Podcasts

Page constructed by Cailinn O'Rourke

Introduction To Podcasts:

Throughout this Wiki page I will touch on the many different aspects of what podcasts have to offer. As stated in Lecture 2: Radio, Recording, & Popular Music, podcasts are defined as "audio programs distributed over the internet as MP3-compressed music files that can be listened to online or downloaded." It then goes on to say that "Podcasts open up the distribution of audio programming to anyone with a computer and online connection." (Hanson, 2019). 

  Podcasts first gained popularity in 2004 and the numbers have been rising ever since, today there are about 5 million active podcasts available for listening. Podcasts originated in the United States, but now there are millions of listeners for all over the world. Podcasts were invented by two friends, Adam Curry and Dave Winer, they wanted to offer the public new vehicles for content. The name "podcast" is derived  from two words, iPod and broadcast, it was actually coined by a journalist named Ben Hammersley in an article he wrote for 'Guardian'. 

Diversity Within Podcasts:

One of the many benefits of podcasts is the vast topics that you can discover, if you can think of something there is a pretty good chance that someone has made a podcast about it. 

I took some time to browse Spotify for some different options, which I believe is a good outlet due to the fact that there are about 5 million different podcasts in the world and Spotify offers all of them! While I was looking I came across some popular ones like 'Call Her Daddy'  by Alex Copper, and 'Crime Junkie' by Ashley Flowers, but as I went deeper I found some interesting ones. A podcast titled 'The Pen Addict' by Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley touches on all the fun details of srationary items, the podcast 'Living Beeing' that helps you learn all the wonderful bee facts your heart desires. 

With all this being said, there is technically no guarantee that every topic on the whole world is covered, so if you cannot find one that meets your expectations you can create your own! I have found a website that offers a list of the top 10 podcast hosting sites, below I have the following list with the link to each site:

1) Podbean- https://www.podbean.com/

2) Acast- https://www.acast.com/

3) Spotify for Podcasters- https://podcasters.spotify.com/

4) Buzzsprout- https://www.buzzsprout.com/

5) Captivate- https://www.captivate.fm/

6) Castos- https://www.google.com/

7) Hello Audio- https://helloaudio.fm

8) Libsyn- https://libsyn.com/

9) Megaphone- https://megaphone.spotify.com/

10) Transistor- https://transistor.fm/

Easy Streaming Access:

Podcasts open up so many additional possibilites for listening to content, one way that I have personally utilized podcasts is when I am driving. When I drive long distances I sometimes get bored of listening to music, I want something more stimulating. Obviously, watching a video is a very dangerous thing to partake in while driving and that is where a podcast is the perfect tool. Podcasts can be a helpful resource for any activity that prohibits you from watching something, but you still have the ability to listen. There is even benefit in putting a podcast on as backgroud noise, you don't need to be actively listening for your brain to retain some information!

There are many different platforms that offer various podcast selections, but I have found a website that narrows it down to the 9 best sites for podcast listening, each including a link to the platform:

1) Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/

2) Player FM- https://player.fm/

3) Castro- https://castro.fm/

4) Pocket Casts- https://pocketcasts.com/

5) Audible- https://www.audible.com/ep/podcasts

6) Google Podcasts- https://podcasts.google.com/

7) Apple Podcasts- https://www.apple.com/apple-podcasts/

8) SiriusXM- https://www.siriusxm.com/podcasts

9) Overcast- https://overcast.fm/

Podcast Popularity:

 As I stated in my Introduction to Podcasts section, podcasts were introduced to the world in 2004 and have been growing in popularity ever since. I want to provide some statistics to demonstrate just how popular this outlet of entertainment has become

Since 2019, the number of podcast listeners has been growing steadily, I have added a graph below to provide a visual, this is by the Backlinko Team. 

Right now "there are over 464 million podcast listeners worldwide, which is projected to reach 504.9 million by 2024" (Backlinko Team, 2024). Another very interesting statistic is that almost 60% of people listen to podcasts as they are doing other tasks and 32% listen while driving or traveling. 

Stated in the textbook, "There are over 2 million US podcasts in operation, triple the number available in 2018" (Sisario 2021), and as I have stated earlier that number has now increased to over 5 million. The growth within this industry had increased so much in just these past few years and I do not believe it will level out any time soon.

After reviewing the wide range of topics and the ability to easily access million of podcasts from a multitude of platforms, it is quite easy to see why this is a trend that stuck with is through the years. The creative freedom and comfort that can be found within the podcasting community is truly astounding. This mass media medium is a gateway to finding new hobbies, revisiting old ones, discovering yourself, and fostering productive conversations within the world.