‘Casting Ideas

Podcasts are an interesting medium. While other methods of getting information and entertainment have come and gone (newspapers, 8-tracks), radio is one constant that has gone on surprisingly steadily, considering its relative age.

Pictured: every podcaster ever. (and hopefully me!)

Podcasts themselves are often quite entertaining, with topic areas ranging from unbelievable stories, to friends discussing any and everything, to in-depth looks at the psychology behind seemingly simple things in our lives. But where do the ideas behind all these podcasts come from? With a podcast project coming up, I’m hoping I can find out.

After listening to an example podcast from former classmates, titled “Shit Happens” and concerning embarrassing moments experienced by the storytellers, I got inspired for a very similar idea: embarrassing moments, but romantic embarrassments.

My hope is that the relatability will make the podcast different, and more interesting to people. Everyone that I’ve talked to has had their share of awkward romantic endeavors, whether it’s struggling to ask someone out or regretting past relationships. Very few people have tried to report perfect relationships every time, and if they do they’re goddamn liars. I hope.

EVERYONE’s had awkward moments, so it’s easy to relate to such a topic. The biggest “I-can’t-believe-it” moment of the Shit Happens podcast was unfortunately unrelatable. Despite being black-out drunk a (very) few times during my partying career, I’ve never been so drunk that I’ve shat on the floor and then rolled over in it. Great story, but because I couldn’t empathize as well the podcast felt a little distanced.

That’s option one. My second idea, something I’d also really love to do, is a bit more story focused. I’ve got a story from personal experience detailing just how wrong a wrong turn can go when trying to catch a train, complete with chance encounters and near misses with injury. It’s my absolute favorite story to tell. This one could fit under any number of themes; living out cliches (personally, how it’s not the destination but the journey that mattered), it could be about just how much we benefit from technology, or perhaps more specifically, from simple tech like google maps.

It could be about trains specifically, or about general transportation mishaps or even just unlucky circumstances. The thing that I’m really thinking would be great about using the train story is its versatility. If there’s a bunch of serious stories, it could be funny to have that stark contrast. If, for instance, all the other stories of technology improvements were focused around “this life saving tech saved my grandfather,” it could be funny and uplifting to have a story about the lack of map technology (or skill in using it) almost hurting someone via a train.

It feels like a great foil to arm against a fair number of topics, or if there are other people trying to tell stories that are absolutely bonkers, it’d be amazing to hear other’s tales and bounce it off them. The influence is coming largely from Snap Judgement, where the focus is largely on the story teller and their story, and then a few loosely connected stories are put in the same episode. The loose theme with emphasis on strong stories is incredibly appealing to me.