Two decades later, Apple Podcasts still remains a cultural force

It was June 28th in 2005

Rihanna was telling us to ponder replay. MySpace was beginning to pick up steam on the Internet

and Apple dropped something that would change the way we listen forever

All right, we're rolling. Good to see you. Thanks, sir. Here we go

This is a case that captivated the nation last year. It's like you let the country down

Oh, I thought I was going to be banned from America. It was that day that Apple released iTunes 4.9, which included support for discovering, listening to, and subscribing to a new form of media known as podcast, even though the term wasn't coined until later

Ever wonder where the word came from? Grammarist and the Oxford English Dictionary say it actually derived from the Apple iPod and the word broadcast

In 2013, Macworld reported iTunes podcast subscriptions crossed the 1 billion mark, spread across 250,000 unique podcasts

Some of the earliest shows included those from outlets like ABC News and NPR

In a 2013 interview, NPR said they started podcasting around 2001, very shortly after the iPod first launched

Hello and welcome to The Ricky Gervais Show. Podcasts also grew out of Indie Talk Radio

Those were the low-budget, high-passion projects that used the platform long before celebrity interviews and big network deals

And on its 20th anniversary, Apple is thanking its creators, acknowledging what it takes to be successful in the podcast space, and saying, quote

you've introduced new formats, explored bold ideas, built passionate communities, and redefined how people connect, changing commutes, long walks, and quiet nights for

millions of listeners On Thursday Apple wrote out their 20 years 20 podcasts we love campaign to celebrate We realized it was the same couple They had completely changed He was sick There was something serious wrong with him

A 2015 episode from Love and Radio called The Living Room is the first podcast featured from

the 2005 to 2010 era. Apple describes it as, quote, one of the earliest episodic narrative podcasts

I don't think I have ever been more in love with a company and a business model

Apple also featured Acquired for the 2011 to 2015 era, a podcast where two hosts dive into the origin stories of major companies, including Costco in this episode

While some of these podcasts are still popular to this day, Apple also didn't forget the modern creators like Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy

I would never want my kids to think that that is OK to cheat on your husband or your wife

And baby, this is Kiki Palmer. Well, they say you evolve or you evaporate

The 2024 election wasn't just fought on debate stages. It played out for the first time on podcasts

You should do the same thing, Joe, because you cannot be voting for Kamala

Kamala, you're not a Kamala person. This is the same guy who uses the kind of language he does to describe women

Their features on popular shows underscored how the candidates went outside the traditional media filter, reaching millions

Many outlets even cited President Trump's appearance on the Joe Rogan experience as a key move that helped him win the White House a second time around

The mic is in fact still on and podcasts are only gaining steam

The vice president at Apple told The Hollywood Reporter the platform saw more listeners, more plays, and more subscribers than ever before in 2024

For more top headlines, head over to our app or san.com. I'm Kennedy Felton with Stray Arrow News