To video or not to video? Coupling your audio with a visual element can provide a more immersive experience for viewers, letting them experience facial expressions, gestures, and visual cues that can deepen understanding and connection. Video also boosts discoverability, because it makes TikTok sharing possible. However, audio by itself fosters a unique intimacy. When listeners focus on the content without distractions, they can use their imaginations and multitask, giving podcasts a strategic advantage of visual media when it comes to fitting into busy lifestyles. And what will happen when we get other senses involved, like haptics?

In the height of the pandemic, Lara Ehrlich, author of the story collection Animal Wife created her conversation series Writer, Mother, Monster as a live, online Youtube and podcast conversation series about why she chose Youtube first, and how she multipurposes content into audio only podcasts to reach audiences where they are.

Neleigh Olson gives us a quick ethnography of Joe Rogan's podcasts on Youtube.

We speak with Siciliana Trevino, filmmaker and creator of the world's first augmented reality podcast for Bose bone conducting headphones, which uses haptics. Siciliana takes an audio-first approach to filmmaking, and is passionate about new media. She envisions a dynamic, and even more intensely personalized audio future.

This episode contains a new "labs" segment, an experiment where Neleigh and Josh perform a visual rhetorical analysis of Queen's 1985 Live Aid concert, from which we learn that video requires additional visual communication skills. Exactly what are your background, hairdo, and earrings communicating?

This episode contains voices from a number of smart people, including Diana Opong, Jackie Huntington, and Stacey Copeland, who participated in our production calls, as well as Matja Ilias, Sam Pigott, and Ivan Capalija, podcast fans we spoke with in a bar in Williamsburgh, Brooklyn.

The Big Takeaways

• Lara Ehrlich
  • Lara is the author of the story collection Animal Wife, and the host of Writer Mother Monster, a conversation series devoted to dismantling the myth of "having it all" and offering writer-moms solidarity, support, and advice. She is also the founder and director of Thought Fox Writers Den, which builds community and supports writers of all levels with in-person and virtual classes, workshops, coaching, and more.
    • "Personally, I like expressions. I think really close watchers of Writer, Mother Monster will see that embarrassingly I tear up a lot, because these conversations can be very challenging"
    • "I love the moment, and I see it too, that moment where someone's not quite sure if they can say what they're going to say. And, and I try to remind them that this is a safe space and you know, everyone listening is out there because they feel the same way."

• Siciliana Trevino
  • Filmmaker Siciliana Trevino is a recognized leader in immersive tech. She brings over a decade of experience collaborating with global brands, startups, entrepreneurs, and community organizations to drive high impact results using the latest innovations in tech including AI, Web3, virtual and augmented reality. She is the creator of the world's first augmented reality podcast "HG Wells War of the World's Invasion." She is also the creator and cohost of the Zero to Start podcast, about VR development for beginners.
    • "And I thought, okay, we're gonna do War of the Worlds in and build this world in radio, and the Martians are now here for our memes. So all of the components of the game would rely on audio memes from, you know, the golden age of YouTube.
    • [On the rise of AI] "So I think you could see yourself in a few years, you know, being in the holodeck in VR or on your couch, and you sit back and you say, you know, I want to listen to a podcast in a natural setting that's gonna make me feel positive. Or I wanna listen to a horror, um, podcast so you can tell, and I want it read by, you know, um, Stephen King."
    • [On the rise of AI] "It's unprecedented the amount of disruption that's going to occur around what we listen to."

Contact Us

• Tell us what you really think, by emailing [email protected].

Or check us out online:

• Podfly Productions
• How Does Tomorrow Sound
• Neleigh Olson
• Kate Pigott
• Josh Suhy