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June 30, 2016

Video didn’t kill the radio star – she’s hosting a podcast

Are we in the midst of a podcasting revolution? Siobhan McHugh comments. 

Podcasters P.J. Vogt, host of , and Starlee Kine, host of , addressed sold-out sessions at the Sydney Writers' Festival last month, riding the wave of popularity engendered by , the 2014 US true crime podcast series whose 100 million downloads galvanised the audio storytelling world.

Over 12 weeks, using a blend of personal narratives and investigative journalism delivered in ultra-casual conversational style, host Sarah Koenig examined the case against Adnan Syed, a Baltimore high school student who had been convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999.

In risky but inspired innovation, the series launched without a conclusive ending. It invited listeners to veer with Koenig through the unfolding evidence 鈥� a departure as making journalism more transparent, in a genre not without . The show fomented raucous chatrooms online and Koenig featured on the cover of Time magazine.

鈥淗osting鈥� is at the heart of the vaunted that has seen comedy, 鈥渃humcasts鈥� (friends riffing on a theme) and deeply storytelling vie with established radio documentary, feature and interview formats for audience share. In radio institutions such as the ABC or BBC, programs have 鈥減resenters鈥� and the organisation adds further brand identity. In the (over 350,000 podcasts are listed on iTunes), 鈥渉osts鈥� speak directly into our ear.

This seductive intimacy affects both the of the audio storytelling genre. It appeals to listeners from hitherto untapped demographics as well as to rusted-on audiophiles 鈥� a development being watched by both and activists.

In the predominantly English-speaking , producers and consumers of podcasts used to be mainly young, white, educated, affluent males. But, in the last two years, female listenership has . Female hosts are storming the studio (or bedroom, where many an indie podcast originates, or garage, where US comedian Marc Maron famously conducted a deeply revealing with Barack Obama last year).

鈥淗osts are really forming relationships in new ways with their listeners,鈥� says Julie Shapiro, CEO of , 鈥渁 curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows鈥� founded in 2014. It now has over ten million downloads a month of its 14 shows.

Radiotopia鈥檚 recent 鈥淧odquest鈥� competition attracted 1,537 entrants from 53 countries. The propose shows that feature marginalised voices and quirky perspectives, delivered as engaging crafted narrative.

Radiotopia and , the independent US network that hosts Kine and Vogt, have been created by former public radio broadcasters. They still proclaim the editorial values and lofty mission when National Public Radio (NPR) was founded in 1971.

The podsphere is unregulated 鈥� open slather for hate speech and religious rants, with the medium already exploited by groups like ISIS. But minorities are also the space, with growing audiences for shows on issues, gender, sexuality and race.

In Australia, both public broadcasters are developing podcast-first formats. SBS has , unusual tales of multicultural experiences, and the ABC offers , which ranges from comedy to entertaining history.

But other organisations, from to independents, are now able to compete for listeners. Longtime ABC star Andrew Denton The Wheeler cultural centre in Melbourne to launch his excellent podcast series on euthanasia, .

Other veteran radio journalists are going solo. In 2015, US producer John Biewen, whose work has featured on prestigious outlets including This American Life, NPR and the BBC, launched his own show, . He told me:

Liberation from broadcast gatekeepers and formats outweighed the advantages they bring 鈥� the only downside 鈥� is the loss of audience numbers. [But] the freedom to produce work in the tone and at the length that I choose is priceless.

Podcasts can be as long as a piece of string

Thrillingly, podcasts can be as long as a piece of string. Audio producers can focus on a natural narrative shape rather than artificially moulding a story to a pre-ordained duration. This enhanced Serial鈥檚 appeal and opens new structural possibilities for the form.

At one end, we may see podcasting develop further as a form of literary journalism: a poetic or narrative audio genre long established in Europe and articulated by the of the 1960s and 鈥�70s. It incorporates qualities such as immersive reportage, scenes, evocative writing and a subjective point of view.

At the other end of the spectrum, cheaply produced podcast panel-fests are proliferating. The topics range from the in Australia and the US to and popular culture. Some of these sound clunky and turgid 鈥� print journalists operating in a medium they don鈥檛 yet get. Others, such as Buzzfeed鈥檚 , have the chemistry and the tone spot on, snaring big names such as Hillary Clinton along the way.

This rapidly evolving podcast ecology is coming under increasing .

Meanwhile, the race continues to find the next Serial. The , about the troubled Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a US soldier held captive by the Taliban for almost five years, didn鈥檛 quite manage it. Canada鈥檚 CBC got close with .

The best candidate yet is , unexpectedly well produced by The Australian newspaper, in which rookie podcaster Dan Box investigates the unsolved murders of three Aboriginal children from the same small town 25 years ago, bringing raw pain and kneejerk racism directly to listeners.

Having received scant attention for his other crime reportage, Box was astonished by the reaction to the podcast: it has probably been instrumental in . Its power lies in fundamental aspects of the audio medium: its capacity to convey emotion and evoke empathy, imagination and intimacy. When those strengths are harnessed, podcasting becomes a formidable force for social engagement.

, Senior Lecturer, Journalism,

This article was originally published on . Read the .

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