Over the past several years, I have picked up a major podcast habit. It started small originally, a way to learn something new while getting out of my comfort zone. The occasional podcast would serve to break up the monotony of the commute, I was in a mental place several years ago where I would listen to the same Kanye West or 3 Doors Down CD in my car for months on end before getting bored, and the singular podcast episode would be there to spice things up. However, my podcast habit shifted into overdrive when I failed a promotion interview a few years ago, partially because I wasn’t as relentless about learning new things as possible. Enter stage left, the podcast.
Awakened by failure, my podcasting grew from merely breaking up the monotony to a few times per week, until getting to my current day listening. I commute two hours per day and every second of that time is spent listening to a podcast. During workouts, I listen to podcasts now, while in my younger days I had only the ambient sounds of the gym to keep my ears company. Meal prep, shaving, vacuuming, folding laundry, nearly any mind-numbing activity is a perfect time for me to play a podcast. It has certainly helped me eek more learning and productivity out of my days, especially when I can repurpose time that would have otherwise been lost, and I know many other people use podcasts in a similar manner. This passive-listening element is an advantage that podcasts have over mediums such as educational YouTube videos or TV shows; podcasting can occur while doing other things in parallel, while the former happens as a singular activity. The time efficiency podcasts allow for is hard to beat.
Podcasts have a unique advantage over radio shows. Besides the obvious on-demand aspect of the medium versus the pre-ordained schedule of a radio show, podcasts also are much more innovative than radio shows. I used to hear radio commercials advertising open intern jobs at the radio station, with the positive pitch that jobs in radio are rare. Those in the radio industry tend to hold onto these positions and thus experience a low turnover. While this is good on the surface, it is also nullified by the tradeoff that there is much less newer ideas and human capital walking in the door. Less new blood essentially means less innovation over time. In the audio-only realm, the podcast will reign supreme.
Podcasts offer another benefit compared to radio; many reputable podcast (such as Ryan Holiday’s podcast or the Jordan Harbinger show) hosts offer show notes that you can download with all of their episodes. These show notes offer things such as a Works Cited list, a list of key takeaway points, a verbatim transcript, discount codes to affiliates/advertisements placed on the show, and so much more. Radio shows that offer this are few and far between. The on-demand and downloadable nature of the medium, contrary to antiquated radio, means you never need to have pen-and-paper handy while your favorite podcast is playing!
Podcasts also have an edge over audiobooks; experts or authors of non-fiction books are in a live conversation with the podcast host, the talk has a flow (albeit a controlled flow, assuming the skill level of the host is high enough). Rather than listen to an author or a paid voice actor recite a book ad nauseum or having to sit through a monologue, the podcast episode forces a certain brevity and hence conciseness. The podcast guest needs to be able to think on their feet, rather than read a teleprompter. Jordan Peterson once remarked that being a guest on an unscripted lengthy podcast episode should be a requirement to run for President for that reason, and I’m inclined to agree.
However, the podcasting industry isn’t perfect. First, I personally wish the average podcast episode (at least in the genres I listen to; business, philosophy and self-improvement) could certainly be longer. Some podcasts can be as little as thirty minutes (looking at you, Y-Combinator!), with forty-five minutes or an hour being the norm. Some larger podcasters, such as Joe Rogan, Jocko Willink, Lex Friedman and Jordan Peterson host episodes that are several hours in length. I personally prefer the multi-hour episode because a listener can really graze a lot out of the episode, the episode can span several mind-numbing activities, and a four-hour episode is still more concise than a thirteen-hour long audiobook (the best of both worlds!). A skilled host will still be able to make the multi-hour talk interesting, though mileage may vary (though find me any radio host capable of that feat uninterrupted, go ahead, I’ll wait).
Another area for improvement is the monetization factor. Currently, many podcast listeners listen for free, but sit through advertisements that absolutely disrupt the flow of the conversation (though Lex Friedman is a positive example in this area, he front-loads all of his sponsors to avoid this). One suggestion is to encourage more listeners to pay for a subscription service (Spotify already does this to a certain extent). In most hour-long podcast episodes, a solid eight minutes is spent on the host pitching products. While I may not be in the market to buy supplements, I’d certainly be willing to part ways with a few dollars per month in order to listen to my favorite hosts draw more wisdom from their expert guests (or utterly grill them, depending on the podcast!). Ideally, I’d like to see more of a Netflix model versus having to subscribe ta bunch of podcasts individually, and I’m sure there is a way to make the economics work out. Admittedly, this will create more work for the podcast hosts, but in the perfect world the subscriber base would provide enough of an incentive to make an ad-free version and an ad-supported free version of episodes. This problem is far from unsolvable. While this is a thought experiment on my part, the more money a podcast host earns, the more they can re-invest into their production. This can mean paying for their expert guest stay for longer, multi-hour appearances.
Personally, I’d also really like to see a difficulty tier for non-fiction/educational podcast. I recently started listening to Business Breakdowns, a podcast where the hosts will examine a popular company and break down in excruciating detail how that company makes money. It is a fascinating listen, however some of the terminology used admittedly flies over my head. It’s a podcast that has a higher-than-normal bar for entry. Rather than forcing these eagles to become pigeons, I’d like to see a beginner/intermediate/advanced tag placed somewhere in the description of the podcast. Similarly, podcasts I’ve been following for awhile such as Ryan Holiday and The Art of Manliness delve into philosophical topics that a lot of folks may miss; not everyone understands what Ryan Holiday means when he starts talking about Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs or Plato’s allegory of the cave. Ryan Holiday and Business Breakdowns aren’t for beginners.
Even established and trusted brands like NPR have transitioned into the medium (Wisdom from the Top is a fantastic podcast and is totally worth a listen). NPR can-and absolutely should– be a leading example of a legacy studio moving into podcasting because of all of their existing strengths; a great reputation for attracting guests, a listener base that would be willing to pay extra to listen ad-free, which can then support longer-form conversations, and a knowledgeable staff that can assemble detailed show notes for eager followers. Overall podcasting is the wave of the future. It has a lot going for it, and the problems it currently has are by no means unsolvable.
I could always use some podcast recommendations in the comment section!
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