It took quite a bit of research to uncover a good amount of these as I often try not to merely cater to the Spotify top ten and I’d like to extend some much given thanks to the audio drama subreddit for their excellent recommendations.

With a bit of assistance, I’ve found the new, the obscure, the scary, the silly, and the weird combinations of both. Here we have fifteen audio dramas that have caught my attention as of late all coming in a variety of tones, lengths, and genres spanning meaty, long-form mysteries, science fiction anthologies, or a short and sweet miniseries from the likes of newcomers and experienced vets.

As a note, all of these podcasts should be listened to from the beginning unless otherwise stated. Almost all of these podcasts are serialized stories with continuous narratives.

The Best Audio Drama Podcasts

Audio drama is certainly a subjective subject. What one person likes, another will hate. But we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure our picks for the best audio drama podcasts employ excellent storytelling, character development, and have the requisite plot twists that will keep you hooked.

So let’s look at the best audio drama podcasts the medium has to offer. At the end of the post we’ve included some bonus audio dramas that didn’t quite make the list of “best,” but are still pretty damned good and worth your time.

Without further adieu.

The Fourth Ambit

A slightly newer podcast debuting last spring of 2021, The Fourth Ambit is already a solid few hours in the length of their episodes and has got me hooked like malware on a hard drive. 

The Fourth Ambit is a dark, intelligently written sci-fi that weaves a fascinating futuristic landscape where the merging of advanced technology and the human condition take center stage. You won’t want to miss any of Gilles’ misadventures between virtual reality and reality-both of which seem to be equally dangerous.

Give Me Away

Give Me Away focuses on a crashed spaceship titled “The Ghosthouse” for the constant presence of ghastly screams from doomed extraterrestrial life trapped in its mainframe. The only way to end such eternal torment is to transfer their minds into willing human participants-permanently. 

This audio drama comes from the writers behind such favorites of The Message, Life/After, and Steal the Stars which ensures Give Me Away will be a gripping, methodical mystery built from the ground up on atmosphere and chilling discoveries.

It makes for a piece of amazing science fiction with a psychological core, dabbling into complex themes of identity and self worth. You’ll be deeply enamored with the journey of protagonist Graham Shapiro and an exploration into the value of one’s life, be it his own and those around him.

If you do like science fiction do check out some of the paranormal podcasts we’ve reviewed recently. Are they fact or fiction? Or a blend of audio drama?

The Program Audio Series

Joining my collection of favorite anthology series besides The Long Hallway and Theatre of Tomorrow is The Program Audio Series where we’re transported to a universe where Money, State, and God form into one entity governing over a future society. The Program Audio Series lets us into the lives of multiple strangers-some innocent, some not so much, all of them somehow affected by the might gonglamorith of technology. 

The Program audio series is an unapologetically cruel but undeniably creative collection of short stories about a terrifyingly possible future and a rapidly changing present.

PLEASURE MACHINE

It all starts when African American sound artist H gets a job offer from tech cooperation Librate–a once in a lifetime opportunity that wroughts on a number of personal conflicts. That’s the base plot of Colt Coeur’s PLEASURE MACHINE, a nine episode long thrill ride that’s a blend of Dear White People and Sorry to Bother You.

PLEASURE MACHINE’S writing is deeply provocative and smart yet simple in execution with its neat editing tricks, and atmospheric sound design that packs so much into so little time. Many struggling under the stress of freelance, social constructs, and societal pressures will adore this miniseries, these all being topics that PLEASURE MACHINE provides with a complex, adult perspective.

Margaret’s Garden

The Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network has carefully crafted the quaint American suburb of Everton, a picturesque suburban brimming with all-American charm, modern appliances, and opportunity…seventy years ago, that is. 

The American Dream becomes the American Nightmare in their show Margaret’s Garden, a suspenseful suburban audio drama fresh from the oven as of the fall of 2020. Margaret’s Garden is a nice blend of Greener Grass and 1989’s Parents, setting itself up as a piece of truly memorable and macabre Americana.

Greenhouse

Put your flower shop AU’s to bed because Atypical Artists’ Greenhouse is the kind of blooming romance you won’t want to miss. Cute, cozy, and awkwardly sweet, Greenhouse is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before with deeper roots than your favorite Wattpad fic.

Watch from the shrubs as two wallflowers learn to overcome their fears and open up to each other one letter at a time. Our leads Abigail and Rose are as socially anxious as they are adorable and you’ll be ready for their love story to grow from the first “dear”.

Donald August Versus the Land of Flowers

Babysitting and bad gardening merge in this short audio drama comedy that packs plenty of personality (and pollen) in just under an hour. In this unlikely summer tale in Southern Florida we join twelve-year-old Donnie and his nanny Lex as they investigate the presence of a mysterious palm plant when their game of detective turns into a legitimate investigation.

At a brief five episode length, Donald August Versus the Land of Flowers is a simple, charming story with just the right amount of childhood innocence and the kind of summer fun that will lighten up any dreary day. 

Jack of All Trades

In search of work and a place to live, young and spry Jaclyn Seeglay, often known as Jack, gets hired at Fidus Achates as their new repairwoman, even if her own resume could use some tweaking in the truth department. 

Little to her knowledge, she’s signed up to be the company’s new paranormal hunter who must determine if the creaky floors and leaky faucets are the results of poor house planning or a poltergeist. 

Though I”m sold on the absolute disaster lesbian of a protagonist and her hilarious coworkers, Jack of All Trades comes with some surprisingly strong lore and unique takes on supernatural creatures that give its world immaculate depth.

What Can I Get Started For You?

What Can I Get Started For You? is a slice-of-life comedy mini-series that tells the story of four New York baristas passing by work days with hilarious banter and curating the perfect Spotify cue to survive the next lunch rush. 

Lucky Doll Productions has crafted the ultimate coffee shop story complete with seductive health inspector checkups and talent shows.

What Can I Get Started For You? gets by on the strength of its snappy writing, fun characters, and unique stage play framing that gives it the vibe of watching sitcom misadventures. Don’t even bother adding sugar to your coffee this morning, this show’s good vibes should be enough.

PodCube

No need to adjust your settings, PodCube is just as odd as it seems and the kind of alien experience you might be looking for if you have a taste for a weird workplace comedy. PodCube seems to be a semi-improvisation project though it might be the actors’ natural comedic flow with each other that’s got me recalling the Interdimensional Cable segments from Rick and Morty.

Despite its inherent weirdness, PodCube is a weirdly grounded look into the chaos of mainstream marketing and working under capitalistic restrictions. Between fake movie trailers and awkward press conferences, PodCube never once tries to explain itself. You should have been listening to this yesterday.

The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society

Now this is unfortunately a late arrival as The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is on its third season as of this writing and as a fan of Barbie and The Three Musketeers I’m honestly a little sad no one told me about this sooner. 

