Let’s talk the exploding communications phenomenon known as podcasting. Actually, podcasting is not that new. It’s been around for decades or even longer. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Podcasts can be fantastic when properly produced. The right host, writing, and preparation can result in everything from engaging murder-mystery whodunnit’s that speak of a 1940’s radio serial to enlightening conversations between multiple people. But when done poorly, there can be nothing more disappointing. Which is why I’m not a big fan of podcasts, mainly because of the listening experiences I’ve had.

I’ve tried listening to at least 15 different podcasts of the past two years, many of which had great reputations and notable hosts. Out of the 15 or so I dialed up, I only lasted more than 10 minutes into two of them. What turned me off about the other thirteen? A number of things raging from the presentation being sloppy and without direction, the host having no eye contact with the listener, or the content I was interested in was not presented in the way promised, or in a reasonable time frame.

Coaching Point to all podcasters in regards to covering the material you are promoting:

If you promote certain “hook moments” of your podcast in your headline or stager paragraph/audio, make sure you get to at least one of those moments in the first 5 minutes. Too often I’ve heard hosts proclaim “We’re gonna get to…” or “Coming up we will…” and 8 minutes later they still haven’t gotten to what they promoted. Decades ago, I encountered a radio talent who was auditioning for a morning show opening. He uttered a fantastically simple line about how to hit your marks and create recall: “Say you’re gonna do it, DO IT, then tell ‘em you did it!” Perfection!  Most podcasters FAIL at this simplest of rules.

The described negative experiences left me with more than a few thoughts about podcasting being overblown, overvalued, and over promoted, without any scientific fact to back up my reasons. Specifically, I’ve always felt that 95% of podcasts are so awful they will never make past a few shows. And I have always thought that 90% of podcasts never get downloaded by someone who is not related to/best friend of/financial backer/sponsor to the podcast host, and that of those 10% that do get downloaded, most never get listened to for more than a few minutes. Basically, what I’m saying, is that most podcasts are a waste of time. For every Joe Rogan and Mel Robbins, there are 10,000 failure podcasts, some of which have heavy celeb or name recognition. I can think of at least 3 major-name figures who have podcasts that I have tried to listen to, but gave up less than 10 minutes for many of the reasons I’ve already described.   

But all the reasons I just gave for not liking podcasts were/are personal, not scientific. So, in my effort to keep an open mind toward the needs of listeners different than myself, I decided to do a deeper dive into podcast stats and success/failure stories. Here’s what I found…

Podcastatistics.com registers that there are over 4 million podcasts, and that 30,000 podcasts are recorded every day. But as their and other podcast watchdog websites say (and I’m paraphrasing) “…these numbers are VERY tough to verify, as they can include podcasts that have engaging titles but include nothing but dead air, or podcasts that are only minutes long and include numerous “spam” sponsor mentions.”

These spam podcasts are much like those enticing headlines that you see on your phone news/pop culture feed, that lead to stories with numerous pop-up ads, that you need to fight through to see the content. Seeing those ads, even for a second, are counted as views/exposures, which look good on stat sheets for advertisers, “Look how many eyeballs saw your ad!” but do nothing to sell product.

In looking for more podcast data, I came across a 2022 article from Amplifi Media showing that 44% of the 4 million plus podcasts have less than 3 episodes, and only 720k podcasts have more than 10 episodes. They also state that out of those 720k podcasts, only 156k are releasing a weekly episode.

So, it turns out my mostly negative podcast listening experiences were correct, as these studies verified not only my personal feelings, but likely the feelings of many others, regarding the REAL ineffectiveness and lack of listenability to most podcasts. But back to the positive of podcasting…

As I began thinking about successful podcast design and theory, it occurred to me that the first nationally known truly great podcaster was actually not a podcaster at all…but a person with a unique voice and writing style that everyone working in any type of media, and everyone over the age of 35 should recognize by name, and voice…Paul Harvey.

Paul Harvey was not a podcaster. Podcasts are intended for individual use. Little PODS of audio or video are CAST onto a platform for people to use when, where and how they wish. Paul Harvey was a broadcaster, whose news and commentary segments were broadcast over 1,200 stations in the U.S. alone from 1951 till the early 2000’s. But his story setup and delivery, which were fifteen minutes in length for his midday cast, were delivered exactly like a modern-day podcast. Paul Harvey was never monotonous, always colorful, and totally engaging, with sponsor mentions and commercials mixed in at various points.

THINK IN MODERN DAY MEDIA TERMS: You are 6 minutes into a YouTube video, and a commercial for Tide pops in, and you are forced to watch it or you won’t see the outcome of the video content. Paul Harvey’s version of that was when he said “Page four…” which was the cue for a 60 second commercial break to start, and then go right back into his commentary after the commercial message, without formal re-introduction. It was seamless.  There was no “Welcome back,” which btw is way overused by air talent. “Why are you welcoming me back? I didn’t go anywhere. YOU DID! You went away for a commercial. YOU are back, NOT ME!” (I just couldn’t let that go. But back to Paul Harvey)…

I recently read a story about Paul Harvey’s son, in which he described his dad being up every day at 4:30am to type up his 5 minute national news commentary which ran in the 7am hour, then continue working on his fifteen minute noontime feature, and then finish up by writing and recording his famous 4-minute long “Rest of The Story” afternoon features, in which he would tell a twisty/turvy story about a real-life person or event, which would dramatically build and have the listener thinking “Who did all this happen to?” only to find out the story was based on a historical figure like Paul Revere or Neil Armstrong who was known for everything but the happening  Paul Harvey had described. And so, the feature truly was “The Rest of The Story.” But even as I type this blog about Paul Harvey being the original podcaster, I am coming up with even earlier versions of what we now consider podcasting, from some very famous people.

FDR was a podcaster. Really! Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” were thirty minutes long, and mixed politics with his views on just about anything else that people were talking about. Sounds like a podcast to me!

Former NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s reading of the Sunday comics over radio as a reply to a newspaper delivery strike in 1945 was a podcast, albeit with a script.

The only difference was that unless you had a way to record FDR/LaGuardia/Harvey’s radio appearances, which few did until the cassette recorder, was introduced, they had to be listened to “live.” Which technically makes their radio messages NOT a podcast.

So…does that mean I’m saying that Paul Harvey was our first true regularly scheduled podcaster, without actually producing a podcast? I think so! If you really delve into it, it makes complete sense.  

Thanks for checking out this post, and let me know if your thoughts differ, or are the same. I know this was a lot to take in. It took way longer to type it! Which makes me wonder: Should I have just recorded myself reading this, or skipped the typing and simply thought out loud into a mic, and made it into a podcast? Hmmmm….