As a medium podcasting emerged from the worlds of radio and participatory media with early content providing a bridge between the two. Over time, the arguments that podcasting was a discrete medium became more established, allowing podcast studies to emerge from the shadow of radio studies. Like the teenager leaving the parental home, podcasting has grown up and defined an independent identity. However, this raises debates about whether we draw that identity from technical or sonic elements; debates that become more complex as the environment changes. What happens when ‘podcasts’ move from RSS to behind a paywall? Are podcasts defined by what we hear, how they are delivered, or who makes them?

Just as debates in radio studies questioned whether internet radio was ‘radio’; those same debates emerge in podcasting, posing questions about how we define this medium. This discussion becomes more complex when evaluating new emerging platforms such as Luminary, Spotify, and Audible as producers of ‘podcasts’ that do not confirm the previous technical, economic or political frameworks previously seen.

This paper reflects on ways we might be able to identify ‘podcastness’ and what current trends might be able to tell us about the direction of future debates and research.