A tsunami of podcasts this year, as the BBC and other institutions gave us show after show to make up for past reticence. Some podcasts were oversold (Death in Ice Valley, The Ratline), others an unexpected delight (GrownUpLand., Duvet Days). Business joined in the new audio rush – Land Rover’s innovative family show, Discovery Adventures, won several awards – and everyone you met seemed to be launching a podcast of their own.
True crime and real-life story podcasts rumbled on successfully, with Australian show The Teacher’s Pet causing a stir when Chris Dawson, its main subject, was arrested and charged with murdering his wife. The genre is now so ubiquitous that the Onion released a funny mickey-take, A Very Fatal Murder.
Other thriving podcast genres include famous-person-talks-to-a-mate (George Ezra and Friends; Table Manners With Jessie Ware) and trying-to-understand-life-chats (Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness, excellent; Russell Brand’s Under the Skin is still very popular).
In radio land there was much hoo-ha and upheaval. Virgin, LBC, Beats 1 radio and Capital Xtra pinched some big BBC names (Chris Evans, Eddie Mair, Charlie Sloth and DJ Semtex respectively). The BBC responded by doing what it should have done long ago: giving jobs to women. Only Mair’s replacement was male: Evan Davis, doing well on Radio 4’s PM. On Radio 2, Zoë Ball and Sara Cox start their new jobs in the new year, on breakfast and Drivetime; on Radio 1, Tiffany Calver took over The Rap Show, with the BBC doing its own poaching by pinching Rickie, Melvin and Charlie from Kiss FM (all start next year, too). Radio 6 Music did an internal shuffle, giving 2019 weekday mornings over to Lauren Laverne and Mary Anne Hobbs.
Much of this was a fallout from a combination of last year’s BBC pay revelations, national outrage over a lack of gender equality, and Ofcom finally informing the BBC that it’s legally required to reflect the diversity of the UK. The fuss that has accompanied the changes shows that radio is still close to our hearts and that presenters matter to listeners.
News shows certainly had plenty to talk about. Brexit and Trump have spawned so many programmes that they should be given their own categories at next year’s awards shows. Longer-form series continued to thrive, with Slow Burn’s painstaking analysis of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair a summer highlight. Radio 4’s Today and the Guardian both brought out their own excellent versions of the New York Times’s The Daily news podcast. But news in general had a tough year. Listeners became sick of false equivalence – putting charlatans up against experts in the name of balance – and turned instead to music, podcasts or phone-in shows with presenters who allowed everyone to let off steam (5 Live’s Your Call; James O’Brien, Iain Dale et al on LBC).
What else? Apps. A lot of ’em, including the BBC’s new Sounds app (some basic errors led to a less than rapturous reception), Global’s Player (not bad) and Google’s podcast app – great if you have an Android phone and Google Home.
There was a general feeling of investment in audio this year – intellectual and fiscal. It’s not quite a gold rush yet. It’s still hard for independent podcast-makers to make money, but the listeners are out there, and audio is creatively busy. Next year should be exciting.
The top 10 radio shows and podcasts of 2018
1. Tara and George
Producer-presenter Audrey Gillan’s beautiful, in-depth series on a couple living on the streets of east London.
2. Today in Focus
The Guardian’s daily news podcast, expertly presented by Anushka Asthana, has become an instant must-listen.
3. Escaping NXIVM
The disturbing story of a contemporary Canadian cult hidden behind a be-your-best-self learning programme.
4. Where Should We Begin? With Esther Perel
Insightful psychotherapist Perel with a third series of her in-the-same-room relationship therapy sessions.
5. You, Me and the Big C
This engaging programme, presented by three women with cancer, got all too real in September when presenter Rachael Bland died.
6. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Writer-director Julian Simpson’s clever reimagining of an HP Lovecraft horror story as a true crime podcast. Nailbiting and scary.
7. The Grenfell Inquiry
Sometimes, journalism should be dogged and straightforward. On Radio 4, PM’s day-by-day reporting on the inquiry into the appalling disgrace that was the Grenfell fire was just that.
8. Dear Joan and Jericha
Laugh-out-loud filth from Julia Davis and Vicki Pepperdine. Don’t play on speaker.
9. No Country for Young Women
Hilarious, upbeat chatshow where Sadia Azmat and Monty Onanuga “try and figure out how we balance our British and ethnic identities”.
10. Caliphate
New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi reveals the truth about modern terrorism by interviewing Isis members in situ.
Turkey
Nigel Farage on LBC
Not because Farage has a phone-in show, but because he’s scared to take calls from Carole Cadwalladr, the big wuss.
