The Institute of Production and Recording is a two year college offering associates degrees in Audio Production & Engineering and Entertainment Business. I joined their faculty in 2003, teaching their introductory course. Eventually I co-authored their entertainment business curriculum, which led to authoring  most of the promotional materials and staff bios, and redefining and cementing in place the IPR brand, the majority of which is still in use.

My role can be described best as a creative problem solver, and one for any and all aspects of school issues: advertising, marketing, recruitment, retention, big picture visioning on curriculum, and advertising and promotional material including web redesign. I also worked on a major campus expansion, including the design of the Entertainment Business wing.

One of the many things I did for the IPR promotions department was start a series of podcasts.  “Listen”  was a series hosted by St. Paul Peterson (the Family); in this case the guest is Master Engineer Steve Hodge (Flyte Tyme). This was the first time that I produced a program where I wasn’t involved as on-air talent.

IPR ‘s Listen episode 1 w/ Steve Hodge, 60 MiN [audio:http://chrisstrouth.talesoftheidiot.com/audio/Ipr_listen-Hodge_Episode1.mp3]

IPR ‘s Listen episode 2 w/ Steve Hodge, 51 MiN [audio:http://chrisstrouth.talesoftheidiot.com/audio/ipr_listen-Hodge_Episode2.mp3]

An example of this period of time is the following program, which became a “giant killer” program for the school: an introduction to ProTools class that was previously $1000.  The offer became a powerful gateway to getting new students in, allowing IPR to become the go-to place in the Twin Cities to get certified in ProTools. It also was a very nice revenue source, since the class only cost IPR $50 per student. This is an ad from City Pages:

I