By Daisy Morales, Staff Writer 

In this digital world, radios seem to be a thing of the past. However, with podcasts rising in popularity, many students are starting to explore the use of audio in new ways. One of these students is sophomore Margaret Crowe, who recently started her podcast “Get Deep with Margaret.”

“It’s very fun and it doesn’t take that much effort, and it’s just a good way to rant or talk about random things,” Crowe said. 

As podcasts grow in popularity, so do the people behind them. Crowe isn’t the only First Flight student who has started a podcast. Sophomore Samuel Smith has also started his own podcast, “Apathetic Noises.”

“I talk a lot and I like talking randomly with someone else or just on my own, so I decided why not bother the public with that and I made a podcast,” Smith explained. 

The neat thing about podcasts is that they can be about anything. They’re so diverse from one another and cover a wide variety of topics. Some can make a listener laugh, cry, or even get angry.

“I like listening to people talk and most of the podcasts I listen to give me a good laugh and I love that,” Crowe said. 

Through her own podcast, she is trying to do the same. 

“I want to just give people a good laugh if I can. I love making people laugh,” Crowe said with a smile. 

Meanwhile, Smith has somewhat the same approach. Smith’s podcasts are quite interesting, though, because he covers various topics that may appeal to people. 

“It’s just me singing or me talking about whatever I’m thinking about – the first one is pretty political and the second one is just me rambling about music or something dumb that I think of,” Smith said.

Podcasts are something that Smith has envisioned for a while. He recalls that getting inspiration wasn’t hard, but the idea surged when writing a story about podcasts and that’s when he decided to give it a try. 

“I’ve always kind of wanted to do this and (Lydia Surprenant) told me how she did it, so I decided let’s try,” Smith said after he interviewed Surprenant for a story. 

Everyone has a different approach to podcasts. For Smith, it was the idea of expressing himself in a different light. 

“I get to talk and I don’t get judged for anything,” Smith said. 

However, for Crowe, it was the idea of entertaining people. 

“I’m just telling random stories about myself and that’s the fun part about it,” Crowe said. 

According to a study conducted in 2019 by Edison Research and Triton Digital, there are 62 million people in the U.S. listening to podcasts each week alone. This means that there are approximately eight million people listening to podcasts each day. That’s a lot of people, and Smith and Crowe are adding to this digital world as they’re being listened to.

Crowe said that her podcast is going better than she anticipated and that her future plans are dependent upon her listeners.

“It all depends on how many views I can get,” Crowe said. “Because there is a sponsorship that you can have in the beginning of a podcast to make a little bit of money, so maybe I can make a little off of it and just have fun with it to see how it goes.”

Keep in mind that anyone can start a podcast. Podcasts are much more than the radio of our time, in that they can be made by anyone and are for everyone. Smith encourages people to start a podcast for a variety of reasons, but one in particular. 

“I think they should get their ideas out there, because, why not?” Smith asked. 

Sophomore Daisy Morales can be reached at 23moralesda04@daretolearn.org.