Photo-Illustration: Mia Angioy. Source: YouTube (Club Shay Shay, Call Her Daddy, Theo Von, Talk Tuah with Hailey Welch, Acquired), The New York Times, Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Ronald Martinez/Getty Images, Andrew Toth/WireImage
An odd factor occurred with podcasts in 2024. After a yr from hell, podcasting was repeatedly thrust into the highlight over the previous 12 months owing to a preponderance of head-turning moments and a presidential-election cycle that radically foregrounded the medium’s consequential nature. This state of affairs is undoubtedly linked to a broader development that noticed podcasting change into additional built-in with digital video, particularly YouTube, which allowed reveals to attain viral consideration and attain even greater audiences.
Indeed, this greater than some other was the yr that demonstrated how podcasts as an entire bleed into the actual world and play an enormous position in American tradition, for higher or worse. To mirror this, we’ve carved out a listing of ten huge moments from the yr as refracted via the medium.
“I’m sorry it took me so lengthy to return out with new materials, however I do have a very good excuse — I used to be useless!” So begins the hourlong “particular” titled “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead!” created by Will Sasso and Chad Kultgen, who host the comedy podcast and YouTube present Dudesy. The duo initially claimed to have used generative AI that had been educated on the late Carlin’s physique of labor to supply the particular, which largely comes off as an airless facsimile of the legendary comic. The stunt prompted a stir, a information cycle, and, finally, a settlement. But not as a result of Sasso informed the New York Times that the Carlin particular was, in actual fact, not really AI generated however written largely by himself. This incident was telling: While the precise use of synthetic intelligence was debatable, the anxieties it generated have been very a lot actual.
Over the summer season, fledgling British information operation Tortoise Media revealed a brief investigative podcast sequence known as Master, which was constructed round two girls’s allegations of sexual assault in opposition to celebrated writer Neil Gaiman. The undertaking prompted three extra girls to voice their very own accusations in subsequent months — two on a follow-up episode of Master, one other via a separate podcast — however no different main information outlet has since corroborated the story. Still, Master has had some impression: A quiet trickle of a number of Hollywood productions based mostly on Gaiman’s works have paused and stalled for the reason that podcast’s launch, although it was by no means made official if these delays have been associated to the allegations. We’re left with the sensation of a shoe nonetheless suspended within the air.
JJ Redick, the retired NBA journeyman, took his standing because the Ur-athlete-podcaster a step additional in March when he launched Mind the Game with LeBron James, which featured the 2 males analyzing basketball performs and ingesting wine. As it seems, James was utilizing the podcast as a bizarro audition course of: The Lakers would rent Redick as their new head coach later in the summertime. The appointment revitalized the group however, in so doing, introduced Redick’s illustrious podcasting profession to an finish — for now, no less than. James’s head coaches are likely to have notoriously quick stints; we could nicely see Redick again on the mic quickly sufficient.
If you care what “Pookie” is — and even know what that phrase refers to in any respect — then, nicely, Haliey “Hawk Tuah” Welch has carried out her job. It has been obvious for fairly a while that you just don’t really want all that a lot to domesticate forex as a celeb, and so it’s with the 21-year-old Tennessee native who gained super viral consideration for her spontaneous R-rated recommendation. Reflecting the totally trendy fame playbook, she proceeded to launch her personal podcast, Talk Tuah, the place she has been working to squeeze as a lot juice as she will be able to from her charisma. We’ll see how lengthy it’ll final, however for now, she has turned her quarter-hour of fame right into a full half-hour.
Since 2015, Acquired hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal have been publishing hagiographic audio portraits of enterprise leaders that garnered them a following amongst LinkedIn hypebeasts and precise titans of business. It reached an apotheosis over the summer season once they offered out a reside taping with Mark Zuckerberg on the area the place the Golden State Warriors play. Onstage, Zuckerberg appeared relaxed. “We accepted different folks’s view of among the issues that they have been asserting that we have been doing flawed, or have been answerable for, that I don’t truly assume we have been,” he mentioned. Platformer’s Casey Newton later underlined the importance of this posture: “Meta’s CEO says he’s carried out apologizing. Should we fear?” Probably.
Chaotic, complicated, and at instances genuinely upsetting, the cut up between Grammy-winning nation singer Zach Bryan and Barstool Sports podcaster Brianna LaPaglia was a soap-operatic tragedy that performed out throughout podcast episodes, social-media posts, YouTube movies — and even a diss monitor courtesy of Barstool king Dave Portnoy. 2024 could have been a turning level for podcasting as a political pressure, however its meat-and-potatoes stuff continues to be the sort of drama that’s enthralling for a sure kind of cultural shopper on the web.
Alex Cooper, host of Call Her Daddy, the podcast believed to have the largest following amongst girls, has recently expressed her intention to change into greater than Joe Rogan. This hasn’t occurred but, however in October, she received nearer when Kamala Harris went on her present to speak about reproductive rights. In hindsight, the looks ended up doing extra for Cooper than for Harris. The host turned a flashpoint for the dialog round this presidential cycle being the primary so-called “podcast election,” boosting her profile additional than ever.
Months earlier than an apocalyptic debate efficiency would sink Joe Biden’s reelection marketing campaign, the Times opinion author and podcaster Ezra Klein revealed an audio essay that raised an apparent query: Was this man truly match to run a second marketing campaign? No, not likely. The essay was launched whereas there was just about no significant public dialogue about Biden’s stepping down, and it sparked a firestorm in Democratic circles. How a lot Klein’s essay truly contributed to Biden’s eventual withdrawal from the race stays a degree of debate, however there’s no denying its launch resulted in a sustained dialog that just about definitely laid the muse for what later appeared inevitable.
To what extent did working the “manosphere” assist Donald Trump win the election? Hard to say, however one can’t deny it helped sharpen his relationship with younger male voters. He chatted with the streamer Adin Ross, who gifted Trump a Tesla and a Rolex. He sat down with Theo Von on This Past Weekend, the place they spoke about dependancy and sobriety. He palled round with Andrew Schulz and mates on the comedy podcast Flagrant, the place the candidate was laughed at as a lot as laughed with. And, in fact, there was The Joe Rogan Experience, which kicked all the dialog round Trump’s podcast appearances into overdrive. In the tip, Trump’s electoral win was a victory for the manosphere. It additionally cemented the concept podcasts and YouTubers symbolize a really actual entrance of political engagement in an period when conventional media establishments proceed to battle with their footing.
“All lies will likely be uncovered”: 2024 was barely every week previous when comic Katt Williams went on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay and popped off on a stunning array of targets from Harvey Weinstein to R. Kelly. Williams’s feedback about Sean Combs would reverberate when the rapper was arrested within the fall for allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and intercourse trafficking all through his profession. The episode, virtually three hours lengthy, has been seen virtually 84 million instances on YouTube, establishing Club Shay Shay as a media venue of word (Harris would go on to go to as a part of her marketing campaign) and Sharpe as an sudden pressure within the nationwide discourse.