Here we visit an alternate 20th century France in the seaside town of Massalia under the threat of brutal political corruption from a group that calls themselves The Six. It’ll take wits, cunning, and teamwork to fight the forces disturbing the peace and married lesbian couple Saffron and Zinnia are up for the challenge.

The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is my greatest feminist fantasies come true complete with sword fights, fiery debates, and frilly outfits. It not only makes for some excellent historical fiction but has such contagious charisma and charm, it’ll have you rallying alongside these dashing heroines.

Maxine Miles

The newest brainchild of The Bright Sessions’ Lauren Shippen is Maxine Miles, a Nancy Drew by way of Clue audio drama with a choose your own adventure twist. Taking place in the late nineties of Hastings, New Hampshire in the eve of autumn, we join Maxine’s team in uncovering the mysteries of her town after the disappearance of one of her classmates. 

The uber-intelligent and precocious Maxine definitely has the wits to crack the case but will the secrets that plague her New England home be too much for one girl to handle? 

Maxine Miles proves to be wholesome fun with a twinge of suspense and intrigue that’ll have you nostalgic over tweenage mystery novels. You definitely won’t need a magnifying glass to see why this one is a gem.

Death by Dying

The life of an obituary writer isn’t exactly thrilling but in a world where the most unlikely of deaths come attached to haunted bicycles, evil farmers, and cats with a deadly appetite, it’s just one of few misadventures in the life of a rookie occult investigator.

Death by Dying is darkly entertaining in its bold writing choices and macabre yet hilarious subject matter, making it an excellent blend of Wooden Overcoats and Less is Morgue. You’ll enjoy Death by Dying’s smooth narration, solid comedic timing, and intriguingly insane mysteries. It’s grim yet uplifting, discusses the dead and is yet filled with life in each episode.

Hannahpocalypse

It’s the end of the world as we know it and Hannah is doing weirdly fine. From Red Fathom Entertainment comes Hannahpocalypse, a comedy/horror audio drama from the perspective of the world’s last unliving girl who has (un)survived a zombie apocalypse merged with a Terminator-style apocalypse.

Hannahpocalypse is a smartly written, tongue-in-cheek take on post apocalyptic tropes told from the perspective of the titular monster. Hannahpocalypse has weaved a funny and insanely charming piece of self aware comedy that’s a refreshing take on the usual piece of glum and gritty apocalypse fiction.

Who Killed Avril Lavigne: A Time-Traveling Pop Punk Podcast

Local teen edgelord Derek Walker has his head up in space and himself back in time when his substitute teacher sends him back to Warp Tour to investigate the disappearance of pop punk princess Avril Lavinge. From that premise alone, the best damn thing might be Who Killed Avril Lavigne: A Time-Traveling Pop Punk Podcast, a love letter to rock and the early 2000’s that will resonate with millennials and the average music fan. 

Who Killed Avril Lavigne is a nostalgic yet strangely modern piece of time-travel comedy that blends crackpot conspiracies and punk rock edge seamlessly. No reason to make things so complicated, you won’t find many things this stylistically gorgeous, absurd, and unbelievably original.

Bonus audio drama podcasts

These audio drama podcasts come from versions of this article past. We still recommend them! They remain some of the greats in audio drama podcasting.

Life With LEO(h)

The androids that don’t dream of electric sheep or are probably dreaming of long walks on the beach. From the same studio that brought you podcast darling The Bright Sessions comes Life With LEO(h), a lighthearted sci-fi comedy about the bond between girl and machine. 

In true rom-com fashion, it focuses on strict and serious Jeanine Bell whose active work life as a robotics intelligence lawyer has majorly crippled her chances at an active love life.

Luckily for her, she’s getting a relationship reboot if she wants it or not once she comes across the adorably dysfunctional, and highly illegal android LEO, Loving, Empathetic, Optimistic, and (only sorta) helpful. This show will never have you doubting if robots could ever know love. When Leo is involved, romance is always part of the equation.

Read more: Life with LEO(h): Atypical’s New Fiction Podcast About Living With a Sexy Robot 

Less is Morgue

Meet your fellow monster in this excellent comedy with a horror twist, Less is Morgue. Taking place in a fantastical Tallahassee, Florida where the supernatural is the norm, a grumpy ghoul named Riley and giddy ghost Evelyn host their own podcast from the comfort of their basement.

But this duo proves that being dead doesn’t make their days any less lively. 

Less is Morgue is smartly written, weird, and wonderfully charming with a great cast of characters, quotable dialogue, and some very solid chemistry from the main undead duo that makes every scene hauntingly hilarious.

Where The Stars Fell

From the creator of Inkwyrm comes a supernatural mystery audio drama written by Newt Schottelkotte of the always experimental Caldera Studios. It follows the not so average life of Dr. Edison Tucker, A.K.A. Ed, whose search for the paranormal might have to start with herself.

Where The Stars Fell is a story of truly biblical proportions twinged with all things existential, violent, and downright weird. Honestly, it might be best to go in blind to truly get the full experience yourself. Be not afraid and check it out. 

When Angels Visit Armadillo

Conspiracies ahoy in Christin Campbell’s When Angels Visit Armadillo. Get to know Magnolia Waters as she tells all through interviews and phone calls about a mysterious disappearance back in ‘88.

When Angels Visit Armadillo is an excellent piece of Americana, a deeply intriguing mystery with Southern flair and a sapphic story at its core. It’s a pleasant mixing pot of Alice Isn’t Dead and the previously mentioned Where The Stars Fell, and despite its short runtime, it’s got a real grit to its presentation that I can’t help but respect.

Spirit Box Radio

Set your stereos to supernatural with Spirit Box Radio, a weekly horror audio drama from Hanging Sloth Studios. When the original host, Madame Marie of Spirit Box Radio‘s Advice and Community Segment goes missing, plucky newcomer Sam Enfield will have to take her place.

But hosting a mystical radio show isn’t exactly a walk in the graveyard when the studio itself is host to terrifying secrets and its own history of hauntings. Spirit Box, with its interesting premise and wiccan vibes, should be a fun listen for anyone seeking out some new, lighthearted horror.

Seen and Not Heard

Our lead in this excellent audio drama is Bet Kline, a woman who is now legally deaf and must navigate herself around such an unexpected curveball. Seen and not Heard is a brutally honest look into living with disability that doesn’t spare a good sense of humor to get its message across.

Those who have struggled with anything be it mental health or hospital stays will find a lot of catharsis in the show’s sincerity and delicate yet bold approach. (Discloure: Caroline Mincks has written for Discover Pods.)

Read more: Seen and Not Heard: On Hearing, On Listening

Ronstadt

Spooky yet weirdly sentimental, mystical yet down to earth, cool as ice and yet hot as hell-that’s one of many ways to describe Ronstadt, a severely undepreciated supernatural noir comedy taking place in an alternative Los Angeles. Meet Rhett McLaughlin, AKA Ronstadt, a snarky, dysfunctional phone jockey thrown headfirst into the dark underbelly of L.A., here known less for its sandy beaches and overpriced coffees and instead it’s otherworldly events.

