From Radio To Podcasts

Day 253 / 366

There was a time when radio was the primary source of entertainment all around the world. Even after TV and movies came out, Radio was still huge. I think part of the reason was that it was audio-based, so people could listen to it while working, driving or doing something else.

And the biggest thing was that it was free! Before the internet, it was the only way for you to listen to songs for free. There was no subscription required. All you needed was a radio. I remember that I had a small battery-powered transistor. My parents used to put the TV away a few months before my final exams so that I could focus on my studies. So all I had for entertainment was that radio. I even used to listen to Hindi commentary for cricket matches on AM radio.

In the West, with shows like Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony talk radio started gaining popularity. This genre of radio involved people just sitting around and talking. TV and Movie stars used to go on these shows to promote their new work. Eventually, the government started regulating what could and could not be said on these shows, which is why people started moving to podcasts on the internet to get more freedom to do what they wanted.

This is why I strongly believe that the podcasts we have today are nothing but those same radio shows, only the medium has changed. In fact Joe Rogan has several times credited Opie & Anthony as the inspiration for his podcast. And while talk radio might not have been that popular in India, podcasts sure have become.

But I predict that we would see a similar demise of podcasts as well. The best part about talk radio shows was that they were unscripted and real. And they did not go by any rules. This is how podcasts were at the start, but now they are heavily scripted, and we can tell that the guests as well as the hosts fake a lot of stuff to make it interesting. The audience will soon catch on to it and there will be a demand for a different medium that provides more authentic entertainment.