That feeling when you finally see what one of your favorite podcasters looks like:
Yeah, that happens pretty much every time, doesn't it?
You're happily subscribing to RadioLab and you see a photo of what's behind those iconic (sometimes sexy) voices and you realize that they're a bunch of overgrown hipsters that prove to you how elderly you feel.
I mean, I ADORE my podcasters. They are responsible for my excitement whenever I see a little blue dot next to my iTunes subscriber list every week. They get me through those otherwise routine 15-20 minute commutes between school sites during my work day. They fill my brain with enlightenment and Jeopardy!-worthy factoids. They are exactly the kinds of people I would invite to my Pasta Pool Parties.
But seriously, they could fill up the L-Train at Bedford stop.
Sarah Koenig, Serial
Roman Mars, 99% Invisible
Alex Spiegel and Lulu Miller, Invisibilia
Jad Abumrad, RadioLab
Dan Pashman, The Sporkful
Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley, Gastropod
Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag, How to Do Everything
Helen Zaltzman, The Allusionist
Cecil Baldwin, Welcome to Nightvale
Wow. These are my people.
But given info on the kinds of folks who regularly listen to podcasts, perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised at the appearance of all the dorks I'm listening to everyday. I recently fell into the Google/Wikipedia search rabbit hole looking for the demographics of podcast consumers and found that the OTG (~31-35 year-olds) falls smack dab in the middle of the two largest groups.
That's probably not surprising, because as a solid OTG member, I've been listening to podcasts (on my original firewire iPod nonetheless!) since 2005. I needed something to fill my earbuds while I was doing solitary entry-level desk work in the Assistive Technology field. I still listen to several every week, just like a lot of people who have been listening to them 5 years or more:
The term "podcast" was coined in 2004, and iTunes adopted the term and started supporting the podcast section of the store in 2005. So yeah, I was there when it all started. I have podcasts on my computer that are older than most of the kids I work with everyday. And I don't see myself quitting them anytime soon. After all, I need something to pour from my bluetooth headphones while I water my orchids and do housework every Saturday. And sometimes Pandora or Google Play doesn't cut it.
To find out where you might land in the podcast listener community, check out these juicy podcast-related stats: http://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/The-Podcast-Consumer-2016.pdf
That's enough for now. I'll have more philosophical thoughts of podcasting for another day. Now, it's time to clean bird cages and vacuum the house while listening to Myths and Legends.
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