A couple of years ago, I drove to Iowa for my friend’s bachelorette party and arrived at 3am after stopping to put air in the tires of my mom’s 2010 Honda CRV about four times along the way. Podcasts were the only thing that kept me going, and I listened to one about true crime before feeling a little spooked at midnight in the middle of pitch black farmland. Needing to laugh, I threw on Trixie and Katya’s The Bald and the Beautiful and made it safely to her house.
“I’ve got my little microphone, my cigarette burning, and I’m at my coffee table with no pants ready to talk about my life.”
Katya on The Bald and the Beautiful episode 37, “Inside Katya”
This was back in 2020 and led to one of the most chaotic weekends of my life. Since then, podcasts have become so ingrained in our culture that the options have greatly expanded — even audiobooks have risen the ranks of popularity. Technology has made it easier to listen to things on the go which has undoubtedly contributed to their success. People listen to and love good, compelling stories. The reader of the books and speakers of podcasts also bring in a wider audience.
We all connect to displays of our lives as humans, right? That’s why we love to cry during sad, cheesy movies and feel the adrenaline rush of a horror film. And I may not rave over podcasts like some people, but I see their value. When we can universally hear a story and relate to it, there’s something special about that connection.
Podcasts are about connecting people in the best of ways through a variety of genres. We thrive on empathy. There are podcasts for everything these days, and some people just spend time talking as friends or colleagues over topics that pertain to a universal experience or our lives as humans. Others might have a solo host that presents stories with their own voices and plotlines, or maybe they want to ramble on about their personal opinions. Either way, they’re one of the most effective forms of communication today and deserve the attention they get!