Podcasts are Annoying

[Aquarius1234]

Its just radio 📻 😌
Don't get me started on every celeb and his dog starting one.
Also I assume most of them wouldn't make much money from doing it?
It's just a hobby. Some have so few listeners.
BBC Sounds are happy though to toss money at literally any Z list celeb to make one.
To think I used to admire the BBC compared to ITV etc..

Do you find a lot annoying in life OP?

Apologies not to answer your actual question. It’s just so daft I can’t be arsed!

Most of your posts out the going ons…. Of Love Island. Quality stuff there OP 😆

You don't have to listen to them

There are a range of podcasts - from parenting to chat show style to comedy.

It would be like saying "TV is annoying. Every man and his dog has a show."

I also don’t like them. They just sound like poor journalism to me a lot of the time and clips of recordings that sound poor quality to appear authentic but are just hard to hear.

I prefer audiobooks but it’s just a preference on format.

There are all types of podcasts on every single topic. It's like saying books are annoying.

How are they annoying, just another form of media, if you don't like, don't listen.

Personally listen to a number of very good ones, when commuting or exercising.

I’ve never understood podcasts.

I also think is it not just radio?

I feel very naive, but what is the name about? Was it originally something to do with iPods? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

I’ve never listened to one because if I have any free time I would prefer to watch tv. My mind would wander if it was just audio.

You like the theatre of cruelty, sorry I think others call it 'Love Island'. So kudos for having the temerity to comment on other media outputs, but to answer your (non) question - there are plenty of extremely high quality podcasts - You're Dead To Me is my current favourite.

But there aren't overly tanned arseholes being horrible to overly tanned arseholes on it... so might not be to your liking.

You realise there are podcasts that aren't made by shit celebrities, right? As a previous poster said, it's like saying books (ot music, or tv programmes, or films) are annoying!

I find it no more annoying than there being TV programmes I dislike.

I think what actually annoys me most with media/TV is not being able to just pay for football on Sky and not all the 500 shite channels that come with it.

What's your AIBU?

Are you being unreasonable to find podcasts annoying? No, of course not, everyone has different tastes.

Are you being unreasonable to assume that everyone feels like this and therefore it's wrong of the BBC to fund podcasts? Yes. I love a podcast!

That's a bit like saying "I don't understand films isn't it just TV?" or "I don't understand newspapers aren't they just books?".

Thats like saying youtube/tiktok etc is just tv. Its just another way to consume info/media

There is so little interview based tv today, and not much speech based radio apart from Radio 4, TalkSport (men spouting off) and LBC (not everyone wants wall to wall politics). Podcasts offer an alternative, which you are free to listen to, or in my case hardly ever do.

The BBC pays Nick Robinson and Laura Kuennsberg a fortune to pander to Tory and Reform politicians instead of challenging them, only stopped Top Gear after the second instance of serious injury, and continues to transmit the stereotyping of Irish people being stupid under the guise of the foul mouthed disgrace called Mrs Brown's Boys. That is what they deserve criticism for.

Well ok, you’ve answered my question then.

it wasn’t a loaded question, I was genuinely asking.

What about the pod bit? Is it any connection to iPod? Or am I very wrong (and very old)?

I'm pretty much with you OP. I've tried lots of podcasts on a variety of subjects, usually off the back of several recommendations. Never celebrity-based ones, I can't stand that sort of thing. Almost without exception they seem to be 1/3 content and 2/3 padding, Americans in particular seem overly fond of putting unnecessary background music all over the place, and within a few episodes the hosts start with the annoying in-jokes because they reckon they've built up such a good rapport with each other and their audience. Don't get me wrong I'm sure there are some good ones - I have heard a few - but I can't be bothered sifting through the dreck any more.

I've always assumed that 'pod' in this context is drawing on the 'self-contained' definition of 'pod'. It's a little self-contained bit of audio (this is one of the way it differs from radio actually).

I think the 'cast' refers to it being cast out into the world.

But that is just my own theory so do Google further!

no they aren’t just like radio. They tend to be subject or topic based. I follow various that are ‘unsolved crimes’ ‘serial killers’ ‘short history’ ‘ancient civilisations’ and a pile of others.

it’s like having a narrated story read to you whilst you do the gardening or dishes. The history ones in particular are fantastic. Interesting and educational.

Pretty sure podcast was a portmanteau of iPod (portable audio) and broadcast.

I need to investigate podcasts more as I am sure I will find something I like. DH and DS are big fans. However I do find celebrity podcasts irritating..I like Sara Cox but she was on BBC this morning selling her podcast. Roman Kemp is another one and then all the political chat ones.. I guess in the main pushed by the BBC.

Depends which ones. There are low barriers to entry so some are shit. But some are brilliant, giving you knowledge, comedy or journalism.

It was the News Agents podcast that originally broke the Afghan leak super injunction story, if you want an example of them being not-shit journalism.

What does annoy me relayed to podcasts is: why has Radio 4 started calling everything a podcast? When did they stop being radio programmes? Having this thought makes me feel very old, even older because of how much it annoys me!

I can't remember who it was but I heard a trailer for a podcast early this year with the star exclaiming that the press follow her everywhere and she has no privacy.

Oh the irony !

But @Aquarius1234 I do think yabu by saying all podcast are annoying, some are certainly, but there are some good / informative/ interesting / funny ones out there.
You just have to search through the banal stuff to find it.

I found the Dday landings and the Titanic ones very good and interesting even though I have never really had any interest in either subject before.

I love podcasts from the Financial Times, The Guardian and New Statesman, I listen to less and less BBC radio these days. I wouldn't listen to any.of the sleb nonsense ones. You need to level up op!

It's not 'just radio', though, is it, any more than an audiobook is 'just radio' or Spotify is 'just radio' or a film is 'just TV'.

If you listen to the radio, you're tuning into whatever it's broadcasting at you, at the time the broadcaster chooses to put it out. A podcast is something you actively seek out, download and listen to when you want to, because you have chosen that content.

The other difference is that pretty much anyone who wants to can publish podcasts. You're talking about BBC Sounds... you realise that's a minuscule segment of the total range of podcasts available, surely? There are podcasts on every conceivable subject and of vastly variable quality available through hundreds of platforms that are nothing like the BBC's output.

Also, I see PPs are talking about journalism - but most podcasts aren't journalism and aren't claiming to be. Sure, there are current affairs podcasts and investigative podcasts, which obviously do have a journalistic bent, but there are millions of other types of podcast. Hobby discussions, fan chat, experimental stuff, comedy formats, scripted comedy and drama etc.

Honestly, to say 'podcasts are annoying' because you don't like BBC Sounds is a bit like saying 'clothes are annoying' because you don't like a specific retailer.