So, I’ve been listening to podcasts for a long, long time. But about 5 years ago, I stopped cold turkey. Deleted the podcast app off my phone. It was nothing personal, I just needed to focus on other things. I would still listen to a couple of my favorites on the computer when I was doing some work, but for the most part, I gave them up. Until last fall when I started exercising by taking long walks. I started out listening to SiriusXM, but there were times when I just couldn’t find anything interesting to listen to. So reluctantly I restored the app and started browsing some podcasts. The first one to catch my eye was one called “The Things About Pam”. I read a description, it was a real-life murder mystery, so I listened to the first episode. Turns out it was a podcast by the news show Dateline NBC, it involved a chain of events set off by the murder of a woman that turned into a huge web of wrongdoings, misrepresentations, and overall, shenanigans. It was a multi-episode podcast, and I ate it up like it was the last piece of a Silvio’s pizza (too soon?).
I was so engrossed in that podcast, after it was done I think I actually went through withdrawal. As the majority of people do, when I had a problem, I turned to the only logical solution. Google. To my surprise I got about a bazillion results. I thought that there was probably a hundred or so podcasts devoted to true crimes, and of those hundred there would probably be about 25 that were coming out regularly, and if I was lucky, out of those 25, there might be 4 that were actually good. But I had no idea that true crime was a “thing” in the world of podcasting, let alone “THE thing” in podcasting today. Holy crap, you guys! If anyone has ever been murdered, there’s a podcast about it. And if there’s ever been a murder where the killer HASN’T been caught, there’s a multi-part podcast about it…..and they are fascinating.
While listening to these, it’s easy (and fun) to play amateur sleuth, and there have been several times where listeners of these podcasts have helped solve the crimes or at least point someone in the right direction. The thing is, everybody talks. Whether it’s after they’ve had too much to drink or just dropping a “hint” that they believe nobody will ever get, some people come across these shows and are able to call or email the hosts and tell them what they know. The hosts then call the policeman or woman that’s working the case and then they decide whether or not it’s worth taking action on.
I think I really like that a podcast can help a criminal off the streets and bring some peace of mind to a grieving family. So yeah, podcasts are a nice form of entertainment and every once in a while, they do some good in the world all the while entertaining you. Not bad, right?
Her Take:
So I says to myself today, I says, “If ANYBODY can write about podcasts, you should be the one.”
Not that I’m conceited like that, you understand. I’m not all like “Ooooohh.. I’m such a GREAT WRITER and I can WRITE ANYTHING because I’m so AWESOME.”
Ok, I DO say that but I’m being sarcastic and I cry afterwards. It’s way more pathetic than you’re picturing right now, believe me.
What I mean is that I’ve been a total fan of podcasts since, like, FOREVER. I’m such a fan, in fact, that the only way to really demonstrate how much I LOVE THEM is to revert to my natural, overly enthusiastic, Midwestern speech patterns.
Fer cryin’ out loud I jus’ LOVE ‘EM.
See? That’s what I’m sayin’.
And even if you set aside the fact that I’m kind of a super fan - which is just like a regular fan, but I wear a cape - I am ON AN ACTUAL PODCAST.
I KNOW, right?
For a little over three years I’ve been co-hosting a podcast with my creative partner at my real, live day job which technically makes me a Professional Podcaster. (Like that, with capital Ps.)
Set aside the fact that there is almost nothing about the process we use, the production value, or (indeed) the number of listeners we have that make it seem anything like a professional enterprise and even still, at least at an average cocktail party, I’d have something to say.
Side Note: I don’t know why I always measure my knowledge based on what I’d talk about at a cocktail party. I’ve never been to a cocktail party. I don’t even know if they exist anymore. Also, drinking makes me instantly delightful, so I wouldn’t even have to know things if I was at one.
Ok, taking time to think about cocktail parties has settled me down a little bit and I think I can speak (write) coherently again. Where were we?
Yes, Podcasts.
Like I started to say, I was something of an early adopter of the format. I was listening to them when you had to use an actual IPod to do it… well, you could have used a Zune, but nobody did that. The point is that a quick search of the Googles tells me that the first official podcast debuted in 2004 and that the first podcast I listened to (Never Not Funny) debuted in 2006.
Alright, I wasn’t the earliest of early adopters, but I was at least there pretty near the start.
My very faulty memory tells me that at that time, at least in my area, the one ‘Morning Drive’ radio show I liked to listen to on the way to work went away and I was starved for input.
My drive to work at the time was only about 25 minutes, but I learned that is about 15 minutes too much for me to just listen to the radio. I’m easily distracted. I tried books on tape for a little while and that was ok. There was still the whole needing-to-go-and-physically-get-them thing, which wasn’t great. And mostly I borrowed them from the library so the quality could … you know… vary?
Then I realized that there was a way to get something off the internet ON TO MY IPod and that was basically like magic. Sure, I had music which must have come from the internet (probably from Napster #noregrets) but the idea of having people talking to me in my ear holes and being able to carry it with me, that felt pretty revolutionary. (Yes, I know they weren’t actually talking directly to me and no, I’m not sure if there’s a better word to use than earholes.)
And that, friend, was the beginning of my love affair with podcasts.
Flash forward to today. My commute to work has just about doubled which means I have at least 8 hours of car time, all by my lonesome. And that’s ok because I also have at least 10 different podcasts that I subscribe to, four of which I listen to every week, one I listen to every DAY, and the others I fill in there somewhere depending on my mood.
They run the spectrum from lefty-snowflake leaning political shows (thank you Crooked Media), to history (my current fav, The Dollop) , to entertainers that I just love to listen to (tough choice here between Jonathan Van Ness who is my golden goddess forever, and Ron Funches, whose laugh has healing properties). Every show is different, but they all bring me something that my life would be missing if I stopped listening.
There’s something subversive about them too, right? Yes, there are ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ podcasts, and there are shows that probably follow a stricter set of rules because they have to appeal to advertisers, but they’re really still the wild west out there. They’re cheap and easy to make (at least comparatively), no government agency regulates them, the people who listen either love them or turn them off, and all of that is just the way I like it. Give me your unfiltered opinion, tell me what you think and feel, ask tough questions and insist on real answers that aren’t packaged to sell on TV. Most importantly, be a place where real people can have a voice and hear each other talk.
That’s how I feel about podcasts, now here’s a shameless plug:
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