During these long days of Covid one of the things that I have enjoyed most is walking my dogs. I often get to see my neighbors and have a brief chat. But often I see no one, and I find these long walks to be a wonderful time to listen to podcasts.

A podcast is a digital audio file made available on the Internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device. There are over 1,750,000 podcasts with over 43 million episodes currently available, according to the website Podcast Insights.

The most popular podcast in February 2021 was The Daily from the New York Times, which explores many issues of the day. Second and third are the NPR News Now and Up First, also from NPR. Fourth is Dateline NBC, which speaks to the trend of crime shows following up with podcasts to give listeners more insight and information on the crimes shown on television. These stats come from podtrac.com.

You can find podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and Google Play for free, though you will have to listen to some ads in the most popular ones. The podcast that made the most money in 2019 was The Joe Rogan Experience, which pulled in $50 million. A distant second was My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, which pulled in a mere $15 million.

Podcasting began around 2005, but I didn't really pay attention to it until 2014, when the “Serial” podcast came out, which examined the murder case against Adnan Syed who was serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Hae Min Lee. This podcast was downloaded more than 80 million times and really put podcasting in the public consciousness.

There is definitely money in the pod, if you can find an audience who wants to listen to what you have to say.

Among my favorite podcasts are Pod Save America, The Daily, Reliable Sources, NPR Throughline, Stuff You Should Know, This Podcast Will Kill You (about diseases), My Favorite Murder, and Las Culturistas (with SNL's Bowen Yang).

I have also been known to listen in on occasional podcasts that accompany shows I watch. The Search Party podcast was a gas. And, by the way, if you haven't watched Search Party yet, I highly recommend it. It's now available on HBO-Max.

I would be remiss if I didn't reveal that I have a podcaster in the family. My son Mike and his buddy Dane are the hosts of Mike and Dane's Hall of Fame podcast, which is available on Apple podcasts. On this show, they analyze and share trivia about famous film franchises such as Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and Indiana Jones. Both are committed movie fans with a wealth of knowledge and their banter is highly enjoyable.

It's about time to take the dogs out again. They know the drill. When Mom (that's me) puts on her coat, inserts her earbuds, and cues up a podcast, they get excited. They know they're in for a nice long walk as Mom has a listen. Win-win.