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A-pod-calypse Now!

Podcasts are seemingly all the rage these days. From what started as a niche techie art form has grown to become a hugely popular mainstream medium. According to podcastinsights.com there are over 660,000 shows in existence and over 50% of people in the US has listened to a podcast.

So why are they so popular? One reason is podcasts are ideally suited to fit around our increasingly busy schedules and with the ubiquity of smartphones these days are dead simple to listen to on a daily commute or a long drive. 

The TED Radio Hour podcast manages to deliver helpful information about topics such as science or business that would otherwise be perceived as dry or inaccessible to the general public in a way that is simple and engaging. It may not go as in depth or provide as much statistical evidence as a peer-reviewed paper, but it is much more effective at delivering the information to a broader audience.

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the thing about social media is that all of your friends are in the cult

Tristan Harris, TED Radio Hour ‘Manipulation’

In this episode on manipulation, design ethicist and former big tech employee Tristan Harris reveals the manipulative ways social media companies use design to create addicts of their users.

This particular quote evocatively captures the especially malicious aspect of social media that differentiates it from other addictive substances. What makes social media ensnare its users in a web of dependency is that it is social - your support network is also dependent on said social media so that you have nowhere to get out to other than back in the matrix. It’s like a cult in the sense that breaking out is so difficult because all your friends are in that cult.

As a digital marketer we must grapple with the design ethics of the tools we use to advertise. People’s dependency on social media is extremely beneficial to marketers due to how effective social media marketing is at targeting and communicating to consumers. But is it right that we should put profit margins before the public’s mental health? Social media platforms are currently under the spotlight for their role in spreading extremist rhetoric but marketers need to take a good hard look at their own role in the creation of the cult of social media as the underpinning foundation for its financial success. 

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NPR - public radio to podcast pioneer

NPR was created in 1970 by an act of congress as a not for profit public broadcaster. In 2005, NPR entered the world of podcasts, a nascent medium at that point in time, and along with other public broadcasters such as the BBC was a pioneer contributing to the popularity of the genre. 

Almost 15 years on, NPR is still a behemoth of podcasting, ranked the #1 podcast network for monthly audience in the US. Programs such as TED Radio Hour and Fresh Air regularly make the iTunes Top 20 podcast list. Having the weight of NPR behind it, as well as being one of its flagship programs, adds extra credibility, reach and prestige to the TED Radio Hour podcast.

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I love my best friend, Guy Raz

Guy Raz is the host, co-creator and editorial director of the TED Radio Hour. He also hosts another extremely popular NPR show How I Built This and NPR’s first kids’ podcast, Wow in the World.

Guy got his start in radio at NPR as an intern in 1997 at the age of 22. Between the years 2000-2004 Guy was an overseas reporter for NPR, covering stories from conflict in the Balkans and the Middle East to sports and entertainment before leaving to take up the role of CNN’s Jerusalem correspondent. In 2006, Guy returned to NPR as defense correspondent and has worked their since, hosting numerous programs and helping create NPR’s hugely successful podcast network.

Guy’s style as a presenter and interviewer is both professional and conversational, insightful and easy to listen to. His experience as a news reporter and children’s radio broadcaster shows through in Guy’s easy balance that keeps the program interesting and easy to follow.

Guy’s role is to introduce the topics of the show as well as the speakers who he has on. An extract of the guest’s TED talk is then played followed by a short interview. Guy asks leading questions that enable the guest to expand on the topic without imposing himself on the interview. He lets his guest’s expertise and insight be the focal point, taking care not to let his personality detract from the narrative of the episode. 

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TED Radio Hour - ‘Big Data Revolution’ (9 September 2016)

Host: Guy Raz

Guests: Susan Etlinger, Kenneth Cukier, Riccardo Sabatini, Andrew Connolly

‘Big data’ is one of those buzzwords that wannabe-intellectual 19-year-olds who subscribe to ‘IFLS’ and read Yuval Noah Harari throw around to appear more interesting. Everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock in recent years knows that power structures have shifted away from those who own capital to those who own the most data - you only have to look at the most recent election or Facebook’s share price to see the proof.

However it is much less common that people know how big data will actually shape our society. In this episode, we learn about big data’s potential applications such as machine learning and self-driving cars, predictive policing like in Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report, personalised medicine and astronomy.

However, big data still requires a human input to apply the correct context to the situation. Without context data is meaningless. Often recited is the incorrect causation-correlation of ice-cream consumption with drowning deaths. Without the crucial contextual knowledge that summer exists and causes increases in both incidences, the data would infer an incorrect assumption. This is a crucial learning to take away for anyone who intends to get involved in the world of big data. 

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Let’s examine who the key target groups for TED Radio Hour are. 

Well, this is somewhat of a tough one because of the diverse range of topics covered by the podcast. Thankfully, NPR provides statistics for TED Radio Hour and audience profiles for its broader listenership through an Ipsos Affluent Survey. As with the majority of NPR listeners, the TED Radio Hour audience is dominated by young, educated listeners with above average wealth. 

Out of the seven NPR audience profiles, I singled out ‘The Business Leader’ and ‘The Tech Trendsetter’ as being the two most likely to subscribe to TED Radio Hour. Having listened to the episodes ‘Big Data Revolution’, ‘Manipulation’ and ‘The Power of Design’, there is clearly an aspect of self-improvement and professional development in the content that would appeal to ambitious professional types and future-forward tech types.