BYU students work alongside professionals to create the award-winning adventure podcast Kaboom for everyone in the family.
Using her jet pack for the first time, a teenager blasts unsteadily toward the far end of the space station. If she can’t reach the other side soon, the debris field will rip everyone apart. Her friends scream over the headset. A space creature is getting closer. And the three teenagers are completely on their own.
It feels like a big-budget science fiction movie. Instead it’s an episode from season three of BYUradio’s Kaboom: An Audio Adventure Podcast. “It’s a highly produced, cinematic, immersive adventure show where every single episode is a brand-new story,” says Brian D. Tanner (MBA ’14), senior producer and showrunner. The podcast features 20-minute, bite-sized episodes perfect for families.
Now in its third year, Kaboom is gaining serious recognition—including four wins at the prestigious Signal Awards. “There are major audio companies on the list,” Tanner explains. “We’re up against things with huge budgets, movie stars, A-list writers—and we won. We beat Dora the Explorer!” But it’s not just awards for kids programming—the podcast also took silver for best writing in a fiction podcast and gold for best road trip podcast.
And unlike other award-winners, Kaboom is run by students. “It’s really special what’s going on here at BYU Broadcasting and the opportunities it gives us,” says Joshua D. Foutz (’25), a sound designer and music major.
Under the supervision of experienced professionals, students often take the lead as writers, producers, sound designers, and even directors. “Because of Kaboom, I feel confident and hopeful that I can do this professionally too,” Foutz says.
Student writer Kay Hendrickson (’27) agrees. “Being able to write something and see it get produced is something I never thought would happen. They said my name in the credits, and I was like, what? That’s so cool! That’s my name!”
With a season four premiere featuring members of Studio C and a 20-part summer series about a city placed under a mysterious bubble, Kaboom is just getting started. “A lot of people don’t realize this is something they’ll love,” Tanner says. “It’s like a movie for your ears.”
