In my own
I have already described the role radio played as a medium of choice for both access to information and education; indeed, the radio was the media I grew up with and has lost nothing of its appeal even today. On the contrary, modern technology has widened the scope of this particular format, and, besides reading, it gives me access to the world at large. Programs I listened to as I grew up have remained of the utmost importance, but plenty of new formats, stations and countries have enriched my own consumption of radio particularly over the last decade. However, when looking back on all of this and taking stock of my own listening habits today, one thing has changed drastically. Whilst in my childhood and youth classic radio listening was my method of choice, nowadays I almost exclusively listen to audio on demand and podcasts. In fact, I don’t even own a radio anymore, I only use lifestreams whenever I follow election coverage all over the world, and this happens only a few times a year. Otherwise, I listen more or less exclusively to podcasts, and this has become an educational tool unmatched. When I was a teenager and occasionally had to miss out on my favorite programs on german public radio, I remember thinking to myself why there was no way to store the shows somewhere so that they could be listened to later in the day. Well, of course, such technology had yet to be invented, and luckily this happened only a few years later. Like
I am also convinced that listening on demand will become the method of choice for the masses and will replace classic radio some day soon, even though life streaming will always play some role. It is somewhat surprising that this has not happened yet on a much broader scale, and I readily admit that it always puzzles me that so many people still own a radio and listen to programs like they did in the 20th century. Even if most people stick to their habits of media usage they have grown up with, I am convinced that this will not last, particularly once the generation of digital natives constitutes the most significant group of listeners and makes up the most crucial part of the audience. Except for some specific events in sports, politics and entertainment, they will not change their habits later in life either and are thus unlikely to engage in classic radio listening. Therefore, podcasting and audio on demand will be the way of the future.
In this
host
Discusses podcasting as a media format in general and the podcast industry in particular with
Who is the publisher of
HotPod, a newsletter focusing on the podcast industry.
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Reflective contemplations 
3 thoughts on “The podcasting industry”