The Podcast Asylum

This phenomenon occurs when a podcast appears to be at odds with itself. If, for example, the host of a podcast appears to have been recorded in a separate session from the guests, the hosts never identify themselves—even with a pseudonym—or the tone of background music and bumpers conflicts with the tone of the show’s content. A show that claims to encourage listener comments but provides no show blog, e-mail address, or comment line also suffers from Podcast Dissonance, though in this case there is a dual diagnosis of Podcastus Inhospitus.

The effect on the listener of these internal inconsistencies ranges from distraction (trying to figure out why things don’t match up) to distrust (wondering whether the guests are actually answering the same questions the host is asking).

Preliminary findings suggest that this syndrome is most common in corporate podcasts, possibly because of the number of different departments that have to sign off on each episode.