Storytelling, podcasting get uptick in interest among BIPOC entertainers
IDSC "BlackTechLogy" February 2023 Exclusive
Podcast streaming has made programmed radio broadcasting the cool kid in the room. It’s not like people are new to the radio industry; it’s been around (as we know it) since the 1920s. But streaming listeners can enjoy as much or as little of it on their own schedule as opposed to following a set radio format with repetitive music.
Some podcast listeners may prefer visuals, watching video podcasts versus listening on their headphones or aloud via computer or smartphone speakers. Or, they’re like me and do a mix of the too.
Although social isolation has involuntarily glued people to their homes, sitting inside has given podcasting some new faces. More specifically, BIPOC podcasters are killing it. The past two years are the first time I ever really cared about podcasts at all (including my short-lived one for “An Ode to Sugarbowl Sam: Homegrown Tales”).
Some of my favorites podcasters include the following:
Daniel “Desus Nice” Baker and Joel “The Kid Mero” Martinez evolved from jokes on Twitter to discussions about politics, fatherhood and single life. From that came random funny tales on “Desus & Mero,” which first aired on Viceland and now Showtime. Then the duo jumped right on their “Bodega Boys” Apple podcast to keep the conversation going audibly in a way that “Desus & Mero” may not.
The same goes for “The Daily Show” viewers who tune in to hear comedian/talk show host Trevor Noah and screenwriter David Kibuuka on “The Trevor Noah Podcast.”
Roy Wood Jr. took “The Daily Show” fun a step further by hosting “Beyond the Scenes” to talk about how the writers and field hosts pull off their segments. Then he created a separate podcast “Roy’s Job Fair”—a mix of shenanigans and jokes, managers announcing ready-to-hire work, salary talk, and my absolute favorite part —“Rod coming to us from parts unknown.” Bless up!
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While listeners have enjoyed hearing friendly banter about entertainment, politics, random funny news and interviews on these streaming platforms, there’s another lane that entertainers are taking advantage of: storytelling.
In 2017, Larenz Tate brought Chicago’s Bronzeville to life with a scripted audio drama, along with a cast full of the who’s who in voiceover actors: Laurence Fishburne, Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lance Reddick, Ella Joyce and plenty more. It went over so well that Season 2 released in March 2021 after a four-year hiatus — and it delivered as well as Maxwell when he came out of hibernation to randomly release an album after more than a decade. (Larenz Tate, please don’t take that long to release Season 3.)
“The Michelle Obama Podcast” on Spotify doesn’t tell stories in the scripted way that “Bronzeville” does, but there are still plenty of storytelling moments, everything from how her parents reacted to her and her brother cutting up a box of cigarettes to a hard lesson she learned about cutting too deep in arguments with the 44th president.
Recommended Read: “Obama keeps saying ‘s**t’ … and 9 other things I learned from ‘Renegades Podcast’ ~ Learning to understand that my favorite couple in the White House was never perfect”