-style production that gets our audience “out in the field” to hear stories in their natural environments. It’s highly edited and produced for a real documentary-style experience.
2. What have you learned in the course of doing the podcast?
Good work takes time! No matter how quick and easy we think a show will be, it really never is. Distilling an episode into a 20- or 25-minute package that’s both digestible and entertaining is always time-consuming. But we get lost in the process, and it really never feels like work.
3. How has the podcast been received, and what do you feel people are getting out of it?
We’ve gotten so much positive feedback about the show, and that really inspires us to keep it going and to keep the production quality way up there. As one longtime resident wrote in her review, “I’ve had a little place in the Catskills for two decades, and this podcast has taught me so much more than I ever knew (or knew I wanted to know)!” Reading reviews like these (from people we don’t even know, no less) is really rewarding and illustrates how the podcast’s rich storytelling is resonating with longtime residents and part-timers alike. Kaatscast has been awarded Best Regional Podcast three years in a row by voters in the Chronogram Readers’ Choice Awards.
4. What keeps you going and motivated to do this consistently?
Listener feedback and an endless well of stories keep us going. And consistency is so important in podcasting. We distribute a new show every other Tuesday at 5 a.m., and we haven’t missed an episode in our five years of production. I think that’s really important. Listeners expect new content, and we take that commitment very seriously. We’re also building an extensive archive of shows on the website, which people will continue to discover, with literally hundreds of recorded voices and stories from the Catskills. Everything is transcribed, tagged, and content-searchable. It’s a free resource for anyone with an interest in Catskills history, culture and personalities.
5. Do you make money from the podcast, or do you have plans to earn money from it?
We have some local sponsors that help underwrite the show, but in relation to what it takes to produce the series, it’s not a lot. We use those sponsorship dollars to continue marketing the podcast. More than that, though, local sponsorships are a nice way to get community buy-in and collaboration. Some of our listeners are also “members,” contributing a monthly dollar amount to help keep things running. We really appreciate that support! Someday we’d love to expand the show, with more staff and more frequent shows, but that would require more substantial funding. We’re hopeful! This podcast is in many ways a labor of love, and as long as there are stories — and eager listeners — we have every intention of keeping it going.
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