Is Podcasting Becoming More Like Radio?
Podcasting only has a few true influencers, but Nicholas Quah is one of them. He’s the podcast critic for Vulture, which means he’s one of the most important voices in recommending new shows, but, more importantly, he’s also the founder of the podcast newsletter Hot Pod, which he sold to Vox in 2021. It is now part of The Verge and, let’s be honest, a pale imitation of what it was at the height of its success. Hot Pod was industry focused, but tackled breaking news and exclusives in a way that made it essential reading for anyone remotely interested in the future of the media. Its spin-off podcast, Servant of Pod, was less successful. All this is just to say that when Quah speaks, the industry listens. This week, Quah published an essay in Vulture, titled ‘Podcast is Just Radio Now’, which has been getting a lot of pick-up and pushback from the industry. To synthesise the piece, which you should also read, Quah’s argument is: eight years ago, NPR released Serial, the true crime thriller (back in the news this week) which made podcasting mainstream. After that, a succession of must-listen hits like Missing Richard Simmons and S-Town followed and podcasting seemed to be going great guns. But, after that, the idea of the “blockbuster podcast” has tailed off, and been replaced by the hegemony of the always-on podcast, like the Joe Rogan Experience or Call Her Daddy. The industry’s “energy is just coming from chatcasts”, Quah concludes, which is apparently the direction that radio headed in the US.
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