Music, movies, television and Youtube. These forms of entertainment have had their run in the media industry — but now it’s time for the era of podcasts to shine.
Podcasts are convenient. You can listen as you drive, while you workout and it provides the perfect distraction while not needing your full attention.
Podcasts took off in 2004 with Adam Curry and Dave Winer who came up with the idea. Now, anyone can start a podcast about any possible niche, fandom or genre they can think of.
According to,The 13 Critical Podcast Statistics of 2018,an article written by Jay Baer, founder of the Convince & Convert site, one third of Americans ages 25 to 54 listen to podcasts monthly and in 2018, six million more Americans listen to podcasts weekly than in 2017. The Daily 49er has podcasts of their own such as Beach Weekly and Chugg it at the Nugget, talking about news and sports respectively.
I’ve been listening to podcasts since I was in middle school, starting with “Welcome to Nightvale,” created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor on June 15, 2012. I listened to it before bed almost every night and I fell in love with its creative storyline. The podcast was made to be an ongoing radio show (it’s over 100 episodes long) with a supernatural storyline. It also has a music segment in each episode called The Weather.
From there, I started listening to horror and crime podcasts even though I’m terrified of the horror genre, but now, my taste leans toward comedy and art. All of these podcasts can be found on Spotify and the podcast app on IOS.
So if you’ve been hesitant to give this form of media a shot, here are some beginner podcasts to get you started.
Comedy
My favorite podcast of all time is Chris D’Elia’s Congratulations. Episodes normally are normally an hour and are filled with offensive humor and hilariously absurd stories from D’Elia’s everyday life. He never fails to make me laugh and everyone I know who’s listened to him has laughed to the point of tears. He also publishes his podcasts on Youtube.
Other popular comedy podcasts include, Unhappy Hour with Matt Bellassai and WTF with Marc Maron.
News
Popular news podcasts include Today Explained made by Vox and Stitcher and The Daily by the New York Times. There are multiple types of news podcasts which range from political, entertainment and international news. Some of these podcasts are updated daily while some are bi weekly.
Horror
For horror fans, there’s Lore by Aaron Mahnke. Although I’m not a big fan of horror, this podcast is more of a dark fairy tale told with a soothing and reassuring voice, which coddles you to sleep with tales of historically iconic monsters of the night.
Sword and Scale by Wondery is a very popular true crime podcast that presents disturbing cases with unsettling audio and news clips Mike Boudet, the host of the podcast, researches to tell to listeners.
Lifestyle
Some of my favorite art podcasts include #LIPSTORIES by Girlboss Media and 99% Invisible by Roman Mars.
#LIPSTORIES features women in every episode who are leaders, creators and inspirer’s who talk about their line of work and personal lives.
Based on design and architecture, 99% Invisible is an informational yet entertaining podcast that talks about history behind these concepts. In one episode called It’s Chinatown, Mars talks about Chinatown in San Francisco and the history behind how it came to be from Chinese immigrants trying to make a living to the cities now being an iconic aesthetic instead of a true representation of China.
If you haven’t picked up on podcasts, get started now. It’s the form of entertainment everyone needs.
Sports
If you’re looking for sports content outside of games and talk shows, there are countless sports podcasts hosted by personalities and well respected media outlets that often mix other genres such as humor and politics.
The Ringer, a sports and entertainment website has multiple podcasts for basketball and football fans, ranging from making you laugh to helping you predict bets. Its large staff of popular social media personalities makes you feel connected to the hosts and are enjoyable for the most casual of sports fans.
The Los Angeles Times takes a different direction with its latest addition of podcasts, “Arrive early, leave late.” Various sports editors host big time athletes including LeBron James in its last episode, giving listeners a more in depth look in the stars that inhabit LA.