Podcasts Popularity Rising

In our ever-growing technological world, there are more and more new methods of entertainment surfacing. The latest of which are Podcasts.

Podcasts are short audio files containing everything from stories to five minute language lessons, and most are absolutely free and are becoming increasingly popular. The Washington Post reported that in just the past year podcast subscriptions on iTunes reached 1 billion, and this doesn’t include the Android and Windows users tuning in via the Podbay app. So what Podcasts are out there exactly?

Well, there are hundreds of different genres containing everything from live theatre to financial aid to religious broadcasts. The possibilities are really limitless and the tastes will vary from listener to listener, but here is a list of good shows to start.

1. The Thrilling Adventure Hour

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is performed live at The Largo at the Coronet in Hollywood in the style of old time radio. Written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, the show casts a variety of talent, roatating through multiple stories, including (but not limited to):

Beyond Belief; The drunken adventures of Frank and Sadie Doyle, who are gifted with the ability to see ghosts.

Sparks Nevada Marshal on Mars; The heroic deeds of Sparks Nevada and his trusty alien deputy, Croach the Tracker, as they set to right the outlaw wrongs on Mars.

Jefferson Reid, Ace American; Listen as America’s favorite not-so-secret spy as he sets out to foil the Nazis’evil plots in this WWII drama.

The Thrilling Adventure Hour is updated on a weekly basis and can be found on both iTunes and Podbay.

2. Welcome to Night Vale

Written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor and staring Cecil Baldwin, Welcome to Night Vale is a fictional radio broadcast set in the town of Night Vale, somewhere USA.The narrator and local radio host, Cecil Gershwin Palmer, takes us through the towns latest news and announcements, but with a twist. Buckle your seatbelts and hold on tight because you’re in for a wildly weird ride. The only thing you can do is cling onto Cecil’s words as truth as you venture into the strange and shadowy forest that is Night Vale. Night Vale updates on the first and fifteenth of every month and can be found on both iTunes and Podbay.

3. The Truth

The Truth is a series of short stories designed to mimic modern cinema. Listeners are free to imagine and interpret what the characters look like and what they are doing based on the lines they hear. The Truth updates bimonthly, the dates seem to vary, but can still be found Podbay and iTunes.

4. Coffee Break

Coffee Break is a series of short educational lessons for the student on the go. Coffee break is sponsored and written by the Radio Lingua Network and offers five minute lessons for French, Spanish, and German.