Podcasting no longer on fringe

Decade-old medium is enjoying a subscriber boom.

You’ve got that long, horrendous drive to work, but you’re not alone.

Hit play on your iPhone, and it’s as if you’re sitting down for coffee with your two smart, funny Jewish girlfriends, Katie Halper and Heather Gold. The two longtime friends and comics have a podcast irreverently titled “Morning Jew,” during which they riff on topics in news and culture — West Bank politics, nose jobs, the TV show “Transparent,” all the time asking, “Is it good for the Jews?”

“Morning Jew” is one of countless options in an expanding podcast universe that allows people to get informed, entertained and enlightened on pretty much any topic: politics, sports, science, cooking. More than 10 years since the word “podcast” first showed up in a news story, the medium is enjoying its “renaissance,” Slate.com proclaimed.

In 2013, Apple’s iTunes had reached 1 billion podcast subscriptions, and its store held 250,000 different podcasts in more than 100 languages.

Downloaded or streamed to a computer or mobile device and often available for free, podcasts entered mainstream consciousness this fall when millions around the world became obsessed with “Serial,” a 12-part documentary that re-examined a 1999 Baltimore murder case. A spinoff of “This American Life,” “Serial” launched hundreds of think pieces and Reddit threads, gaining 54 million downloads as of early January.

Podcasts are variously described as radio on demand or a new art form that plays with the boundaries of language, narrative, music and sound. Producers range from global corporations to public radio stations to individuals with the basic equipment to record and post online.

Bay Area listeners speak of their favorite podcasts with the devotion of superfans, relishing any opportunity to put on their ear buds and reconnect with favorite hosts who are passionate about what they are sharing.

“There is an honesty that I don’t always feel comes across in other delivery methods,” said Sheldon Goobie, of Brentwood, Calif.

He relies on Dan Carlin’s “Hardcover History” podcast, with its in-depth exploration of world history, to help pass the time on two-hour commutes. He also listens on airplanes, while gardening or when he wants to dive into some new hobby or interest.

“In late 2013, I heard about bitcoin and was fascinated by it,” he said. “I ended up finding a podcast called ‘Let’s Talk Bitcoin.’” What followed was binge-listening to about 50 episodes over the next month. “I would listen while driving, walking the dog, any chance I had, I had it on.”

He rarely listens to AM/ FM radio, preferring the same convenience people enjoy from streaming TV shows and movies online: “Podcasts allow me to control what I want to listen to and when I want to listen to it,” he said.

For years, podcasts remained on the fringes of digital entertainment until smart phones and apps made them easy to access wirelessly.

National Public Radio emerged as a major player with a ready supply of content — shows like “Fresh Air,” “Planet Money,” “Ted Radio Hour” — which it began putting online in 2005.

“NPR became one of the dominant forces in podcasts without even realizing it,” said Eric Nuzum, vice president for programming. NPR shows are often in the top 20 of iTunes podcasts.

An uptick in listenership in 2013 convinced NPR to launch a new podcast, “Invisibilia,” in early January, he said. Cohosted by “This American Life” and “Radiolab” veterans Lulu Miller and Alix Spiegel, the show interweaves science and storytelling to illuminate human behavior, emotions and ideas. It hit No. 1 on the chart the week of Jan. 13.

The sense of intimacy people find in podcasts in part comes from the solitary way they often listen, alone in a car or out for a walk, head phones plugged in. “It’s this little cocoon and space,” said Glynn Washington, the host of NPR’s Oaklandbased “Snap Judgment.”

“Snap Judgment” bills itself as “storytelling with a beat.” Washington said his show tries to update the oral storytelling tradition for the 21st century by blending spoken word, music and sound in ways that are “cinematic.”It reaches about 1 million listeners a week.

The idea for “Morning Jew” came from Gold and Halper realizing that “the funniest people we knew were Jewish ladies sitting in the kitchen.” Gold and Halper use humor to sometimes talk about serious things.

They’ve been producing “Morning Jew” for several years as a YouTube video but switched to podcasting this month due to fan demand.

The two find time every week to get on Skype from their homes (Halper is in New York City) and record their show. Doing the podcast, Gold said, allows her to experiment with other styles of humor and relate to audiences in new ways, all from the comfort of home:

“Honestly, I’m a middle-aged woman, almost 47, and do I want to be around a bunch of kids smoking pot in a club?”