I recently discovered a new favourite Catholic podcast: Saints Alive. We are huge fans of saints and audiobooks or radio dramas, so I couldn’t wait to listen to the first episode with my children. Driving up to the ski hill soon gave us an opportunity to binge-listen to both parts of St. Nicholas’ story. I was immediately impressed by the quality of the podcast, from the background music to the voices and the writing of the story itself.
Not long afterwards, Melissa reached out to me via email to introduce herself. I was delighted to chat with her about her saint podcast and to be able to help spread the word about this awesome resource for Catholic parents. Read on for more about Melissa and the Saints Alive podcast and then search for this podcast in your favourite app and give it a listen!
TKM: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Melissa: My name is Melissa and I am a Catholic Mom, wife, pediatric nurse and now podcast creator.
TKM: Tell us a bit about your saint podcast.
Melissa: Saints Alive is a radio theater podcast for kids that brings the stories of the saints to life. We launched in December 2021 and have had listeners from 26 countries and 49 states! We truly feel God calling us to this ministry, and it’s been a labor of love and honor to come to know and love the saints more as we create each episode.
TKM: What inspired you to start writing and recording this podcast?
Melissa: My husband’s mom grew up listening to records about the saints and has been telling us to do this for years. Once we became parents, we realized just how much stories of virtue, sacrificial love and holiness are needed for kids. We also wanted to offer a source of entertainment without a screen!
TKM: There are so many awesome saints. How do you decide which ones to tell about?
Melissa: We’re following the liturgical calendar, so each month we look at the saint feast days and choose from there. There are so many incredible stories of the saints, it’s been hard to decide! We are also planning on polling our audience to see what saints they would want to hear about most.
TKM: Who is your favourite saint and why?
Melissa: Saint Therese of Liseux! She has guided me in so many different ways, and I love her humble little way of following Christ and doing His will.
TKM: When you aren’t writing and recording podcasts, what do you do for fun?
Melissa: I love to cross country ski, take walks with my husband and baby, be home with family in Vermont… and more than anything I love being a Mom!
TKM: What was the most challenging part of writing and recording your podcast, and how did you overcome that challenge?
Melissa: The amount of time it took to do it all. Between writing multiple versions of each script, scheduling and recording voice actors, promoting each episode and editing, it takes a total of 200 hours to put each episode together. We’ve overcome this challenge by diving in and working as a team; we work through every naptime, early mornings, late into the night… it’s always encouraging to know we’re working side by side to achieve our goals.
TKM: What was the most fun or most exciting part of creating the podcast?
Melissa: Hearing all the different voice actors, sound effects and music come together in one succinct story! It takes months to put it all together, so the final product is always so rewarding to hear.
TKM: What advice would you give to a podcaster just starting out?
Melissa: There is always work to be done with a podcast, and the best thing I’ve learned is to stay ahead of the game with a production schedule. We are always working months in advance to make sure we can deliver the polished episode with time to spare.
TKM: Can you give us a sneak peak of upcoming saint stories?
Melissa: In February we will have the tale of Saint Valentine!
To find out more about the Saints Alive podcast, drop by their website. You can also follow them on Instagram and Facebook and find their podcast on your favourite app.
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