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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

#61

Post by ssully »

klenwell wrote: post #28
supercoder wrote: post #4

I know this will get me downvoted but I can't understand the fascination with Serial. Overall I found it quite a boring listen. Too many side paths that amount to not much at all, feel like it could have done with a harsh edit. But it's production qualities are high quality and so anything that leads people to create more content at a similar level the better !

"I can't understand the fascination with Serial." Think JFK assassination for the Reddit generation. I know I'm hooked.

I am sorry but that is an awful comparison. Nothing about the two can be compared except the occurance of death. Also there is no conspiracy in Serial.

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

#62

Post by rtconner »

supercoder wrote: post #4

I know this will get me downvoted but I can't understand the fascination with Serial. Overall I found it quite a boring listen. Too many side paths that amount to not much at all, feel like it could have done with a harsh edit. But it's production qualities are high quality and so anything that leads people to create more content at a similar level the better !

> Too many side paths that amount to not much at all

Oh gee. Welcome to science. So many many paths in science lead to nothing. Often times years and years of research only to come up empty handed.

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

#63

Post by MaBu »

danschuller wrote: post #44
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."…

Any recommendations? I'm loving Serial, I listened to nearly all of it today. Occasionally I listen to Startups For the Rest of Us ( http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ ) but it's hit and miss if the content is relevant for me. Hardcore History is excellent. It'd be nice to discover some more.

I like University of Cambridge Naked scientists: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/ It's a podcast about weekly new science stuff from new papers nature etc. Usually they call the author or someone who knows his stuff. Podcast is made with PhD students for general public.

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

#64

Post by skrause »

adriand wrote: post #50
danschuller wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations? I'm loving Serial, I listened to nearly all of it today. Occasionally I listen to Startups For the Rest of Us ( http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ ) but it's hit and miss if the content is relevant for me. Hardcore History is excellent. It'd be nice to discover some more.

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.

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

#65

Post by purephase »

username223 wrote: post #30
johns wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you listen to hearstartup.com you'll find Marco investing in Gimlet Media which is all about creating a lot more podcasts like Serial so he's very much in favor of the format.

I only recently started listening to Startup, and haven't caught up with it. It's interesting to see Marco moving from the "creating a podcast" game to the "investing in podcasting" one.

Pretty sure that Marco is investing in Blumberg himself though. He says that in the episode interviews.

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

#66

Post by georgehdf »

danschuller wrote: post #44
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."…

Any recommendations? I'm loving Serial, I listened to nearly all of it today. Occasionally I listen to Startups For the Rest of Us ( http://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/ ) but it's hit and miss if the content is relevant for me. Hardcore History is excellent. It'd be nice to discover some more.

Econtalk podcast is excellent if you are interested in economics.

http://www.econtalk.org/

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

#68

Post by mrcwinn »

I loved the original episode this series was born out of: the story of a doctor in North Carolina who takes over the practice of a convicted murderer [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/492/t...].

I have to say, though, I don't enjoy Serial very much. I'm the only person, it seems. :-) Listening to a reporter (not an investigator) guess and gab about a murder just seems like a waste of time. The constant teasers throughout each episode (maybe he did it? but then, maybe he didn't? and maybe this happened, but then maybe it didn't happen?) are infuriating.

This is to say nothing Sarah Koenig. She's obviously done fine work in her career and is a big part of This American Life, and I'm happy to see any podcast get some attention. I just don't enjoy the show, personally.

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

#69

Post by VLM »

simonh wrote: post #38
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…

I don't detect any sour grapes. The only part of the narrative he has a problem with is the supposed slump with 2010 being the dark ages of podcasting which somehow needed saving from decline. As slow steady rise isn't dramatic, so a troubled history for podcasting is invented to make it more interesting, which is bull.

"the supposed slump with 2010 being the dark ages of podcasting which somehow needed saving from decline"

The inability of any coherent narrative to form is evidence of a really big market. If its too big for any individual to see all of it, it must be pretty big.

For me 2010 is the early boom years of history podcasting. Mike Duncan's "The History of Rome" which was really the history of the roman empire not some sort of municipal thing. 2010 was a great year in podcasting, hardly a "slump".

Edited to add, from memory, in 2010 the Wormwood mystery-horror series was in its 3rd year, Lowell's solar clipper sci fi series had just finished its 4th installment with the 5th on the way, and I remember heavy self advertisement on the TWIT network about the new studio that would open in a couple months... for a dead media it was pretty exciting at the time.

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

#70

Post by pkulak »

mrcwinn wrote: post #68

I loved the original episode this series was born out of: the story of a doctor in North Carolina who takes over the practice of a convicted murderer [ http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/492/t... ]. I have to say, though, I don't enjoy Serial very much. I'm the only person, it seems. :-) Listening to a reporter (not an investigator) guess and gab about a murder just seems like a waste of time. The…

I think this is less about one single podcast than it is about the entire medium. Whether you or I enjoy Serial, it's a huge hit and it's turning a lot of people on to the format.
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