Although podcasts seem like a recent trend, their origin dates back to the early 2000s. The term “podcast” was coined in 2004 by journalist Ben Hammersley in an article for The Guardian. It combines “iPod” and “broadcast,” as people at the time downloaded episodes to listen to them on their iPods. However, serialized audio has much older roots, tracing back to traditional radio and scripted audio dramas that were popular in the mid-20th century.