Lectures on Tap -"Podcast History & the Power of Audio in the Age of Video"

How did an obscure way to listen to nerds talk for hours on niche topics become the hottest media format—and what have we lost now that tech giants are pushing everything to video?

From Serial’s explosive rise to Spotify’s billion-dollar bet, through the pandemic boom and beyond, podcasting has thrived by building an intimate, parasocial relationship with listeners, sliding perfectly into the margins of everyday life. In this talk, podcasting veteran Eric Silver charts the medium’s wild history, unpacks how we got to 2026, and asks: is there even a podcast “industry” left, or just content pipelines?

Silver will explore what’s at stake as audio is forced to play by video’s rules—and why the unique intimacy of audio, and the way it fits human attention, is worth fighting for.