St. Cloud's got an award-winning podcast.
The City of St. Cloud’s "Cloud Cast" has been awarded Best Government Podcast in Florida by the Florida Municipal Communicators Association. The award came during the group's annual conference earlier this month.
Cloud Cast, launched in the Fall of 2024, is an audio format designed to bring information to city residents. The program covers topics ranging from special events and activities, transportation, growth and development, economic development and public safety.
It is a product of the city's Communications team of Maryemma Bachelder, Andrew Sullivan, Deborah Carson, Stephanie Ramirez and media services engineer Jay Bemiller.
“We are thrilled to be recognized among our peers statewide, especially when Cloud Cast is such a new endeavor for us,” Bachelder said. “We are finding that the podcast format helps us engage a growing number of listeners and subscribers who otherwise may have been missing some of our messaging. Now they can get city updates while they’re in the car, at the gym, or anywhere they take their phone.
“Launching the podcast was the brainchild of Jay Bemiller. He came to me with the idea, we talked through how we could make it happen and how it could help us reach a broader audience, and within a few months, thanks to Jay’s technical expertise, we launched our podcast.”
On Cloud Cast, the Communications team chats with guests about topics that matter to city residents. A recent episode featured Sullivan and St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke talking about the citation period of the city's school-zone speed cameras beginning.
Cloud Cast is available on most of the major music and podcast platforms, and on the city’s YouTube channel.
