Here's the thing about podcasting (and why I love it so much). Yes, the rich and famous have jumped on the bandwagon, but, unlike something like TV, I can just ignore their podcasts since every...
Here's the thing about podcasting (and why I love it so much). Yes, the rich and famous have jumped on the bandwagon, but, unlike something like TV, I can just ignore their podcasts since every channel (podcast) isn't taken over. With podcasts, the rich and famous, the NPRs, the Media Companies, and the Hobbyist can all coexist. I, the listener, can just subscribe to what I like and want.
Here's the catch...make sure those Hobbyists know you are listening and keep them motivated. We only lose what we love so much about podcasts when the people we love don't feel like anyone is listening.
You are totally right. However, one issue that I'm seeing is that a whole generation of younger or newer podcast fans now understands it as a visual medium. I know a lot of people for whom podcast...
You are totally right.
However, one issue that I'm seeing is that a whole generation of younger or newer podcast fans now understands it as a visual medium. I know a lot of people for whom podcast is video. And that is a problem for a large majority of hobbyist audio podcasts, which are now considered a subpar or incomplete experience.
That’s just because they’re used to Twitch and have lifestyles where they can sit and watch video for ages. Once they start driving or have to run errands, like walking dogs or going to grocery...
That’s just because they’re used to Twitch and have lifestyles where they can sit and watch video for ages.
Once they start driving or have to run errands, like walking dogs or going to grocery stores, they’ll come to appreciate the purely aural experience.
That works until the podcasters themselves forget they are a podcast and not a video essay. Nothing more annoying than listening to a podcast, and one of the hosts pulls up a graph to make an...
That works until the podcasters themselves forget they are a podcast and not a video essay.
Nothing more annoying than listening to a podcast, and one of the hosts pulls up a graph to make an argument, but nobody describes what the graph shows.
Fine, make video essays if you want to, but then don't also publish audio-only to podcast apps...
I agree with you and that's why I think I don't really have a strong opinion outside of a general disinterest in celebrity podcasting. Everything else is still available to me, so I don't sweat...
I agree with you and that's why I think I don't really have a strong opinion outside of a general disinterest in celebrity podcasting. Everything else is still available to me, so I don't sweat the other stuff.
Tbh it just feels like pointless whining and gatekeeping to me. For one, the category of "podcast" is today so broad the idea that it's "for" a specific genre and audience of people is absurd,...
Tbh it just feels like pointless whining and gatekeeping to me. For one, the category of "podcast" is today so broad the idea that it's "for" a specific genre and audience of people is absurd, given that it practically refers to all longform audio-on-demand, and even in its technical definition, is about serving audio with RSS. There's always been famous people in podcasts - Bill Simmons has had one of the largest podcasts, and the largest sports focused podcast, since he ran the B.S Report podcast for ESPN in 2007. And certainly there's always been famous people on the radio, and as radio meets its slow demise, podcast became the natural path forward, as streaming was for analog television.
What is even the actionable item the author would want people to take? Why do casual listeners who just want to hear Conan worth less than "true dedicated podcast aficionados"? Is it not practically tautologically true that famous people would dominate X medium by the definition of famous?
I think its a fairly light hearted piece meant to just vent a general emotion of apathy towards more celebrity fueled media. And i get it. No one is arguing that celebrity podcasts arent by...
I think its a fairly light hearted piece meant to just vent a general emotion of apathy towards more celebrity fueled media. And i get it.
No one is arguing that celebrity podcasts arent by definition still podcasts. I think its more about how podcasting has typically been the medium that normal folks with interesting ideas, interests, and storytelling ability could propagate those things to new audiences with very little starting capital or commitment.
By having celebrities dominate the space you lose those entries at the top of the home screen of a podcasting app, recommendation site, whatever to a constantly rotating cast of super well funded, highly produced voices you already see/hear plenty of. For most folks, they wont scroll down to try something new because they just found out about podcasts and oooh look its a name i recognize.
