A new book written in Austin has tackled and deftly organized the seemingly boundless world of podcasts. Author Sean Malin, who is based out of California and Texas, is returning to Austin to launch The Podcast Pantheon: 101 Podcasts That Changed How We Listen in person at Book People on October 17.
Malin is a graduate of the University of Texas’ Department of Radio-Television-Film and a former Austin Chronicle reporter. He covered culture for the weekly newspaper from 2016-2019; this time later formed the basis of the book.
The Podcast Pantheon profiles 101 podcasts across 240 pages and 37 genres, including comedy, food, music, politics, and sex and relationships. It also includes a foreword by celebrity actor Jon Hamm.
Some choices may seem obvious to longtime podcast and radio listeners, like The Moth, Radiolab, Song Exploder, and Welcome to Night Vale. Others are much more niche, like Analyze Phish, or relatively new and hugely popular, like the Austin-born Normal Gossip, which launched in 2022 and currently has nearly 80,000 followers on Instagram. Notably, it leaves out painfully ubiquitous, can’t-get-away-from-these podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and Call Her Daddy.
Each podcast featured gets roughly a page and a half of writing, accompanied by its cover art and some at-a-glance information including the host’s name, the date it started, influences, and where to listen. Most useful is “Sean’s pick,” recommended listening for those who decide not to start at the beginning. It also helpfully sorts podcasts by genre, making the book easily browsable.
The profiles, unsurprisingly, read like newspaper stories with a bit of history, a friendly tone, and correspondence with the hosts and producers. They’re useful for an overview, but there’s a bit more soul to them, getting not just at what the podcast does, but why it’s important in the grander scheme of things. For example, regarding Normal Gossip, Malin writes:
The tea is intentionally low-stakes, the oft-provincial kind of tittle-tattle that makes for big arguments on small-town Facebook groups: Did someone hijack an animal mayoral race? … By telling modern urban legends that could have come from anyone, anywhere, Normal Gossip emerged as a virtual space that people from every-where could feel a part of. The podcast has been named to a slew of yearly best-of lists and birthed two hot-ticket live tours precisely because to listen to McKinney and Laughlin throw down is to bond with other listeners at a time when more manifest avenues for person-to-person connection have disappeared.
Podcasting isn’t going anywhere, so those looking to hop on board might as well get to connecting through audio. The Podcast Pantheon is available via Chronicle Books, and of course Book People, for $24.95. The Book People launch will take place from 7-8 pm at 603 N. Lamar Blvd. Malin will speak about the book and then sign copies. Guests can RSVP for free via Eventbrite.