Podcast Roundtable

Michaela: When I listened to the “How Old is Winnie the Pooh?” episode of Every Little Thing podcast, I noticed some stylistic choices the host used throughout the podcast. For instance, the podcast begins with a question from Annie, a listener, and invites her to not just be a caller, but to be in the audio of the podcast with the host as a guest. Throughout the podcast, there are audio clips of Winnie and other characters from the show version of the franchise dispersed throughout the podcast to pull the listener into the stories. The podcast has little narratives, like Annie telling the story of how this question came up in her family, some background info on Ben’s life, and also simply reading from a narrative—Winnie the Pooh. How do your podcasts differ or compare? 

Justina: I listened to “The Alibi” podcast episode from Serial. The host, Sarah Koenig, introduces herself at the beginning of the podcast as just a curious individual trying to find answers to real-life stories. She is not a detective or a private investigator, just a curious individual who has a lot of free time on her hands. This curiosity lends itself to the podcast as she continues to ask questions and input her beliefs between audio recordings and the testimony she receives from individuals surrounding the case. She almost puts herself in the place of the listeners, asking the questions they would ask then providing answers to them and she has no bias in the case as she is just trying to solve it in her own mind. What about yours, Alex?

Alex: The podcast I listened to—“Heyoon” from 99% Invisible—starts with a “fake” story wherein the host, Micheal Alex Goldman, and his friends are “off to” heyoon. It’s honestly more of just the storytelling of a place that’s so secluded that only locals know where the location is. Also, the fact that the location of heyoon is never revealed is a great way for people to keep listening. In the beginning, they never really describe what heyoon is, they just keep saying “you have to see this!” 

Michaela: That’s cool. The podcast I listened to utilizes research in that the host uses interviews from people who are experts in their field, though their field may not be scholarly. Ben from the South Florida Fair is considered a professional age guesser since he does get paid to guess people’s ages and is considered to be good at his job. She also refers to professionals like Rae Wynn-Grant, a wildlife ecologist at the American Museum of Natural History, who specializes in bears and she asks about the different factors that determine a bear’s age (like teeth, size, head to body ratio, etc.). An interview of Dr. Sarah Shay who wrote a study on Winnie the Pooh is also included at the end. In terms of organization, the host starts with a question and then explores each source until she finds her answer with Sarah at the end.  

Justina: Similar to Michaela’s podcast host, the host of “The Alibi” also incorporates interviews. The host interviews a lot of people who knew Anon in order to learn more about his character as well as the motive behind his alleged killing. She also digs up transcripts from the court case as well as audio recordings of testimonies made on the stand during the trial, and Sarah even talks to Anon herself in order to try to figure out which party is telling the truth and which party is telling a lie.A lot of the structure of this podcast is: ask a question, talk to a “witness,” or read a transcript, and then add her own personal take on the information that she had learned previously. 

Alex: In “Heyoon,” Alex actually interviews the creator of the structure and finds out what the actual purpose of heyoon is. He also interviews friends from his childhood who have been to heyoon along with him, explaining what/how the place looks like. It was just structured like any other story. It starts about introducing the pavilion, talking about it, and then understanding the actual reason why it was built.

Michaela: What about the narrative? In “How Old is Winnie the Pooh?” the host lets the guests each tell a little narrative about themselves when they are first introduced, and then in the end she literally reads Winnie the Pooh to bring the show to a close.  What about yours, Justina? 

Justina: In “The Alibi,” Sarah introduces the podcast by saying there was a case from 1999 about a murder of a teenage girl. The alleged murderer was her ex-boyfriend Anon, who had a notable reputation for being a “good kid.” He got straight A’s, and was very friendly to everyone, so none of his friends saw it coming that he was a murderer. Sarah does some digging in order to figure out whether he was innocent or what his motive was, but sets the stage for the piece by giving background information of the murder and the alleged murderer. Alex?

Alex: The narrative of the podcast is almost like a movie, honestly, whenever I hear/read something my mind immediately goes into movie form, but, it does without it. It’s most similar to a documentary on something that not many people do and it’s personal because it’s something that he grew up with along with his friends, and Peter Heydon’s perspective as well.