IN THE 1980s, before the internet, select groups were on early forums logging personal journals, sharing information, and promoting discussion for small groups. Some decided to audio-record their considered musings. But how? Beyond hitting the record button on the cassette recorder, recording on to a blank tape, and handing cassettes out between rounds at the pub quiz, mass distribution was difficult. With the advent of the worldwide web, internet, and MP3s, all of that changed.
Skip forward to 2005. The British journalist and consultant Ben Hammersley was typing away, describing the phenomenon. He was up against a deadline, and, on a whim, combined the terms “iPod” with “broadcast” and came up with the term “podcast”.
In the same year, the former Apple CEO Steve Jobs expressed his excitement about the 8000 podcasts available to the proud owners of iPods. Today, conservative estimates put the number of podcasts at about three million.
This is why the Church Times has invited me, a podcast enthusiast, to cut through the noise. Let me begin with my basic definition: “Podcasts are audio content on demand.” They are often accessed through an app, on a mobile device, tablet, or laptop.
Currently the most popular category of podcasts are the daily news shows; so one recommendation is The News Agents. A trio of lively and well-informed journalists — Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel, and Lewis Goodall — hold forth on politics, in the main. There is a great camaraderie between them all. It does get noisy at points, when the hosts all crash in without listening to one another, but it is stimulating.
Another recommendation for your attention is the Church Times podcast. It arrives for your listening pleasure most weeks, and it is well worth checking out. The focus of the interview episodes are the guests. Thoughtful and insightful comment is drawn out of a range of authors and thinkers, and the interviews often also complement a piece in the paper itself.
In contrast to The News Agents, I would love to hear more from the hosts of the Church Times podcast. Like an audio photographer, they capture the scene while they themselves remain out of sight — or, in this case, out of hearing.
I would love their personality and voice to add colour and added dynamism. Nevertheless, a back catalogue of more than 370 episodes means that there is something for every listener. So, stay curious, and, as Tiny Tim might once have said, “Pod bless us, everyone!”
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