MuggleNet Podcast Feature Day 1: “Alohomora!”

As you may have recently heard, MuggleNet and its family of diverse podcasts was nominated for FOUR People’s Choice Podcast Awards! The annual show is in its ninth year, and we at MuggleNet are honored to once again be a part of the festivities. Over the next three days we will be featuring each of our podcasts as a way to prepare and inform you for the upcoming voting period that begins on November 1. Today we present Alohomora!, our global book club – or reread, as we like to call it.

Alohomora! was the brain child of former staff member Noah Fried, who came up with the idea late one night while studying abroad in Florence, Italy. He was thinking about new and exciting things that he could bring to MuggleNet, to help the fans keep in touch with Potter long after the books had been released, and he immediately thought of a reread: fans from all over the world reading the same chapter at the same time and talking about it in a whole new way. Thus, Alohomora! was born. He presented the idea to a few staff members, and the project immediately grew from just a reread to a large companion section, including forums, essays, and editorials (affectionately known as Quibbles), to a podcast that would include not only in-depth discussion but also an outlet for fans themselves to join in on the discussion like never before. Fans would join the regular hosts ON THE SHOW and thus would become part of the show. Alohomora! was launched in April 2012 and since then has had 1,000,000 downloads, done live shows on two continents at three fan conventions, and had special guests on the show such as author and Time critic Lev Grossman, Potter Lexicon creator Steve Vander Ark, and Potter cast alumni such as Warwick Davis, Ellie Darcey-Alden, and Benedict Clarke. Alohomora! and its team of six hosts – Caleb, Eric, Kat, Laura, Michael, and Rosie – are beyond honored and excited to be nominated for two People’s Choice Podcast Awards in the categories of “People’s Choice” and “Entertainment” – categories won thrice before by MuggleCast. There is some stiff competition this year, but come November 1 go out and VOTE for the MuggleNet family and show the world that Harry Potter is still relevent, nay, THRIVING. Let’s bring the trophies back to where they belong – with MuggleNet – the world’s #1 Harry Potter site! VOTE MUGGLENET on November 1!