Every day is a holiday, if you know where to look (next month’s gems include International Skeptics Day, Howl at the Moon Day and Night, and Wear Something Gaudy Day). But tomorrow, Sept. 30, holds a special place in my heart: It’s International Podcast Day.
The podcast isn’t very old as media goes. Named for the iPod, the portable audio player launched in 2001, the podcast was birthed in 2004 when a software developer created a program that allowed audio bloggers to syndicate their episodes on iPods. A journalist in the Guardian coined the term “podcast,” and today there are more than 2 million podcasts out in the wild.
The simplest way to describe podcasts is probably “radio on demand.” But what I love most about podcasts is how they keep me curious about the world. There’s a podcast for everything: I can learn about the work of female morticians while driving to the grocery store, the history of fashion while working out at the gym, and true tales of con artists while folding laundry.
And, of course, the podcast I work on keeps me curious about the city I love: City Cast Las Vegas. We talk about public art we hate, pizza we love, our water woes, and the industries that keep our economy thrumming. So this International Podcast Day, I have a two-part challenge for you: (1) Tune in to a new podcast you’ve never heard before, and (2) share your favorite podcast with a friend who isn’t a listener. (And I’m not saying it has to be City Cast Las Vegas … but I’m not NOT saying that either 😉)