Its like coke at the grocery store. The more recognizable coca cola is to you, the more likely you are to buy it, the more likely that the grocery store has to stock it and the more space it takes up on the shelf, the more likely you are to buy it. Leaving less and less room for a small cola company to exist on that shelf.
That just feels like rose tinted glasses to me. Additionally, I'm unsure of what limited resource the author is exactly implying is being eaten up. Does the internet have a finite number of RSS...
I think its more about how podcasting has typically been the medium that normal folks with interesting ideas
That just feels like rose tinted glasses to me. Additionally, I'm unsure of what limited resource the author is exactly implying is being eaten up. Does the internet have a finite number of RSS feeds it can support or something?
The apple podcast app? Spotify? You should really be complaining at those particular vendors, if so.
Yea, i would say a healthy amount of folks use those two apps to consume podcasts and they do have finite "frontpage" space. Again, i want to reiterate that i think the piece is being very...
Yea, i would say a healthy amount of folks use those two apps to consume podcasts and they do have finite "frontpage" space. Again, i want to reiterate that i think the piece is being very lighthearted about its criticism and i think venting frustration through written humour (and not yelling at a flight attendant and calling her out to your millions of fans; tom segura you piece of shit) is a healthy way to talk about it.
The two aspects I don't see as "healthy" is 1) in general I don't think complaining about unactionable things is all that healthy, it just tends to build up resentment and 2) I don't think...
The two aspects I don't see as "healthy" is 1) in general I don't think complaining about unactionable things is all that healthy, it just tends to build up resentment and 2) I don't think gatekeeping is good, especially when you try to gatekeep something like "longform audio on demand over the internet".
Like
To me at least O’Brien is WAY too famous and successful to be doing a podcast.
this just seems to me an absurd statement. Ah yes, once you reach a certain amount of fame you should not be allowed to publish longform audio on the internet. Even when you try to gatekeep a small community, that feels wrong to me, but in this case the author is speaking on behalf... the very idea of longform audio on the internet? Huh?
Its an opinion piece on a private blog. Generalizing and "in my opinion" is inherent before every single argument in the piece. As for the argument about gatekeeping, sure it sucks. Its never cool...
Its an opinion piece on a private blog. Generalizing and "in my opinion" is inherent before every single argument in the piece.
As for the argument about gatekeeping, sure it sucks. Its never cool to complain about someone else being successful in a thing you enjoy. However, i think the argument goes deeper and you can very easily argue that celebrity podcasts, and specifically the centralized popular platforms they appear and are pushed heavily on (due to advertising contracts that independent creators might not have access to) are becoming the gatekeepers of podcasting by consuming that vital frontpage space. We live in a world dominated by the "first page of google".
As with any market with a shallow moat that sees a boom, established individuals inevitably fill it with capital and turn it into a business. I think the article is trying to make this point, rather than the one about celebrities(and fails miserably because the author is too narcissistic), that yet another establishment for the propagation of free ideas by citizens has been overrun by the greater market to peddle tv shows, e-cigs and biographies about other celebrities (which yes, i get was a thing already in networks like gimlet. Its just further exacerbated in this case).
Ran across this in my Feed this morning and it struck me that this put into words something I've generally felt for awhile. I don't necessarily have a very strong opinion about this, but while I...
Ran across this in my Feed this morning and it struck me that this put into words something I've generally felt for awhile. I don't necessarily have a very strong opinion about this, but while I love and have loved Conan for decades now, I have minimal desire to listen to his podcast or any other celebrity podcast.
I've been listening to podcasts for 20ish years now,, can't even remember the first one I listened to, but one of my early favorites was Skeptics Guide to the Universe and GFW Radio back in the early 2000s. Podcasting always felt underground to me at the time and always like it was a bunch of weirdos I'd never heard of getting together to just talk about things, so this blog post just struck a chord with me this morning. I want to listen to people talk about esoteric subjects and meander off into random asides about things they're interested in and not a multimillionaire, who I can't relate to, polish their image.
