Category: Podcast Problems
Podcast Problems: The Audience as a Third Wheel
There's a common conversation I'm sure you've heard when podcasts are brought up: "Podcasts? Aren't those just four dudes sitting around a mic, talking to each other because they think they're funny?" It's a frustrating joke, a joke that feels dismissive and dated and inaccurate. Haven't we left those days behind? Aren't we better now? Yes, ...
Podcast Problems: The Love and Fear of Silence
For the last two years or so, there's been this kind of terrible, kind of wonderful trend on YouTube. There are tons of videos that follow a basic formula: "[Piece of media] except [some anxiety-inducing change in editing]." The most popular of these are probably "bee movie but every time they say bee it speeds up" ...
10 Things I Wish Every Podcast Would Do
Wil Williams Review is still a fairly new site, but I've reviewed quite a few podcasts. If you haven't read my review guidelines--which would probably be irrelevant to most of you--you might not know that the podcast reviews I've written are only for the shows I've wanted to review. I don't typically write bad reviews for ...
Podcast Problems: Good Conversation, Bad Podcast
There's something that happens to me fairly often when I listen to a new nonfiction podcast. I'll hear about a podcast that discusses some subject I care about, and I'll be so excited for a new nonfiction show to latch onto. Maybe it'll be the new Radiolab or Invisibilia, I think, or maybe it'll be a new hyper-niche ...
Podcast Problems: Top 10 Tips for Nonfiction Podcasts
Starting up a podcast is very on-trend right now, but it's also scary. Depending on how you're going about your podcast, starting one up can be a huge money sink and will almost inevitably be a huge time sink. While my Podcast Problems posts are meant as cautionary tales for podcast beginners, I think they ...
Podcast Problems: Top 10 Tips for Audio Dramas
Starting up a podcast is very on-trend right now, but it's also scary. Depending on how you're going about your podcast, starting one up can be a huge money sink and will almost inevitably be a huge time sink. While my Podcast Problems posts are meant as cautionary tales for podcast beginners, I think they ...
Podcast Problem: Terrible Mouth Noises
One of the things I do when I'm not listening to podcasts is host literary events. These are usually storytelling events, where the performers range from mumbly to clear and mid-toned, and slam poetry events, where the performers range from whsipery to screamy. There's only so much sound board management one can do while also hosting, ...
Podcast Problem: Too Many Mics
Tommy Wiseau's 2003 film, The Room, is a masterclass in bad media on so many counts. The acting, directing, and writing are often discussed, but for me, the dubbing of some lines is really underrated. Pull up any YouTube video of The Room with the intent of catching poorly-dubbed lines. You'll notice it immediately. The dialogue floats uncomfortably in ...
Podcast Problems: Misusing the Medium
I think we can all agree that Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best films in recent memory. Just about every part of the film is phenomenal, and it utilizes every part of what makes film the medium that it is. The film is very obviously meant for its medium: the visuals are stunning, meant ...
Podcast Problem: Dialogue Authenticity
I'm a huge fan of the show Friday Night Lights. I never expected myself to care so much about a show that focuses on football, something I've actively avoided engaging with. I was taken in immediately, though, by how genuine and character-driven the show was. I've never been so immediately convinced of characters as people, and this was ...
