This Podcast Life

When I first heard about what a podcast was around 2011, it sounded fun and a great way to express yourself. It felt as though you could have your own radio show for people to listen to. After listening to a couple of them on a few sites, after some months I decided to finally make my own podcast.

I signed up on this site (which I won't name) and thought it would be so easy, and to be fair this site isn't hard to navigate. There was just one problem... I had no idea what it would be about, what the name would be—any of that!! Feeling unprepared because of excitement, I decided not to make a podcast at all.

In 2016, I started thinking more about podcasting again but that previous site wasn't gonna work for me so after looking around I finally came across Anchor. By this time my passion for it had grown, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do this time around. Having such an affinity for all things pop culture, that's what I decided to talk about.

January of this year is when I made the big splash on Anchor, and I've loved it ever since. I'm happy that I just threw myself in it after having been discouraged and so self-conscious. But here is a small issue that I'm having.

Since this has become a passion of mine, I feel like I have to explain to people what it is I'm doing when they notice my time being taken up with podcasting. Now I know you, as an adult, don't have to explain anything to anyone if you don't want to.

I still feel nevertheless that to share something that I care about with those I care about is important. If I try to explain to people what a podcast is most will go, "What is that??" then when I tell them as best I can it's "oh OK." Those I know can end up walking away thinking I'm wasting my time, and I have an issue with that.

But what are you gonna do?? Keep going, that's what.

One more issue that I have is the fact that radio personalities have problems with podcasting saying it's amateurish. On one hand, it gives anybody a chance to do what they do and have an audience so there is a case for that.

What about those though who went to school for journalism just like everyone else in radio and struggled to get a job in that field after getting their degree. Now you might say you can get a job as an intern at plenty of stations and work your way up.

What if you don't have that luxury or what if you had to put your dream on hold to take care of family or some other unfortunate situation you had? Podcasting gives those a chance to do what they love and talk about things they love when they missed that chance before, especially the ones who were scared to go into this field initially and finally decided to go all in like I did. Radio personalities have a point, but there is no one-size-fits-all for this topic and they shouldn't be so elitists.

In January it will be a year since I started this whole thing and I hope to get better and grow in the process. Some years ago had I started when I first thought about I would not be doing it now. So the fact that I've been consistent and believed in myself is a big plus.

So cheers to all the other podcasters out there, and let's keep this train moving!