Podcasting: The Audio Media Revolution

Tags: [[Books]] [[Reading]]

  • Introduction: The Audio Media Revolution
    • Massive amount of success for podcasts starting in 2014, with huge showings for things like [[Welcome to Night Vale]], and millions of downloads for shows like [[Serial]], [[S-Town]], and [[BBC Podcasts]]
    • Risk of the numbers eclipsing the interesting new forms of expression being established
    • The book will attempt to analyze some of the larger podcasts out there but build up a model for all podcasts extrapolated from that
    • Podcasting is not the same thing as radio, and it is worth exploring the differences
    • Podcasting is a chance to break old rules of media and radio, and create new approaches towards audio broadcasting
    • Change in the perception of podcasts from BBC Media -> Hipster Cafes, coincides with change in the monetization strategies
    • New form of audio drama has found an approach that allows for secondary listening to an engaging story
    • Lots to be learned about the technology of recording, and the challenges of distribution and discovery
    • Podcasts can be rereleased with changes. This can be valuable in some ways, but also makes it difficult for people trying to save timestamps of useful information
      • For [[(App) PodNaut]] I will need to be aware of this, maybe store multiple versions of transcriptions and a changelog?
  • Splatters of Shit: Story, Science, and Digital Speech on Radiolab
    • [[Radiolab]] first aired as Radio Lab on WNYC in New York City in 2002
    • [[Radiolab]] creates great narratives while using unnaturally but effective digital speech editing
    • Executive producer Ellen Horne suggested the 2005 "Space" episode marked a point where the show found its identity
    • It has existed for the entire duration of podcasting, from the hype during the initial iPod release through to the mainstream adoption of podcasting caused by Serial
    • Early episodes were produced to fill slots between the rest of the WNYC programming. They were less consistent, and more demanding of the listeners attention than normal radio.
    • It captured many of the differences in the podcasting format before podcasts were really a thing: demanding of the audiences attention, and a pull form of consumption rather than push
    • It had troubles due to inconsistent scheduling and an odd production style, two things that would be fine in a podcast