Why am I doing this?

I never thought I'd be *that* person...

If you suggested a podcast for me to listen to earlier this year and I said I would, I wasn’t lying, I promise…but…

When I was first starting out in the audio part of the journalism industry, I frequently heard podcast execs around me say they did NOT listen to podcasts. Not all of them, of course, but I heard this enough to make it a trend (journalism rule is >3 = trend). I imagined what these execs were really saying was, “I’m so busy I don’t have time to listen to podcasts…” Or, “I’ve lost faith in the quality of new podcasts…” Or “There’s so much new stuff out there how could I sort through all the muck?”

Either way, I vowed to never become jaded, a podcast producer who did not listen to podcasts, who despised the industry. I had seen enough shitty stuff to go down that path. And then I did go down that path. Years ago, I worked in a restaurant, I’ve worked in a few actually, and I knew what it was like to see how the veggie burger was made and decide to no longer eat said veggie burger…

But for a while there we were having a really good run! We were having fun. And then…the audio boom bubble began to burst, of course. Slowly I became that producer who no longer listened to podcasts. Yikes! Even admitting that feels like a yikes! This was big for me. Because for the better half of an a decade (or more) I commuted, cooked, cleaned, and whatever else while listening to podcasts. (Ear breaks are important, everyone! Don’t forget!)

But earlier this year, I physically could not bring myself to listen to anything. Actually, I started to hate podcasts. Even the really good ones that I used to love. (I still love them, I don’t actually hate them, not really.)

Podcasts ruined my life (lol, jk, but I couldn’t even go to the far reaches of the literal backcountry without it coming up).

They ruined my marriage (jk I’m not married but my partner does work in podcasts, hi sweetie).

This was clearly a sign of burn-out (hi) and industry-related anxiety (hi hi, also get a therapist if you need one).

But I didn’t open my purple Apple app for months unless it was something I had to listen to for work specifically, like an episode I needed to hear for host interview prep, or something I was discussing with students later on. I stopped listening for enjoyment. Again, like a restaurant server who could no longer sit in a restaurant without thinking, “They’re doin’ it wrong!”.

I felt like a fraud. There, I said it. I walked while listening to the air around me (really nice, 10/10 recommend). I cooked and cleaned with audiobooks, something I had never tried until 2022 lol, and I even liked them (more on that later)!

But I wasn’t listening to podcasts. I dreaded the party chatter or text messages asking for recommendations (sorry I left you hanging for your long car drive, Lindsay, I’ll make it up to you).

Why? In the last year things have seemed kinda dark in the podcast corner of the universe. Not completely dark but enough to spark daily DMs with my friends and work friends about “the state of the industry.” I’m a freelance producer who worked on some branded stuff (hello branded clients I love you), and some lighter stuff (hello journo-adjacent clients I love you, too) but along the way I saw more and more low-quality, mindless, chatty content rise to the top of the charts.

It sort of felt like seeing California Pizza Kitchen getting a James Beard. Hey, people like what they are gonna like, and I love low-brow content, but should The Cheesecake Factory really be getting the same recognition as a Michelin-Star restaurant? [I am a midwesterner so I have exclusive right to critical reviewing of mall food.]

So here’s the deal. I’m doing this because somewhere in my cold, black, heart I still love podcasts. I still love audio. I still love the journalism industry. It may be broken, okay, but it’s MY INDUSTRY, it’s OUR industry and we are here and we are going to sustain it, to water it, to make it grow and flower and then go back to seed again (the good kind of seed?).

I want to celebrate the good stuff. I want to lift up the smart stuff the quality stuff, the thoughtful stuff.

Let’s look for hope in the dark together, try to find the helpers, etc, etc. Let’s elevate what’s good. I want to rediscover the joy of listening. So here we go.