The popularity of podcasts is growing in breakneck speed.
If you don’t believe me, ask your friends (or your kids) what podcasts they’re listening to these days, and if you’re like me, you’re bound to get a whole slew of different answers.
After dabbling with listening to some podcasts a few years ago, I recently officially jumped on the podcast bandwagon.
If I’m being completely honest, it took me a while to get into them.
In the past, if I knew I had a long drive ahead of me, I would just make a custom playlist for myself – or sometimes just turn on the radio to check out what I could find.
But then I discovered the neverending world of podcasts.
My first foray into the began a few years ago when someone told me to check out a podcast called “S-Town” about a strange individual who lived in a small Alabama town.
The podcast was created by the producers of This American Life, a weekly public radio program, which also happens to have an accompanying podcast. I found “S-Town” interesting, but it wasn’t really my cup of tea.
The episodes were pretty long and I may not have had the patience at the time to appreciate the depths in which it dug.
On my way to Memphis to visit family one Thanksgiving, I listened to an episode of a podcast called “House of Carbs” about – you guessed it – food.
On that particular drive north, I listened to foodies talk about Thanksgiving side dishes as they made a bracket style tournament and ultimately crowned one side dish the overall champion.
After these little excursions dabbling in podcasts, I still wasn’t totally sold.
Last summer, I was vacationing in Colorado with some friends and one of my friends introduced me to a podcast called “Ologies,” hosted by Alie Ward, a fellow redhead.
This turned out to be a podcast I found to be both interesting and intriguing.
I was hooked.
In her “Ologies” podcast, Ward simply interviews specialists or experts in a certain field for each episode and asks them questions about their work.
So far, I’ve listened to Ward interview a selachimorphologist (shark expert), a zymologist (beer specialist), a dendrologist (tree expert), and plenty of others.
As I have listened to various podcasts, I have learned that I’m not the biggest fan of hearing four different people talk to each other. It seems easier to hear people speak one-on-one.
Not long ago as I was pumping gas one day on Broadway Drive, my friend, Erik Eaves, pulled up to the pump next to me.
He got out of his vehicle and told me he’d been listening to a podcast called “Dr. Death.”
Erik gave me a little bit of the background about it and a few days later, I was enthralled.
The timing was perfect because i had another drive scheduled up to Memphis and by the time I made it through the first couple of episodes, my stomach was in knots.
That podcast blew my mind.
And just like that, one thing led to another.
After I finished listening to “Dr. Death,” I was looking for my next podcast to tackle and remembered hearing commercials for one being produced by the same company called “Dirty John.”
I have come to appreciate the investigative journalism style of some of these podcasts and one of my favorite things to do these days is to talk to my friends about the various episodes to compare notes and theories.
It’s a blast.
Since working in an office setting at The PineBelt NEWS with my friend, Whitney Miracle, we have listened to a few different podcasts together – including one she introduced me to called “Cold,” about the disappearance of a mother and the investigation into the woman’s husband, who authorities believe murdered her.
More recently, Whitney and I have been listening to a podcast called “The Dropout,” which explores the suspected fraud involving a company called Theranos and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes.
Believe it or not, these podcasts are great to listen to while we work.
I guess you call that multitasking.
Needless to say, there are podcasts about any and everything. I’ve listened to podcasts about food, movies, business, sports, storytelling, faith, murder, and more.
If there is a topic or hobby that you enjoy, you can best believe there is a podcast out there for you.
My neighbor, David Meigs, has a podcast called “Everything is OK” (he’s from Oklahoma).
Our sports writer, Camal Petro has “The PineBeltSPORTS Podcast.”
Our fearless editor and publisher, David Gustafson was recently interviewed on a local music podcast called “District Sound Wave.”
How popular have they become?
So much that a new “Best Local Podcast” category has been added to the annual Best of the Pine Belt competition and there are some great finalists to consider.
Who knows, maybe it’s time for me to start a podcast. I have a digital webseries that I work on with The Student Printz at Southern Miss where I interview people in Hattiesburg at local eateries.
Most of the episodes we shoot are condensed for video and we end up with lots of extra audio that never is released. Instant podcast?
It makes me happy that this new media format has gained more and more popularity over the years. If you ask me, it’s almost like a dawning of a new age for radio programming.
If you’re not listening to podcasts yet, give them a chance.
And if you have any podcasts that you’d like to suggest, email them to me at jamie@HubCitySPOKES.com
In the meantime, it’s reassuring to know that in spite of all of the different options out there, people still want to hear stories and be entertained by the spoken word.
Jamie Massengale is a rather large man with a red beard. He likes to listen to all kinds of things with his ear holes. In addition to being a second semester senior in his final year at Southern Miss, he spends his afternoon working part-time as a multimedia specialist with the team at HubCitySPOKES.
