The symbol Apple uses to represent podcasts
A "podcast" (or, less commonly, "netcast") is this: a posting of files, usually audio or video, set up so that it can be subscribed to through a Web feed (RSS) by an aggregator program. That's it. That's all it is. It can be a radio show, or an audio/video blog or pretty much anything. Basically, a Radio show on the Internet.
It's a very basic tool given a fashionable, swanky, yet nearly nonsensical name (which comes from playing them on iPods) to make it seem special and magical. Like pretty much everything else on the internet. On the other hand, it's a simple, catchy name for a common phenomenon, much like 'television' and 'radio', both of which earned howls and jeers when they were new (the names and the phenomena).
Notable is that the art of podcasting was arguably started by and inalienably connected to a man named David H. Lawrence XVII, as a newsletter for a radio company that attached RealAudio files to the emails that they sent out. He also went into acting a little later in life, and became best known as The Puppetmaster, Eric Doyle. No seriously, same guy.
There is a term for a book done as a podcast: Podiobooks. When a Fan Fic is given this treatment, it's known as a Podfic. For a list of audio drama podcasts in the Science Fiction genre, see Science Fiction Podcasts.
See also: Audio Play.
Examples (organised by subject matter)
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
Audio Dramas
- 36 Questions
- 1865
- Absurdity Ascents
- The Alexandria Archives
- Alice Isn't Dead
- The Amelia Project
- Andy Daly Podcast Pilot Project
- Archive 81
- Arden
- Are You Scared Of These Stories
- ars PARADOXICA
- Beef And Dairy Network Podcast
- Big Data
- The Black Tapes
- Blake Skye Private Eye
- The Blood Crow Stories
- Blood Ties (Wondery)
- The Box Podcast
- The Bridge
- The Bright Sessions
- Brimstone Valley Mall
- Bubble
- The Bunker
- The Chronicles Of Oz
- Congeria
- Darkest Night
- The Deca Tapes
- Decoder Ring Theatre
- Discord Murder Party
- Done Disappeared
- The Edge of Sleep
- EOS10
- The Far Meridian
- Ghosts in the Burbs
- Gospels of the Flood
- Greater Boston
- Guiders of Our Dreams
- Hadron Gospel Hour
- Hello From The Hallowoods
- Hello, from the Magic Tavern
- The Hidden People
- Hi Nay
- Hit The Bricks
- I Am In Eskew
- In Strange Woods
- It Makes A Sound
- Jim Robbie And The Wanderers
- Kakos Industries
- King Falls AM
- Kowabana
- LessIsMorgue
- The Leviathan Chronicles
- Limetown
- Live From Mount Olympus
- Mabel
- The Magnus Archives
- Man Buy Cow
- MarsCorp
- The Meat Blockade
- The Message
- Mission To Zyxx
- The Monster Hunters
- The Nosleep Podcast
- The Penumbra Podcast
- OAKPODCAST
- Old Gods of Appalachia
- Omegaman
- The Once and Future Nerd
- On The Threshold
- The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)
- Our Fair City
- Palimpsest
- Prototype World Of Tomorrow
- RABBITS
- Residents Of Proserpina Park
- Rivers of the Mind
- SAYER
- Seen and Not Heard
- Shipworm
- Soft Voice
- Soylent Scrooge
- SPINES
- The Springheel Saga
- Star Trek Tempest
- Station Arcadia
- Station Blue
- A Story of Black and White
- The Strange Case of Starship Iris
- Supernatural Sexuality With Dr Seabrooke
- TANIS
- The Thrilling Adventure Hour
- Tides
- Twilight Histories
- The Two Princes
- Uncanny County
- Unknown 9: Out of Sight
- Unwell Podcast
- Voyage to the Stars
- A Very Fatal Murder
- Welcome to Night Vale
- We're So Bad At Adventuring
- What's The Frequency
- The White Vault
- Witch Hunter
- Within the Wires
- Wolf 359
- Wolverine
- Wooden Overcoats
- Zero to Chaos
Comic Books
Film — Live-Action
- Actors' Life Podcast
- Aussies In Hollywood
- Black Men Can't Jump (In Hollywood)
- Blank Check with Griffin & David
- Cinematic Universe
- Critically Acclaimed
- Doug Loves Movies
- DVD Podblast
- '80s All Over
- Every Frame A Pause
- The Film Brain Podcast
- The Flop House
- Force Cast
- Friends In Your Head
- How Did This Get Made?
- I Saw What You Did
- I Was There Too
- The Iron List
- Kill James Bond!
