University of Iowa Podcasts

Podcast coverage of the University of Iowa is thin and scattered across several beats. The strongest episodes do not attempt a sweeping institutional portrait. They enter through one person or corner of university life: campus recreation, health-care technology, or an athlete looking back.

Sports remains the surrounding language, especially in Hawkeye-focused feeds, but listeners searching for episodes explicitly about the university will find only a few clear starting points.

Three direct ways in

Hold My Beer Sports takes the most unexpected route. Its loose, locally fluent interview style suits University of Iowa Campus Activities Director Gina Gonyea Discusses Dodgeball With Sammie and Ava Scalzo, a campus-life conversation framed through competition rather than administration. This is the pick for listeners who enjoy sports talk at its most informal and specific.

Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT moves in the opposite direction: polished, professional, and built around operational questions. Joshua Wilda, MPA, Associate Vice President for Information Systems and Chief Information Digital Officer at University of Iowa Health Care places the institution inside a health-care technology interview, with the show’s usual emphasis on systems, workflows, and practical consequences.

For a more personal sports entry, The Run Around Iowa offers Season 6, Episode 9: A conversation with former Pleasant Valley and University of Iowa standout Max Murphy. The title promises a guest-led conversation connecting an athlete’s University of Iowa experience with the earlier Pleasant Valley chapter.

Inside the Hawkeye conversation

Much of the nearby sports coverage assumes the listener already speaks Hawkeye. Hawkeye Nation works through games and program questions in a measured local-sports rhythm, moving from immediate reaction toward larger concerns about performance and expectations. Instant Reaction - WBB Senior Day and Surging MBB gives the basketball side, while HN Podcast - AD and Joe Chmelka Preview CyHawk and HN Radio Show - Big Ten Championship Preview show the preview-driven football format.

I on the Hawks is similarly useful for following the football conversation around the institution, although its episode titles generally foreground the team rather than the university itself. Iowa ranked in Coaches Poll, biggest storylines outside of QB & biggest 'what if' games is the broadest discussion starter; Conversation with new Hawkeye football staffer Mac McLaren narrows the focus to a staff conversation.

On Iowa Sports leans toward named guests and introductions. Hawk Off the Press Podcast: Madison Hricik and Kelvin Bell (7/6/26) and Hawk Off the Press Podcast: Introducing Jack Knowlton (8/13/26), for example, are better approached when the guest already interests you. Their titles offer little orientation for a newcomer.

Beyond game day

University of Iowa College of Public Health provides the clearest non-sports path. Its episodes move through health-care leadership and cancer care in Learning from 43 Years in Healthcare Leadership with Jim Skogsbergh, Targeting Ovarian Cancer: Cell Therapy, Collaboration, and Community Access, and Changing Cancer Care Through Innovation with Dr. James Byrne. These are subject-led conversations rather than a general guide to the university, but they reveal a different institutional voice from the Hawkeye feeds.

Where to start

Start with Hold My Beer Sports for campus life and an easygoing conversation. Choose The Run Around Iowa for an athlete-centered entry, or Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT for the professional health-systems angle. For continuing sports coverage, Hawkeye Nation offers the strongest sense of an ongoing local conversation.

Featured shows below are part of the PlayNext catalog. Updated weekly.