Podcast Survey

After listening to three different podcasts via iTunes, I have a greater appreciation for the medium as a whole, and enjoyed listening to the different styles and tactics each took to produce a successful podcast.  I've only listened to a handful of podcasts prior to this exercise, mostly baseball related, and enjoyed searching through iTunes and looking at the various categories and genres they have listed to be downloaded and listened to.

Podcast #1: ESPN Baseball Today
ESPN Baseball Today featuring Eric Karabell and Mark Simon discuss the latest baseball news from around the league, and offer their insight and perspective on a multitude of subjects.  This particular podcast, Karabell and Simon discussed various injuries to relief pitches Joba Chamberlain and Ryan Madson, analyze various predictions win and loss wise for teams for 2012 and predict upcoming award winners for the season.  I enjoyed listening to both hosts, they both played off each other extremely well and offered terrific insight and opinion on the days baseball headlines.  They were easy to listen to, and flowed well throughout the forty-four minute program.  They rarely talked over each other and gave one another sufficient time to discuss their different points and reasoning on a myriad of topics.  This podcast obviously does not appeal to everyone however, it is narrowcasted to a mostly sports fans and baseball enthusiasts.  Although, sports and baseball are a huge part of today's culture and society, so I'm sure the ESPN podcast does quite well with listeners and membership.  In fact, when narrowing down my search on iTunes under Top Tens for Sports and Recreation, ESPN Baseball Today was placed sixth on the list, indicating it does fairly well with downloads and listeners.  It has also been rated by 787 listeners, and received an overall 3.5 out of 5 stars.  I will definitely be downloading more of these podcasts, as it allows me to catch up on all of the days news and events from around the league on my way home from school and work.

Podcast #2: The Nerdist: Hosted by Chris Hardwick featuring Neil Patrick Harris
The Nerdist podcast is hosted by Chris Hardwick, best known for his hosting on Singled Out on MTV and Web Soup where he interviews and talks with TV child actor and Emmy Award winning actor Neil Patrick Harris on his 1 hour and 41 minute show.  The show is sponsored by stamps.com.
This is more of a relaxed, casual type talk rather than a formal question and answer interview.  Hardwick hosts his podcast in the dressing room of Harris.  Both host and guest go back and forth discussing topics rather than the host simply asking questions and building off of the answers.  Hardwick brings his own stories and opinions into the conversation as well, so the show isn't just about Harris.  It feels like two guys in a bar conversing over topics and glory day stories rather than anything formal or constrained.  Nothing seemed to be off limits with Harris, as they discussed past hookups they both shared with a woman named Lisa, Harris' sexuality, making fun of various magicians and fellow actors, all while swearing and "bullshitting" as if they were reminiscing of the good ole days.  This form was very appealing to me because it offered more insight into Harris than I've ever known previously.  I am a big fan of Harris, and love the work he does on CBS hit show How I Met Your Mother.  Harris embraces his characters he's played from Doogie Howser as a child star, to Barney Stinson on HIMYM.  Hardwick allows Harris to speak broach a multitude of topics, and doesn't interrupt or speak over him.  It allows the listener to digest and understand both of what Hardwick and Harris have to say instead of yelling and screaming over one another.  Harris goes into great depth of the behind the scenes life of his hosting gigs, events he's held, family life, his acting career, and likes and dislikes.  This podcast was awesome, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.  I'm sure I am a bit biased because I am a fan of Neil Patrick Harris, so I may listen to another podcast of a guest I am not a fan of and compare if the forum is the same or not.

Podcast #3: Mostly Mets SNY.tv
Mostly Mets podcast features three hosts, Patrick Flood, Toby Hyde, and Ted Berg who discuss the latest NY Mets news from Spring Training camp on 3/22/12 in this 54 minute podcast.  The trio discuss topics ranging from the news Mets ownership settled their lawsuit with the trustee for the victims of Bernie Madoff, Irving Picard.  They touch on various injury news, left-handed ace Johan Santana, center-field options for the season, upcoming prospects, and joke about Tim Tebow joining the Mets this season.  This is a narrowcasted podcast, and one that I am familiar with prior to this study.  SNY is the New York Mets home television network, and sponsors this podcast.  All three hosts have their own blogs online that follow the related Mets news and allow for user comments and opinions.  The show was decent, I was only intrigued by the Mets news as I am a huge Mets fan, otherwise, their execution and way in which they discussed their content was slightly bland and didn't really grab my full attention.  Their pace was relatively slow, and they seemed to not have much pep or style when discussing their topics.  It seemed very relaxed, almost too relaxed as opposed to The Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick in which it was a relaxed but balanced conversation and back and forth banter that the listener didn't know what was coming next.  The trio did offer their own unique insight and opinions of the Mets and the recent news, but I surly could've found a better avenue to receive this news and feel more engaged than this podcast.  The pace was slow, their voices and enthusiasm bland, this was my least favorite of podcasts I listened to.