Explore the issues, culture and news about agriculture and rural America

Jay Matteson is a veteran in the broadcast media market. He hosted a local radio talk show for 20 years, has a video series produced by WPBS Television on YouTube called Countryside with Jay Matteson, and has been a columnist with NNY Business Magazine for over 15 years. Ron Robbins is a very successful dairy farmer and agricultural businessman, who with his family operates five different agricultural businesses. Alan Walts is a retired multimedia broadcast veteran who co-hosted Jay's radio show for 6 years.

The podcast is a fun and informal news commentary program that explores agriculture and rural American issues in a talk show format. Frequently, expert guests join Jay, Ron and Al to share this insight into the topics of the day. The topics may range from local, regional, national and global significance.

Listeners of this podcast vary from local farmers to international business professionals, elected officials, and people who just love to hear about interesting topics in an informal format.
 

After 20 years of hosting a weekly, hour long talk radio show, Jay Matteson felt it was time to reach a larger audience with the many great guests he was interviewing. Too often people wanted to hear the radio show, but he had no way to reach them from a local AM radio show. There were many people encouraging Jay to start a podcast, including his current co-host, Ron Robbins.

The initial plan for the podcast is to take the radio show and move it to the podcast format and expand the interviews and audience. In Jay's unique story telling interview style, he hopes to share with the audience the interesting information and experiences of his guests and bring the perspective of his co-hosts to the audience. Telling the stories of agriculture and rural America is important. Sharing how these issues impact local economies and lifestyle is important.

This podcast started in February 2022. It took approximately one month for Jay to bring the equipment together and develop a comfort level of operating the equipment and still being able to dive into the interview.
 

Jay Matteson's Rural America is a weekly podcast. The hosts try to keep the podcast to approximately 30 minutes but that is flexible if the topic and guests need more time. Each episode takes approximately one hour to setup, record and edit. Jay does very little editing, much of what you hear is the raw interview.

Jay Matteson's Rural America is a production of Jefferson County Economic Development. Jay Matteson is the Jefferson County Agricultural Coordinator and part of his duties in that position is to promote agriculture and serve as its' spokesperson. Jefferson County Economic Development purchased the equipment for the podcast.
 

Jay Matteson has not sought sponsorships for the podcast but if there are businesses that see value in being a part of the podcast, a sponsor relationship would be considered.

The sole purpose of the podcast is to tell the stories of agriculture and rural America, especially here in northern New York State.
 

Jay records the podcast using a Rodecaster Pro mixer board, three wired microphones in his office/studio and two cell phones connected to the mixer board. The show is recorded into Audacity and then loaded on to the podcasting hosting site, Captivate. Jay has a link to the podcast from his website, www.agricultureevents.com and a facebook page, Jay Matteson's Rural America. From there, the show spreads organically to its listeners.

Jay Matteson uses his extensive network in agriculture, along with Ron Robbins massive network to find the right guests to interview. Jay schedules the guests and usually has a short prep phone call about how the show works. Then on show day, everyone connects, jay does a quick review of how the conversation will progress and then they record the show. No scripts, advance questions, all very much an organic conversation.
 

The show is loaded onto to Captivate and from there feeds in to many of the major podcast websites. It is also available on www.agricultureevents.com and on social media.
 

Jay advises anyone to keep your conversations organic. Know what you want to talk about but don't prep the show down to a script. The audience can tell the difference between a scripted show and an authentic conversation. Know what points you want to touch on but enjoy the conversation. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. The more "professional" your show, the less authentic. People enjoy authentic.
 

Jay Matteson is available at coordinator@comefarmwithus.com or 315-782-5865 extension 232. He can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.