I listened to a few TV show rewatch podcasts and eventually got bored because they're all ad supported and I just don't care about listening to the number of ads they run or how much of the...
I have minimal desire to listen to his podcast or any other celebrity podcast.
I listened to a few TV show rewatch podcasts and eventually got bored because they're all ad supported and I just don't care about listening to the number of ads they run or how much of the airtime is occupied by ad. I don't even mind ads in general, but the big podcasts that make a lot of money tend to get ads from gambling apps (which I think should be illegal to advertise but that's a separate issue) and other stuff that I'm not interested in and are also mostly inserted into the show like traditional radio.
Most of the podcasts I actually like have a handful of ad reads--read and recommended by the host themselves so the ad feels like part of the content instead of an interruption--or they're patron supported.
I don't begrudge Conan wanting to do something when he doesn't have anything bigger going on. I listen to the podcast on occasion; it's funny and has interesting guests (not only the celebrities...
I don't begrudge Conan wanting to do something when he doesn't have anything bigger going on. I listen to the podcast on occasion; it's funny and has interesting guests (not only the celebrities but the fans as well). Watching on youtube, sponsorblock is a must because there is usually a long, randomly inserted sponsor plug (eff off T-Mobile, you don't even operate in my country).
I vaguely remember Conan has a new travel show cooking, but I assumed it got delayed due to the hollywood strikes.
The author is losing out here. Conan's podcast is arguably the best material he ever put out. Absolutely hilarious.
Yet I’ve never listened to Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend for a very distinct reason. To me at least O’Brien is WAY too famous and successful to be doing a podcast.
The author is losing out here. Conan's podcast is arguably the best material he ever put out. Absolutely hilarious.
Conan is hilarious, but the late night show format and time slot don't let him go full-on CoCo. Podcasts don't have that many (if any) limits, so he can do his stuff.
Conan is hilarious, but the late night show format and time slot don't let him go full-on CoCo.
Podcasts don't have that many (if any) limits, so he can do his stuff.
It's low rent versions of traditional talk shows. Conan for example used to have writers and sketches. There was whole productions going on. All a podcasts requires booking guests and getting them...
It's low rent versions of traditional talk shows. Conan for example used to have writers and sketches. There was whole productions going on. All a podcasts requires booking guests and getting them into the seat. His podcast is little more than an hour long laughing. They don't really talk about much at all. Maybe he will tease out a few anecdotes from guests. For the most part it's random banter with lots of cackling into the microphones. That doesn't appeal to me at all.
I don't think it's anymore self evident how low production these famous podcasts are than the guests often remarking they forgot they were recording. Some times guests don't even know they've started recording.
I don't know so many people are saying Conan is doing his best work as ever. I've watched since the 90s Light Night show and his whole getup is a shadow of his former self. That's not meant in a negative tone. He's been on air for three decades. So it's understandable that he's dialed back.
These rich and famous genre of podcasts are cashing in on the loneliness and media binging epidemic. People are using para-social relationships as a crutch. Get a bunch of rich and famous people together. Record their conversations as friends. These podcast are honed in on it. A sign of the times.
I did the same, and I do believe his best comedy is as of now. Love the old stuff too.
I don't know so many people are saying Conan is doing his best work as ever. I've watched since the 90s Light Night show and his whole getup is a shadow of his former self.
I did the same, and I do believe his best comedy is as of now. Love the old stuff too.
Definitely agree with this. I've been watching Conan since the late 90's and my favorite stuff was always his silly bits and characters; the man is still hilarious and great with an interview, but...
Definitely agree with this. I've been watching Conan since the late 90's and my favorite stuff was always his silly bits and characters; the man is still hilarious and great with an interview, but when he had guests on, it was always when I turned away from the TV and went back to playing Everquest or doing whatever I had been.
But...I don't care about what random people are podcasting about. I'd rather check out podcasts from people I am familiar with from their other entertainment work. Granted, my list of podcasts is...
