Earlier this year, the Naturita Community Library received a grant from the Colorado Department of Education for building upgrades. The $20,000 in funds have supported the transformation of an office area into a space with soundproofing. In this way, patrons can use the remodelled section for tele-health, legal appointments, private meetings and more. It was February of 2025 that the Forum announced that grant in a story titled “Naturita Public Library hosts Susan Rice award luncheon, new programming.”
Last week, Brock Benson, who does work in audio recording and podcasting, updated the Forum that the remodel work is done, and he’s personally looking forward to using the new space. He said the library and contractors have done a great job in the soundproofing and the technology included. Now, Benson will be moving his podcast recording there. Many know he’s the creator of the West End Colorado podcast, called WECast. Under that umbrella, he makes a weekly podcast of the San Miguel Basin Forum too.
About the podcasting he does for his own WECast, he’s working on an episode now, a community interest story, one he said is very special for locals. It will air this week. And, the new library space is inspiring him to dive back into the history work he became known for a few years go. He said future podcasts will get very “Rimrocker-specific,” and will give backstories on local culture.
“That’s what people love the most,” he said.
More importantly, he said he will be bringing in other voices. He doesn’t want it to be just about him. He said he wants people to hear others on the podcasts.
Keeping the WECast alive is something important to him, and he’s grateful for the library’s new space to make it even easier and more convenient.
“It’s up and running,” he said last week in an interview. “The equipment is going in.”
Besides his own podcast, Benson has also been involved this year with helping the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition Education Project, called DEEEP. Carol Hunter, of Nucla and who founded the DEEEP project, hired Benson to assist with the recording of audio segments, and Benson will continue that, using the library’s new space.
And, he said while he can’t give details at this point, he is starting a radio theater show. He said he’ll include local young people, and it will be fun for them. Radio theater, he said, is not as intense as stage theater. It’s not live, and actors aren’t visible, but the experience still gives youth exposure to the arts, and it’s a product they and the community can enjoy.
While the new library area means a lot to him, Benson said the space is for the whole community. He said it’s for everyone, and for someone who wanted to do some of their recording or podcasting, they should take the opportunity to use the Naturita Community Library and do so. He said folks can take their own flash drive, record material, and take it home to upload and later work with. Library patrons could potentially play music, and there will be speakers in the space, along with the computer and other required technology, to listen to recordings.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for the West End,” he said.
