20yrs of Podcasts

 Twenty Years of Apple Podcasts:  Love the Ear

A Special Commemorative Dispatch

Bewildered brethren of the airwaves! Gather ‘round, pour yourselves a rather potent, ethically ambiguous beverage, and prepare to confront a truth as blinding as a desert sunrise after a three-day bender: it’s been two decades since Apple, in its infinite, gleaming wisdom, unleashed a digital audio Pandora’s Box upon an unsuspecting world. Yes, I speak, of course, of the now-ubiquitous, once-quaint phenomenon known as Apple Podcasts. And oh, what a ride it has been! A glorious, anarchic, thoroughly unpredictable roller coaster of sonic revolution that simultaneously laid waste to established radio empires and, with a mischievous wink, made the humble, unadulterated spoken word, delivered straight to your brain, not merely acceptable, but cool again. Remember the Before Times, eh? The pre-Poddian Era? A simpler age, perhaps, for some, where the tyrannical grip of the radio dial held sway. You were at the mercy of the programming director, a shadowy, often ill-informed figure dictating the rhythms of your day with an iron fist and a playlist of precisely seven commercially viable songs. News? Heavens, no! Not without a ten-minute commercial break for questionable financial products and the persistent drone of a local car dealership jingle. Radio was a blunt instrument, a sonic cudgel wielded with all the finesse of a bewildered gorilla attempting to operate a delicate surgical tool. And then, BAM. A digital tremor from Cupertino that would, over the ensuing twenty years, crack the very foundations of global broadcasting.

The launch of podcasts within iTunes in 2005 wasn’t a roar, not initially. It was more of a polite cough, a subtle clearing of the throat in the grand auditorium of human communication. But oh, how that cough metastasized! It became a persistent, hacking cough that rattled the very teeth of established media giants. Suddenly, anyone with a microphone (or even a rudimentary understanding of their laptop’s internal mic) and an idea, no matter how niche, no matter how utterly bonkers, could become a broadcaster. The gatekeepers were gone, vanished in a puff of digital smoke, replaced by an unruly, vibrant, and infinitely fascinating carnival of voices. And the victims? Ah, the victims! The once-mighty titans of terrestrial radio, those pompous purveyors of blandness and incessant advertising, found themselves staring into a void. Their listeners, once captive, now had the glorious, unfettered freedom to choose. To dive headfirst into arcane historical narratives, to dissect the minutiae of forgotten philosophical movements, to laugh uproariously at surreal comedy sketches, or to plumb the dark, twisting depths of true crime — all without the jarring intrusion of a commercial break for discounted tires. It was, for them, an existential crisis of epic proportions, a slow, agonizing bleed-out of listenership and, more importantly, relevance. Good riddance, I say! The airwaves, once choked with the stale breath of corporate mediocrity, were finally being exhaled, making way for a fresh, exhilarating gust of democratic, on-demand audio.

But let us not dwell too long on the demise of the dinosaurs, for the real story, the truly magnificent, mind-expanding narrative of the last two decades, is the triumphant return of audio-only programming to the pinnacle of cultural cool. For years, the moving image reigned supreme, seducing us with its visual opulence, demanding our undivided optical attention. But Apple Podcasts, with its quiet revolution, reminded us of the singular power of the human voice, the theatre of the mind, the exquisite intimacy of a story whispered directly into your ear. Suddenly, it wasn’t about the dazzling production values or the perfectly coiffed presenter. It was about the idea, the story, the personality. It was about the glorious, unvarnished human connection that only audio can provide. Think of the sprawling, intricate narratives of investigative journalism, unspooling with a tension that video could never truly capture. Consider the dizzying, intellectual gymnastics of a deeply philosophical discussion, where the absence of visual distraction allows the mind to truly soar. Or the sheer, unadulterated joy of a comedic duo, their chemistry sparking through the airwaves, creating a bond with the listener that feels almost illicitly personal.

From the arcane ramblings of obscure hobbyists to the polished, journalistic masterpieces that have redefined our understanding of breaking news, Apple Podcasts has fostered an ecosystem of unparalleled auditory exploration. It’s a bazaar of the bizarre, a symposium of the sensational, a grand, glorious cacophony of human endeavor, all accessible with a few taps on a gleaming device. So, as we stand here, twenty years down the rabbit hole, gazing out at this brave new world of audio, what do we see? We see a landscape irrevocably altered, certainly. But more importantly, we see a world where curiosity thrives, where voices, once silenced or confined, now echo freely. A world where the human ear, once a passive recipient of whatever drivel was force-fed to it, has become a discerning, demanding, and utterly insatiable organ of discovery.

The Racketeer Broadcast Association is bridging the gap between between these worlds with several series’:

• Racketeer “Remotes” Broadcasts
• Sit Down by the Fireside

The Racketeer Broadcast Association salutes you, Apple Podcasts. You didn’t just change the game; you blew up the stadium, scattered the rulebook to the four winds, and invited everyone to play. And for that, we raise our glasses, our headphones firmly affixed, ready for the next glorious, unpredictable, and undoubtedly fascinating twenty years of sound. Onward, into the aural unknown! it was fueled by an insatiable hunger from the ground up—the sheer gumption of individuals armed with little more than a cheap microphone, a flickering laptop, and an unshakeable belief that their voice, their story, mattered. It was the ultimate DIY spirit unleashed upon the staid world of broadcasting. Garage bands became garage broadcasters, kitchen table conversations transformed into global dialogues, and bedroom musings found an audience of millions. This wasn’t a revolution handed down from on high; it was a revolution built brick by digital brick, by countless intrepid souls who simply refused to be unheard, demonstrating that true change often sprouts from the most unexpected, and gloriously unpolished, corners.