- Medium Popcorn
- Now Playing
- On Cinema
- Plumbing the Death Star
- Pretty Much It
- RiffTrax
- School Of Movies
- The Secret History Of Hollywood
- Tokyo Lives
- Timeline Scavengers
- Tranquil Tirades
- The Two Shot
- Unspooled
- Watch This
- We Hate Movies
- The Worst Idea of All Time
- You Must Remember This
History
Literature
- 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
- Book Snub
- Dead Authors
- Death By Cliche
- Doctor Who Target Book Club Podcast
- Escape Pod
- How to Succeed in Evil
- Metamor City
- Muggle Cast
- Nerd To The Third Power
- Potter Cast
- Potter Fic Weekly
- Pseudopod
- Read It and Weep
- Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
- The Shrieking Shack
- Shardcast
- Sporadic Phantoms
- Unkillable
Live-Action TV
- Armchair Survivor
- Around the Horn
- Burdened With Glorious Podcast
- Canceled Too Soon
- CP Studios Doctor Who
- Fifty 50
- Gayest Episode Ever
- Gilmore Ball Z
- Gilmore Guys
- The Good Place: The Podcast
- Hooked On TJ Hooker
- It's Just a Show
- Kumail Nanjianis The X Files Files
- Loser Like Me
- Mission Log A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
- Pardon the Interruption
- The Port Charlie Podcast
- The Post Atomic Horror
- Raised By TV
- Ranger Danger
- Rob Has a Podcast
- Survivor Oz
- Telehell
- Thats Messed Up An SVU Podcast
- Transmissions From The Darkside
- Taskmaster: The Official Podcast
- Treknologic
- The West Wing Weekly
- Who Back When
Music
Professional Wrestling
Sports
Tabletop Games
- Acquisitions Incorporated
- Adeptus Ridiculous
- The Adventure Zone
- Ain't Slayed Nobody
- Blue Dawn
- bomBARDed
- Cool Kids Table
- Critical Hit
- Cthulhu & Friends
- Dark Dice
- Dice And Virtue
- Dice Funk
- DND Is For Nerds
- DNDND
- Doomsayers
- The Drunk and The Ugly
- Dungeons & Daddies
- Dungeons And Dragon Wagon
- Dungeons and Randomness
- Eidolon Playtest
- Fandible
- Film Reroll
- Flip the Table
- Floptales
- Four Geeks Four E
- Friends at the Table
- Gays in Capes
- Godsfall
- Grumpy RPG Reviews
- Interstitial Actual Play
- Into The Darkness
- Jemjammer
- Jennisodes
- Join the Party
- Just Roll With It (Show)
- The Letters Page (Links back to the game it's about as it's made by the games creators and directly ties into the lore of the game. Official link here The Letters Page
)
- The Lucky Die
- Lucky Sevens
- NeoScum
- Nerd Poker
- Not Another D&D Podcast
- One Shot Podcast
- Past Division
- Pokemon: Adventures in the Millennium
- Pokémon World Tour: United
- Pretending to Be People
- Pretend Friends
- Queens Of Adventure
- Quest In Show
- Rolling With Difficulty
- Roll Play
- Roll to Breathe
- RPGMP3
- RPPR Actual Play
- Rude Tales of Magic
- Rusty Quill Gaming
- Semiautomagic Inc.
- Shuffle Quest
- Six Feats Under
- Spout Lore
- Trailblazers
- The Tritone Gambit
- Verbal Component
- You Meet In A Tavern
True Crime
Video Games
- Eight Bit Book Club
- Cane and Rinse
- Castle Super Beast
- Cathedral of Shadows
- Controller Disconnected
- Coolgames Inc
- Critical Hit
- The Cynical Brit
- The D-Pad
- Enchantment Podcast
- The Escapist Podcast hosted on The Escapist.
- 4Player Podcast
- Gaming And Then Some
- Giant Bomb
- How Did This Get Played
- Internet Box
- Kingdom Smarts
- Machine CAST
- Nitro Game Injection
- Power Pros
- Podquisition and The Spin-Off Doctors
- Random Assault
- Real Talk
- RFG
- Second Funniest Podcast
- Show Me Your News
- State Of The Arc
- Today’s News Tonight
- Top Down Perspective
- Super Best Friendcast
- The Sonic Show
- Talkradar
- Word Funk
Web Comics
Western Animation
Other
- Accidental Tech Podcast
- The Account
- The Adam Carolla Show
- Affirmation Nation
- After Action with Max & Paul
- All Fantasy Everything
- AlternateHistory.com Podcast
- The Alton Browncast
- Answer Me This
- Antiques Freaks
- Archaeostoryteller
- Ask Mr. Biggs
- As It Occurs to Me
- Astonishing Legends
- Aunty Donna
- Babylon Bee Podcast
- Baited
- Behind the Bastards
- The Best Show
- Big Grande Teachers' Lounge
- The Biggest Problem In The Universe
- BIONICLE
- The Black Guy Who Tips
- Blocked And Reported
- Bodega Boys
- The Bookshop Skunk
- The Breakup
- The Brian & Jill Show
- The Bugle
- The Byron Chronicles
- Camp Here & There
- Cashing In With TJ Miller
- Cheap Show
- Cheshire Cat Studios
- The Chestnut Hill Improv Group
- Chilluminati
- Clear And Vivid With Alan Alda
- Cloud Five
- Cold Ones
- Collings and Herrin
- Comedy Death Ray Radio
- The Comedy Button
- Cox n' Crendor
- The Cracked Podcast
- The Dana Gould Hour
- The Dead Authors Podcast
- Desert Air Podcast
- Desperate Acts Of Capitalism
- The Dick Show
- Disc Only Podcast
- The Dismal Jesters
- Distorted View
- Do Go On
- The Dollop
- Drunken Peasants
- Dumb People Town
- Edict Zero Fis
- The Endless Night
- Escape from Vault Disney!
