I’m glad to see a new podcast by my friend David Edmunds doing enormously well. Philosophy Bites, in which David and Nigel Warburton speak to leading philosophers about such topics as “The Problem of Evil” and “The Meaning of Life” has shot into the iTunes US top 20. It was aided along the way by being featured in iTunes “new and notable” - but I think it shows that there is a real demand for upmarket and challenging programs in the podcasting field.

David writes books and works part-time for the BBC World Service (as I once did) so he knows how to put a program together. The format is really simple but it works, and it’s edited down to a good length - around 12-13 minutes. It’s a little ironic that his podcast is getting thousands more listeners than many of the BBC’s own shows.

Elsewhere I think podcasters are too often guilty of dumbing down. There’s plenty of “dumb” on TV, and there is a big segment of people, particularly in the States, who are searching for something a bit more stimulating for the brain buds. Naturally upmarket programing will attract quality advertisers (think Classic FM). In my view, this is the way to go.