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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

A Golden Age of Podcasting? Evaluating Serial in the Context of Podcast Histories

Richard Berry
- 19 Nov 2015 - 
- Vol. 22, Iss: 2, pp 170-178
TLDR
This article considers the 2014 podcast Serial within a context of technical change and podcast histories, and argues that Serial is a significant moment in the history of podcasting.
Abstract
This article considers the 2014 podcast Serial within a context of technical change and podcast histories. Building on previous work, the author argues that Serial is a significant moment in the history of podcasting. Recent trends have shifted podcasts from iPods to networked screen-based mobile devices in smartphones and connected dashboards, locations where global brands enjoy a significant advantage. It is in this context that the author places Serial as cultural object.

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References
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Book

The Tipping Point

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain how an unknown novelist, such as J.K Rowling of Harry Potter fame, ended up as a bestselling author and why teenage smoking out of control, when everyone knows that smoking kills.
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The Cultural Logic of Media Convergence

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Will the iPod Kill the Radio Star? Profiling Podcasting as Radio

TL;DR: Podcasting as mentioned in this paper allows anyone with a PC to create a "radio" program and distribute it freely, through the internet to the portable MP3 players of subscribers around the world, which not only removes global barriers to reception but, at a stroke, removes key factors impeding the growth of internet radio: its portability, its intimacy and its accessibility.
Frequently Asked Questions (11)
Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "The premise was, in itself, original for an audio podcast but one that mirrored narratives in the classic serials of radio’s past. producer sarah koenig explained that the genesis of the project came from an experience of listening to audiobooks on long car journeys (syme, 2014) at a time of renewed interest in serialisation (ganita" ?

This article considers the 2014 podcast, Serial, within a context of technical change, and podcast histories. Building on previous work, the author argues that Serial is a significant moment in the history of podcasting. It is in this context that the author places Serial as cultural object. 

Podcasting seemed to both democratise access and break content free from the tyranny of the schedule, in media markets where traditional broadcasters invited audiences to have more control of their media experiences (Johnson, 2012 & Perez, 2012). 

As Street in The Poetry of Radio, the Colour of Sound notes, what the authors used to know as ‘radio stations’ (his emphasis) are increasingly becoming “platforms for audio experiences” (2012, p.112). 

Serial showed that in thedays of Wi-Fi, it is easy to subscribe and download” Adair concludes “Serial is something of a gateway drug, leading many of us to other podcasts.” (2014). 

the improving skills of podcasters could also be behind the growth, as whilst “podcasts used to be pretty amateurish ... today's top podcasts ... are full-scale productions with real staff, budget, and industry expertise behind them. 

Retrieved from: https://medium.com/forthe-love-of-podcast/serial-makes-me-want-to-stop-podcasting-83b78948f43Dredge, S (2014, November 18) Serial podcast breaks iTunes records as it passes 5m downloads and streams. 

Serial could represent a reminder of the medium for lapsed listeners or an incentive to explore for newcomers, as Reviewer Bill Adair (2014) offers, “Many of us hadn’t downloaded a podcast since the iPod era, when you had to go through the hassle of syncing with your desktop computer to get a new episode. 

They stated that - “We’ve tracked podcasting since 2006 in this research series, and The authorstill remember the days of hunting down an RSS feed, copying it and pasting it into iTunes, downloading the podcast to my computer, and then syncing it to my iPod to listen to later” Continuing the researchers added “Today, all that friction has been reduced to just one step; thanks to the convergence of Broadband access, computing, and media server that is the modern mobile phone.”(Webster, 2014). 

As for podcast listeners specifically, podcast consumption accounted for more of their “share of ear” than any other form of audio, including radio. 

Episodes were distributed via a conventional podcast RSS feed, through the podcasts website, and on platforms such as Soundcloud and YouTube. 

Only when Apple embraced podcasts in 2005 and added the capacity to download podcasts via iTunes did the process finally become more fluid and one that the average user could navigate.