Blog #3: Pod v. Radio

Any time I get free reign to talk about podcasting, the thing I always end up going on about is women in podcasting, but specifically vocal fry and other “gendered” vocal attributes. Why do I care about this? Well, for one, I’m an aspiring woman podcaster, but also, as someone who feels passionately about podcasting in general, I think it offers a great point of discussion for the differences in podcasting versus radio.

Podcasting and radio are arguably two different broadcast platforms born of the same kiln: both deal with audio-based content, with the main difference being the temporal and sometimes physical limitations. Most radio is live, and most podcasts are not. Radio is a location-bound broadcast platform, where the signal extends to only a specific physical distance (not including satellite radio, of course) whereas podcasts are hosted on the internet, making them accessible from anywhere with a viable network connection. These two key differences of time and space mean that the way they produce content is entirely different: radio is designed to be on-the-fly, yet polished, and appealing to a larger swath of the location-based demographic that can readily access their content in the exact moment it is aired. Podcasting, on the other hand, can be heard from anywhere on the planet, at any moment in time.

In both radio and podcasting, metrics regarding things like listenership can be difficult to pin down due to the “tune-in” nature of radio and the endless download opportunities across a plethora of platforms for podcasts. According to an article by Ipsos, radio broadcasters often rely on a variety of survey tactics in order to determine listenership retroactively. Similarly, “The Canadian Podcast Listener 2019 Summary Report” produced by The Podcast Exchange was mainly structured around a short “calibration” survey (made up of 3,040 submissions) alongside a longer, more detailed survey for 1,528 more active podcast listeners (2). From this information statistics on education, language, platforms, engagement, advertising, and demographics were able to be determined.

One of the most interesting pictures that can be drawn from this report stems from the analysis of platform preference among “Power Listeners” who self-reported five or more hours of podcast listening per week; these listener indicated YouTube as the 2nd place platform (The Podcast Exchange, 14). The subsequent analysis of the demographic listening to podcasts over YouTube revealed a male-leaning skew among those who use a computer for podcast listening, and that this demographic covered both younger (18-24) and middle-aged (55-64) groups of listeners. This isn’t that surprising given that “The Joe Rogan Experience” ranked as the number one YouTube listen at 21.4%, with the runner up nearly 20% behind it; “Joe Rogan” also came in second and third respectively on Apple Podcasts and Spotify in the assessment of “Top 3 Past Month Podcasts, by Primary Listening Platform” (The Podcast Exchange, 19).

I don’t personally listen to this podcast, but I also don’t begrudge its existence or popularity among a seemingly male-dominated listenership – one of the best things about podcasting, in my opinion, is that there’s a podcast out there for every type of listener. That being said, when statistics tend to lean in gendered ways, there’s a lot to be learned from trying to figure out why.

The deeply engaging nature of podcast listening creates powerful opportunities. (The Podcast Exchange 30)

The biggest benefit I think podcasting has over radio is that the lack of limitation regarding time and space means that the content can be much more niche than that of radio broadcasting. A niche radio station might not be able to do as well if the people in the physical area of the signal reach are not interested in the highly specific content; a podcast, however, can be reached at any time and place, so the more niche subject matter will still be accessible by the audience that has interest in it without as much limitations. One of the main drawbacks of podcasting is what’s referred to as the “long-tail” by the Canada Podcast Listener 2019 report: 73% of podcasts that were mentioned in that report by survey participants were only mentioned once across all the results (17). This basically means that in the trade-off of being able to produce more hyper-specific content, the glut of podcasts across the market makes it more difficult to establish a wide breadth fan base. Realistically, this is only a problem if you were looking to make a wildly successful podcast that appeals to the masses, rather than something that sees moderate success as a unique product that appeals to a specific demographic.

So, how does that tie in to vocal fry and other “female” vocal attributes? Christine Mottram’s paper on gendered vocal authority considered in conjunction with some of the statistics around podcasts can help uncover some of the underpinning causes of the gender discrepancies behind the numbers. Mottram points to vocal authority as a defining feature of many public speaking jobs, including broadcasting, and that generally authority is indicated by a lower register (54) that is most easily attained by men due to the physical structuring of a larger larynx (56). According to Mottram, “mediums like radio have a history of marginalizing women’s vocal participation” (57) in that broadcasting tends to privilege this idea of vocal authority through the male voice.

Female voices were not considered “authoritative” enough to read the news in part because they were deemed too high. (Mottram 57)

In order to be able to compete with a naturally lower register, women are more likely to try to drop the pitch of their voice artificially; when this is done without proper “breath support” it can create strain and restrict airflow, causing vocal fry (Mottram 56). The breathy, gravelly quality of vocal fry counteracts the authority associated with the lower pitch, as it reportedly makes a voice sound annoying, boring, and unprofessional (Mottram 56). As well, the unnaturalness of tone when it is “pressed into a lower pitch” is equally likely to rob the speaker of authority; basically, as a woman speaker you are less desirable with a naturally higher voice, but if you attempt to alter it and the audience notices, it is equally undesirable. (Mottram 58). Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, in other words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5VW5FMblho

Emilia Clarke's vocal fry rich Valley Girl impression on Jimmy Kimmel Live

It appears that the socially mandated audio qualities of the broadcast industry are inherently gendered in a way that naturally leans against women. Mottram does not despair at this, however; instead, she offers a counter to vocal authority by introducing the concept of authenticity (63). This, to me, highlights one of the best and most defining features of podcasting: the ability of the host to engage an audience based on niche content, delivered with a unique voice. The true value of podcasting is its ability to seems more genuine, superseding the expectation of authority by offering a deeper connection between the listener and the host (Mottram 64). Indicating the historical basis of gendered voice discrepancies, Mottram explains how “women’s voices have been relegated to the domestic rather than the public sphere” (57). Ironically, that’s exactly the appeal of podcasting – anyone can do it, and a listener can access it any time, anywhere. According to "The Infinite Dial 2018" report by Edison Research, 49% of participants reported that they most often listened to podcasts within the home. Statistically speaking, the private, insular act of listening to a podcast is in some ways an inherently "domestic" experience, which works to the advantage of "female" vocal qualities.

This is not to say that as the tide turns, men will stop producing and hosting podcasts; I’m merely suggesting that the characteristics that make podcasting different from other platforms seem to allow more flexibility for women to feel supported in making their voices heard. The statistical evidence bears out that male voices still hold more ground at the current moment, even in podcasting. But given that the oppressive structures which still define the baseline voice of radio do not seem to matter in the same way when it comes to podcasting, I’m excited to see whether subsequent listener summary reports bear out the evidence that female voices are as well suited to the platform as I believe them to be.

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Edison Research. The Infintie Dial 2018.

Harter, Lynn M. "Storytelling in Acoustic Spaces: Podcasting as Embodied and Engaged Scholarship." Health Communication, vol. 34, no. 1, 2019, pp. 125-129.

Jimmy Kimmel Live. "Emilia Clarke Can Talk Like a Valley Girl." YouTube, 30 June 2015.

“Radio Audience Measurement.” Ipsos Encyclopedia, 29 Sept. 2018, www.ipsos.com/en/ipsos-encyclopedia-radio-audience-measurement.

The Podcast Exchange. The Canadian Podcast Listener 2019: Summary Report.