Combining the aesthetics of The Meat Blockade with the general, effortlessly cool vibe of a Juno Steel adventure, Ronstadt’s strong voice acting, crisp sound editing, and solid storytelling makes a great find for mystery and magic fans looking for that urban twist.

Only Sketches About Podcast

If you’re looking for a less linear podcast experience, you’ll definitely find it with the Only Sketches About Podcast, a grab bag of topics ranging from the mundane like camping trips and gift shops to the more abstract tales of UFO’s and clams. 

Only Sketches is always weird and always funny with a nice twinge of satire to boot. Regardless, Only Sketches is a delightfully unpredictable time with a small but strong cast delivering wonderfully weird stories in this collection of memorable skits.

The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte

Do you ever read the title of something and immediately be sold on its premise? Well, that was the case with picking up The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte, and luckily a pretty solid adventure comedy podcast happened to be attached to it. 

El Fuego Fuerte is a thoroughly original, bombastic joy ride filled to the gills with combat and camp you probably can’t find anywhere else. Creator Daniel Valero Fletcher shows a real love and passion for the art of masked wrestling and the series is pure passion from start to finish.

Mars’ Best Brisket/Midnight Burger

From your local restaurant comes Mars Best Brisket, a short and snacky sitcom by Ponders Productions. Join this eclectic couple as they create the first ever vegan restaurant on Mars, navigating food critics and new hires. Mars Best Brisket is cute, homey, and lovably original with strong writing and the unmistakable wholesome center of visiting a family diner to support its short runtime. 

In fact, why don’t we sandwich a similar recommendation into this with a heaping helping of Midnight Burger, the story of a seemingly normal Phoenix diner that’s actually a time bending, dimension hopping restaurant. Check out either one of these or maybe develop a craving for both. Regardless, you’re bound to leave here smiling and satisfied.

Patient 33

The podcast where the protagonist is in a coma. To be completely honest, that premise alone has sold me on Patient 33, a splice of comedy and medical drama that deconstructs the very nature of podcasts with its clever use of dissecting listener agency with this unorthodox but very creative choice of perspective.

Patient 33 is genuinely engaging with its ongoing plot and dysfunctional cast of characters, making Hope’s Memorial Hospital the hospital that never sleeps.

OBSIDIAN

Ever since checking out Adventures in New America from Night Vale Presents, I’ve been on the prowl for more afrofuturism. Luckily, speculative fiction podcast OBSIDIAN has seriously been scratching that itch for me lately in this truly excellent sci-fi anthology collection. 

OBSIDIAN is delightfully bizarre and insanely smart with inspired settings and one of a kind world building that dabbles into ideas of space travel to simulations, making for an intense, psychological romp that may spark only a minor existential breakdown.

Beautifully constructed from the ground up, OBSIDIAN is an easy yet engaging listen for anyone who wants to get lost for a while.

Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services

Fans of Alba Salix, Royal Physician will probably get a kick out of this ongoing lost gem from 2018, Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services. In this modern take on witches navigating the working world, local witch Kalila Stormfire makes a living as a one-stop shop for fixing magical (magickal?) mishaps. 

You won’t just get tarot card readings and healing crystals here because Economical Magick Services is conjuring up astral projection and speaking to the dead all at an adorable price. And, luckily for you, you can check out this excellent audio drama free of charge. 

We Fix Space Junk

A long time favorite of mine, We Fix Space Junk specifically appeals to my favorite brand of science fiction: the down on their luck, ragtag working class variety like you find in shoes like Wolf 359. 

Here we join repairwoman Kilner and her A.I. partner in crime as they take on any variety of odd jobs while narrowly avoiding being blown into space dust. We Fix Space Junk is a hilariously written, tongue-in-cheek satire that cinches its story with some great acting chops and editing all while being an impassioned love letter to the genre.

If you’re a fan of quirky space comedies like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you’re bound to enjoy this.

Community Cat News

Oh the things you’ll find if you dig just deep enough, and in this case, my journey concludes in the litter box. Community Cat News is exactly what it appears to be on the surface, an adorable glimpse into the minds of neighborhood cats and what makes them tick in their personal cuddly corner of the world. 

Composed entirely of short episodes, Community Cat News will make up only about five minutes or less of your day and with it sponsored by the prestigious Meow Meow Puffytail, Feline Rights Attorney, you know it’s bound to be a pur-fect entertainment for you and your own feline friend.

Brimstone Valley Mall

As a soda-chugging, pizza-munching, Twitter-account-owning degenerate who feels entitled to the kind of liveable wage a part time mall job simply can’t provide, a black comedy podcast about demons in a rock band working at a suburban shopping mall during the late nineties is a little too up my alley. 

Though my Goth phase is long past me, a show that encompasses Goth aesthetics is such a rare and incredibly welcomed facet to the considerably less Goth podcasts lying around. No time for prissy preps here, Brimstone Valley Mall is truly the epitome of what old people think rock music does to the youth-Satan worshipping and a sudden taste for leather included.

The Godshead Incidental

(Disclosure: Cole Burkhardt, who plays Lorem Ipsum, is a Discover Pods contributor.)

It usually doesn’t take much to impress me so The Godshead Incidental passing the test within a mere few seconds of its first episode is actually high praise. In this urban fantasy that’s a nice combination of The Wicked and The Divine and an episode of Parks and Recreation, comes one of the most unique takes on modernized mythology I’ve heard in years.

Get to know advice columnist Em as she tries to find her missing sister after a sudden run in with the God of Memory, throwing her into a risky partnership with the charmingly mysterious Lorem Ipsum. Witty dialogue, fantastic world building, and solid acting chops makes for a one of a kind experience. 

Read more: New Religion: “The Godshead Incidental” Review

The Magnus Archives 

As the kind of person who still gets startled by bread coming out of a toaster, I’m probably not the kind of person who should be getting personally invested in horror shows. Too bad The Magnus Archives has already sunk its teeth into me and hasn’t let go for the better half of last year. 

What starts as a loosely connected compilation of one-off horror stories becomes a densely personal psychological horror peppered with just the right amount of existential dread and body horror galore. If you can stomach what it has to offer, it’ll prove to be as satisfying as it is scary.

The Long Hallway

Perhaps blame my short attention span or growing fondness for Black Mirror, but there’s something I inevitably enjoy about anthologies. There’s definitely an art to be appreciated in the nature of a short story, how quickly we’re introduced to characters and ideas until we’re forced to jump to another one with the fate of our last gallery of heroes left completely abandoned. 

Anthology shows are in no short supply in audio drama but there’s just something about The Long Hallway that really caught my attention. Its methodical pace, its slightly eerie atmosphere, and its love for twists and subtle theming all packed in episodes that never go over eleven minutes makes it an excellent entry level podcast.