But...I don't care about what random people are podcasting about. I'd rather check out podcasts from people I am familiar with from their other entertainment work.
Granted, my list of podcasts is basically UK comedy stuff only...
I've never been that interested in podcasts aside from Skeptoid (Brian is the only podcaster I can tolerate), but I can agree that the rich and famous people podcasts get unfairly elevated. I'm...
I've never been that interested in podcasts aside from Skeptoid (Brian is the only podcaster I can tolerate), but I can agree that the rich and famous people podcasts get unfairly elevated. I'm constantly bombarded on Spotify with ads for the latest podcast by [insert celebrity here] and I could not possibly care less. It struck me as a medium that was meant more for people who didn't have a voice to get themselves out there, not a way for celebrities to continue to advertise that they still exist.
Incidentally I just learned that Bruce Springsteen is a lifelong progressive and am SHOOK. I naturally assumed that because the chorus for his one big hit was “Yeah, yeah, yeah America is great! I love the USA! Vote for Ronald Reagan!” the singer shared my far right wing political beliefs but apparently he’s been a huge lefty for something like seventy years. I’ll still be buying his albums and going to his shows, but less enthusiastically.
Ah, the A.V. Club. Where you never know of you're getting Onion satire or quality reviews. But you can pretty much always tell, and in this case you can be sure that it's satire. But really, did...
Ah, the A.V. Club. Where you never know of you're getting Onion satire or quality reviews.
But you can pretty much always tell, and in this case you can be sure that it's satire.
But really, did you know that Rage Against the Machine is a bunch of pinko lefty commie woke socialists?? Turns out their song "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me" isn't actually a small government manifesto about how as sovereign citizens they aren't subject to your "laws." Oh well, I'll keep playing the song at my Fraternal Order of the Police events.
Here's the thing about podcasting (and why I love it so much). Yes, the rich and famous have jumped on the bandwagon, but, unlike something like TV, I can just ignore their podcasts since every channel (podcast) isn't taken over. With podcasts, the rich and famous, the NPRs, the Media Companies, and the Hobbyist can all coexist. I, the listener, can just subscribe to what I like and want.
Here's the catch...make sure those Hobbyists know you are listening and keep them motivated. We only lose what we love so much about podcasts when the people we love don't feel like anyone is listening.
You are totally right.
However, one issue that I'm seeing is that a whole generation of younger or newer podcast fans now understands it as a visual medium. I know a lot of people for whom podcast is video. And that is a problem for a large majority of hobbyist audio podcasts, which are now considered a subpar or incomplete experience.
That’s just because they’re used to Twitch and have lifestyles where they can sit and watch video for ages.
Once they start driving or have to run errands, like walking dogs or going to grocery stores, they’ll come to appreciate the purely aural experience.
That works until the podcasters themselves forget they are a podcast and not a video essay.
Nothing more annoying than listening to a podcast, and one of the hosts pulls up a graph to make an argument, but nobody describes what the graph shows.
Fine, make video essays if you want to, but then don't also publish audio-only to podcast apps...
I agree with you and that's why I think I don't really have a strong opinion outside of a general disinterest in celebrity podcasting. Everything else is still available to me, so I don't sweat the other stuff.
Tbh it just feels like pointless whining and gatekeeping to me. For one, the category of "podcast" is today so broad the idea that it's "for" a specific genre and audience of people is absurd, given that it practically refers to all longform audio-on-demand, and even in its technical definition, is about serving audio with RSS. There's always been famous people in podcasts - Bill Simmons has had one of the largest podcasts, and the largest sports focused podcast, since he ran the B.S Report podcast for ESPN in 2007. And certainly there's always been famous people on the radio, and as radio meets its slow demise, podcast became the natural path forward, as streaming was for analog television.
What is even the actionable item the author would want people to take? Why do casual listeners who just want to hear Conan worth less than "true dedicated podcast aficionados"? Is it not practically tautologically true that famous people would dominate X medium by the definition of famous?
