The Deadline Panic That Named Podcasts

Everyone thinks they know where podcasts started, right? Apple, the iPod. But what if I told you we were this close to calling them Guerrilla Media?

Or audioblogging, which is just—

So clunky.

Honestly, tragic. But people assume Steve Jobs sat in a pristine lab and coined the word. He didn't! It was literally a journalist, Ben Hammersley, in 2004, just staring down a deadline for The Guardian.

Wait, it was a deadline panic?

Yeah! He was writing about this new RSS audio feed thing, you know, Dave Winer and Adam Curry's tech, and he just needed a catchy phrase. He threw podcasting in at the very end of the piece.

Just spitballing.

Exactly. He actually preferred audioblogging. The internet just kind of... rebelled and chose podcasting.

Thank god. Could you imagine telling someone you're starting a true crime audioblog?

Ha, I mean, I'd still listen.

Fair enough. Next time you hit play, thank a stressed-out journalist from two decades ago.