Look to the history of radio to see the future of podcasting

On June 16th 1930, WGN-AM radio in Chicago broadcast a sorority sketch performed by three friends. The first episodes of Clara, Lu and Em were recorded without paying the writers and hosts, but proved immensely popular. It went 1930’s viral, and before long it piqued the interest of Colgate-Palmolive who soon offered sponsorship. 

The show moved from evening to daytime. The Networks and the advertisers realized that in this era men would be away at working and children in school. It was the perfect opportunity to tap into the powerful market force of the ‘house wife. And so the soap opera was born.

Original, entertaining content, funded directly by brands.

There are so many parallels between this early innovation in radio and the more recent developments in podcasts. A new medium, spontaneous creators, niche audiences and brands coming to the table. Even the idea of an audio accompaniment to everyday life echoes loudly from the homes of the 1930’s to the modern podcast listeners' ear buds.

This sprung to mind back in 2018, when I heard the podcast The Discovery Adventures by Landrover and Cecilia.FM. 

Turn your next drive into a real family adventure, with our all-star mystery drama series. You’re Sam, and together with your Uncle, you have to track down the villains who are disrupting GPS signals and threatening to bring chaos to the UK. Recorded on location – in immersive binaural sound – at some of the UK’s most fascinating places. 

My brain instantly jumped to the soap opera. Podcasting was finally developing enough legitimacy to attract these kinds of opportunities, so where could it go next?

We can look back over 100 years and learn so much from early radio, which at that time was also frenetic and full of innovators. Our mass medium is still an infant, barely a toddler, and has changed so much so quickly. Radio in the first half of the 20th century was very similar.

So what can we take away from it?

Early radio advertisers really nailed how different genres could attract the attention of customers. Like kid focused family shows to sell toys for instance or westerns to sell macho items to a male audience. Beyond programmatic and host read ads, will we see brands begin to embrace specific podcast categories and ‘own’ genres that reflect their values or the values of their customers?

Will we see government regulation move in to deal with legal and rights issues? Radio has seen waves of regulation in its history, there was a time when station frequencies overlapped and inventor-entrepreneurs built their own masts in small towns. They broadcast music without payment to labels and talked about anything they wanted. Again sound familiar?

Where do artists unions stand on performers and on-air talent? It’s not typically an environment where much debate has been focused. Most rules around union related talent are specific to each nation, but podcasting has always been a global medium.

I don’t know where podcasting will go in the future, but I do know one thing - it is firmly established as a mass media in our time. Like radio in the 1920’s, podcasting in the 2020’s is an exciting place to be, and I don’t want to be anywhere else right now!

Want to experiment with the creative potential of podcasting? Get in touch!