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Okay. I HAVE to talk about @iHeartMedia's Podcast Awards, because we've gone from funny to just really indicative of so many things wrong with the podcast industry. I say this as someone who's been in the industry from a journalistic AND participatory standpoint for years. 
I'm going to start with the less egregious things and work my way up. First: of the 130 nominees (5 nominees per category, 26 categories) only 15 podcasts are independent. 0 of them are in the Fiction category. The highest concentration is in Spirituality & Religion
Out of 130 nominees, only 15 are independent when the VAST majority of podcasts overall are independent? This isn't film; the industry isn't largely dominated by studios. 15? If the other 130 were ALL like great podcasts, I could almost understand that, but they're just big.
I have no concept of what or whom the iHeart Podcast awards are for. Are they for discoverability? If so, why are they all big titles? Are they just which podcasts got the most listens? If so, that's--that's just data, not award-worthy. Are they for quality? Cause uhhhhh lol
It is EXTREMELY weird to me to have a category for best ad reads. That's SO WEIRD. I understand that ad reads are difficult and definitely require skill but . . . huh? What? Would you put "best guest spot on a late night talk show" as a category for the Oscars???
So, okay, let's hit the fiction category next. 1 Wondery, 1 Night Vale, 3 QCODE. I don't dislike QCODE across the board, but I WILL point to @asteraod's really fantastic article on The Left Right Game first and foremost. https://bellocollective.com/qcode-medias-sci-fi-fiction-the-left-right-game-proves-not-everything-should-be-a-podcast-f3a8e5903c34
Second: it feels especially egregious to only have studio nominees in fiction, a category that is made in numbers almost entirely of independent people making GORGEOUS passion projects. Even in the average top 20, top 50 podcasts, you'll consistently find huge indies.
The Magnus Archives broke Patreon this year. UNSEEN had a mindblowingly successful Kickstarter. The White Vault, The Amelia Project, The Grey Rooms, Old Gods of Appalachia ALL consistently chart. And we got 0 independent fiction podcasts? It's just lazy, and it's so UNAWARE.
Unaware is really the common thread every year the iHeart Podcast Awards decide to happen again. How does a company that's one of the largest networks AND distributors (well, at least, to their word) show so little understanding of their own industry? See: Kitchen Sisters lol
Okay, now let's get into the Actively Bad instead of the Just Embarrassing.
Categories from Male Host and Female Host. I will say that I contributed to the decision to have a Female Host category for the @Discover_Pods Awards, and I stand by that--because there was no Male Host.
Categories from Male Host and Female Host. I will say that I contributed to the decision to have a Female Host category for the @Discover_Pods Awards, and I stand by that--because there was no Male Host.
Men, women, nonbinary people, etc. were all eligible for just, like, Best Host. The reason we wanted to highlight women was specifically because of how male-dominated the industry is. Having a category for male hosts is just like... why, lol. but there's more to this obvs
The main reason Female Host and Male Host is a Problem is because it specifically, directly excludes nonbinary people. It is another corporate reminder that we do not exist; or that if we do, we certainly don't deserve any kind of award. Thoughts on this, @iHeartMedia?
It's weird, it's transphobic, and it also feels pretty misogynistic, separating women out because there's this idea that they couldn't actually compete against men. It flattens and erases identity in a way that makes me jump out of my body in recoil.
This isn't helped by the fact that this year, the @iHeartMedia Awards nixed the LGBT category--one of the only categories in which queer podcasters could be recognized specifically for their identities. So. No LGBT podcasts... Male Host and Female Host... hmmmm... interesting...
Now, let's talk about the Spanish Language Podcast nominees. A lot of these are great! They're made by hosts who speak Spanish for an audience who speaks Spanish.
And then also the Duolingo Spanish podcast? For people who categorically are not fluent in Spanish? Huh? What?
And then also the Duolingo Spanish podcast? For people who categorically are not fluent in Spanish? Huh? What?
By adding in the Duolingo podcast, it's clear yet again that iHeart doesn't know what these podcasts should be, and it weirdly commodifies and others the language. It's seeing the wide and rich world of podcasts in Spanish through a white, English-speaking lens.
Why would one of the BEST podcasts in Spanish be a language tool for non-speakers? Is it just because it gets good numbers from white ppl in the States? Like, I just--think. Think about what having the Duolingo podcast in this category says. Think for five minutes.
The iHeart Podcasts Awards have gone from laughable to actually genuinely pretty despicable. At best, they're weird. At worst, they're exclusionary, othering, and downright unaware of the industry and how it operates. How do you have so much money and fuck up so bad so often?
The moral of the story is fuck these awards, and fuck media companies that consistently show they think all they need to know is numbers and what makes their boner for the cishet white status quo feel good. The end. /
