Podcasting offers a unique entertainment experience and has recently become very popular among all generations. There are a few reasons for this explosion in the industry, one of which is that many people consider it a healthier form of entertainment. We are always consuming media, whether it is television shows, movies, YouTube videos, or TikToks, and this type of content consumes our lives. However, the commonality among all of these forms of media is that they take more than one of our senses. To watch any sort of video, you have to watch and listen to it. Podcasts are unique in the way that they only require our ears. While some podcasts have videos that accompany the audio, the listener does not have to watch the video to consume the content at hand. This allows the audience to take part in other activities while listening to podcasts such as doing laundry, cleaning the house, or driving to work.
Brookelyn Lambright, host of “History Unbound,” thought of how she multitasks while listening to podcasts when she is crafting her own podcast. Lambright tends to listen to podcasts in the car, work on homework, and clean around the house. She leans more into scripted podcasts, which are podcasts that are completely planned out word for word, and she emulates this type of production in her own work. There are tons of different podcasts to listen to: news, sports, comedy, lifestyle, and murder mysteries—the list goes on and on. This is another admirable trait of podcasts: no matter what you are interested in, there’s a podcast out there for you.
Brookelyn Lambright, host of “History Unbound,” talks about her podcast. She also explains how her mother’s education journey inspired her to create her podcast.
Alex Chambers is the host of his podcast, “Inner States,” and he is a podcasting instructor at Indiana University. His experience with podcasting started when he was in college, but at this point, it was in the form of radio shows. His love for radio shows transpired into podcasting, which led him to create his own show. As an instructor, he sees all different kinds of listeners and producers of podcasts. This once again proves how vast and diverse this industry is. Chambers’s nine-year-old child is also an avid listener to podcasts. Chambers described his nine-year-old as a “podcast fanatic.” His kid watches podcasts targeted toward children. These podcasts tell children’s stories or focus on elementary-level science.
Alex Chambers, host of “Inner States,” explains what his podcast is about and what inspired him to create his podcast.
Chambers has been in the podcasting realm for many years, and he has watched society fall in love with the industry. Chambers teaches a podcast class at Indiana University, and he sees how easy it is to create a podcast. The hardest part about being a podcast host is not recording and editing the show but rather coming up with a topic and staying consistent. Austin Render used to be a podcast host, and he spoke about the struggles of creating a podcast. He said that choosing your topic is the most vital step: you can’t be too specific, but also not too broad. The podcast topic should be specific enough that you can keep to a general theme, but not so specific that only a niche group of people can enjoy it. Once you have the topic of your podcast decided, all it takes is a microphone, a recording machine, and a computer to edit. Podcasting allows everyone to have a creative outlet in a simple way.
