My Dad Wrote a Porno, The Treatment, Weekly General Meeting all get the Review Show shake-down this week.
‘My Dad’ is another podcast sensation of sorts, by which we mean it has been commented on in the traditional press. It’s not easy to get actual listener figures for podcasts – there is no reliable amalgamated podcast chart (yet), so the best gauge we have of success is ubiquity. If the algorithms throw it to the top of your feed and journalists begin to chatter, it’s winning. My Dad Wrote a Porno is winning, just not necessarily winning us over. It’s a cute show, but cute sits uneasily beside our intrepid reviewers. That’s why we have no pictures of them.
We try not to review too many radio-to-podcasts, but some find a life on RSS feeds and playlists that warrants their inclusion. The Treatment is the product of Los Angeles station KCRW and is a weekly Film Television and Arts interview. It is hosted by Elvis Mitchell, man not averse to quoting Wittgenstein and Nietzsche (of which we heartily approve), who gives his subjects a thoughtful space to express themselves and who leans towards a soft rather than probing approach. Matt likened the show to Inside the Actor’s Studio, but not in a good way.
Trying to build a show from nothing, filling it with worthwhile content and getting it out with regularity is a tough ask for a fledgling show, and Weekly General Meeting is a good show that can’t seem to generate enough traction to (as the money men say) wash its own face. That’s partly a geographic/demographic conundrum – it’s hard to get to that sweet algorithmic spot when Ireland has yet to fully embrace The Pod.
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/internationalradiocompany/podcast-review-show-ep-16
