Lead trainer Guy writes
Look, I’m a podcaster. I’ve been one since 2018 with my current offering, The Near Futurist, and years before that I had a thing called HR Podcast – so obscure even Google has forgotten about it (not that this needs to be a bad thing, it was pretty rough and ready).
So I do know a bit about podcasting. It was all a bit DIY and you could put it out onto the Internet and people could listen to it in their own time, unlike a radio broadcast. There are many such examples still being produced.
And as a useful concept I believe it’s dead. Let me explain.
The radio now carries podcasts
My wife and I generally listen to BBC Radio 4 in the mornings. First it’s the Today programme and if we’re not behind our desks at 9am then it can be a number of things: this week it’s been More Or Less, followed eventually by Woman’s Hour.
Thing is, you can search the BBC website for “Podcasts” and you’ll find that day’s Woman’s Hour, no problem.
You can listen to it in your own time by all means. But is scheduled radio that you timeshift actually a podcast or not? I’d edge towards “not” myself but the BBC says it is. So are The Infinite Monkey Cage, Desert Island Discs and a load more. One or two programmes actually announce themselves as podcasts while they’re on the air.
And that’s not all.
The Traitors
That’s not just a clickbaity subhead (although if you’ve clicked onto this piece and want to read about The Traitors, welcome – this is your bit!). The popular TV programme of this name is not a podcast, obviously – but the supporting programme, The Traitors Uncloaked, describes itself as a “visualised podcast”. This is broadcast at a fixed time, after the main programme, on BBC1 and is definitely a TV programme. To rub that in it is followed by ANOTHER, AUDIO-ONLY podcast.
Meanwhile one of the most popular podcasts that exists is Diary of a CEO with Stephen Bartlett. This doesn’t describe itself as visualised but you can watch it. It’s definitely on video.
Is it actually a style rather than a genre?
So, just to annoy people who want to train people for appearances on these things, a podcast might now be on audio or video or both, it can be broadcast to a schedule or downloadable, it may or may not be on a major broadcast platform and there are a load of programmes available to stream that aren’t podcasts at all.
Which is why I believe podcasts, as a useful category, are dead. If anyone wants training to appear on something they describe as a podcast then by all means my team and I can help – the attentive body language while you’re looking relaxed and the tone while you’re sounding casual but hitting important messages are things we can support. There’s definitely a podcast “style” that isn’t the same as a formal interview.
But things keep moving in the media. And if any trainer, PR person or other sort of media professional tells you “podcast” actually means something specific these days, I’d be concerned they’re looking at the media of 2018.
