Welcome
With more and more media constantly releasing its hard to decide what to watch or listen to. Podcasts have become my go to due to the amount of time I spend driving and working on projects. With that in mind I listen to a lot of them and have a number to recommend. Last time I recommended a comedy podcast, My Brother, My Brother and Me, if that wasn’t to your liking then I have another. A drama, satire podcast called Welcome to Night Vale. The show is framed as a small radio station show about a desert town somewhere in the southwester United States. The hook of the show is that the town has constant oddities occurring being presented by a deadpan host.
Futher Reading
The show uses its long form story telling to fill out the towns feeling. There is so much that they couldn’t fit into the radio show that they wrote a novel. It was published in 2015, not wanting to leave their fans waiting they announced and then released a second novel. These were made to keep the feel of the original show but deliver a new story to fans. If you are interested in listening to Welcome to Night Vale they have a band camp, YouTube and their own site for easy access. I recommend it if you are looking for a long form narrative that is constantly evolving and enjoy deadpan humor.
The Structure
The show has constantly reappearing story threads that at first don’t lead towards anything before culminating into a satisfying ending. The show is still ongoing having two episodes monthly of around 30 minutes sitting at 150 episodes currently. The show also has a musical break in the weather segment where various independent artists are featured. Due to the small town feel the show gives off there are a number of reoccurring characters described in monotone detail by the host. The show took off a year after its initial release in 2012 which lead to them doing live shows in 2013. The mentioned live shows include many indie stars and celebrities such and Felicia Day and Andrew WK. With the shows long running success they have slowly been reintroducing plots from its inception to “tie up loose ends”.
About the Author
William Cooper
Student - Summer 2019
