Late of this parish

This week I've been thinking a lot about podcasts that are no longer with us. With the current boom in podcasting (are we at "peak podcast" yet? Maybe...) I keep seeing lots of faux-stats about the survival rate of most shows. Proportionally, very few make it past more that a couple of episodes, and hardly any make it past ten. The long tail is long, but not very consistent. There have been plenty of shows, however, that had really good runs and made quite an impact on me, but which have now ended (either officially killed-off or on indefinite hiatus).

Three great episodes to listen to this week:

Rob Auten (Video Game Writer), To The F'ing Future (122mins, 2013-04-17)

The epitome of American "Bros" talking nonsense, but To The F'ing Future contained some interesting discussions (if you can get past the host's personalities). They had a short run in 2013, talking about "the future" of a different topic each week. Episode #5 (with Rob Auten) is an interesting look at what the state-of-the-art in video-game plot and characterisation was like way back in 2013, and what they thought the future would hold. Which is even more interesting when viewed from 2020; we can see what played out and what sank without trace. If gaming isn't your thing, episode #6 was about tattooing (hear me out) and perhaps a little more "timeless". As with lots of podcasts I love, I have no interest in tattooing, but hearing an expert talk in depth about their work is exactly the kind of content I like the best. Find it here.

Renay Richardson, Broccoli Content, The Wolf Den (50mins, 2019-01-31)

This podcast about the business of podcasting was very "inside baseball" but I loved it. Seemingly in the "indefinite hiatus" camp, this show interviewed some key figures in the behind-the-scenes world of podcasting, and always revealed new and interesting details about an industry that I find fascinating. Find it here.

Art Directing the Web with Dan Mall, Unfinished Business (65mins, 2018-04-18)

When I "pivoted" into my tech career back in 2013, podcasts helped me feel like I was connected to the industry. Hearing talented and enthusiastic designers and developers talk at length about their work was massively helpful, and this played right into the hands of my podcast addiction. Unfinished Business was a must-listen show for me, and taught be a lot about the web in general, and designing for the web specifically. This episode with returning-guest Dan Mall is from a later brief revival of the show (and therefore slightly more current), but there are some gems in the show's back catalogue. Find it here.

Not a podcast, but...

Sadly in keeping with this week's theme of shows that are no longer running, I wanted to throw a shout-out to MPJ, the creator of the Fun Fun Function YouTube channel. He announced in an emotional video this month that the show is shutting down, and I'm really bummed out about it. MPJ's enthusiasm for programming was infectious, and I got a lot from his mission to teach fundamental skills in an entertaining way. If you like JavaScript and are thinking about getting into "functional" programming, then his original 2015 video series is a great place to start. Watch it here.

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Thanks again, Tom.