They are so pervasive now. It's here, all the other sites, in every interest area. I guess it's just easier to record a discussion than actually writing an article. But I simply won't listen 95% of the time. I don't have an extra hour or 2 to listen to nearly anything. It's a pet peeve of mine (just kidding), but seriously, I won't listen.
Yes...download to your phone. Listen on demand when driving, walking the dog, working in the yard, etc. Long form interviews are so much more interesting than 3minute segments on TV. Spotify is a free app for your phone and you can download about any podcast (and tons of music) for free. Think of it like streaming but for talk radio
I once agreed with you, but after trying a few on a road trip, I changed my tune. From a "News/Current events" perspective, the Corporate media is killing itself. Podcasts offer a wide variety of sources in a format that doesn't include yelling and slogans. Aside from that, there's an endless array of topics.
-Rogan is good. His guests are so varied that I only want to listen to a small percentage and it's not overwhelming.
-Broken Record is really good. Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell interviewing great music guests
-Modern Wisdom is really good. Brit who moved to Austin. Lots of interesting topics. One of the top podcasts
-Jordan Petersen is really good, especially if you like logic and evidence based analysis of topics.
-Megyn Kelly is good for daily current events/news
Rogan talks about Breaking Points with Krystal and Sager for news analysis. I've listened to a few.
-One of the first big podcasts was Serial. Season one is about a HS kid in Baltimore that got convicted of murdering his ex, but maintains his innocence. Season 2 is called 'S-town' (aka sh*t town). I highly recommend it.