I wrote 167 podcast reviews in a row, and you should too!
To be clear, I’m not commending myself for this. The only way you get to the point where you have to write 167 podcast reviews is by not writing 167 podcast reviews.
That number doesn’t even count the podcasts I’ve listened to for a while and dropped. It’s not that I have some weird stance against reviewing podcasts. I’m just lazy, and I have been lazy for the 7-or-so years I’ve regularly listened to podcasts.
I didn’t have some big moral revelation that I should get to reviewing all of these shows. Maybe it’s because I’ve started to follow more podcast people on social media and felt that leaving a review would be the least I can do. Maybe it’s because I heard stories of people leaving bad reviews for bad reasons and realized I should help counter this. Maybe it’s because I, like most cis white men, have an inclination to get into podcasting. Reviewing the podcasts on iTunes was just something I was planning on getting to at some point.
If anything, it was the number of podcasts I didn’t review that made me want to review them. During a lunch break at work, I took a minute to write down all of the podcasts I as currently listening to or caught up on. When the number passed 150, I knew that this was definitely a problem.
After deciding that I was going to amend this situation, I spent the next two weeks working through each podcast review. This also lead to me seriously reflecting on the purpose of iTunes reviews, the structure of these reviews, and who the reviews are really for.
Yes, I did review all 167, regardless of whether or not they’re still going on. It might not have updated for years, but if The Dead Author’s Podcast comes back, Paul F. Tompkins will have a fresh review from me waiting at his doorstep.
Alice Isn’t Dead
“ A haunting and innovative narrative that is part love story, part-road trip, part horror, and part political commentary.This is a story of many parts with one point, and that point can be beautiful, and that point can be sad, and that point can be about accepting that beautiful sadness, no matter how scary it is.“
I ranked every podcast I listen to five stars because I only listen to shows I feel are five star podcasts. This probably sounds pretty strict. I also think that all 167 of the shows I wrote reviews for are five star shows, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.
Even if I had some criticism about a show, star ratings can be devastating to a podcast’s marketing. Just looking at the film or video game industries can tell you how much value people put into a numerical rating. On Apple podcasts, when you look at a show, the first thing you see is the show’s star rating. This star impression can really affect how people approach the show, and even turn people away.
People might argue that it’s important to give a nuanced response to a ranking, in order to accurately convey your experience with the media or service. These people have never been on the other end, having decisions made for you based on how well your service was graded. If you really love – or even just like – a show, give it five stars. There are unfortunately people out there who either rank things at fives or as ones for a slew of different reasons, ranging from incompetence to intolerance. “Incompetence” being a one star review just to give a correction to a fact someone got wrong in an episode. “Intolerance” being the things intolerance is generally known for being associated with, ranging from racism, sexism, and all the -ism’s and -pobia’s that come with them.
Badvertising
“I have never been more on board with a podcast then I am with this show. Every episode is a delight. The hosts aren’t afraid to invest in their nonsense, making their nonsense a fully explored reality. The ending segments always tie the idea together in an impressively produced improv scene presenting the idea at its most logical conclusion, be it an upsetting live action Disney remake or a tour of an All Ages Chuck E. Cheese!”
There were some shows where I didn’t have a lot to say in the review. I just sent my good wishes and gave them a positive review. I tried to mention the parts of the show I liked, but that still was maybe only a sentence or two.
There were other shows where I was surprised at how much I wrote. There were shows I barely think about from day-to-day that drew out a full paragraph of introspection and what the show meant to me. In hindsight, it made sense that some of these shows were more important to me than others. I started listening to Friends At The Table the beginning of my senior year in college, playing Breath of the Wild before I went to my internship, and I was caught up a week before I graduated, jet lagged after a wedding in Ireland. It made sense that I found myself writing a three paragraph review.
Friends At The Table
“This show tells the kind of stories I wish there were more of in the world. Counter/weight is my favorite anime. I’d say the same about Twilight Mirage, but I don’t think any kind of visualization could compare with the imagery conjured by the podcast. Hieron is just straight-up iconic, and if anyone with influence had a say in it, it could easily become a less problematic competitor to Game of Thrones.”
Another reason why you should definitely review shows (aside from it just being a good thing to do for people giving you free stuff) is that a lot of shows have less reviews then you think. When you listen to a podcast, a part of you might glorify these folks. Surely if I love this amazing show, there must be hundreds of others out there enjoying it too who have left a bunch of steller reviews, right? I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that a lot of shows I genuinely love, shows I consider to be the top of their field, didn’t have as many reviews as I thought they’d have. Shows that I thought were incredibly influential in their fields, that I assumed must have 500 reviews, only had a little over 100.
Greater Boston
“Let’s raise a glass to this political, satirical, sci-fi, transportational, Bostonian, spooky, mystical, fantastical, family-driven, exploratory, tragic, hysterical, action-packed, realistic, isolationist Star Trek fan podcast!”
I want to reiterate that I’m not trying to praise myself for writing reviews or scold anyone who hasn’t. If anything, this is pretty damning for me. I’m listing out all of these elaborate reasons you should review a show when the simplest reason is because you were asked by the host.
For honesty’s sake, when I started writing this article, the number of unreviewed podcasts was lower then 167. However, when I revisited this draft, I realized I had 10 or so more podcasts I had begun to listen to but never reviewed. Oops. The moral here is that we’re all trying our best and that we should send support people’s way however we can/
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