Of many audits of the industry in 2020, Nick Hilton’s stands out. One of the UK’s top current affairs podcast producers, he thinks this year may end up “a false positive for the viability of podcasting.” 2020’s loose ends can’t be reliably measured yet, but Hilton puts many of them in (optimistic, pessimistic, cautious) context.
Among them: the “attritional war” among increasingly walled platforms, our inevitable pact with streaming, and proof of creative opportunity. For that last one, Hilton partially credits the organic success of his independent podcast this summer: “It was a reminder to me that the corporate takeover of podcasting isn’t a done deal.”
If one thing is certain, defending that territory will always be worth it. “I still believe that podcasts can be an effective vehicle for independent, diverse, challenging, marginalised, innovative voices,” Hilton says. “The challenge in 2021 will be fighting the currents of professionalism in the industry that have no stake in maintaining that.”
Nigel Poor stopped visiting San Quentin State Prison in March. Though the first three seasons of the Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle were made there, the co-host figured her team would be protected from the virus “if no one brings it inside the walls.” It was then that Rahsaan “New York” Thomas stepped up to the plate.
“Nyge and [co-host] Earlonne [Woods] hit me with a tough co-producer assignment — find guys to talk about the character of the 28 people who died from the coronavirus outbreak at San Quentin,” Thomas writes. “Whenever I see a friend I haven’t seen since the outbreak began, my greeting is, “Thank God, you’re still alive.”
Thomas, who is currently incarcerated, began to conduct his toughest ever interviews for the show. Despite contracting the virus himself — in a cell block packed to 175% capacity — the stories lost to California’s prison system had to come first. For Thomas, the sacrifice is simple: “Earlonne always said, ‘Ear Hustle isn’t about us.’”
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