The Theatre of Tomorrow 

While still on the topic of anthologies, the first collection I found myself smitten by was easily 2017’s The Theatre of Tomorrow by Midnight Disease Productions. There’s just something so fun about shows that are wacky for wackiness sake and it takes a delicate hand to make these kinds of shows charming instead of obnoxious.

The Theatre of Tomorrow is silly but inspired by its love of retro, old-timey radio plays, granting it a sort of 1950’s aesthetic pleasantness. It’s random but never incoherent which is helped by some positively solid casting and editing, making it as hilarious as it is fabulously put together. Nothing quite tickles my fancy the way a good scripted comedy does and The Theatre of Tomorrow is a severely underappreciated relic.

Fuck Humans

Audio-fiction erotica is in itself quite a rare genre. Not that podcasts can’t talk about or include sex or sexually active charaters, but many of which can hardly call themselves legitimate smut. And for the lonely adults in the world in need of some more sizzly soundbytes comes Fuck Humans, a fantasy romance for the eighteen and older audience.

Fuck Humans manages the art of combining both smut and story and doing so with expert consistency. All around, it’s the kind of show you can enjoy with a bit of privacy…or out in the open if you’re into that sort of thing. What could have been a mere monster mash is a rather simple tale about overcoming prejudices with a sexy twist.

The Penumbra Podcast

Be it you’re tuning in for the suspenseful cyber noir of private eye Juno Steel or the medieval misadventures of many a dreamy knight at The Second Citadel, The Penumbra Podcast is one of the more popular selections to have come out in years but has certainly earned its position among the greats. Excellently crafted with great characters and even greater mysteries to uncover, any path you choose guarantees hours of wit, whimsy, and wonderful angst.

Read more: Plug in, Press Play: Reimagining Podcasts as Games

Dark Dice

I personally feel like I’m still barely toddling into the realm of DnD podcasts which is a shame given how incredibly popular they are. An easy format thanks to the improvised storytelling aspects and the wholesome company of good friends with wild imaginations, but it takes far more than just setting up some sound equipment in your mother’s basement to make a session podcast worthy.

That’s why I highly recommend Dark Dice, a grim fantasy adventure following a lovably flawed party banding together to find the missing children of a nearby village while being pursued by a shapeshifting monster. Fool and Scholar Productions creates a solid atmosphere with the kind of interesting creatures, mysterious lands, and high stakes you find in the likes of Thrilling Adventure Zone and Critical Role. So roll for initiative and check it out.

Rover Red: Alone in the Apocalypse 

As someone so hung up on their own nostalgia that they still have Adobe Flash installed on their computer purely out of spite, it’s no wonder I’m still not over Rover Red: Alone in the Apocalypse, a gloriously short-lived science fiction thriller that debuted in 2017 and, much like a sentient implant drilled into my ear canal, hasn’t left my mind since. 

In this rather intense show we follow the adventures of Leah as she navigates the ruined remains of a post-apocalyptic world with only an artificial intelligence and the motivation to find her brother pushing her through increasingly difficult trials that a mysterious council, i.e. listeners, were able to vote on.

Even if there’s only so few episodes to spare, it’s worth a peak regardless for its iron hard tension, excellent world building, and blend of psychological horror and science fiction adventure that makes Ender’s Game look like Little Einsteins.

THE INFINITE NOW

As far as non-linear, artsy shows go, THE INFINITE NOW  is a short and sweet but certainly fun little detour. To describe the show’s premise is a bit of a tall order as it’s more or less a random selection of spacy monologues narrated by the show’s creator Richard Penner. But if you have a taste for surrealism, existential horror, and some atmospheric music, it’s an excellent selection to backtrack your next blunt rotation with some close friends.

The Meat Blockade

High-brow surrealist comedy with singing pirate frogs and lamb scrotum isn’t the kind of thing you’d be bragging about in your next book club but somebody’s gotta break the ice, especially if you’re in the similar company of Kafka enthusiasts. 

The Meat Blockade by the Hennesy brothers is a thrillingly absurd look into the unlucky life of Karl Berenger as he desperately tries to crawl his way back home after one single choice lands him in the gaping maw of Nighttown. Gorgeously edited, fabulously acted, and never slacking in surprises, it’s a wonderfully bizarre romp that wears its inspiration on its sleeves.

SAYER

A favorite, always going to be a favorite, and is still a favorite to this day. SAYER is the science fiction horror audio drama debut of Adam Bash who has weaved a positively fascinating if terrifying futuristic dystopia. And it’s through the eyes of the titular SAYER, as well as a number of other equally dysfunctional artificial intelligences, that we learn about the dark secrets and darker tragedies befalling the citizens of Typhon.

Hadron Gospel Hour

Hadron Gospel Hour is the kind of show your dad would like, maybe even my dad would like, but that hasn’t stopped teenage me or adult me from being insanely fond of easily one of my favorite audio drama sci-fi comedies.

With its wacky dimension hopping, reality bending mishaps, and chaotic duo of a mad scientist and average joe, Hadron Gospel Hour was Rick and Morty before Rick and Morty was cool, so it’s worth a listen simply for that level of hipster street cred.

Return Home

Small towns with big secrets is common ground to tread for many fiction series with varying levels of success. There’s something just so oddly humble about the hidden secrets of an average community being brought to the forefront and it’s things like Return Home that reminds me of the potential they have to be fun, wonderfully bizarre experiences. 

Though it may not be for everyone, Return Home is one of those shows that has a little bit of everything: comedy, strange supernatural forces, and romance all wrapped up in a package that’s so unashamedly authentic.

With a loveable trio as the leads and an interesting slew of monsters to pick from, this long trip to Melancholy Falls is a nice blend of creative and campy.

Adventures in New America

Night Vale Presents is nothing short of a seal of quality around these parts so it’s no wonder that shows like Within the Wires and Alice Isn’t Dead are such beloved audio drama favorites that still have just the slightest DNA of our favorite desert town in its veins. And though those shows are darling to me, Adventures in New America feels like a truly unique entity.

Branching off from the more Americana-esque vibes of Night Vale Presents other works, this show decides to walk in the pond of political satire with a cyberpunk twist. In this “Afrofuturistic buddy comedy”, tag along with best friends IA and Simon Carr as they wind up in increasingly more absurd heist missions on the dangerous streets of New New York City for the deliberate goal of landing in jail for the benefit of free health insurance. 

Be it you’re in the mood for social commentary or foul mouthed and funny exchanges, you’re bound to be seeing things in neon after one listen.

Steal the Stars

Written by Mac Rogers, Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota “Dak” Prentiss, a government worker on a secret test site. She and her team are tasked with looking after Moss, the comatose body of an alien named for the moss-like substance growing on its body, and its baffling ship that emits deadly waves.

The project is so dangerous that Dak’s higher-ups have completely forbidden the team from becoming attached to each other. No friends. No confidants. And definitely no hookups–which becomes more difficult when the painfully attractive Matt Salem is hired. What starts as a pulpy romance slowly turns into a political intrigue thriller, a heist, and one of the most memorable final episodes in audio drama to date.

