Podcasts have been steadily increasing in popularity in recent years, and there are thousands to choose from that cover a wide range of topics. One of the biggest benefits of podcasts over radio is the fact that they can focus more intently on a very specific topic and reach a more dedicated following, while many radio broadcasters are trying to reach a broad audience and appeal to whoever happens to be listening. Here are several podcasts that excel at creating interesting content for their specific topic of discussion.
NPR Politics Podcast
The NPR Politics Podcast covers all of the important events going on in American politics and the election but does so in a welcoming, laid-back and conversational way. Each of the reporters provides insight and personal experiences to the discussions while remaining unbiased and professional. The crew usually puts out two to three episodes per week, including episodes dedicated to breaking news stories throughout the week as well as a weekly round-up each Thursday. Episodes usually last 15 to 45 minutes and feature special guests, listener mail and several other segments.
PS I Love You XOXO
“PS I Love You XOXO” is a PlayStation-centric video game podcast featuring Colin Moriarty and Greg Miller. Moriarty and Miller are both former editors and podcast hosts from the popular gaming site IGN, and they bring their many years of experience in the gaming industry to the table as they talk about the biggest news and releases in the PlayStation community. The podcast is broken up into several segments, including a list of the biggest news stories involving PlayStation, a central topic to discuss and debate and a rundown of upcoming games. PS I Love You XOXO posts every Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST.
The Comedy Button
The Comedy Button is a comedy podcast hosted by five guys from various entertainment companies, including Lucasfilm and IGN, in their spare time. In the show, hosts Brian Altano, Max Scoville, Scott Bromley, Anthony Gallegos and Ryan Scott share their experiences and funny stories. They use their skill with improv comedy to entertain their audience of several hundred thousand listeners. The Comedy Button has a personal tone to it as, ever since the podcast started in 2011, the hosts have all offered personal accounts of their life experiences, and while the focus is on comedy, the show is known to have occasional moments of moving insight about growing up.
Radio Westeros
Podcasting has allowed for content directed towards a very specific audience to thrive, and that’s just what Radio Westeros is doing. Radio Westeros takes an in-depth, analytical look at the “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels that HBO’s "Game of Thrones" is based on. The show’s two hosts cover a different character or topic from the novels in each episode, and they deeply analyze the significance of the topic and how it might play out in the future of the series. George R.R. Martin’s fantasy universe is immensely deep and complex, and it’s easy to miss certain details that Radio Westeros' hosts bring up in their discussions. Radio Westeros has also partnered with another podcast, History of Westeros, to review each episode of seasons five and six of HBO’s "Game of Thrones."