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‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

nytimes.com

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Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#71

Post by ForHackernews »

researcher88 wrote: post #15

I actively try to avoid 20/20 and Dateline crime mysteries. There are so many of these and they are so engaging, and often without any resolution beyond a "he said, she said". The only conclusion I can draw from them is that crime is often incredibly random and irrational, and everyone has credibility problems, real victims sometimes lie to exaggerate and the justice system is deeply flawed. But I feel that it's disa…

Serial isn't going to be a crime series. It's just long-form audio journalism/storytelling. The next season will be on a completely different topic.

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#72

Post by schneider_sh »

petercooper wrote: post #60

Wasn't the Ricky Gervais Show really podcasting's first breakout hit? It got a Guinness World Record and ended up becoming a TV show in both the UK and US.

I think another early podcasting success was Bill Simmons from ESPN. In my opinion, his podcasting success helped build his brand even further and allowed him to launch Grantland.

A more recent podcast to big deals success is Men in Blazers. The two soccer commentators spun their podcast into a 10pm Monday show on NBCSN.

I think that sports podcasting in general is quite a mature format. Though, this probably isn't all too surprising as it is basically a more dedicated form of sports radio.

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#73

Post by nooneelse »

potatolicious wrote: post #27
droopyEyelids wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of it is, it's legitimate snuff for the masses. Same reason SVU is on its 14th season. Noted psychologist Albert Ellis wrote a book on it in the 50's or 60's, when society's itch was mostly satisfied through gristly pulp detective novels. The reader (or viewer, or listener) gets to indulge in graphic death and horror, but also gets to maintain their view of themselves through a narrative that allows them to…

I actually think Serial is on the other side of the fence as SVU, Law & Order, and pulp detective novels. Personally I've had a great takeaway from the podcast, not because of the sordid subject that's at the heart of it, but rather the amount of time and care the creators have spent looking at not just the crime, but also at the system and people that surround it. Pop crime fiction teaches us a lot of things that Se…

Indeed. In this era of jury pools being trained by forensic procedural shows to want nice animations reconstructing everything, it is very good for us all to hear how hard it can be to reconstruct the past. Even on things that seem like they should be easily knowable, like "was there a pay phone near the Best Buy or not?"

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#74

Post by thinkr »

Wanted to add some other ones I did not see suggested:

Freakonomics Radio - by the authors of the book of the same name

Travel with Rick Steves - podcast by famous travel guide Rick Steves

Dinner Part Download - nice way to learn about interesting facts/random trivia/pop-culture regarding all sorts of subjects which can make for interesting conversation at your next social gathering

edit: meant to post this as a response to the question asking about other podcasts

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#75

Post by mjklin »

smackfu wrote: post #45
netcan wrote: post #43

I've heard that when TV started spreading people thought it would never overtake radio. "Who has time to just sit and watch something?" You can listen to audio while you do other things. Podcasting is probably my main "media" for the last 5 or so years. I listen to 15-20 hours per week as I commute, exercise, wash dishes… Right now. As a marginal, unprofitable, poorly understood medium podcasts are amazingly "free."…

>You can listen to audio while you do other things My biggest problem with podcasts is that I can only listen to audio while I do other things. Running, cleaning the kitchen, driving. If I don't have something to occupy my hands and eyes, then unconsciously I find something, and tune out the podcast.

That's what 2048 is for!

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#76

Post by pain_perdu »

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this: http://www.crowdmurder.com - Gamifying the investigation of the case from the Serial Podcast.

"Use Real Court Evidence to Solve the Murder of Hae Min Lee Access Courtroom Audio, Build Time-lines, Maps & Suspect Bios. Team up with fans of the Serial Podcast from around the world to help solve a murder.

Every Court Document and Recording We're Publishing Every Piece of Publicly-Available Evidence from Adnan's Trial and building powerful annotation tools"

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#77

Post by netcan »

skrause wrote: post #64
adriand wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This American Life, the show that created (I think more or less), Serial, is a great show. 99% Invisible is a great show about design. Radio Diaries is interesting. If you're into super thoughtful discussions about religion, science, meditation, and so on, On Being is fantastic. Other ones worth checking out: * Radiolab * Stuff You Should Know * Studio 360 But - Serial is definitely my favourite podcast of all time.…

Does anyone else feel that Radiolab is incredibly over-produced? I've tried to get into it several times, but the fast cuts (after pretty much every sentence it cuts to another speaker) somehow make me nervous. I guess I'm just more into longer talk shows.

That's the experiment :)

Radiolab is really an experimental way of doing audio. Jad is a composer and they break all the traditional rules to make it very immersive. Personally, I like it. But, I also like the virtually no production, talk podcasts too.

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#78

Post by netcan »

mjklin wrote: post #75
smackfu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can listen to audio while you do other things My biggest problem with podcasts is that I can only listen to audio while I do other things. Running, cleaning the kitchen, driving. If I don't have something to occupy my hands and eyes, then unconsciously I find something, and tune out the podcast.

That's what 2048 is for!

That's my commuting routine! Problem is, I play a close to perfect game now and it's boring. Any suggestions?

Re: ‘Serial,’ Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More

#80

Post by username223 »

archagon wrote: post #49
username223 wrote: post #23

This seems to be one of a spate of recent articles, e.g. [1]. For a skeptical take, see Marco Arment [2]. Then again, he could just be expressing sour grapes because people with actual skill, money, and time are invading his turf. FWIW, I have listened to a lot of NPR via podcast for many years, and see a podcast-only version of it as a natural step. At this point, the amateur "three nerds and a microphone" stuff is…

"Then again, he could just be expressing sour grapes because people with actual skill, money, and time are invading his turf." Uh, what? That's pretty disrespectful. ATP is one of the best produced and most popular tech podcasts out there today.

As a follower of "Hypercritical," I listened for the Siracusa for awhile, but the meandering chit-chat and interminable sponsor reads eventually soured me on ATP. Maybe I would listen if I had an hour commute to and from work every day, and needed more background noise.
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