Harlem Queen

Audio drama is known for being heavy on the sci-fi and horror, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t great realistic fiction. Based on the true story of “Numbers Queen” Madame Stephanie St. Clair, mobster and gambler, Harlem Queen is a historical fiction podcast set during the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Queen is jazzy, glamorous, and exciting–but it also doesn’t shy away from the realities of being black, and especially being a black woman, in the American 1920’s.

Wolf 359

Wolf 359 was an audio drama space opera, set in a massive space station orbiting the eponymous red dwarf star. What starts out as a lighthearted story about the lackadaisical protagonist Doug Eiffel being bored in space eventually becomes an action-packed, dramatic, heart-wrenching story about the cost of the greater good, the path to redemption, what it means to be human, and overcoming trauma. Wolf 359 concluded its four-season run at the end of 2017, making it a perfect completed story to listen to without worrying about staying current.

The Big Loop

The Big Loop is a somewhat sci-fi, somewhat magical realism anthology series created by Paul Bae of the well-known horror fiction podcast The Black Tapes. Each episode of The Big Loop is a different story, meaning you can skip around and jump in whenever you’d like. Each episode also feels like a different genre: “The Studio” is a sort of ghost story, “YOU” is about an astronaut and her AI, and “All God’s Children” is somewhere between comedy and Lovecraftian horror. If you’re in for a supernatural story with some heavy emotional punches, though, “Goodbye Mr. Adams” is a great place to start.

CARAVAN

A product of audio drama cornerstone The Whisperforge, CARAVAN is a buckwild journey into a story about demons, vampires, banshees, and the caravans that slay them. Protagonist Samir is a play on a typical nerdy everyman genre fiction hero, with the important differences that he’s queer, Desi, and explicitly not thin. As Samir falls into an otherworldly, weird west canyon, he teams up with a traveling group of demon hunters but winds up seeing how he can change their ways to be more ethical. CARAVAN plays with genre, the hero’s journey, and eroticism in one big, unabashed, thrilling bundle.

36 Questions

If you’re looking for a realistic fiction story you can get through in an afternoon and you’re not against the idea of musicals, 36 Questions is a great first foray into audio drama podcasts. This 3-part limited series is a full musical about a husband and wife who are recently separated and their attempts to rekindle their romance–or snuff it out for good. The songs are gorgeous and catchy with lyrics that balance profoundness with authenticity. It’s a fiction podcast you won’t be able to get out of your head, whether because of the songs or the incredible characters singing them.

Alba Salix, Royal Physician

Alba Salix is a comedy audio drama about a royal physician in a fantastical realm, trying her hardest to make her patients understand common sense. It’s one part Scrubs, one part Monty Python, one part Robin Hood: Men in Tights. It’s an easy listen even with an overarching plot that delivers fast-paced jokes and ridiculous characters. If you want to get an introduction to audio drama podcasts but maybe without so much drama, Alba Salix is delightfully whimsical, light-hearted, and hilarious.

The Amelia Project

The Amelia Project is a comedy audio drama about a company that helps clients fake their deaths and start anew, complete with faked identities. Each episode is a consultation with the prospective client to find out why they want their death faked, how they want it do be faked, and how they want to come back. The comedy is absurd and twisted without ever being to gritty or macabre. The level of creativity in The Amelia Project is already enough to make it a great listen, but the acting and sound design are both just as impressive.

For more on The Amelia Project, make sure to read Morgan Hines’s interview with its creators.

Greater Boston

Greater Boston feels like the Mike Schur equivalent in the podcast world. Like Brooklyn 99 or Parks and Recreation, Greater Boston takes place in a hyperbolic version of a real place. Like The Good Place, that level of hyperbole is sometimes brought to bizarre high-concept episodes with an almost supernatural feel. Greater Boston takes place after the world’s most boring man dies on a roller coaster, and the podcast only gets more surprising, hilarious, and intriguing from there.

Fan Wars: The Empire Claps Back

Rom-coms are finally returning to popular culture, including in podcasts. Fan Wars: The Empire Claps Back is a romantic dramedy about two fans on the opposite sides of many debates in the Star Wars discourse. It’s a classic setup: two hot-headed opponents make assumptions about each other, expect the worst from each other, and then consistently surprise themselves when they find common ground and maybe even common attraction. Wrap the premise up in some cosplay and give it a lightsaber and you’re in for a great listen.

Limetown

Limetown is an audio drama that straddles the line between science fiction and horror. Framed like an investigated journalism podcast a la Serial, Limetown follows a reporter trying to find out what happened to a town where everyone suddenly went missing ten years ago. Limetown packs so much character development into its first season, with most episodes following a specific interviewee, but it balances character with one of the most riveting plots I’ve ever heard. After several years, Limetown is returning with its second season on October 31st–yes, Halloween–2018, as well as releasing a prequel novel set when Limetown was founded.

The Bright Sessions

The Bright Sessions is a character-driven audio drama about people with superpowers going to therapy. Don’t shy away if you’re not a fan of big superhero blockbusters, though–The Bright Sessions is much more Friday Night Lights than The Avengers. It’s a gorgeous character study, but it also has a plot that focuses on government conspiracies, well-researched discussions of mental health, and some beautiful love stories. The Bright Sessions is also being adapted as a TV show and three spinoff novels, so make sure to catch up first.

Marsfall

Marsfall is a newer addition to the audio drama world, but it’s already being regarded as one of the best in the scene. This science fiction audio drama follows a different character’s perspective each episode as they land on Mars for an expedition. The changing point of view adds depth to each part of its somewhat large cast while also complicating the ethics so often discussed in the plot. Marsfall also proves that large-scale action sequences are not only possible in audio, but can also be beautiful.

Station to Station

Station to Station is a horror audio drama that turns the audio medium on its head. Plenty of audio drama podcasts give a reason for their story to take place in audio, but Station to Station subverts this with internal monolgues and changing perspectives. This fiction podcast follows a researcher on a massive ship whose research partner never showed up for the voyage–but did leave the protagonist some audio recordings. Station to Station is an audio drama that you could listen to casually, but it’s best when given the time and attention one might give Lost or Westworld, and it merits just as much theorizing.

The post 15 Audio Drama Podcasts to Get You Hooked on Fiction appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Everything peacefully sitting there through the year is suddenly riddled with poltergeists, psychopaths, or beasts. Or an actual real ghost. We get into the seasonal zeitgeist. Everything is sprinkled with horror and pumpkin spice. Netflix offers a wide variety of horror movies, and the top ten scariest books begin to circle the net.

Podcasting mirrors this horrific trend. Audio storytelling of the obscure is hedging bets with literature and film, the same way Mary Shelly boasted to all those sexist writer dudes that she could write a story scarier than any of them combined.

Suck it Lord Byron…

Film and literature have mastered the genre, so will podcasting follow suit? Can audio have just as powerful experiences as films or a book by only using one sense? I would wager that there are a myriad of reasons why audio is a phenomenal medium to produce the mysterious, if not better than film and literature in some regards.

