To
return to the mapping of the podcast world I began here two weeks ago, this
week I’ll cover the broad range of shows aside from comedic ones covered in the
previous entry. This may not seem like it pertains to the business and
marketing aspects of podcasting to which I’ve dedicated this blog, but the
content that is being sold in this medium is also important to consider, and
does affect how the medium is used.
Comedy
does drive a large and varied range of podcasts, and that’s a big chunk of what
I listen to, but there is an equally large range of podcasts being done that
are simply informative or educational, or that fit in genres including pop
culture, storytelling, sports, politics, technology and business.
The
shows I will mention here are simply the ones I’m most familiar with and can be
called good examples to illustrate what the genre is. This is by no means an
exclusive list. If I look at it three months from now, I might have a lot of
changes. I’ll break it down by categories.
Educational – This is the
broadest category, and can cover a lot. 99% Invisible, which has shorter episodes
than most, clocking in at 15 or 20 minutes each, covers topics that are related
to design in some way, even if those topics don’t adhere to what is
conventionally thought of as design, like the ins and outs of metering parking
in a city, or how incidental sound is added to sports broadcasts for realism
(bet you never realized that).
I’d
also cite Thinking Sideways and the Bowery Boys New York City History shows as
podcasts of this nature, which take a certain topic within a realm or
philosophy, and explore it. Thinking Sideways is about mysteries in recent
history, i.e. the past few decades, or at least the last century – topics such
as the Max Headroom broadcast interruption, the Tylenol poisonings, conspiracy
theories about the Denver International Airport, and more. It’s a podcast that
raises questions among some about whether it’s actually any good (to cite
podcasting favorite Bill Simmons sometime blunt question about specific movies,
TV shows or athletes – ‘Are they any good?’), because its hosts sometimes vamp
too long about the most basic parts of their stories.
The
Bowery Boys similarly pick out a location or phenomenon from New York City
history going back to any time from before the actual founding of the city to
more recent decades. They tackle that topic or place in depth, quickly laying
out some basics and then telling interesting stories about its development or
history. This podcast is much better and more authoritatively researched than
Thinking Sideways.
Pop Culture – “The Bill
Simmons Podcast” spends most of its time on sports, so I could place that in a
sports category, but there are way too many sports podcasts to enumerate in
this blog entry, and the ones I hear (“The Jonah Keri Show,” to name one) are
such a small percentage of what’s out there that it would not be authoritative
to mention them. But once every week or so, Simmons veers off his usual routine
on covering football or basketball with guests who can illustrate other angles
about sports in general, or other topics entirely, such as Chuck Klosterman,
Malcolm Gladwell, movie critic Wesley Morris and now colleagues from various
other shows on his “Channel 33” grouping of podcasts. Among “Channel 33” shows,
another stand-out pop culture one is “The Watch” with Chris Ryan and Andy
Greenwald, which is focused mostly on TV, but some movies as well.
True Crime -- I also have a
longtime interest in true crime, and there are plenty of podcasts that cover
this ground. Serial is very well known of course, and although I haven’t
completed the second season yet, its host Sarah Koenig has an interesting and
thorough manner of pondering every aspect of the cases the show covers, and
taking listeners through how her views on the cases change as she investigates.
Two
other lesser known podcasts are worth recommending – Criminal and True Murder.
Criminal is focused on smaller offenses and how people think about them – such as
counterfeiting – and also psychology around law enforcement and investigation,
as heard in an episode about a family of coroners. True Murder, on the other
hand, is much deeper and darker. I can attest to its quality, even having only
listened to one episode, but the crime covered was extremely gruesome, so be
forewarned, although the treatment of telling the story was sober and
compelling. The stories covered in other episodes also are graphic, judging by
the episode descriptions, so I have to give that caveat.
Miscellany -- This last
category may not be so consistent as the previous ones I’ve mapped, but I’m
noting them here as worth hearing – either for journalistic storytelling,
interesting interviews, or simply an entertaining take on their subject. From
NPR, Radiolab, and the venerable Fresh Air with Terry Gross, in podcast form,
are worthwhile. Dan Pashman’s “Sporkful” podcast is an entertaining take on
food and dining, without any snobbery. Re/Code offers a couple different
podcasts whose topics are on the cutting edge of media, covering subjects such
as the history of the Yelp reviews site and also interviewing accomplished
media figures such as David Remnick and Andrew Jarecki.
Combining
both this and the previous entry, it’s still not a comprehensive list. It’s
just meant to give a picture of what’s out there, what content I think about
and where I’m coming from when thinking through and relating ideas about
podcasting as an industry.
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