What is Old is New Again by Angela Rieck

I was born when television was emerging, and radio was dying. So, I missed the radio soap operas, news, sports, adventure stories, and variety shows. Some entertainers who remained on radio, best known among them are probably, Jean Shepherd and Garrison Keillor.

Jean Shepherd has become famous for the beloved movie, A Christmas Story. But he had been a famous radio storyteller for many years before this movie, which was based on his stories and books, in particular In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

Garrison Keillor revived the media with A Prairie Home Companion, a weekly variety show on Public Radio, the best known part of the show were his stories about a fictitious town, Lake Wobegon “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” It featured guest musicians, comedy skits and old fashioned sound effects.

Radio stories are back. Well, not radio per se, rather podcasts. For those who have been living under a rock, podcasts are on demand audio content that you can listen to from your computer, phone, or iPod.

Being a creature of television, it took me a while to understand the popularity of podcasts. Podcasts are exceeding popular with millennials, Gen X and Gen Y’ers. My daughter spends about an hour each day listening to a favorite podcast series. It is the perfect genre for busy people.

She is not alone. As of 2021, there were 850,000 podcast series, etc. with over 48 million total episodes.

Podcasts are often produced weekly (or until a series is over) and the content is varied, but generally feature political, news, sports, celebrity interviews, comedy skits, and “true crime” stories. True crime stories are one of the most popular genres in podcasting. In fact, these true crime stories have provided important new clues in cold cases.

So my question, is Why? Why are podcasts so popular?

Part of the reason is that “everybody does it.” If you are following a podcast series, it is likely that your friends are as well.

But it is also a good opportunity to get news and factual information while you are multitasking. Most listen to podcasts while they are walking, exercising, driving, or cooking. It is a quick way to catch up on the way to work. There are so many different podcasts and podcasters that you can follow whatever you want to hear.

Given the wide range of topics, there are a lot of choices and since podcasts are available on demand, all you need is a smart phone, a computer or an iPod.

So, I decided to listen to a few podcasts. I chose a weekly “true crime” series and my daughter’s favorite, Pod Save America. The latter is a political show hosted by four former Obama aides. They describe it as “a no-b######t conversation about politics hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor.”

Unlike radio, they are uncensored. There is a lot of colorful language and very frank comments. In the podcasts that I chose I heard few sound effects; instead, they favored non-tonal music. With the exception of comedians, they tended to speak in a low key tone, like Public Radio broadcasters.

So, it is interesting, but it doesn’t necessarily appeal to me. I am retired and have more time than I used to. When I am outside, I prefer listening to nature; and indoors, I prefer combined auditory and visual information (TV) over solely auditory.

But I am in the minority. Podcasts are increasing at rates beyond expected. In the last decade podcast listeners have doubled. Today it is estimated that 57% of U.S. consumers listen to podcasts regularly.

One of the reasons that there is so much content is that anyone can create their own podcast. All they need is a microphone, a hosting platform, and auditing software. That is it…

So, what is old is new again…but different, it is uncensored, customized, and available whenever you want it, just like our world.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.