Why else did people believe Martians were invading in the War of the Worlds? Classic ghost stories audio on radio has made humanity quiver for a century.

Front Line of the Invasion Force

Podcasting plays to certain parts of our psychology in ways other art forms miss. Let’s explore the areas of audio storytelling that make scary stories captivating like a throng of kids searching for the strange sounds in the woods. 

What makes something scary? 

There is a clear line between comedy, romance, and horror. Yet, horror might be one of the most difficult genres to master. You can’t just have a show with some celebrity voice actor scream, “There is something in the woods!!!” for 26 minutes and think the audience will get sweaty. Across mediums, for horror to work, there has to be a strong narrative and a natural building towards suspense. 

Good horror writing focuses on some powerful force that outmatches the protagonist’s own– maybe aliens with advanced technology, a vengeful ghost that hops back and forth between our world and the underworld, or your neighbor with an unsettling knife collection.

Horror structure pins the protagonist against something seemingly unstoppable and puts the protagonist’s survival/soul at stake. Through the telling, good horror should make you feel as though your small intestine has formed a sailor’s knot with your large intestine and constantly tightens as the story progresses. Tension naturally builds, and there is a fast release when the monster/killer is revealed.

The ending ideally leaves the audience with the unsettling feeling that they aren’t as safe as they expected. Those dark omens hang over us longer than we’d like.

Read more: 17 Horror Audio Drama Podcasts (Beyond “The Black Tapes”)

Where film and podcasting have an advantage is with music. In all genres, music naturally enhances audio storytelling. When done right, music dials up the intensity of the moment.

When the music and script are in sync with each other, that can be enough to make you scream while on your walk because you mistook a stick for a snake. However, relying on music too heavily is usually to cover up bad writing or lack of real stakes. A short audiobook can floor us with silent, unsettling foreboding. Yet, science isn’t exactly sure why.

But when used in the right spots, it can make it hard to fall asleep at night. These techniques are used across mediums; however, I think that podcasting impacts us on a psychologically deeper level than film and literature. 

Oral storytelling is in Our Bones

Podcasts as a whole tap into our oral storytelling brain. We first started sharing stories around the primordial campfire, sitting around and trading information against the soft glow of a flame.

She Has No Idea What’s Coming…

Ok, telling stories might be a generous interpretation of the monosyllabic babbling homo-sapiens spewed out of their furry mouths, but our ancestors were able to warn each other about threatening events for sure. The most important information we exchanged was how to stay alive. We remember stories. Stories are how we passed on our heritage before language. It’s why real ghost stories, even ghost stories online have the power to undo us.

Radio Rental (Editor’s note: not to be confused with Radio Rebel) is a great example of oral storytelling focused on stories with survival stakes. Other than the wacky, lover of the strange Terry Carnation, narrated by Rainn Wilson, the show uses ordinary people living ordinary lives and has them tell their unusual flirtations with the strange that pass them by. Stories about time warps, innocuous interactions with serial killers, or people living in the crawl spaces of your home. 

The Terrifying Appeal of Podcasts Done Well

The appeal of Radio Rental isn’t just that they use real people; plenty of podcasts pluck from the plebeians for their own content. The common denominator of a Radio Rental story is that no one ever really gets hurt: a knife is wielded around, a stranger might get too close, but the protagonist never dies ( obviously) or ends up in critical condition.

The show is structured with the classic horror story techniques, a feeling something isn’t right, a building of tension, and a release, yet everyone walks away safe and sound. Other than Payne Lindsey being a bit of a pain in the ass when he summarizes the whole plot for unnecessary and seemingly egotistical reasons, the show does make you think twice when you hear a consistent scuttering near your fireplace every night. 

We marathon stories like these because it harkens back to the ancient campfire. Where we made up short scary stories for kids, and then couldn’t sleep ourselves.

These stories allow us to live out an experience without our own lives being threatened. The listener gapes at death without ever inviting him into the room. It isn’t just for entertainment though; we need to listen to these stories so we can mentally prepare for the chaos the world might throw at us. If we ever see a bear or a phantom, we have been forewarned by our own kind to know how to act and ideally keep the species alive. 

Terrifying Tales Kept Us Alive

Oral storytelling is a very human tradition and is still practiced widely in plenty of human cultures, including many Indigenous cultures. Furthermore, we have been using our listening brains for much longer than our reading and writing brains.

But if you wanted your kids to stay away from where the lions were, you told them some creepy real ghost stories about those who failed to listen. Lessons in the madness. That’s why scary stories on audio work so well. We’ve been doing it since time immemorial. All of us.

Here Comes a History Lesson! Now That’s Terrifying.

Generally, scholars believe that the written language originated about 5,500 years ago (3500 BC) in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), China, and Egypt. However, we had been telling stories for a millennia before that. We are neurologically primed to use words and descriptions alone to understand a scenario rather than having a visual accompaniment. Sorry, I know none of this is scary, but it why scary stories on audio formats work. Still, I’ll get to the three-eyed alien in a moment. 

False intimacy is Actual Fear

In my humble opinion, podcasting is the most intimate form of storytelling, outside of a real conversation with a live human in front of you. At its core, podcasting is just the listener reacting to the host’s and their guest’s voices.

Audio storytelling mimics a conversation happening in real-time, and the listener doesn’t have to participate; they can just sit back and listen. 

Scary Stories on Audio work Online Because We’re Right There.

The artistic agreement with podcasts doesn’t have as rigid boundaries as other art forms. When we watch a film, we know the actors are acting. When we read a book, we don’t think that the author is our friend. There is an intentional distance between the creator and the receiver. That line is stretched thin in audio. The host’s voice is injected directly into the listeners’ ears, forming a unique bond between the host and the listener.

We begin to believe horror stories are real, that true crime ghosts are going to find us. Fiction morphs into a murky reality that we’re not quite sure how to deal with.

Um…

Good podcasting gives you the feeling that the host is letting you in on a secret and they want you to come along on the journey to help unravel the mystery. We keep listening to shows because we have formed some level of emotional bond with the host.

Podcasting hosts as a whole end up giving more of themselves than other artists do (as a podcast host myself, I feel like I have some authority to stake that claim). I can’t look at a painting of a red dot in the center of a six-foot canvas and suddenly feel like I know what is happening in the artist’s head who painted it. I mean, is that some kind of creepypasta thing?

Meanwhile, a podcast host usually brings us on a journey because they have a personal interest or reason in whatever the story is.

The more time we spend in audio, the more the listener has a sense of who the host is as a person as hosts are usually a more performative version of themselves. The more time we invest in a show, the more we trust that the host is going to provide us with some high-quality twists and turns. 

Take Spooked for example.

