The Return of Podcasts: The Future of Serialized Content

In his post on Medium, Jason Fried [not to be confused with the co-founder of 37signals / Basecamp] shared his vision of progress in podcasting. We pushed off his comments and wrote our material on the topic.

A bit of history

At the turn of the century, the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi invented the first commercial radio system. A few years later, the first person to start broadcasting voice messages was a priest from Brazil. In 1920, decades after the invention of the first radio, the first commercial radio stations began broadcasting in the United States.

In this case, it is appropriate to list the oldest radio stations. A brief history of broadcasting in Russia can be found here . Next, we briefly examine what happened in our country compared to what Jason told us.

Over the course of the 1920s, radio engineering developed rapidly. By 1933, in the US, radio made its way "onto the stage" and books faded into the background. By the end of the 1930s, radio drama became popular. That is how many American playwrights, screenwriters and writers began their career.

If we talk about what happened in these years, it is worth noting the broadcasting of the (first) All-Union Radio (Radio-1) under the auspices of the All-Union Committee on Radioification and Broadcasting (USSR State Television and Radio since 1957, subsequently reorganized ).

The world is ripe for this type of entertainment. The families dined together, and after that spent time in the living rooms, listening to the radio, expecting to hear what new hosts had prepared for them. Radio was at the top of popularity, and the American public could not "get enough of it."

During World War II, the Americans were confined to the radio. Of course, the direct relation to the Great Patriotic War posed the most complex tasks for the country, some of which were solved by the broadcasting industry. On June 24, 1941, the Soviet Information Bureau was formed , which was engaged in compiling reports for radio, newspapers and magazines on the front-line situation and the work of various rear structures.

After World War II, televisions began to appear actively in the homes of Americans, and radio began to make its way into the automotive industry. Families no longer surrounded the radio — instead, they sat around their televisions. Radio for motorists has already set itself different tasks due to the changed context. For broadcasting, only a couple of presenters in a small studio were enough - music and spoken radio came to the fore. Soap operas and other “serialized” content moved to television, and the radio grew into something new.

What happened at a similar time with us: The 2nd program of the All-Union Radio began broadcasting in 1945, and in a historical perspective became known as the Mayak radio station". There were radios with a large number of bands and then 3 radio channels on ultrashort waves along with international programs like Voice of America and others.

Trust format

This went on for 60 years. Much has changed, but not the radio. Music has gone from vinyl to cassettes, and then to CDs. We started to take our music with us in a cassette player, and later in a CD player. Finally, the mp3 format arose (and, of course, Napster), and everything changed. Around the year 2000, the first “podcasts” appeared on the Internet and in our mp3 players. Apple has supported, introduced and marketed this format along with several other “players."

The beginning of the era of podcasting in our country, many associate with the " self-distributors " of the 80s, who did not have the opportunity to get to state radio channels. Others cite Vasily Strelnikov and his podcast terminal as an example . Now there is such a thing as Web radio .

More than 10 years have passed since then. Radio now is not some kind of frequency, it is a format like music that you can “take with you” and listen when it’s convenient. Podcasts about podcasts? Yes, that happens. Web radio? Yes, you can talk about it. Roman Mars, a participant and author of 99% Invisible , created (together with PRX ) his own podcast network called Radiotopia .

An interesting fact is that there are very few podcasts that use the format of the series, but, apparently, he likes the audience. This brings us back to the 30s - 40s radio. Podcasts make it easier for you to establish confidential communication with your audience - because listeners themselves choose your niche content among thousands of other programs. And it's worth talking about.

PS Here you can listen to the latest release of our podcast. Of course, we are ready to help with the equipment for recording our own programs - for this it is worth familiarizing yourself with our section of professional audio equipment .