Waco History Podcast
Waco History Podcast: City Growth Solid Gold Neighbor
Krista Brinser, Assistant Director, Community Relations
"Where you live is a part of your identity," said Randy Lane, Waco resident since 2014. Lane is half of the Waco History Podcast team, alongside Dr. Stephen Sloan of Baylor's Oral History Institute. "[What I love most about Waco is] that it has a rich history and a promising future. I love that people are investing in connecting the two. It's essential to have a strong 'soul' that becomes part of the city’s character."
Where Waco has been and where Waco is going resonates personally with Lane. The impact of his great-grandfather, celebrated local architect Roy E. Lane, can be seen across town, whether through the buildings themselves—including the ALICO building, Waco Hippodrome, and Cottonland Castle—or by artwork, keepsakes, and memorabilia that pay tribute to these iconic structures. Through examining his family's history and uncovering local stories, Lane felt inspired to create Waco History Podcast to share information through one of his favorite mediums.
To create each episode, Randy and Stephen both work off a list of significant stories in history. Stephen finds relevant subject matter experts for each episode. When the experts are available, Randy and Stephen bring them into the studio, located in Triangle Tower, to record. There, they talk as long as necessary to tell the story. Once they wrap, Randy edits the audio to ensure a cohesive storyline is presented and to clear up any lengthy pauses or corrections. From there, the final product is produced complete with custom intros and outros.
Recently, for the podcast's eighteenth episode on the Crash at Crush (listen here), the team branched out, introducing the concept of recording live in front of an audience. "I'm a regular at Pinewood, and Chase Maqueda, general manager, asked if I'd consider doing a live recording there. I said that sounded like a good idea, so I asked Stephen about interesting subjects we could cover. We recorded on the patio outside to a crowd of about 20-30 people. It was nice to take questions from listeners live. We're currently working with the Dr Pepper Museum to put together a live show on prohibition.”
Episodes cover a diverse variety of topics, from Elvis in Waco to notable historic homes, view a full list of episodes here. Randy himself is partial to the "Haunted Waco" episodes.
"I think it's important to know the history of Waco, warts and all…I hope to bring more depth to known parts of Waco's history, but I'm more excited about sharing stories most Wacoans don’t know anything about."