Listening In 11-13-22

Podcasts are part of who we are at Junction Point. So I wanted to start off a series highlighting some shows I’m listening to. And hopefully some of the shows you’re listening to.

This week I’m going with a narrated, science-fiction adventure written by Gary Whitta, a writer behind Rogue One, called GUNDOG.

GUNDOG is an intriguing look at a post-war Earth and a humanity that is, aside from a few stragglers fighting to survive, completely enslaved by a group of alien machines known as the Mek. The production is enhanced greatly by the vocal talents of Shannon Woodward, who expertly narrates the tense and action filled story. Woodward deftly switches between the detailed action scenes and the protagonist’s inner monologue. GUNDOG follows a weary Dakota, who is imprisoned in a labor camp along with her brother Sam. Dakota spends most of her mental energy trying to make sure that her brother, who is already a liability after losing an arm, stays within the Mek’s good graces and avoids being recycled.

The pacing of the story really lends itself to addictive listeners. I often find myself letting a whole season’s worth of narrative fiction download before I start binge listening. Had I known I would have enjoyed it this much before trying it, I probably would have here. As it stands, I find myself waiting for each new episode, each with its peeks into the world that Witta helps us explore and draw to keep us wanting more.

If you are into good science fiction, large machines doing battle, or a look at a future where humanity may not be alone after all, I definitely recommend downloading the first episode of GUNDOG and giving it a try.

Pocket Casts acquired by Automattic

Pocket Casts, one of the most popular podcast listening apps, was just purchased by the parent company of WordPress and Tumblr, Automattic. The podcast scene has seen a lot of consolidation lately. There is money to be made and the big boys in the industry are making moves to make sure they get a bigger slice of the pie. This move is intriguing to me to see where Automattic takes the the popular app that is available on both the Android and Apple platforms. Integration with WordPress seems extremely likely and many podcast hosts already use the service when publishing their episodes.

When theorizing what moves could be made, the lack of big time apps for playing podcasts is drawn into sharper focus. The biggest two apps also have directories and exclusive shows on their platform, with Spotify into hosting with their Anchor service and Apple being the long time defacto directory to list your podcast when creating a show. Many other small time podcast apps draw their search directly from the Apple directory. So what does Automattic plan to do with their new toy? There are some obvious seeming moves. And there are bigger gambles that present themselves, like getting into hosting and exclusivity with content. As a user of the Pocket Casts, I am looking foward to finding out.