The Power of Podcasts

By Ethan Bruemmer, October 21, 2021

In Mark Frary’s article, “Power to the podcast: Podcasting is bringing a whole new audience to radio and giving investigative journalism a boost. Plus, our handy guide to making your own podcasts,” he states that, “Podcasts have proven the perfect tool to share knowledge and information in the world’s most highly censored areas” (Frary 2017). He illustrates the many different positive aspects about podcasts and all of their benefits that we will be discussing in this post. In addition to the positives, we will be talking about the negatives. 

First, the positives. As Frary states early on the article, podcasts are a way of communicating information in a way where radio and television cannot. Radio and television are very easily controlled and policed, while podcasts are able to be utilized in order to express their opinions without much resistance (Frary 2017). This is why podcasts are so useful during any rebellion or controversial movement. It is a great outlet to be able to have freedom of speech in a country that suppresses it and actively seeks to control the flow of information (Frary 2017). In finality, the article talks about how podcasts are growing rapidly in popularity, as it is becoming an easy source of communication.

The lack of policing and checking of information where anyone can say anything on a podcast can also be seen as a negative, as fake-news can be spread effectively through this means of communication. In addition, the negatives of podcasts can be seen by the fact that radio and television do not often experience the technical difficulties that podcasts might experience. One issue that arises are internet problems. For example, when a group is trying to interview someone and their internet does not work, the interview is not as good as it could have been. There are also the obvious negatives with podcasts in comparison to radio and television, which is the fact that listening and watching, for humans psychologically, is much more enticing than just listening.

When looking at actual examples of podcasts one can see both the negatives and the positives that come with podcasting. Last year, I was assigned the podcast “Octomom” in my ecology class, which is done by WNYC’s Radiolab. Most of the time the readings were just from the textbook or some journal with highly technical language that was interesting when it comes to academia, but I would never choose to read them in my free time. However, I found myself absolutely engrossed in this podcast and learning about this specific case study. The way they conducted it made me feel like I was part of the conversation, and their use of sound, and excitement with what they are saying also led me to want to listen more. In this way I could definitely see the positives, but no doubt I would have been even more interested if it was a video. 

Another example is the podcast, America Adapts, where I specifically looked at the one on, “Adapting Nantucket Island’s Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge to Climate Change.” Right off the bat we are hit with fun music that makes it seem like an upbeat podcast and gets people ready to have fun. Another positive aspect I found was that the people who are brought on the show and engage in the conversation not only make you feel part of what they are talking about, but it also brings a personal element to the highly scientific subject that is being talked about. We get to hear the voice and personality behind the science. I found that this made me more ready to listen to what they had to say.

References:

Parsons D. October 8, 2021. “Adapting Nantucket Island’s Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge to Climate Change: Episode 2.” America Adapts.

Frary M. September 14, 2017. “Power to the podcast: Podcasting is bringing a whole new audience to radio and giving investigative journalism a boost. Plus, our handy guide to making your own podcasts.” Index on Censorship. Sage Journals.

McEwen, A. May 15, 2020. “Octomom.” Radiolab, WNYC Studios.

This blog was updated on 12/8/2021. The primary changes that were made was that unnecessary information was eliminated, and it was organized where the positives were in one paragraph and the negatives were in another. Also the bibliography was cleaned up and hyperlinks were added to the text.