Podcasters Bring Listeners into a Friendly Conversation

With hot mikes and cold brews in front of them, the co-hosts of the Maggie and Laura Podcast get on with the show.

The ladies sport headphones, just as they would at any radio station. The only difference is that as they dish the dirt, they are a stone’s throw from the fridge—where there are more beverages—and they are recording in Maggie’s dining room.

Maggie Peterson and Laura Hirsch are the women behind The Maggie and Laura Podcast. The weekly podcast is recorded in Peterson’s Naperville home.

With some help from their producer, Ryan Snow, better known on air as “The Dude” (and also Peterson’s boyfriend), the podcast is best described as listening in on two good friends having a funny conversation about day-to-day life.

Both Peterson and Hirsch attended North Central College. The women were in some of the same classes, but they weren’t friends at the time.

“I didn’t like the look of her,” Hirsch says jokingly of Peterson. “She seemed snobby.”

Fast forward to a few years later, and the women were working for the same radio station—WSSR-FM (Star 96.7). Peterson was hosting a morning show and Hirsch was working the midday shift. When discussion began about Peterson adding a co-host, it was determined that she and Hirsch got along so well, they should become a team.

“It is extremely unusual for two women to have a morning show together,” Peterson says. “There were some doubters, but it turned out well—a lot of listeners and good numbers.”

After Hirsch gave birth to her first child, a topic that was worked into the morning show, she decided to stay home with her son, Joey, who is now 5.

She has two other children, Sam, 3, and Sydney, 2. Peterson still works the morning show as the host of Maggie in the Mornings on Star 96.7.

“I messed everything up,” Hirsch jokes.

The women remained great friends, and at The Dude’s urging, they began recording a podcast last summer.

“People ask me about Laura all the time,” Peterson says. In radio, people usually have short memories, she said, but, “it’s been over five years, and people still ask.”

The fun of the podcast is that the two friends can do it on their own time, on their own terms and without any restrictions (though the banter never gets too tawdry). They do enjoy a few adult beverages while recording.

“It’s like old times for me,” Peterson says. “We enjoyed doing it and we just clicked, so it’s like old times.”

The podcast has some regular features as the pair explores Glamour magazine’s Do’s and Don’ts, Facebook Faux Pas and Horrifying Discoveries. Podcast 16’s Horrifying Discovery included some chorizo sausage Peterson found in her freezer that belonged to Snow. The sausage had a frightening expiration date of July 2006.

Listeners are encouraged to share their own discoveries and Facebook goofs, and through the podcast’s voicemail and Facebook pages, listeners do share.

A recent anonymous caller’s message about a horrifying discovery makes it into Podcast 16. The woman was inviting a daughter’s play date into her home, and no sooner did the girl take off her shoes than she stepped into a pile of cat vomit.

What makes the show fun and funny is that the women discuss topics that everyone can relate to, but are usually unwilling to share with others.

Most of the listeners are local, just as the majority of the show’s Facebook fans are from Naperville. Surprisingly, Peterson and Hirsch get a good response from men, which Peterson figures is because the show offers “a little window into what women talk about when they aren’t around.”

They find it interesting to learn where and when people listen to their show. One listener told the pair she enjoys shoveling while listening to the podcast. Another said she listens when her husband is playing video games because listening makes her feel less bored and less lonely.

“It really does become a group discussion,” Hirsch says.

And, the listeners do become friends, in a way.

“Neither one of us is doing this to gain anything,” Hirsch says. “If people like this and something positive happens, it would be serendipitous.”

The podcast is available on iTunes or by subscribing on the website. Follow them on Twitter @MLPodcast