What to write about a podcast?

How do I decide what to write about a podcast? Every podcast I listen to leaves a trace, stuff I remember from the podcast, reactions in the form of associations, comparisons, questions, thoughts, appraisal and critique. Most of the time, some of this is most strong and that is what lay the basis for what I write, but i do try to stick to a couple of criteria.

If I review a podcast for the first time and especially if I expect not to go and follow and review episodes frequently, I will try to describe some general impressions about the podcast. If I intend to focus on episodes, I will be more specific. In any case I want my readers to get some idea of what they can expect. And then, I want to mention at least something what may make them like the podcast.

This is important, I decided, also for podcasts that are not exactly my taste. The aim for this blog is to help you find podcasts you like and it hardly helps you to be told this or that podcast is no good. What is no good in my ears, could very well be good in yours and what I did not like today, may appeal to me some other time. Therefore, any opinion on a podcast can never be definitive, neither good or bad. However, if I mention what is good about the podcast, you can decide for yourself whether that might work for you or not. If I give you only what is bad, you have nothing to go on.

If I have nothing good to say about a podcast, and couldn't even think of any reason why other people than myself may like it, I'd rather not write about it at all. There are millions of podcasts, there are millions of millions of qualifications I can apply to them. Why choose of all those options, the negative ones - I wouldn't see any point. Choosing the positive ones, means it might apply to some reader and it may help somebody to find what he likes.

That doesn't mean I shun being critical. Together with good points, I see no problem to mention some of the weaker aspects; anything that can give you a more complete idea. And if I have written an overall negative review (which I have done occasionally) then it is only for this reason, that the podcast would seem, off hand, to be really good and I felt I should sort of warn you. For example, there is a really good Dutch newspaper, NRC. The NRC podcast, however, is so unbelievably amateurish, you would never anticipate - so this is where I have chosen to write a bad review.

More about the blog:
About Anne is a Man,
Why don't I give ratings to podcasts?,
When do I write in my blog?,
When do I listen to podcasts?,
Time to start again.