Podcasts to Dethrone Radio?
Podcasting has been around for a very long time. Since 2004 as a matter of fact. Adam Curry and Dave Winer are credited with getting the idea of podcasts started. Though there is some dispute on who exactly did it first, Curry adn Winer are the receivers of that credit. The term “podcasting” itself was first coined by Ben Hammersley in an article he wrote for The Guardian newspaper. Since then, people have been exploring just how far podcasting can go in today’s world. As we can see in the year 2023, podcasts can get you pretty far in life. Many people are able to pursue podcasting as a full time career and find a decent amount of success, given the low effort required to get one started at all. Compare this ease of use to radio hosting for a second. What does it take to become a radio host on a decently popular radio station? Short answer is years of experience behind the microphone at smaller, less popular stations and frankly, a likeable voice and personality. Granted, a podcaster with an unlikable voice or personality also won’t be very popular, but the difference is that the radio executives decide how likeable their hosts are, while in podcasts it comes to the fans’ decision.
Radio has been the king of audio-only entertainment for generations, since the radio’s invention in 1895. The scope of radio’s influence on the world is staggering to comprehend. Most of the entertainment we enjoy today was only made possible after the realization of radio was introduced. Even in November of 1920, KDKA from right here in Pittsburgh obtained the first ever commercial license for radio broadcasts and was making money broadcasting on the airwaves. Over 100 years of dominance in audio entertainment, only television has ever been more popular. Nowadays though, podcasting has really hit it’s stride in popular culture. As previously mentioned, it is becoming abundantly clear how easy it is to break into the podcasting world and how difficult it can be to make it on radio. All one would need to start a podcast is a microphone and an idea. You can upload it wherever you want such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Google Podcasts. All in the name of ease for the listener, but also the recorder. Radio however, more scheduled programming, certain shows can only be heard at certain times on certain channels, signal can be poor depending on where you listen or even not have access to your show if you are traveling far. Radio has evolved and paved the way, but has encountered more and more setbacks as it and other technology has evolved.
One of the biggest complaints people have with radio nowadays is the amount of commercials. Whether it is just listening to music idly or attempting to hear their favorite show, it feels like commercials are constant. Understandably these radio stations need to make money to stay active, but the feeling most listeners have is that commercials are over saturating the airwaves. While podcasts also run commercials (if the hosts wish to make money off their show), these commercials are either backloaded to the end of the episode, frontloaded to the very beginning before the episode even starts, or during a natural break in the show. Commercials are unfortunately unavoidable in today’s media, but at least podcasts use them sparingly. Even better though, the podcast commercials can be skipped rather easily, radio cannot be fast forwarded, it is all live. The tailored experience of podcasts is what ultimately will help them dethrone radio as the king of audio entertainment. The struggle of finding something entertaining on radio when you’re stuck on a long road trip is a thing of the past so long as everyone’s phones are charged. The on-demand feeling this generation craves is met with podcasts. There are podcasts for everyone and anyone in the world, no matter what you enjoy to listen to. There are stories, political commentaries, comedy shows, book readings, improv shows; the list is seemingly endless. They can also be accessed anywhere, not just on your phone, though phones are almost exclusively responsible for the surge in popularity for podcasts in the last five years.
Technology and entertainment are constantly evolving industries. Podcasts seem to simply be the next step in the evolution of audio entertainment. Radio will have to make a lot of changes very quickly to stall podcasts from totally taking over, but it seems evolution will just take its course.