A line you might see in articles that seem to come out every few months is the idea that podcasts are "the wild west of media." While I don't necessarily agree with the idea that podcasts are new (shameless plug for my podcast The Story Behind Podcasts), I love the idea that new podcasts are being created and new formats are being experimented on all the time, and it's wonderful.

I get disheartened when I see emerging podcasters lose steam when they see a podcast that's similar to what they are producing or, maybe even worse, not seeing any podcast that sounds like the one they want to produce.

But that's the great thing about podcasting. Could anyone have predicted that following a true crime investigation of a single case for 12 episodes would be a huge breakout hit? Or that a guy in his garage would get to interview the president of the United States? Or that indie shows like a show with the premise of ghost tours for the theater of the mind would surpass 2 million episodes and thrive on being entirely listener-supported? Or that a stack of found letters between two girls and their landlord would become a cult phenomenon?