Get a podcast
Podcasts are on-demand audio. Creators upload their episodes to a public online feed, where they stay ready to be streamed or downloaded whenever you want to listen. Sounds a bit like a radio programme, delivered a bit like a blog.
Basically anyone with a microphone and an internet connection can make a podcast and put it where an audience can find it. You don’t have to convince a BBC commissioner that your weird idea is worth putting on the radio. Podcasting right now is a strange and wonderful playground of perspectives and stories that tend to get sanded out of TV, film and traditional radio. We love podcasts, and we hope you love the ones we make.
The podcast where theatrical people play roleplaying games
On Merely Roleplayers, a rotating cast of British actors and other theatre types improvise stories in a variety of genres to entertain you. And we use roleplaying games to keep the stories going places even we can’t see coming – because as theatrical people, we’re all about the drama.
Each episode is a prayer; each prayer could turn the world upside down
Coming in 2024, I Need A Miracle brings the prayers of a parallel world to your ears. Each character we meet knows an omnipotent being hears their prayers and has the power to grant them – but doesn’t know whether they’ll be judged worthy, or the consequences for their world if they are.
How to listen
Web browser
Go straight to the website where the podcast’s feed lives and stream episodes from there in your internet browser. If the podcast is still releasing episodes, you’ll need to check back regularly to make sure you catch each new release.
App
The easiest and most common way to listen to podcasts is through an app on your computer, tablet, phone or smart speaker. Just download the app, then add podcasts either by pasting the feed address into the app, or by finding the podcast in the app’s built-in directory.
A podcast app will regularly check your favourite podcast feeds for you, so once you add a podcast to your app, you never need to worry about missing a new episode. Most podcast apps let you download episodes to listen to later offline. They also tend to give you more control over how you listen, with features like playlists and variable playback speeds.
Which podcast app?
For open access
If you want as few limits on your listening as possible, choose an app like Pocket Casts for Android or Overcast for iOS.
These apps have built-in directories where you can find the vast majority of the podcasts out there, but they also let you add any podcast with a public online feed.
Because Pocket Casts and Overcast tap directly into podcasts’ source feeds, when you listen using these apps, creators can tell that someone streamed or downloaded their show – which encourages them to make more of the stuff you enjoy.
For ease and personal recommendations
You can listen to podcasts on Spotify, and if that’s where you listen to music, you might want to have your podcasts in there too. In the same way Spotify learns your music taste, it can also learn your taste in podcasts and recommend new ones for you to discover.
Spotify won’t let you add podcasts that aren’t in its directory. Creators have to submit their shows to Spotify to make them available there; not every creator will take that step, so if a friend recommends you something a bit niche, it’s not guaranteed to be in there.
Spotify’s also a bit jealous with its listening data. If a creator wants to work out how many people are listening to their show overall, they’ll have to jump through some extra hoops and maybe pay some extra money to be able to see the Spotify piece of the pie. Not everyone can or will do that. On the other hand, Spotify does let you comment on episodes. Answer the question in the app after each episode to let creators know what you liked!
To support fiction podcasts
Apollo is a podcast app specifically for fiction podcasts. Its directory only lists fiction and drama shows: no interviews, no true crime docs. The Apollo team curate lists and showcases so you can get to know other shows by creators whose work you liked.
Apollo also offers subscriptions, so you can support audio drama creators by paying them money instead of by listening to ads. Usually that means paying a fiver through the app to get all the episodes in a season at once, while everyone who’s listening through the public feed or Spotify is waiting a week between episodes.