I think its a fairly light hearted piece meant to just vent a general emotion of apathy towards more celebrity fueled media. And i get it.
No one is arguing that celebrity podcasts arent by definition still podcasts. I think its more about how podcasting has typically been the medium that normal folks with interesting ideas, interests, and storytelling ability could propagate those things to new audiences with very little starting capital or commitment.
By having celebrities dominate the space you lose those entries at the top of the home screen of a podcasting app, recommendation site, whatever to a constantly rotating cast of super well funded, highly produced voices you already see/hear plenty of. For most folks, they wont scroll down to try something new because they just found out about podcasts and oooh look its a name i recognize.
Its like coke at the grocery store. The more recognizable coca cola is to you, the more likely you are to buy it, the more likely that the grocery store has to stock it and the more space it takes up on the shelf, the more likely you are to buy it. Leaving less and less room for a small cola company to exist on that shelf.
That just feels like rose tinted glasses to me. Additionally, I'm unsure of what limited resource the author is exactly implying is being eaten up. Does the internet have a finite number of RSS feeds it can support or something?
The apple podcast app? Spotify? You should really be complaining at those particular vendors, if so.
Yea, i would say a healthy amount of folks use those two apps to consume podcasts and they do have finite "frontpage" space. Again, i want to reiterate that i think the piece is being very lighthearted about its criticism and i think venting frustration through written humour (and not yelling at a flight attendant and calling her out to your millions of fans; tom segura you piece of shit) is a healthy way to talk about it.
The two aspects I don't see as "healthy" is 1) in general I don't think complaining about unactionable things is all that healthy, it just tends to build up resentment and 2) I don't think gatekeeping is good, especially when you try to gatekeep something like "longform audio on demand over the internet".
Like
this just seems to me an absurd statement. Ah yes, once you reach a certain amount of fame you should not be allowed to publish longform audio on the internet. Even when you try to gatekeep a small community, that feels wrong to me, but in this case the author is speaking on behalf... the very idea of longform audio on the internet? Huh?
Its an opinion piece on a private blog. Generalizing and "in my opinion" is inherent before every single argument in the piece.
As for the argument about gatekeeping, sure it sucks. Its never cool to complain about someone else being successful in a thing you enjoy. However, i think the argument goes deeper and you can very easily argue that celebrity podcasts, and specifically the centralized popular platforms they appear and are pushed heavily on (due to advertising contracts that independent creators might not have access to) are becoming the gatekeepers of podcasting by consuming that vital frontpage space. We live in a world dominated by the "first page of google".
As with any market with a shallow moat that sees a boom, established individuals inevitably fill it with capital and turn it into a business. I think the article is trying to make this point, rather than the one about celebrities(and fails miserably because the author is too narcissistic), that yet another establishment for the propagation of free ideas by citizens has been overrun by the greater market to peddle tv shows, e-cigs and biographies about other celebrities (which yes, i get was a thing already in networks like gimlet. Its just further exacerbated in this case).
Keep in mind that the article author used to work for The Onion .... take this article with a healthy dose of sarcasm baked in.
Ran across this in my Feed this morning and it struck me that this put into words something I've generally felt for awhile. I don't necessarily have a very strong opinion about this, but while I love and have loved Conan for decades now, I have minimal desire to listen to his podcast or any other celebrity podcast.
I've been listening to podcasts for 20ish years now,, can't even remember the first one I listened to, but one of my early favorites was Skeptics Guide to the Universe and GFW Radio back in the early 2000s. Podcasting always felt underground to me at the time and always like it was a bunch of weirdos I'd never heard of getting together to just talk about things, so this blog post just struck a chord with me this morning. I want to listen to people talk about esoteric subjects and meander off into random asides about things they're interested in and not a multimillionaire, who I can't relate to, polish their image.
