Reaching the Audience of a Podcast

The Workings of a Great Podcast: The Andy Show

P. H R.

There seems to be an abundance of podcasts coming about as of recent years, becoming almost a mixture between radio talk shows and audiobooks.  With this increasing field, observing the components of the more digital literary art and how it reaches people would be beneficial or even help individuals hoping to grow their podcasts reach their goals. So, I chose to observe the latest episode, at this moment, of one of my favorite podcasts The Andy Show.  The host, Andy Biersack, kicks everything off accompanied by his cohosts Patrick Fogardy, who’s spot was held by Ryan Downey for this episode, and Joe Flanders. They really just talk about the random stories that happened to them over the past week or topics in news, sports, or even music that catch there attention and passion.  The description of the podcast this week was, “snot rockets, shower farts, and special guest Ryan Downey's odd dream about Andy.”  That in and of itself was hilariously intriguing enough for me.  Through listening to the strange contents and categorizing the rhetoric, narrative structure, sound, and possible research in the podcast, you can learn what the “genre” of the podcast is as well as how it reaches and appeals to its audience.

            As far as rhetorical strategies go, the two main tactics would be humor and descriptions.  The sheer randomness of the podcast is one way they build the humor, but the embarrassing, amusingly fun, detailed stories that cause cringes and more than one cackle make it near impossible to keep a straight face.  During one point near the middle of the free-flowing discussion Andy plays off of the idea Ryan has about sending a letter to the lady that lives in his childhood home, so he takes the time to think up as state aloud what the letter would read really driving home the visual and ridiculousness of the suggestion.  Towards the beginning, Joe even tells the disgusting story of “snotting” on a guy’s neck on accident in a library, again transporting you to that less than pleasant moment.  Both of these instances come together to hint at the narrative pattern. 

            Though the show is really a simple discussion among friends, there are jumps in the timeline, as you are taken back to different times in the past week and multiple stories.  However, the way everything rolls along as they talk with almost no filter, it is like that of a stream of consciousness piece.  The combination of the two really real in the listener to feel a part of the conversation, like you could interject with your own comments and stories.

            In comparison to other podcasts and even the radio, The Andy Show does not use much “sound enhancements”.  There is no horn button to press when someone gets roasted, or eerie music that plays during a spooky story. The only musical or artificially added sound is the intro music that sounds like an instrumental section in a hard rock song – which actually makes sense due to Andy’s job as the front man of the rock band Black Veil Brides.  Now, adding some sound effects would not hurt the show, but the absence of them does not detract from anything either since the discussion format they chose does not necessarily call for them.

            When you listen to the podcast, it is pretty clear that there is no script the three guys are following, if there was one, they would probably follow the first minute or two then deviate from the rest.  Instead, to keep the show on track, they probably do a rough outline of what points they want to touch on, but otherwise let the discussion go where it may.  With that in mind, the research that they do would be minimal – not to mention that most of the content is personal experiences – mainly containing that of themselves as sources, only deviating when it comes to maybe sports, politics, movies, music, or other current events going on in the world.

            To sum it all up, looking at all the aspects mentioned, the podcast is not meant to be educational or serious by any means. It is meant to be more of an escape. Something to distract you from stress, or just make you feel like you are a part of something and hanging out with friends. And, the way Andy and the guys utilize humor, detailed stories, casual laughter, and playful jumping to whatever comes out of their mouths reaches to that audience.  Due to the contents of the stories, I would say that the podcast would appeal to the “young adult and up” range, but the gender is neutral, and is honestly a not-over-the-top, fun talk show to listen to I would recommend to anybody.