‘It’s UATL’ podcast season 2 has arrived
Your ear to Black culture in Atlanta and beyond is back.
Just in time for Black History Month, AJC Podcasts just released the season 2 premiere of “It’s UATL.” The weekly show is hosted by reporters Nedra Rhone, Najja Parker and DeAsia Paige.
In year two, listeners can expect more dynamic guest segments featuring voices such as author Tayari Jones, Phenola Culbreath — one of Delta’s first Black flight attendants — and the hosts behind the “Sistas Who Kill” podcast, along with AJC journalists.
This time around, the hosts are digging deeper into Black culture news making headlines in the city, the metro area and the South. The updated format also includes a new segment dubbed “Rent Free,” where Rhone, Parker and Paige discuss the people, places and moments on their minds that are driving conversations in the Black diaspora.
What the hosts are saying
Representing three generations — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z — at the heart of “It’s UATL” is the hosts’ ability to showcase their personalities and journalism. More importantly, the audiences gain perspectives from storytellers tapped in to the Black zeitgeist.
“We’re taking a deeper dive into Atlanta’s Black culture with the kind of language, energy and rhythm that’s unique to Black women,” said Parker, a video producer and personality.
It’s that authenticity, the hosts say, that drives their chemistry.
“We’ve allowed ourselves to be really vulnerable with each other, and that has been a bonus to us and our listeners,” said Rhone, an AJC columnist.
Her partners on the mic agree.
“Our lived experiences and expertise are crucial to understanding and examining Black culture — and it’s often at risk of being erased or ridiculed by the ‘manosphere,’” said Paige, an AJC music critic who pens the monthly “Heat Check” column.
In a podcast industry where women of color are the least likely to be hosts, shows led by Black women are a unicorn. That’s not lost on the trio.
“You can’t underestimate the importance of offering a space for Black women to feel seen and heard,” Rhone added.
This week’s episode
Is Atlanta still America’s Black mecca? If anyone has a strong opinion about that, it’s going to be Mayor Andre Dickens. The Adamsville native is in his second term at City Hall. Dickens (or “Dre,” depending on who you ask) sat down with UATL to offer his perspective.
Rhone and Parker are joined by reporter Brooke Howard and “It’s UATL” executive producer Gavin Godfrey — who also led the Black mecca series — to offer their reactions to Hizzoner’s reflections.
“What makes Atlanta unique as a Mecca is that it has expanded into the metro area,” Dickens said. “People all the way down in Fayetteville, they claim Atlanta because they want to feel that connection to everything that’s happening in the city proper.”
Related reads
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