Informing the school and community

Sam Gabardi and Ian Larrabee are both known around the Hibbing High School community for their involvement in sports and extra curricular activities, one of which is being the hosts of the Anchor Down Podcast. The podcast was started in 2021 by a couple of then seniors, as a way to expose kids to the world of video making and appearing on screen, as well as a fun way to inform the school and community about events and current happenings around the area. There was a year-long hiatus of the podcast, but it came back this year with a bit of a new view and new faces.

The year actually started out with Ian and Carter Collins picking up the podcast as part of the Digital Communications class at Hibbing High School, and then at the end of the semester, when Carter left, his spot was filled by Sam. Regarding doing a podcast as part of class, Ian remarks, “It is a fun way to get credit for class while learning something new and being a part of a forward moving idea of school and community engagement.” Throughout the course of the year so far, the podcast has also been host to some guests, such as the captains of the girls cross country team who made it to state, and the homecoming King and Queen.

The podcast is supported by the Hibbing Bluejackets Career Academy and Hibbing Public Access TV. The podcast is filmed and released once a week, almost every week. The show consists of discussing upcoming and prior Hibbing sporting events, local and community events or ideas, and is usually capped off with a brief discussion of major league sports and especially the teams of Minnesota. Ian and Sam have great personalities that make the show lively and entertaining; they sometimes come up with funny ways to make the show even more interesting, such as recording an episode with their bodies wrapped in green so only their heads appeared on camera. This was possible because Ron Wirkola and the Hibbing Public Access TV studio hosts the podcast in their recording room which has a green screen back drop that can make the show seem as though it was recorded at various locations throughout the Hibbing School District such as the high school, Lincoln gym, or Cheever Field—among others.

Ian says “I’m glad that I decided to start up the podcast again because it is such a fun and entertaining way to be able to talk about sports and share our excitement with others around town.” Sam agrees in a very similar way and also thanks Ian for allowing him to come co-host with him this semester, filling the vacant co- host position. Sam adds that filming every week is “just a hoot!”

Throughout the course of the year, the on-camera skills and communication have improved immensely for both Ian and Sam which is a valuable and potentially useful tool for their futures. Sam is a senior this year and will, as they joke, “not be back next year,” while Ian is only a junior and plans to continue the podcast into next year, although he will have the challenge of trying to find a replacement that is “as energetic and fun to work with” as Sam.

If you would like to follow their video podcast, be sure to like the Hibbing Public Access TV’s channel on Youtube and other platforms such as the HPAT app on Roku, AppleTV, or AmazonFire.