Director Kevin Smith says podcasting medium became 'a waste,' lost its soul when it became political
Director Kevin Smith, an early pioneer of podcasting, told Fox News Digital the medium has lost much of its soul and originality after becoming too inundated with politics in his view.
Launching "SModcast" in 2007 with his friend and fellow director Scott Mosier, Smith said he considers himself a "Johnny Appleseed for podcasts," encouraging other artists to create their own podcasts and teaching them the ropes along the way.
As the years went by, Smith noticed that the "layer of intimacy" podcasts originally offered had faded, transforming the medium into just another iteration of "traditional media."
"When I was enjoying podcasting, it was basically radio all over again, but now podcasting has become basically TV all over again," he explained. "That's the thing that's mind-bending. They could have gone anywhere with it."
While Smith initially thought others would use the medium to discuss pop culture, film and other passions, he said he was shocked to see how much podcasting had been co-opted by politics, although there are still countless programs related to other topics.
"You know what I never foresaw? So many people would do political podcasts," he recalled. "What a f------ waste of a beautiful medium where you could talk about anything — anything! And instead, you're like, 'Let's talk about what he said and did.'"
"Oh, I f------- hate it. It disgusts me. But a lot of people are getting rich off it," Smith added.
The director noted that the early movers in the podcasting space didn't get rich "by any stretch of the imagination," but said it was the next generation that figured out how to maximize profits — though he disagreed with how they went about doing so.
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"A bunch of people figured out that they could turn people against one another politically and just divide a nation by being like, 'You know what I hate? I f------- hate this, don't you hate that?' And because it's such an intimate medium, people [felt] like they were being talked to," he theorized, accusing right-wing radio outlets of doing so for decades.
Looking back on his podcasting journey, Smith recalled a conversation he had with his business manager about podcasting being "free," which led him to the realization that the medium was headed toward a similar fate as television and radio.
After being informed that podcasting was not in fact free, and that server costs were burning through his wallet, Smith and his co-host set out on what they originally thought was a creative way of generating revenue.
The duo began reaching out to companies and projects they'd worked with in the past to promote their products on "SModcast" and found success in doing so.
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"I felt so smart. I was like, 'This is nuts. We're getting somebody to give us money so that we can practice our art,'" he remembered. "And then Scott was like, ‘Yes, just like television and just like radio.’ And I was like, 'Oh, that's right.' It's an old model, we're all doing it."
"Nobody's discovered anything new and watching podcasting go all the way back around to f------ TV, like, what a disappointment. Part of the beauty of podcasting was you don't have to get dressed. You can f------ roll around in your pajamas in front of a microphone. It was all audio, theater to the mind, getting into people's heads. Now there always has to be a video component and stuff, and that just makes it f------ television."
According to Smith, what started as a medium that was accessible to anyone has become far less feasible to produce as production standards have skyrocketed over the past two decades. He predicted that "within the next 10 years, podcasting is not going to be accessible to everyone."
Smith is known for such comedy films as "Clerks," "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," "Chasing Amy," and "Dogma," as well as horror movies like "Red State" and "Tusk."