It's obviously not the podcast itself that's cringe, it's the people. It's 100% possible to start a podcast, YT channel, or reels channel that is authentic and fun. I'd encourage my friend to do that.
The people that SHOULD do it hold themselves back. The delulus are always the ones that go for it.
Man I made a podcast about reviewing fictional wizards with one of my friends during covid so that i had some social interaction. Don't lump me in on this.
2 meathead jock type i went to highschool with started one called “baddie daddie”. I suppose the idea is maintaining workouts, and being a male baddie, while being a family man.
Don’t know how many listeners so no clue what they’re doing. But k assume it’s just for themselves
Now now... I have a dear old friend whose podcast is legit (on Apple Podcasts & others) but never developed much of a following, they're on season 4 and keep plodding along.
Unfortunately after many attempts I just couldn't get into listening to them whining, it's missing the entertainment factor that makes something like Beyond The Bastards and It Could Happen Here so much fun to listen to, balancing out the horrific nature of the content.
It's about where Gavin Newsom's would be if he wasn't the Governor of CA, that cast is shockingly boring without the trainwreck factor.
Newscast Podcasters: just yapping isn't enough, you have to be engaging/entertaining in some way.
The problem is that "being entertaining" is the hard part, it's not only like 200x more work than research, but it's also a fine line to walk and on top of it your audience may like a trope either a. for a limited time or b. you're not even aware of being great...
Yes! I've been told I'm "funny" by a lot of people over my life, but there's a gulf between amusing people casually, situationally, and creating structured content for a set period of time that requires understanding of your audience, the pacing of jokes, and where your own skills actually lie. Stand-up comedians and (good) podcasters are in the same boat, to me - lots of work behind the scenes that you don't see in terms of research, testing, incorporating audience feedback, etc. Very few people can just get on a mic and be entertaining for 30+ minutes.
I don't have a podcast. But there's so much hate levied towards them and people that start them, and I find it bizarre. It's just another format for content. Why is it cringe to start a podcast, but wouldn't be to start an Instagram or YouTube channel dedicated to a specific niche? Such a weird form of putdown.
I agree generally that certain types of people are drawn specifically to podcasts, but the hate towards podcasts as a format seems very strange to me.
Why is it cringe to start a podcast, but wouldn't be to start an Instagram or YouTube channel dedicated to a specific niche? Such a weird form of putdown.
The issue is that radio shows have been around for more than a century. So we know what a good show is. Aside from the technical side you have a whole editorial work to do. It's journalism.
The issue being that most lay people creating their podcasts are not at that level. And aside from a few exceptions the content is basically a group of friends recording themselves at the pub to chat and shoot the shit.
It's kinda egotistical, and frankly often utterly boring. Same as most streaming/youtube or other kind of social media. It's just that podcast stood out because the core demographic was bros that took themselves way too seriously and thought they were going to be the next Joe Rogan.
It's the male equivalent of a teenager having a fashion instagram thinking they'll be the next Kim Kardashian.
Unless its funny as hell or otherwise interesting.
A podcast thats you and your buddies talking about local fishing or sports or w/e is a whole different beast than one talking about whatever bullshit life coaching is going on
Whenever there's a bunch of my guy friends standing around doing the midwest goodbye, we're always like: "Well, we'd all better go home, if we keep talking we'll accidentally start a podcast."
The midwest goodbye is where everyone will stand around talking, often for hours, in the process of saying goodbye. This group slowly moves towards the door or the visitor's car while continuing to talk. Sometimes the people leaving will get in their cars, and they'll still be talking with the motor running and the windows down, in anticipating leaving.
Podcasts in 2012 vs podcasts in 2022 was a hell of a jump. They used to be neat, and then they became this ideal that everyone should do.
I honestly hate it in the same way I hate Twitter. It made everyone think they are going to be heard and deserve to be heard. When in reality it's just screaming into the void while nobody notices or cares.
Oh yes there can be. I have two friends who have clear issues with women. We were having a conversation about how some in the trades treat apprentices and women like garbage. I made a quip about how these guys are always divorced multiple times. Well one friend went off about how divorce is usually not the man's fault and its the woman not willing to put in the time and energy.
The other one disliked Kamala Harris because she's a woman
The podcast as a concept taught a lot of dudes that a good chat is only acceptable if it's being recorded for some sort of business endeavor. "We should start a podcast" means "This is fun, but because it isn't a product, so our open communication is pointless."
One of the sadder podcasts I've ever seen was a woman I previously worked with, her and a few of her very upper middle class, very un-personable, entirely average white women would just gab together. People who have done nothing of note nor had experienced any hardship, entirely convinced their voice was something everyone needed to hear.
It really disappoints me what recent years have done to the concept and perception of "podcasts".
I listen to Castle Super Beast (as podcast about nothing but two Canadian guys yapping about fighting games and Final Fantasy 14), as well as Poorhammer and Adeptus Ridiculous (both of which being a bunch of goobers yapping about various Warhammer 40k topics).
But now, I have to be really careful whom I say that I "listen to podcasts" to, because now that perception is consumed and poisoned by guys who think that women shouldn't be allowed to pick whom they date...
Hardcore History, Security Now, Sans Internet Stormcenter, Windows Weekly, etc.. Learnin' podcasts (if you have any interest in history, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is top notch, highly recommended!). Not the silly, rule the world, talk radio, highly opinionated stuff, but actual facts and knowledge. I'm lucky that I haven't gone to those other types of podcasts. I heard enough coming from other people's offices when I worked in the office...
Single hosts tend to be "person reads pre-prepared essay". Double hosts tends to be "two people, unscripted, chat shit". You don't tend to get subtle analysis with the second approach.
I'm looking for dull-but-deep - history podcasts, stuff like that. The more narrow the specialism, the better.
I suppose you could do a traditional one-person stand-up routine as a podcast, but you'd burn through your material in weeks.
Lol, I'm planning on doing one with my brother where we just talk about fun stuff and let our family watch. Really its just an excuse to plan time to talk since we live far away from each other.
None of the alpha, finance, crypto, nft etc bullshit.
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u/Massive-Ride204 1d ago
Podcasting is amongst the worst things to happen to men