By Ma Xiaowen

W en Wen， a 28 year-old media worker in Beijing， always wears a pair of headphones during her daily commute. Most of the time， youll find her listening to a podcast series titled Danliren Comedy， recommended to her by a friend， which presents skits from a bunch of young budding comedians.

During rush hour across Chinas metropolises， commuters like Wen are not uncommon on public transit.

Podcast frenzy

A podcast is a program made available in digital format for automatic online download. It could be seen as the subspecies of an audio program， a new media product following old-school radio. The history of podcasts cannot be uncoupled from the history of Apples iPod and the technology of Really Simple Syndication. Later on， the first podcast and podcast service provider emerged. Nowadays， audiences can listen to podcasts using a smartphone.

A typical podcast episode usually involves one or more hosts， joining each other and homing in on a specific topic. The topics usually cover industry insights， scientific research， life， entertainment， books， movies and music， depending on the hostsfield of choice. One episode can last from as little as 30 to as much as 90 minutes.

With unwavering popularity in the U.S. and Europe， podcasting is gaining momentum in China. Plenty of folks like Wen have become self-declared podcast addicts. According to Wen， podcasts are funny and offer her companionship along her journey.

Wen told Beijing Review that listening to podcasts has become part of her daily life. Unlike reading or watching videos， this activity is not a time-consuming feat. Living alone， she can listen to them in fragmented timeframes， for example， when cleaning， doing laundry， or just hanging out. Moreover， she gets to embrace an array of interesting stories and ideas in an otherwise somewhat“mundane” life.

Two years ago， Fang Zhou， a Beijing-based radio DJ， started the Music ONLY podcast with his friends active in the music industry in Beijing and Shanghai. In his eyes， the burgeoning independent podcasts have a lot to do with the COVID-19 lockdown.

“During the first months in 2020， people stayed at home due to the epidemic and had a lot of time to kill， therefore， many people started to listen to podcasts， even recording podcasts themselves，” he told business portal Yicai.com. Fang started Key Change in July 2020， where he selects the best of alternative music， and invites Chinas thriving indie musicians to talk about their musical inspirations.