About Yellow Armadillo Studios
Our Mission
I founded Yellow Armadillo Studios in the fall of 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic ended my public radio job as a daily talk show producer. I have a decade of experience in media, and have spent the past 8 years specializing in interview and talk shows at both the national and local level.
I disagree that there are “too many” podcasts. If you want to share your voice, let’s do it together. You don’t have to want to get rich or get acquired— just wanting to speak is enough of a reason. My focus will always be on you and your story— and on helping you connect with the audience you want to hear it.
My favorite people to collaborate with are professionals and academics looking to expand their reach and share their expertise with a wider audience.
about US
Melody Rowell
FOUNDER & Executive Producer
I’ve loved podcasts for over a decade. Being from Colorado and attending college in Kansas City, I spent a lot of hours in the car driving across Kansas, listening to This American Life and Stuff You Should Know. When I moved to Washington, DC, podcasts were a necessary part to my commute-- shows like Serial, Criminal, Reply All, and 99% Invisible.
But I didn’t think I could have a career in audio until one day, it seemed like the only choice. I was working in the photography department at National Geographic. I’d been assigned to write a piece accompanying photos of people fleeing wildfires in Canada. I called each of these survivors to hear of their escape and what they planned to do next, with only the belongings that could fit in their cars. As I listened to them, I could tell that whatever I wrote would fall flat. Because of my incessant podcast listening, I realized that what was missing from my written words was the emotion and passion that can only be found in someone’s voice.
Shortly after that I applied and was accepted to the Transom Story Workshop in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. It’s sleepaway camp for wannabe producers, and the teachers boast that it has a more exclusive acceptance rate than Harvard. I spent 9 weeks on Cape Cod learning the ins and outs of radio production-- how to operate a mic and recorder, how to edit audio, how to conduct an interview, how to incorporate music in an audio piece. It was life-changing. When I got back to DC, I quit my job at National Geographic and set out to freelance.
Since then, I’ve worked primarily on talk shows-- niche podcasts about the Supreme Court, a nationally-broadcast NPR show, and a daily, local talk show that covered the arts and culture scene in Kansas City. It’s harder than it sounds to have an engaging conversation meant for a wide audience-- and I pride myself on coaching and prepping hosts to carry on those conversations. I also get a thrill out of editing audio to make it as listenable as possible for the audience-- think cutting out sirens, barking dogs, humming air conditioners, and screaming children. If I’ve done my job right, you won’t think about me at all.
GABE BULLARD
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
The first time I heard a podcast, I had to download the file from an RSS reader and sync it to my iPod with a FireWire cable. I was in college at the time, studying to be a journalist and spending long hours in the campus studios experimenting with new ways to tell stories through sound. Two years later, I had my first job in the field, and I've worked at the intersection of journalism, sound, and technology ever since. I've reported radio stories, edited award-winning journalism, built new programs, and updated old podcasts for a new era. I've worked on documentaries, newsmagazines, and talk shows on the local and national level. Through it all, I've been focused on solid reporting, informed conversation, and technological innovation. As a producer and editor, I gladly pick up any task that needs doing, whether that means fine-tuning FOIA requests or working on an app that brings listener voices into on-air conversations. No matter what kind of project I'm working on, and no matter what my role is, my goal is always to make a compelling show that satisfies a creator's vision and an audience's curiosity.
SAM GEBAUER
PRODUCER
I first fell in love with podcasts as a graduate student in geology. While pulverizing rocks in the lab, I listened to a rotating cast of pods to help pass the time. I’ve since left the lab, and that field entirely. I’ve always loved writing, and when I (frequently) questioned my career decisions, I always came back to it, be it filling up another journal or taking a formal writing class for fun.
A few years ago, I finally had my “aha” moment, and realized that if I loved writing, and I loved audio, I could actually DO those things, rather than just admire the work of others from afar. In the midst of preparing for a career switch, I decided to apply for an internship with my favorite podcast, Reply All, one of the only internships I’ve ever seen that didn’t require current enrollment/recent graduation to be eligible. To make a long story short - I got the internship, and started my journey into the world of producing.
Since then, I’ve helped launch the daily news flagship podcast at Bloomberg, and now work on a variety of shows as a freelance audio producer, including companion podcasts for popular Netflix series, narrative-driven nonfiction shows, talk shows on topics from social justice to mindfulness to AI-enabled technologies.
My favorite part of being a producer is not just the writing. It’s getting to do a deep dive on a specific subject for weeks, and to do that over and over again. It’s getting to use my love for attention to detail for things like cleaning up weird mouth noises and selecting the perfect music to drive the mood of a piece home. No single day of my job is exactly the same. My hope is that I create audio stories that are educational, promote empathy, and help people live better lives.