Good audio podcast ex.

Listen to the podcast here!


I selected this podcast from The Texas Tribune’s website, which originally aired on KUT News. The podcast, entitled “For Doctors in Politics, Medicine Often Trumps Party”, informs listeners about how doctors have always had a reputation for having scattered political views, some physicians considering themselves very liberal and others considering themselves rather conservative. For most physicians, though, their occupation trumps their political stance, meaning that being a democrat or republican will not compare to the experience they have had in the medical field and the opinions about health care they have formed because of this. According to the podcast, the number of doctors in politics is increasing.

The podcast includes sound bytes from some very important public figures, such as Congressman Ron Paul, Senator Bob Deuell and Congressman Michael Burgess. Because these are popular politicians, the podcast seems quite credible. The speaker also maintains a great balance of telling factual parts of the story while letting the sound bytes tell opinionated parts of the story. This balance of both the speaker and sources telling the story helps the podcast flow easily while maintaining the interest of the listener without becoming bored with too much information from either the speaker or the sources. The speaker’s voice sounds genuinely interested in the story he is telling, and uses phrases, such as “put him in hot water”, that make the listener feel like the speaker is talking directly to them on their level. The speaker also does his best to explain any issue that may be confusing to a listener that isn’t familiar with.

This is a very good informative and straight to the point audio podcast, but there are some things that could have been done to make it better. For example, the sound bytes all sound as if they are conducted via telephone, which make it a little less personal. It could have seemed a little bit more personal and convincing had the sound bytes been from an event at which the politician spoke at and thus gave these opinions. This would have also created more ambient noise from the audience, which the podcast lacked.

All in all, this is a good podcast that could have improved with some minor changes.