Podcasting In Modern Media and My Experience With It
Over the past few years, podcasting has become a staple in the modern media. The first podcast recorded was in July 2003 at Harvard University. In February 2004, the term “podcast” became official, as it was a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast.” In 2014, podcasting began to really take off with the New York Times release of ‘Serial,’ a true crime podcast marketed toward a female audience. Within a year of being released, it had hit 80 million total downloads. In March 2020 after everyone went into lockdown, everyone and their mother decided to start creating a podcast. There are now reportedly over five million different podcasts out on the internet according to Fresh Air.
Podcasts have such a wide range of topics because anyone can talk about anything. You may hear the phrase about how podcasts do not have any value because anyone can get in front of a microphone and say whatever nonsense they want. While this can be a downside, it is also the beauty of podcasts. It lets you see the perspective of someone else and see how someone else views a certain topic. The number one podcast in the world right now is “The Joe Rogan Experience,” hosted by comedian Joe Rogan. While some people do not like Joe Rogan, his podcasts are entertaining enough to get 11 million viewers per episode.
My Experiences with Podcasts
In 2021, I became yet another person to start a podcast. Unlike everyone else, I did not start a podcast with my mother.
The first podcast that I did was called “Midnight Lights.” The name Midnight Lights came from the fact that we filmed at midnight once a week for our episodes. The premise of the podcast was to go inside the mind of three college freshmen and what we were thinking about at midnight on a weekday. Like many podcasts that have been released, we were not able to gain fans outside of friends and family. Attempts were made to grow a fanbase by creating a Midnight Lights Instagram where we posted episode updates and then reposted them to our personal accounts. Despite these efforts, we still only averaged about 10 viewers per episode. After Freshman year came to an end, we all went our separate ways for the summer, then never restarted when we returned to school.
The second podcast that I took part in is called 5th Floor Football. This podcast is done with two people, along with myself, and is live-streamed once a week. Unlike Midnight Lights, 5th Floor Football is still going on today. This podcast gives us an opportunity to get together once a week to talk about something we all enjoy: the NFL. Of the three podcasts I have been a part of, this is the one where I have never checked the viewership numbers. This podcast is done purely for the entertainment of the creators, which is what I believe is the beauty of podcasts. The creators can discuss things they enjoy, and every once in a while, the podcast will blow up because there are people out there who enjoy what they are talking about.
The other podcast that I have been part of is the Consumer $ense Podcast. Consumer $ense is a club at Duquesne University where we make a presence on social media by posting about trends in the marketplace. Along with podcasts, we write blogs and post engaging content on Instagram. As for podcasting, we record 20-30-minute episodes every two weeks about various topics that are trending to post on Spotify and YouTube. This gives us the opportunity to learn how to record and market podcasts in a professional manner.