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Lindsey Wilson University Opens Podcast Studio for Students

'We don't want them to just study and critique podcasts, we want them to know what it takes to create and produce a podcast.'

by Duane Bonifer

COLUMBIA, Ky. (10/08/2025) — More than 500 million people listen to podcasts annually. Soon they will be able to listen to podcasts produced by Lindsey Wilson University students.

Thanks to a new podcast studio in the university's J.L. Turner Leadership Center, Lindsey Wilson students now have access to an on-campus podcast studio that allows them to produce podcasts on a variety of subjects and for a variety of reasons.

"For the last several years, I have had this vision of being able to offer students a wider variety of opportunities so that they will have more technology at their fingertips," said LWU School of Business and Communication Dean Benson Sexton '04.

Sexton, who is also a communication professor, hopes the new podcast studio will become "an incubator for student learning."

His colleagues in the school said the podcast studio will open a myriad of opportunities for students.

"We don't want them to just study and critique podcasts, we want them to know what it takes to create and produce a podcast," said communication professor Jennifer Furkin.

Business professor JC Phelps knows firsthand the impact and potential of podcasts. Phelps has been a guest of numerous podcasts, and he's also produced them.

"One of the things I love about podcasting is that it's a long-form type of content, but it's a more modern form of long-term format," said Phelps.

The opening of Lindsey Wilson's podcast studio couldn't come at a better time for Phelps, who teaches a popular spring course on content creation.

"Students need to be able to be able to experience the actual doing it," he said. "I'm excited for them to be right here at Lindsey Wilson, walk into a room and produce a podcast."

In addition to support from the university's administration, Sexton said the podcast studio became a reality thanks to help from some friends of LWU: C.J. Bonifer of Albania, a 2018 Adair County High School graduate and communications practitioner, gave advice on how to build the studio; a gift from alumna Brittany Bennett '16 of Glasgow, Kentucky, helped furnish part of the studio; and alumni Michael '05 and Robyn '04 Mantooth of Columbia created a university seal that is prominently displayed on one of the studio walls.

"It's really great to have so many friends we can reach out to for support," said Sexton. "Their contributions made a big impact on this project."

Lindsey Wilson University is a vibrant liberal arts university in Columbia, Kentucky. Founded in 1903 and affiliated with The United Methodist Church, the mission of Lindsey Wilson is to serve the educational needs of students by providing a living-learning environment within an atmosphere of active caring and Christian concern where every student, every day, learns and grows and feels like a real human being. Lindsey Wilson offers 28 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs and a doctoral program. The university's 29 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams have won more than 120 team and individual national championships.

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Lindsey Wilson University School of Business and Communication faculty J.C. Phelps, left, and Jennifer Furkin join Dean Benson Sexton ’04 in the university’s new podcast studio, which is on the first floor of the J.L. Turner Leadership Center.

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