I listened to a few TV show rewatch podcasts and eventually got bored because they're all ad supported and I just don't care about listening to the number of ads they run or how much of the airtime is occupied by ad. I don't even mind ads in general, but the big podcasts that make a lot of money tend to get ads from gambling apps (which I think should be illegal to advertise but that's a separate issue) and other stuff that I'm not interested in and are also mostly inserted into the show like traditional radio.
Most of the podcasts I actually like have a handful of ad reads--read and recommended by the host themselves so the ad feels like part of the content instead of an interruption--or they're patron supported.
I don't begrudge Conan wanting to do something when he doesn't have anything bigger going on. I listen to the podcast on occasion; it's funny and has interesting guests (not only the celebrities but the fans as well). Watching on youtube, sponsorblock is a must because there is usually a long, randomly inserted sponsor plug (eff off T-Mobile, you don't even operate in my country).
I vaguely remember Conan has a new travel show cooking, but I assumed it got delayed due to the hollywood strikes.
The author is losing out here. Conan's podcast is arguably the best material he ever put out. Absolutely hilarious.
Conan is hilarious, but the late night show format and time slot don't let him go full-on CoCo.
Podcasts don't have that many (if any) limits, so he can do his stuff.
It's low rent versions of traditional talk shows. Conan for example used to have writers and sketches. There was whole productions going on. All a podcasts requires booking guests and getting them into the seat. His podcast is little more than an hour long laughing. They don't really talk about much at all. Maybe he will tease out a few anecdotes from guests. For the most part it's random banter with lots of cackling into the microphones. That doesn't appeal to me at all.
I don't think it's anymore self evident how low production these famous podcasts are than the guests often remarking they forgot they were recording. Some times guests don't even know they've started recording.
I don't know so many people are saying Conan is doing his best work as ever. I've watched since the 90s Light Night show and his whole getup is a shadow of his former self. That's not meant in a negative tone. He's been on air for three decades. So it's understandable that he's dialed back.
These rich and famous genre of podcasts are cashing in on the loneliness and media binging epidemic. People are using para-social relationships as a crutch. Get a bunch of rich and famous people together. Record their conversations as friends. These podcast are honed in on it. A sign of the times.
I did the same, and I do believe his best comedy is as of now. Love the old stuff too.
Definitely agree with this. I've been watching Conan since the late 90's and my favorite stuff was always his silly bits and characters; the man is still hilarious and great with an interview, but when he had guests on, it was always when I turned away from the TV and went back to playing Everquest or doing whatever I had been.
But...I don't care about what random people are podcasting about. I'd rather check out podcasts from people I am familiar with from their other entertainment work.
Granted, my list of podcasts is basically UK comedy stuff only...
I've never been that interested in podcasts aside from Skeptoid (Brian is the only podcaster I can tolerate), but I can agree that the rich and famous people podcasts get unfairly elevated. I'm constantly bombarded on Spotify with ads for the latest podcast by [insert celebrity here] and I could not possibly care less. It struck me as a medium that was meant more for people who didn't have a voice to get themselves out there, not a way for celebrities to continue to advertise that they still exist.
There are a ton of podcasts. More often than not by relatively unknowns like the average person.
Celebrities are a bit late to the party......
Can't tell if this is satire.
I dunno if your comment is sarcastic or not but the author's wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Rabin if that helps lol
Ah, the A.V. Club. Where you never know of you're getting Onion satire or quality reviews.
But you can pretty much always tell, and in this case you can be sure that it's satire.
But really, did you know that Rage Against the Machine is a bunch of pinko lefty commie woke socialists?? Turns out their song "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me" isn't actually a small government manifesto about how as sovereign citizens they aren't subject to your "laws." Oh well, I'll keep playing the song at my Fraternal Order of the Police events.
Sometimes people might not be able to tell, just wanted to make sure!
I just think it's funny that knowing that he works for the Onion doesn't actually help because the A.V. Club does almost exclusively serious reviews.
Many Americans don't realize what the lyrics of "Born in the USA" are actually about. It's an indictment, not a celebration.