Posted on 23 December 2014

I’ve been writing about Serial and what it means for audio on here quite a bit. I sent out a little Twitter essay yesterday that’s a pretty good summary, so I thought I’d put it here, too.
1. I think Serial and shows like it are a step towards the Netflix-ization of audio https://andrewkurjata.ca/blog/2014/11/21/podcasts-arent-back-a-new-type-of-podcast-has-arrived/
2. “podcasts” as a form have been doing just fine, as Marco Arment http://www.marco.org/2014/11/16/why-podcasts-are-suddenly-back and Jesse Thorn point out http://hotpod.audio/2014/12/12/christ-this-again-or-the-skewed-reporting-of-podcasts-in-the-wider-media-a-qa-with-maximum-funs-jesse-thorn/
3. But what’s new is the high-quality production of Serial. This isn’t two people and a mic. This is archival tape, field sounds, etc.
4. Like @nwquah, this is the sort of audio I love: HBO-quality storytelling, not blog-level. http://hotpod.audio/2014/12/19/podcasts-shouldnt-aspire-to-be-the-next-blogging-platform-it-should-be-the-next-next-hbo/ 
5. The problem is, people too often confuse podcast the media form with podcast the genre. They are not the same…
6. Just as Breaking Bad and E-Talk Daily are not the same just because they both appear on TV, podcasts are wildly different
7. And, for that matter, so is audio. I tried to capture that here…. http://andrewkurjata.ca/blog/2014/12/20/podcasts-shouldnt-aspire-to-be-the-next-blogging-platform-it-should-be-the-next-hbo/ 
8. Fortunately, @robmcmyers did a much better job here in describing the power of tape http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2014/12/18/serial-and-the-triumph-of-tape 
9. On Serial: “The story was compelling because if felt so immediate, so real. Tape was what made it real.” http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2014/12/18/serial-and-the-triumph-of-tape
10. On audio’s strength: “Tape bridges the divide, capturing reality without distorting it too much” http://www.anxiousmachine.com/blog/2014/12/18/serial-and-the-triumph-of-tape
11. So that’s what I hope about @Serial: that it hit a critical mass of people that now understand the power and the beauty of audio.
12. … not true-crime. Not “on-demand” listening. But well-produced, audio storytelling. That would be a big win for the whole industry.

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