Glynn Washington usually starts every show with a story of his own. He creeks open the metaphorical door ( with some squeaky sound effects) and invites listeners to step in and observe the supernatural through someone else’s experience. The show, like Radio Rental , is a compilation of someone telling you their ostensibly real-life interactions with those beyond the veil.Although the format is similar to Radio Rental , Glynn Washington has worked hard to build our trust as the host of Snap Judgement .

Spooked originated as an annual themed episode that Snap Judgement would do every Halloween, but it became so popular that they turned it into a whole series. It is now released in the lead-up to the scariest time of year. In both Spooked and Snap Judgment , Washington offers us a part of himself. In every episode, lean in to hear about his cult-like childhood growing up in Michigan, his time in Japan, and his moments with the supernatural. Washington has built a formidable fanbase around Snap Judgement and Spooked .

A good host makes you feel like you are part of a certain group worthy of this knowledge they are about to disclose. You’re compelled to download. They put you in the middle of the tale.

I Probably Shouldn’t Have Worked on this at Night

That intimacy mimics being around an ancient bonfire before modern media, one of your community members leaning in and warning you about the giant werewolf in a nearby cave. Ironically, a good host makes us feel like we are part of something larger when we are typically listening solo. We are typically alone in our cars, cleaning our house, or going for a solitary walk.

That isolation can raise the fear factor and make it easier to be startled when we are working alone, organizing groceries in a church basement at 3pm on a Wednesday. But that is also because of the last psychological technique that horror podcasting leans on: our imagination. 

Scary Stories on Audio Work Because The Mystery Itself is Scary

When we listen to podcasts, we are forced to construct our own fantasy.

What our minds concoct is often scarier than the monsters we see in a film. Sure a multi-eyed, thousand-foot, scaly creature spewing goo from outer space that is also a ghost in cahoots with the devil is scary, but what is often scarier is the idea of the monster. The missing knife, the giant footprint, the door left ajar–it’s the building suspension that releases an abundance of cortisol . 

The mystery in itself is enough. The Black Tapes does this particularly well.

Read more: How Horror Podcasts Provide Catharsis

This fictionalized show is hosted by the character Alex Regan, a podcaster from the Pacific Northwest Radio Alliance. She follows the breadcrumbs of Dr. Richard Strand, a man working to dismantle the idea that demons and ghosts exist. However, he has an overwhelming amount of video footage that suggests otherwise and is having a hard time rationalizing these chilling videos with science. Fear is born of the unknown.

The narrative is delivered in a way that builds constant mystery and big revelations. How the characters talk about the ghosts, the strange occurrences, and plot twists is what keeps the listener coming back for more. On occasion, the ghosts peek out from the celestial side.

The characters provide gruesome depictions of what they are seeing, forcing the listener to use their own imaginations. That reinforces the intimacy of the medium because we are forced to create the image with our brains, which has a mind of its own. In film, the director usually reveals the monster, but that may or may not be scary to me as an individual based on my life experiences.

My own visions can be tremendously more terrifying to me than whatever the horror greats dream up next. Although I listened to The Black Tapes with my partner, we imaged two different worlds based on our own perceptions, which made the experience even more personal.

Oral storytelling, primordial campfire, false intimacy, and our own imaginations are the crux of good horror podcasting. The medium is still growing, but I would leave the lights on the next time you hit play.

Why Do We Listen to an Audio Scary Story Anyway?

We listen to an audio scary story because a certain amount of fear is healthy. Our primordial selves crave a good scare. So we download and listen.

This post has referenced a few pods that do a tremendous job making scary stories on audio formats work. But they aren’t alone. If you’re craving a bit of a scare from time to time, then you should take a look at our favorite horror audio dramas that also make a good a case for scary stories on audio formats that carve into our very souls.

Like I said, leave the lights on.

The post 3 Practical Reasons Scary Stories on Audio Hit Us So Incredibly Hard appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Then, I discovered ars PARADOXICA, a Whisperforge audio drama, and I finally had the time travel story I didn’t know I’d always wanted.

ars PARADOXICA follows Sally Grissom, a modern-day physicist who accidentally figures out time travel–sending her back to the year 1943. Initially, this makes for some lighthearted jokes and some cutting social commentary, as one would expect: Grissom is one of the most brilliant minds in a modern era with so much more technology and information available, but she’s still treated as a second-class citizen (and not any kind of reputable scientist) due to her gender. Add in a mysterious time-traveling bullet, the nation’s political climate in the era, and some gorgeous sound design, and you’ve got me hooked as it is. ars PARADOXICA doesn’t rest on its laurels when it so easily could, though. Instead, each episode winds up adding a new exiting, riveting, evocative layer to the narrative.

When I think of what to compare ars PARADOXICA to, I think of TV dramas like Westworld, Game of Thrones, or Mr. Robot: the kind of shows you can sit back and enjoy, but the kind you can spend hours theorizing about, too. The time travel mechanics are absolutely meticulous, tracked episode to episode by the podcast’s full writing crew (Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy, Danielle Shemaiah, and Tau Zaman, as well as guest writers for special episodes), a staff of brilliant minds working together more seamlessly than most of those aforementioned TV shows. As the podcast progresses, it adds more intertwined plotting in the form of government conspiracies, dubious experiments using time travel. Handled by a different team, the different plot lines might feel convoluted or bog down the momentum. Instead, each thread feels integral to the understanding of ars PARADOXICA as a whole while raising the stakes. Add in the cipher message at the end of each episode and you’ve got a podcast Showtime and HBO should be taking some notes on.

ars PARADOXICA isn’t just high-stakes drama episode after episode, though. Most episodes are peppered with solid jokes, especially early on. As the plot becomes more dire, levity is added through bonus episodes like “ODAR & You!”, an in-universe training video for new recruits of the ominous agency Sally finds herself working for, or “Curses,” a guest episode written by the minds behind audio drama Greater Boston, in which Sally teaches her straight-laced, polite friends how to properly and emphatically swear up a storm. While Sally is explicitly aromantic and asexual (still a rarity in most media), meaning she has no interest in romantic love or lust, ars PARADOXICA has moving love stories as well as ruminations on friendships and found families. It’s a podcast that could have felt cynical and gritty, but always skews hopeful and humanistic instead. ars PARADOXICA is a story about “people searching for meaning in a universe that aggressively lacks one” and “the way power corrupts,” but it always reminds the listener it’s also about “the deeply human desire to fix our mistakes.”

And while most works might put all of their energy into maintaining a riveting plot, ars PARADOXICA never forgets that the soul of the story is its characters. Played by Kristin DeMercurio, protagonist Sally Grissom is funny and sharp, but she’s also deeply flawed and often tunnel-visioned about her work and her understanding of the universe. Grissom usually has one foot on the side of loneliness, one foot on the side of adamant solidarity, and she doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t balance on a tightrope when neither foot is on the rope in the first place. She’s deeply relatable, especially when her scientific expertise does her no good in interpersonal or inner conflict.

