Podcasts have become a veritable industry over the past 20 years since their inception. As of now, podcasts occupy an in-between space where efforts have been made to legitimise the art form by separating themselves from traditional radio broadcasting, largely supported by self-identified curators. 

A “renaissance” or “audio drama revival” has been brought forth by the popularity of shows like Welcome to Nightvale (2013), demonstrating that independent creators on shoestring budgets can create quality storytelling in audio alone. I believe that fiction podcasts deserve the same treatment that film and television did. Both benefitted from critical attention to elevate the medium from simply imitating others. Podcast critics agree. Clearly there is an audience for these stories, niche as they are, and the emergence of fiction podcast criticism even at an early stage indicates that there is enough work to curate. 

This research project intends to achieve two aims: 1) to spotlight fiction podcasts that have innovated upon the audio medium or successfully used it to great effect, and 2) begin to create a framework for researching audio fiction that can be applied to other stories.

PhD in podcasts.