When David Schwab graduated from Miami in 1994, he knew he was going to miss High Street. All of his fond memories of college life seemed to culminate at this familiar meeting place.
Years passed and each time Schwab returned to visit Oxford, he would drive back to the airport afterward, wishing for a better way to stay connected after leaving campus.
About a year ago, Schwab thought of a creative way to do so and began to work on what become a podcast series called "Beyond High Street." The name captures the nostalgia and connection any member of the Miami community, new or old, can relate to.
The series launched only a few weeks ago and a new episode, which typically runs 15-20 minutes, is released every Wednesday.
Schwab sent invitations to around 200 friends and colleagues to be guests on the show, and the response has been extremely positive. Not one person has declined.
One of those friends is Jay Livingston, the Chief Marketing Officer of BarkBox and angel investor in New York City, who met Schwab on their first day of orientation at Miami.
"Dave's podcast is a great way to hear what successful alumni have done since Miami, the twist and turns of their careers, and also what different types of industries are truly like to work in," Livingston said.
Schwab decided the podcast format would allow flexibility and convenience both he and his listeners could benefit from.
"I just think in today's world, for a student to listen to it to-and-from class or an alumni to listen to it to-and-from work, it was the best medium for the on-the-go 2018 world," Schwab said.
His hope is that the podcasts will connect alumni, inspire current and future students and expose professors to new ideas outside the textbook. It's also important to Schwab that his podcast includes diverse people from various industries to appeal to listeners of all ages.
"We're fortunate that Miami has unbelievable alumni out there -- CEOs, CMOs, professional entertainers, athletes, community leaders," Schwab said.
Another episode featured Jennifer Rooney, who double-majored in English literature and creative writing at Miami, and then attended graduate school at Ohio University. She has since worked largely in the field of business journalism and is now the editor of the CMO Network at Forbes.
"I really got to know [Dave] through my development of the Cradle of Marketers event at Miami," Rooney said.
This conference brought together Miami alumni who have excelled in the field of marketing, including Schwab, and he later asked Rooney if she wanted to be a guest on his podcast.
"It's yet another great way to build community," Rooney said. "I think we live in a time when people like to collaborate with people they have a connection to...and Miami is that shared experience."
A new episode will be released tomorrow featuring John Walton whose father taught here at Miami.
Currently, Walton is the hockey play-by-play voice for the Washington Capitals. NBC recently hired him to travel to Korea as one of the voices for the hockey telecast at the Olympics.
"Beyond High Street" episodes can be found on the main website beyondhighstreet.com, as well as Itunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and, soon, Spotify.
Across the country, podcast listeners can envision red brick buildings, green quads and chiming bell towers and be transported back to what Robert Frost deemed, "the most beautiful campus that ever there was."
dattilec@miamioh.edu