The supporting cast is similarly multi-dimensional, always growing and evolving alongside the plot. Katie Speed as Esther Roberts is dynamic, easily moving between sweetly emotional and bone-chillingly decisive. Robin Gabrielli as Anthony Partridge has all the necessary swagger of a charismatic genius in the ’40s while also delivering heartbreaking performances and some of the podcast’s best comedic moments. Arjun Gupta (who you might recognize from Syfy’s The Magicians) plays Nikhil Sharma, a more minor character whose complexity and subtlety often steals an entire episode.

ars PARADOXICA is currently at the tail end of its third and final season. At over 30 episodes and 18 hours of listening time, it’s a podcast that must be started from the beginning but can be savored over several weeks or binged over just a few days. Either way, it’s a story than can be–and should be–relistened to several times. You’ll want to repeat episodes not just to make sure you’re picking up on every detail the writers include, but also because ars PARADOXICA is a gorgeous story you’ll find yourself wanting to return to time and time again, wishing you had your own Timepiece just so make the story last a little longer.

The post ars PARADOXICA is the Time Travel Podcast You Didn’t Know You Wanted appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

2017 has been widely regarded as the year of the podcast and it doesn’t seem like industry growth is slowing anytime soon. VentureBeat reviewed the progress of podcasting over the last year and suggested that 2018 could be another landmark year in the field.

Last year an estimated 112 million people across the US listened to a podcast at least one time according to a government report commissioned by the New York City Mayor’s Office. NYC’s podcasting networks alone have an estimated national audience of 42 million listeners on a weekly basis and podcast networks such as Gimlet, Wondery, and Panoply have become household names.

Though there have been very positive trends in podcasting over the last year and the well-celebrated success of networks, a large portion of the podcasting world is still struggling. Podcasters who make content on their own time as a hobby or passion project, without a network providing funding or advertising, are having a difficult time monetizing and building a large audience without access to the resources that network-backed podcasts enjoy.

Some independent podcasts have still been able to achieve prominence in spite of challenges they face. Wolf 359 is one of just a handful independent podcasts that have been successful without the backing of a network.

It’s a biweekly, science fiction audio drama podcast that recently wrapped up its fourth and final season. According to their website, the show is about the “advantages of floating, tiny and alone, in the middle of nowhere.”

Sarah Shachat, a writer and producer on Wolf 359, said that making the podcast is frustrating, maddening and a ton of fun.

“It involves a lot of caffeine and late-nights, pacing and muttering back and forth. But then you get something into the hands of this incredibly talented cast and crew, and everything after that is pure joy,” she said.

The kind of influence that Wolf 359 has gained is impressive, and that’s putting it mildly. The podcast, much to the surprise of the cast and crew, has had more than six million downloads, amounting to about 30,000 per episode. Their audience has grown organically, without advertising or any type of backing. They were also nominated for a Webby Award.

“I don’t think any of us properly understand the reach it’s had, although getting to see all the fan art and responses to the show is both humbling and gratifying,” said Shachat.

Wolf 359 boasts a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and has been reviewed by more than 1,000 listeners. These numbers, which are similar to those of larger network-backed podcasts, would seem to suggest that the Wolf 359 audience is as passionate and large as those of shows on major podcasting networks like Gimlet and Wondery.

However, it is out of the ordinary for an independent podcast to have a listener base that is comparable to that of a network-backed podcast.

Podcasters supported by networks like Gimlet have had the privilege of their podcast turning into a full time job — with funding for studio time, a wider reach with network support and a paycheck. These networks also have the capability of cross-promoting their shows by placing ads for one podcast inside of another.

Networks’ ability to internally transfer listeners from podcast to podcast has allowed them to quickly grow listener bases and generate reviews to gain enough popularity that they are able to monopolize the top of the Apple Podcast charts.

Apple Podcast is one of the best places for podcasters to grow their listener base, and as a result of podcast network growth, the top of the Apple Podcast charts is almost entirely occupied by their content. At the time of writing, only a little more than one third of the top 100 podcasts on Apple Podcast were independent.

Without access to the type of commercialized-backing that a network provides, Wolf 359 has not had the same network-provided opportunities that help with listener growth and monetization. Instead, Shachat said that podcasting is still more of an “abusive hobby” than a job.

“The advertising we did was very minimal, and also – I think all three of us [she, Gabriel Urbina and Zach Valenti – other Wolf 359 team members] would agree – very much us fumbling in the dark,” said Shachat.

Word of mouth is what really helped them to grow an audience. Fostering relationships with fans and podcasters was really important to their success in terms of cross promotion and helping each other out over time.

“Engaging with fans, wherever we found them – mostly on Tumblr at first, Twitter and Instagram later – really upped the enthusiasm around the show, and added ‘the creators take the time to interact with fans’ as a dimension of why people might give the show a try,” said Shachat.

“You weren’t getting just a story, but a community of people who cared about it,” said Shachat.

And that was enough for more than 1000 fans to monetarily support Wolf 359 on Patreon and spread the word about their show.

Despite Wolf 359’s success, the biggest battle for most independent podcasters remains their ability to grow an audience. This is particularly the case as the podcast landscape becomes more and more commercialized and the podcasts with the best marketing have been able to garner the most visibility with new listeners.

The good news is, there is a growing number of new podcast apps that are trying to work for independent podcasters — specifically, those not already topping Apple’s podcast charts– that need help with audience growth and funding, while still catering to the larger podcasts.

This opens a door for the independent podcast community to reach listeners in a more evenly balanced landscape, where networks can’t monopolize podcast enthusiasts’ ears. Instead, listeners are able to focus more on the content podcasters are creating rather than listening to podcasts based on messaging they see or hear from large-scale marketing initiatives by larger podcast networks.

That drive to create good, passionate content is what keeps independent podcasters in the game and with apps like Podible coming out, podcasters working without any kind of backing will have a better chance at growing their audiences.

For now, regardless of the strain that comes with an “abusive hobby” like podcasting. Shachat is happy to be exploring her talents for podcast writing and producing.

“Podcasting is the perfect place to experiment, to build your creative muscles, and to do it surrounded by a community that’s supportive and interested in what you have to say. There’s a lot we all learned about writing audio through making Wolf 359, but we were able to learn by making – and have one hell of a time doing it. That’s what I’d tell someone new to podcasting: just dive in.”

Now that Wolf 359 has wrapped, she’s thinking about what to do in the space next.

“Something that isn’t science fiction, I think,” said Shachat about possible next endeavors. “It’s amazing that there’s so much sci-fi and horror in the audio drama space – we’re spoiled with riches, really – but I’d be curious to figure out how to make a podcast compelling that didn’t lean so heavily into mystery and suspense.”

Podcasting has been a platform for passions to spread, less prominent voices to be heard and knowledge shared for more than ten years. Now that it’s becoming commercialized, it’s important to make sure that people have the ability to continue participating and achieving growth in podcasting even if they’re doing it independently. Otherwise, some of the best content could be lost.

The post As Networks Grow, Independent Podcasters Face A New Challenge appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.