Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Hear Me Out! - TPR's In Focus - August 6, 2026

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Hear Me Out! - TPR's In Focus - August 6, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on
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  the main campus of Troy University, featuring the
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  International Arts Center, the Fred Noll Hollis Museum,
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  and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery. More information at troy.edu/artspark.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus,
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  and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. Hear Me Out is a popular
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  new podcast with host Reana Wallace, a Troy University
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  student who explores people's opinions about
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  social media, movies, books, and topics everyone
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  is talking about. She joins executive producer
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  Joey Hudson today, and we even hear from Rihanna's father.
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  Joey Hudson, it is always terrific to welcome you to
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  In Focus. Thank you, Carolyn. It's always a pleasure to speak with you as
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  well. As executive producer of Talk of
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  Troy, you are all about bringing talent to the airwaves from
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  Troy University. You have a special guest today.
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  Absolutely. And if you've listened to the Talk of Troy, you've probably
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  heard Rihanna Wallace reporting on university news.
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  And now Rihanna has pitched, produced, and launched her
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  own podcast, Hear Me Out. Hi, Rihanna. Hi,
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  Joey, and hello, Carolyn. Hello, Reanna. It is
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  great to have you with us here at In Focus.
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  I'm very curious because I listened to your podcast.
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  It's called Hear Me Out. How did you come up with that name?
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  So Hear Me Out started because here at
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  Troy Public Radio, at the office, we love
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  talking about different things— books, shows,
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  movies, music that we like. So every
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  time we come in, we always try to convince people to listen to
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  the different music that we like or watch the different TV shows that we like
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  or the different movies that we like. So one day in the
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  office, we were just talking about the show K-Pop Demon Hunters.
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  I was talking about it and I was like, guys, you should watch this.
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  And Kyle came in and he was like, you should make a podcast about that.
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  And I was like, sure, why not? That's basically
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  how that happened. Joey, what did you think? Well,
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  one of my jobs as a producer and
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  student mentor at the station is to try to get in touch with the
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  things that students are really passionate about so that they can pursue those
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  stories and not only have a great time doing it but produce things that
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  are high quality. And Rihanna, one of the things that really stuck out to me
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  about your love of K-pop Demon Hunters was how many times you had What
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  is that number up to now? Now, I've seen it more
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  than 20 times. You know, you have to do analysis with these things. I had
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  to do a full episode about it. I had to watch it a bunch of
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  times. Rihanna, let's define K-pop.
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  What and who are K-pop?
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  So, K-pop is a Korean
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  pop genre. That's what it's defined as. And you
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  talked with your dad. In fact, this was your
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  first episode of your Hear Me Out Out podcast.
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  Yes, I listened to it. It's fascinating. You're talking one
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  generation to another generation, and he was puzzled.
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  My dad has been the subject of many of my rants
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  in the past, especially when it comes to the show K-pop Demon Hunters.
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  And during my break, I tried
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  to convince him to watch this movie. And he was not
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  having it. So I thought, hey, it would be funny if I tried to
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  have him as my first guest to try to convince
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  him to watch this movie that I had already tried to convince him to watch.
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  Joey, I believe you have a sample of
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  the Hear Me Out podcast where Rihanna talks
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  with her dad who's trying to understand all of this. Can you share
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  that clip with us? Absolutely. And as Rihanna says
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  on the podcast, hilarity ensues. This is
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  a great conversation between Rihanna and her dad sharing what she loves—
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  K-pop music. Do you think that it's important that people from the
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  older generation learn about things from the younger generation?
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  Huh, it— generation,
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  yes, but this stuff with K-pop, uh,
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  You know what I feel about K-pop. But anyway, but yeah, yeah, yeah, but that—
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  yes, okay, I think it's important. And then the unexpected
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  happened. He started to interview me. What about
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  you younger people being more into what older people like?
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  Oh yes, I think that is very important. Why? Because,
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  you know, we got to understand you people because we can't repeat your
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  mistakes. We got to learn from your mistakes. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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  In music-wise? Yes, we got to learn from your mistakes and everything that you
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  guys have done. Okay, I swear we're gonna actually talk about the movie now.
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  From the little bit that I forced you to watch— I don't think you remember
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  me forcing you to watch it because you were forced to watch it, but I
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  went to sleep. Okay, what was your favorite
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  part? That I was sitting there with you.
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  That I was sitting there with you. I You knew
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  I— K-pop.
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  Joey, what we're hearing is creating a bridge
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  of understanding between Rihanna and her father.
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  So Rihanna, convincing the people we
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  love to what, listen? Whenever anyone asks
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  me, what is Hear Me Out about? I always say that it's about convincing
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  the people we love to enjoy or embrace the things that we
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  love, because this is a way to really reach out
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  to our community and really try to bridge those gaps between generations
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  or just try to make new friends in general. I feel like that's the way
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  that we as humans connect to each other. I noticed in
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  the podcast that you went around the Troy University campus
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  and you interviewed various people about their reaction.
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  Some of them were extremely enthusiastic,
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  others not so. Yes, that experience
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  was so fun. I love just going out and
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  talking to different people. The funniest thing about that day, honestly,
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  was that I was doing 2 episodes because
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  I was doing recordings for The Talk of Troy, which is another student-led
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  podcast that we have. And then I was also getting recordings for
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  Hear Me Out. So I was asking people about super serious
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  stuff that was happening on campus. And then I turned around and I asked them
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  about K-pop Demon Hunters. People were so shocked. They were like,
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  you just asked me about the BeReal, BeTroy thing,
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  and now you're asking me about K-pop Demon Hunters? So that was
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  also just like kind of like the highlight of my week because I just love
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  shocking people. Because you are creating a bridge of understanding.
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  Joey, what are your comments? Although some of
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  the guests do decide to hear the other person out
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  and try out the new media,
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  Sometimes it doesn't work out that way. Sometimes the
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  differences are a little bit too much to overcome
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  in terms of interest. But,
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  Ryana, I'm wondering, do you think there's value in
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  the process of hearing someone out, even if you don't want
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  to check out the show that they're recommending, or the movie, or music,
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  whatever the case may be? I do think so.
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  Just learning. About what people like,
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  learning about the type of media that they consume, learning about
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  what they watch in general, learning about what the other person likes,
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  learning about the movies, learning about what they consume and
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  stuff like that is a way to, to communicate with those
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  people. You might not like that TV show.
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  Maybe they're explaining a character in that TV show.
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  You might not like the plot, but you like the character, and then you'll
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  bond over the character. You'll be friends. You are listening.
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  So many people feel like they have a personal platform on social
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  media, and there's a lot of talking going on.
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  How much listening is going on? This is true.
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  This is true. I feel like social media a lot of times becomes an
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  echo chamber. Why aren't we, like, actually taking the
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  facts into consideration or considering the opinion?
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  Joey, I want you to have the last word as we thank Reanna for
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  being our special guest today. Reanna, thank you so much for the
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  passion that you bring to Troy Public Radio. Thank you
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  for having me. Reanna, thank you so much
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  for bringing your fresh ideas to Troy Public Radio
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  with your podcast. Well, thank you.
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  Joey, thank you for the dedication you bring to showcasing
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  the work of these talented students. Like Rihanna.
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  Thank you, Carolyn. It's so much fun to speak with you always.
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  Joining us were Reana Wallace, host of the Troy
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  Public Radio podcast Hear Me Out,
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  and executive producer Joey Hudson. Thanks for joining
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  us today for In Focus, which, like Hear Me
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  Out, is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  Feel free to get in touch with us at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is Listening Center supported Troy
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  Public Radio.