Live musicians, student podcasters and fans gathered around campfires Friday at WIUX’s annual “Poddy Mouth” at the Moon Roof music venue. The podcast-centered live event featured podcast trivia and musical performances.
IU students who host WIUX podcasts on a range of topics including horror cinema, culture and music reviews had a trivia contest based on their podcast, with losers getting pied in the face by their podcast director or fans in the crowd.
Freshman Lucas Miller, co-host of “The Weekly Rap,” said Poddy Mouth is all about bringing podcasting and live music to the community while having a good time.
“It connects people,” Miller said. “It makes people understand what podcasting is in 2026 and in the future.”
Three musical acts, all Bloomington locals, played genres including folk, rap and indie. But freshman Maggie Stewart, host of “The Pop Culture Mix,” which dives into all of the interesting things that Stewart fancies about pop culture as a whole. Stewart said Poddy Mouth is about more than just music, its a way to meet the people behind the mics.
“It's an event where the podcasters get to show their own personality for their show with rocking music,” Stewart said.
Stewart said her pop culture segments correlated well with the event by being able to experience local artist and fans. While Miller's show focuses on hip-hop music and artists, Millers' podcast has also connected its viewers to upcoming WIUX events.
“For ‘The Weekly Rap,’ we always make sure we talk about the news in the WIUX community,” Miller said. “So, it's just another way in our shows to keep everyone connected to the WIUX community.”
For musician and IU sophomore Mike Obioma, also known as OBI, Poddy Mouth is an opportunity to help expose his hip-hop music to a new crowd, while also hyping up the local live music scene in Bloomington.
This was Obioma's first time working with podcasters. He said Poddy Mouth created a welcoming atmosphere for both podcasters and musicians.
“I think instead of it being purely music focused, it's like a lot of the theatrics that go on around performing and being in front of the audience,” Obioma said. “It’s like having a cool opener before performing. So, no matter which part you like, you get a little bit of everything in the performance.”
Poddy Mouth wouldn't be such a success without the fans coming out to support, the podcasters sharing their interests and the artists bringing their best talents to the stage, Obioma said. These shows help build a community in Bloomington, where Poddy Mouth can be celebrated for years to come.
“Having people wanting to come out to these things is just great because it really shows that there's so many people who want to engage in music and podcasts,” Obioma said. “We put so much effort into the things we do that it’s really rewarding to have people come out and want to champion us. It makes the whole process just so much better because you see the benefit and the proof that everything you're doing is worth something to somebody.”