- The Evening Jones
- Fandom Flux
- Fantasy Fiction
- The First Podcast
- Fistshark Marketing
- Friday Night Fanfiction
- Frenemies
- The F Plus
- Fup I Farvandet
- Futility Closet
- Geek Heaven
- Geek Nights
- Generation Goblin
- Getting Doug With High
- Girl On Guy
- Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast
- Good For You
- GRR Podcast
- Harmontown
- Hello Internet
- The Hidden Almanac
- Hollywood Babble On
- Honey Badger Brigade
- How Did We Get Here?
- If I Were You
- I Should Be Writing
- It Could Happen Here
- The Joe Rogan Experience
- The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show
- Judge John Hodgman
- Keith And The Girl
- Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap
- Kevin Pollaks Chat Show
- Knox Kast Radio
- Laughing With Myself
- Lets Make A Music
- Lions Led By Donkeys
- Lore
- The Lost Cat
- Made Of Fail Podcast
- Marek vs. Wyshynski
- MentalCast
- The Midnight Gospel
- Mike & Tom Eat Snacks
- The Mike O'Meara Show
- The Minister of Chance
- Monday Morning Podcast
- Moonhawk Studios Presents
- Multiamory
- Multimedia Club
- My Brother, My Brother and Me
- My Dad Wrote a Porno
- Mystery Show
- Myths and Legends
- Mythunderstood
- Nerdist Podcast
- Nerd To The Third Power
- Nerdy Show
- Never Not Funny
- No Such Thing As A Fish
- NSFW Show
- Off Book The Improvised Musical Podcast
- Omnibus
- On the Tropes
- Pappy's Flatshare Slamdown
- Phil Vischer Podcast
- Pints With Aquinas
- Please Stop Talking
- Podcast About List
- Podcast: The Ride
- Point vs. Point
- Professor Blastoff
- The Protagonist Podcast
- Psycomedia
- Qwerpline
- Radiodrome
- Radio Molly
- The Read
- Red Handed
- Rex Factor
- The Ricky Gervais Show
- RJ And Bley Suck At Girls
- Rocher Hotel
- Various podcasts by Rooster Teeth:
- Black Box Down
- Face Jam
- Fuck Face
- Good Morning From Hell
- Off Topic
- The Patch
- Red Web
- The Rooster Teeth Podcast (formerly Drunk Tank)
- Rose Drive
- The Sarah Silverman Podcast
- Sawbones
- SBS Pop Asia
- The Scathing Atheist
- STown
- SHOW
- Sick And Wrong
- Sick Sad World
- The Silt Verses
- The Skeptic's Guide To The Universe
- Skeptoid
- Slash Report
- Sleep With Me
- The Smartest Man In The World
- Smash Fiction
- S Modcast
- The Sombre Sepulchre
- Spontaneanation
- Stellar Firma
- The Storage Papers
- Stuff You Missed In History Class
- Stuff You Should Know
- Superego
- Pony In A Box Productions Audio Plays can be counted as these, since they're serialised PodFics.
- Tales of the Extraordinary
- Talking To Myself
- Team Four Star Podcast
- Tell Em Steve Dave
- Thespian Talk
- Thinking Sideways
- This Sounds Serious
- This Week In Virology
- Throwin Chat
- Tobuscus
- The Todd Glass Show
- TOFOP
- Totalus Rankium
- True Capitalist
- Tweet Me Harder
- Two Sense
- Undercooked Analysis
- Unpaid Programming
- Unpopular Opinion
- Unresolved
- Voice Acting Mastery
- Well There's Your Problem
- Well RED The Podcast
- Were You Raised by Wolves?
- Weve Got Mail
- Who Charted
- Why Am I Watching This
- Wisenheimers
- With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus
- Wonderful
- The Word On Fire Show
- Wreckless Media Radio
- Writing Excuses
- WTF With Marc Maron
- The YoGPoD
- You Made It Weird With Pete Holmes
