Ohio State professors examine podcasts’ growing role in media and education

Siena Kessler
Tue, 27 Jan 2026 04:25:22 +0000
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Amy Poehler attends the 83rd annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. Credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images via TNS

Podcasts have become a constant presence for many Ohio State students, filling morning commutes across campus and helping them power through workouts.?

Once considered niche or informal, podcasts now sit alongside film and music as a major form of entertainment, a shift highlighted by the Golden Globes award show introducing a Best Podcast category for the first time in 2026, which went to Amy Poehler for “Good Hang.”??

That shift mirrors how deeply podcasts have become part of pop and campus culture.

“It’s about time,” said David Staley, an associate professor in the Department of History and host of the podcast, “Voices of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences.” “What took them so long?”?

According to Staley, the growth of podcasts reflects how seamlessly the medium fits into everyday activities.

“It’s a recognition of the popularity of the medium,” Staley said. “It’s not competing with television and movies because of the way in which people listen to podcasts: in the car, when jogging or working out.”

While Staley emphasized podcasts’ place alongside traditional media, Adam Fromme, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Design and host of the podcast “Thinking Through Design,” said it’s speed and spontaneity that sets the medium apart.

“It’s not pre-planned in the conversation and you’re giving people enough time to reveal your real thoughts and dig deeper into topics,” Fromme said. “It’s recorded one day and released within a day or two. It’s not only unplanned, it’s generally unscripted and more authentic.”

Both professors emphasized accessibility as central to podcasts’ success. Staley said for him, that means shaping each episode for listeners who are unfamiliar with the subject matter.?

“We’ve been keen to have our audience be the general public,” Staley said. “That’s what I tell every one of my guests, who are researchers [and] professors …? It is a curious but novice audience and [the expectation is] to refrain from using jargon.”

Fromme said accessibility is about transparency, using podcasts to open up professional conversations that are often closed off.

“I present to a larger audience what designers do, how they make their decisions, how they think about design,” Fromme said. “So if you’re a student, you can be in the room to hear those conversations.”

On college campuses, Staley said podcasts play a unique role in connecting students with research.?

“Part of the feedback that I’ve received is that students like to hear what professors and researchers are doing and they like when it’s described in a way they understand,” Staley said. “This is a way to make our research and scholarship public and I am a big advocate for that.”

Fromme extended that idea beyond the audiences reached by the podcast; he said the medium allows learning to continue outside the classroom.

“驰辞耻 can be doing an ordinary activity and it gives you more time to consider it,” Fromme said. “In the classroom, you walk in and turn on that topic and turn it off right when you leave.”

As podcasts gain mainstream recognition, both professors said they acknowledge the opportunities and risks. Staley said he has concerns that the medium’s popularity could lead to unoriginal content.?

“There is a concern for how lacking in innovation Hollywood seems to be right now,” Staley? said. “The movies that are big are remakes. The complaint is that to get a blockbuster is to not be innovative, to not be different — it is to repeat the same formula. That could be a real problem with podcasts if they just focus on what’s going to win every year and that becomes the model.”

Fromme, meanwhile, said he sees an exciting future of hybrid media.?

“In the larger media industry, you’re going to see a lot of hybrid experiences of TV, podcast and movies starting to intersect and overlap,” Fromme said. “We see it on the press circuits already. They aren’t just doing junkets, they are also doing podcasts to promote things. These paths are going to weave more and more together.”

Fromme said even though podcasts are generally easy to start, audience interest rather than institutional gatekeepers determines which voices gain traction.?

“Anyone can start a podcast — all you need is a smartphone — but if the content isn’t there, then it’s not there,” Fromme said. “There’s still that idea that the people decide.”

Fromme said the future of podcasting is promising.

“People are seeking it out more,” Fromme said. “It resonates with a fundamental human interest as other media sources become more polished, more produced, more special effects, more AI —? it provides some counterbalance.”