Podtales (Oct 2019)

Let’s take a few months back to October 2019. Only a few months before Coronavirus came along and ruined everyone’s plans.

Cambridge, Massachusetts was where the first annual Podtales con took place. Podtales was an event created for anyone interested in Podcasting. The focus was on storytelling. Think back to the days before television, when radio ruled. From the 1920s to the 1950s, radio was the main source of entertainment for American families. Listeners tuned in to various dramas, comedies, soap operas, sci-fi, and other creative genres. With the current rise of podcasting, people are creating new audio worlds, straight from their living rooms to yours.

Admission inside Lesley University was free, coinciding with the annual MICE Expo, which was celebrating next door with it’s own tenth anniversary. Most of the Podtale vendors were from the Boston area, with a few traveling as far as the U.K.

Many of the fictional podcasters focused on fantasy, Sci-fi, and horror. One such program was The Call of Cthulhu Mystery Program. Another one was The Post-Medidian Radio Players.

One podcast was a political parody, making fun of Trump by reading The Mueller Report: A Radio Dramatization.

Of course, since the pandemic, Podtales 2020 doesn’t look possible. It’s partner, MICE Expo is already cancelled. Hopefully Podtales will continue where it left off in 2021. Meantime, if you’re already bored of Netflix, check out some of the podcasts from the 2019 Podtales exhibitors.