On Dec. 13, 1989, global phenomenon Taylor Swift was bornin the town of Reading, PA. Only two years later, in 1992, the KiddKradick morning show worked its way into the morning routine of the residents in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. As time progressed, Swift became a Grammy winner, and the morning show grew into a five-host daily event, featuring J-Si, Kellie Rasberry, Big Al Mack, Ana Szabo and Part-time Justin.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift released a surprise album, “Folklore.” After the release, Szabo began to have conversations with her co-workers Nick Adams, Lacey Gee and Amy Nichols about all things related to the singer and her newly announced re-recordings process.
A year after the release of “Folklore,” they began creating “13: A Taylor Swift Fan Podcast.” Now, the four recently celebrated their third anniversary of creating the show. The show has over 46,000 followers on Instagram, and a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Spotify. Their first episode was released on April 9, 2021, and releases episodes every Tuesday.
“[The podcast] was Nick’s idea, who ended up becoming one of the co-hosts,” Szabo said. “We realized that if we did one song per episode, we would have enough content for four years, and that was before all her re-recordings, ‘evermore,’ ‘Midnights,’ ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and ‘The Anthology.’”
As the podcast progressed, the quartet developed two different types of episodes: their album breakdowns and “SwifTEA” episodes. In the breakdowns, they go one album at a time, analyzing the entirety of the album. As of right now, they have analyzed “Fearless (Taylor’s Version),” “Lover,” “Red (Taylor’s Version),” “folklore,” “Midnights,” “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and are currently analyzing “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” In the “SwifTEA” episodes, they look at current fan theories and predictions that have been swirling around the fandom.
“Selfishly, I hope Taylor doesn’t announce ‘Reputation (Taylor’s Version)’ anytime soon,” Szabo said. “It [gets] overwhelming when it comes to the lore of Taylor Swift; there are so many different theories, thoughts and breakdowns that we have had to divide.”
Szabo said one of their goals is to create safe, welcoming spaces for fans. She said that the event was initially meant to be located at a bar, however in an effort to appeal to all ages, they pivoted to Grandscape as the venue. With the location change, it allowed for them to host their “Swiftie Market,” in which they invited small businesses from around the country to create and sell products. Junior and listener to “13: A Taylor Swift Fan Podcast” Auyeh Oufi said this change opened up the event to creating valuable memories with her friends.
“I [saw] the podcast here and there on social media, but I never realized they were local,” Oufi said. “One of my friends texted me a link to the event, and I was instantly intrigued because I had never seen a Taylor Swift related event quite like this in our area.”
This was the podcast’s largest event, compared to their post-release event for “Midnights” in 2022. The previous event attracted 100 people, which was then overtaken by the 700 people who attended “Swifties in the Park.”
“We wanted it to be ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ meets the ‘Loverfest’ that never was,” Szabo said. “We told people to bring their lawn chairs and their blankets, fully expecting 200 people to show up, but [now] knowing how many people showed up is absolutely mind-boggling to me.”
With the event being primarily marketed to Swift fans, both Szabo and Oufi said there was a shared feeling of unity around the event. In promotional content, the hosts encouraged fans to come to the event with their friends, family or alone, providing the opportunity for people to create new friends. Oufi said one of her favorite memories was when she had one of her first interactions with another fan.
“I was just walking around in my shirt from the concert last April,” Oufi said. “I saw this woman that came up to me asking if I was also here for the event, and when I said yes, we walked to the event together. I thought it was so fun to create little interactions with other fans just because of one artist.”
Whether it is “Swifties in the Park,” or the three years of episodes on all major streaming platforms, Szabo said she has always wanted to maintain a connection with their fans by highlighting their common interest in the art they analyze while also allowing the listeners to delve into their lives.
“We’ve had our podcast for three years, and [the fans] heard us go through our own personal stuff along the way,” Szabo said. “It’s so touching because the people that listen show care for us as people. With the ‘Era’s Tour’ going around the world, we get messages from people in different countries all over the world.”
The podcast is going to complete their analysis on “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” and will then progress onto “The Tortured Poets Department” and “The Anthology,” while continuing to cover the ongoing “Era’s Tour” shows in their SwifTEA episodes.
“It’s so crazy to find such a successful endeavor that has begun and taken off right here in the DFW metroplex,” Oufi said. “We’ve seen these things come from major cities like New York City and Los Angeles, but, aside from how amazing it is for Taylor Swift fans, it also provides a sense of hope for so many people that want to have a creative outlet for something they are passionate about.”