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..

Off Menu is great.

Rest is History and Rest is Entertainment are both excellent. If you like old films, You Must Remember This is brilliant.

I like reading too but it's hard to do while walking/jogging/driving

I really like that podcasts have given lie to the theory that people won't consume long form content and that everything needs to be surface and tightly packaged for modern audiences.

I love podcasts where people with a passion and/or expertise make programmes about it - informative, fascinating stuff, often with interesting guests. I think Goalhanger do this particularly well - Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are obviously the originals who cracked the format (and I've learned loads about parts of history that I'd never have looked into without them doing episodes about it) but I have found The Rest Is Entertainment to be unexpectedly eye opening and I've learned so much about stuff I'd never thought of, and The Rest is Classified is similarly interesting.

I've got a huge interest in 20th century history so We Have Ways is a strong favourite, along with War Movie Theatre which isn't quite as slick. I listen to Buffy and Walking Dead rewatch podcasts by really funny, interesting and gifted presenters for pure entertainment and nostalgia value.

There are also some great limited series - it was The Ratline and Tunnel 29 that first got me into podcasts.

I've taken a bit of a break from news and politics podcasts but agree The News Agents are absolutely top tier and are no less quality journalism than you'll get on any TV or radio programme - and long form gives them space to go deeper.

OP, you seem cross that "celebs are jumping on the bandwagon" - realistically, this is a new revenue stream and a lot more lucrative for the successful podcasts than TV appearances etc.

I love the podcasts I love - I have little to no interest in "celeb culture" so those sorts of podcasts would definitely irritate me as the live tv equivalents.

My experience of the TV and radio equivalents of the podcasts I like to listen to is that they're much shallower, less expert and less interesting. Live radio is fine to give you a really surface look at a wide variety of issues (many of which may bore you to tears); good podcasts go much deeper and allow you to really feed your own interests.

Isn't the other main difference the actual content? Live radio tends to be shorter, less in-depth segments across a huge range of subjects - and need to grab those who may have little to no interest in that subject.

Podcasts can go a lot deeper and often cater to a more defined (and by definition more engaged and interested) audience.

Good point. I'm currently listening to the first in a 5/6 part series on the outbreak of WW1. That would probably be an hour on BBC4

Some of them are self indulgent.
I can't stand hearing the adverts on radio for parenting ones. Joel Dommet and His Wife bla. Or any comedian talking about parenting. Yuk so boring.

Celeb twaddle is annoying full stop, whether it's on tv, social media or podcasts. But there are interesting podcasts about all kinds of things, just like there are interesting tv shows that aren't based on ridiculous celebrities.

I mostly listen to podcasts when I'm trying to sleep. Gives my mind something to chew on rather than being bored that I can't sleep. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes.

i like podcasts that give me information or explain something... explaining the law, politics, science, history. I dislike ones where people gush on about selves or rant about anything. But obviously some people love to listen to rants or Sleb gossip or mindless blather. Which is fine. Diversity is good.

Not like radio because podcasts tend to be more niche and less formatted, they don't have to fit in a strict time slot. Also, some are /were 'radio' but over in USA or another place I can't hear their radio, so...

Love em sorry

I rarely listen to the celeb ones. They’re largely boring. But the BBC Sounds investigative ones are excellent. I highly recommend listening to Stakeknife and Where is George Gibney. They both hit me like a ten tonne train

I guess so. It’s hard to define - in my mind anyway. And probably pointless because I love both!

Ah that's interesting! I find I tune out of live radio when it's something I'm not interested in, and then miss more interesting stuff.

Love “just” radio! Far, far better than tv.

There are loads of good science, history, literature ones.

Anything by Mariana Spring is excellent. The current one about a poor girl who died of cancer because her idiot influencer mother thought conventional medicine didn't work was both eye-opening and heartbreaking

There's a really, really easy solution to this. Don't fucking listen to them.

Every medium has its self-indulgent programmes and presenters. Disliking podcasts in general because there are some topics where you find the presenters and the very targeted adverts annoying is a bit odd.

But overall - no one's making you listen, so why are you listening so much that you're annoyed?

Oh that’s on my lift but o worry I might find it too sad

Yes ….. I’ve thought this lately. There are about 3 I like but some seem so cheap and cheerful and a vehicle for people to chat on about themselves!

They’re not compulsory you know…

Yet you’re willing to devote time to the self-indulgent, self-absorbed gen Zs who populate reality TV?

I love podcasts, I listen to loads. Favourites include:

Uncanny
You’re Wrong About
If Books Could Kill
The Rest Is History
No Such Thing As A Fish
Morbid
Sounds Like A Cult
Stuff You Should Know
Betwixt The Sheets
Ologies With Alie Ward
After Dark
Last Podcast On The Left
The Casual Criminalist
The News Agents
American Hysteria
Cautionary Tales With Tim Harford

So in my opinion YABU, they’re not inherently annoying, you just happen to not like the ones you’ve tried (and that’s fine, do something else, problem solved)

Weird, I don't think I've ever come across an advert for a podcast, unless it was within another podcast anyway.

But I don't really watch "celeb reality TV" - are they being advertised there?

I him them advertised when listening to radio in car.
BBC sounds when I happen to watch Live TV. Or even in iplayer .
Just felt often recently.

I can’t stand podcasts or any form of audio speech type thing, including radio talk shows, as I have no attention span for them 😳. So YANBU although I understand other people enjoying them. I very rarely read or watch TV for the same reason unfortunately. I just cannot keep my mind on it. Music, however, allows my mind to drift as it wants!