Something striking that may come to mind as a Nigerian when you think of podcasts if you had never really understood what it entailed or listened to one before is the viral trend of podcast episode gone wrong on Loose Talk Podcast. Perhaps, another might be tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s infamous appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast at the beginning of the month.
What a month for podcasts right? Well, there might just be more to it.
From a vague understanding of the definition of technology of what podcasting really entailed 14 years ago, to a content creation platform, podcasts just like other forms of media are an engaging platform for its users.
A portmanteau of words borrowed from Apple’s iPod and Radio’s broadcast, podcasts have become really popular over the years translating to its acceptance and infusion in pop culture a portmanteau of words I’ve now coined pod culture.
With a pod culture comes an International Day in celebration of this form of media. Yes, there is a day dedicated to the celebration of podcasts and podcasting and today September 30th, is International Day of Podcasts. (So, maybe the viral trends of podcasts this month of September was an indicator for something to come).
International Podcast Day is an international celebration of the power of podcasts!
Created in 2013 by Steve Lee with its first celebration taking place in 2014 as a National Holiday and later being re-branded into an international celebration, the day-long event is focused on bringing more visibility to podcasting and promoting the growing digital media worldwide.
The celebration provides an opportunity to connect with fellow podcasters, podcast listeners, podcast enthusiasts, and leaders in the podcasting industry.
What’s the celebration really about?
Meet ups and Events
A major part of this event is its ensemble of other events that take place around the globe in celebration of this day. As such, designated meet ups and events are held across the globe while the event is streamed. Although some of these events are already slated to happen across the US and other countries like Canada, New Zealand, the UAE and Australia, provisions were made to accommodate for other submissions and some of these events started yesterday, the 29th.
There’s also a live schedule of the event.
Podcast Awards
A major highlight of the celebration is its annual award show; the People’s Choice Podcast Awards #PCA. Although the International day of celebration is just about 3 years old, its award show has been long running since 2005.
This year, the 13th annual awards show will see podcast winners emerge from all categories during the live show event.
As a build-up to the award, the nomination process for this year according to the founder Todd Cohcrane, entailed an open registration in January allowing for registrations from all over the world and then a selective nomination process which started effectively in July.
Categories
This year’s PCA has 21 categories covering a vast majority of subject categories with an average of 10 nominations in each. Some of the categories include: Arts, Business, Entertainment, Tech, Games & Hobbies, Science & Med, Society-culture, Spirituality, Government & Organizations, Health and Sports.
Special categories and perhaps big wins of the event are highlighted in non categorized awards like Adam Curry’s People’s Choice Awards and Legacy Shows.
Interestingly, previous years also spotted categories like Best Produced, Food and Drink, Travel and Best Video Podcast.
Pod Talk
The day usually brings together podcasters from all around the world who will be speaking at the event. The celebration academy records that between 2015 and 2017, it broadcast 100 hours around the globe inviting podcasters and industry leaders from 55 different countries including Nigeria to share their podcast journeys, personal stories, and expertise. This year, about 29 speakers are lined up across the world from India, US, Australia, UK, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Italy, Canada, Poland, New Zealand, UAE, Philippines, Ireland, China, France and Argentina.
I think a speaker from Nigeria should have made the cut for this year.
Want to be part of the celebration? Check this out.
But first, what are some of your favourite podcasts to listen to?