In a time of political division and cultural warfare, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is taking one small step to help bring people together through a series of podcasts, appropriately titled "One Small Step."
The series, created by the National Public Radio-affiliated nonprofit group StoryCorps, brings together two strangers with opposing political views to record a 50-minute conversation - but not about politics. Instead, they talk about who they are as human beings.
The UTC PodLab, a student podcasting studio, was selected as one of six radio hubs in the nation to host "One Small Step." The resulting episodes will air on WUTC 88.1 FM, Chattanooga's NPR affiliate.
(READ MORE: Blood Assurance headquarters dedicated to Chattanooga business leaders)
"This is not to discuss abortion rights or really any specific policies or political opinion," Charlie Reed, a writer for UTC's communications staff, said in a phone call. "This is to find commonalities between two people."
Reed and Will Davis - a UTC professor who runs the PodLab - underwent extensive training to learn to facilitate and record One Small Step conversations.
"We're not interviewing these people," Reed said. "We're giving them some topics to talk about based on the information that they provided us, the background they provided us."
To choose pairs for interviews, Reed said she uses what's called a social calculus by conducting an initial interview and putting a person's information into a spreadsheet.
(READ MORE: Signal Mountain man who donated over 70 gallons of blood says 'life is precious')
"It's just a matter of looking at stats that define somebody, and these are self-indicated things," Reed said.
Following their conversation, participants can choose what they'd like done with the recording.
"They can have these conversations archived in the Library of Congress for the future generations," Davis said in a phone call. "They can have the conversations just completely deleted. They could have copies just for themselves. There's a whole list of things that can happen with these conversations when they're done, including absolutely nothing. But one of the options is they can make it available for broadcast or for a podcast."
The conversations made available for broadcast will be listened to and edited by students.
"Our students will be creating some pieces and some stories from this content, the content that the participants wish to share and use for that purpose," Davis said.
StoryCorps' One Small Step initiative launched in 2021. According to its website, the approach is based on Contact Theory, which states that meaningful interaction between people with opposing viewpoints can unite them.
"This is about addressing this terrible division that we're seeing in the country," Davis said. "We don't get the opportunity to talk to people about why we believe what we believe. But there's a reason why you feel the way you do. And we don't get to hear that about people we disagree with. And, so, I think when we do hear that, it changes things. And it's difficult to disagree with someone's story."
Reed and Davis said they are still looking for recruits and will take applications until the end of the summer. Those interested can do so at onesmallstep.storycorps.org/wutc.
"Hundreds and hundreds of people participated already. And it's not uncommon for people to leave as friends and exchange contact information," Davis said.
This year's other One Small Step station hubs include WDET, in Detroit; KSUT, in Ignacio, Colorado; Georgia Public Broadcasting radio stations across the state of Georgia; WHQR, in Wilmington, North Carolina; and WTIP, in Grand Marais, Minnesota.
Contact Carmen Nesbitt at cnesbitt@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @carmen_nesbitt.