Listening to the same songs on the radio can get old after awhile and pod- casts are an alternative to a music and can be found on many different plat- forms, and about a wide range of topics.

Created and run by CWU students, “The Real News Podcast” is a safe space to have open dialogue about the current political climate, discuss stories news stations release and interview people of differing perspectives.

Podcasts can be listened to virtually anywhere at anytime nearly all mobile devices. In 2003, Christopher Lydon was the first voice to be released as a downloadable MP3 file on an RSS feed, according to The Guardian. Lydon now hosts his own podcast, the “Open Source podcast” which was was helped by software developer, Dave Winer.

Since then, podcasts have gained popularity. According to howstuffworks.com, the term “podcast” comes from a combination of the words iPod and broadcasting.

To understand why podcasts have become so widely popular, it’s important to understand a huge influential provider for them: the iPhone. In 2014, Apple introduced the iOS8 update, which made the Podcast app preinstalled on every iOS device, according to jacobsmedia.com.

With podcasting apps and websites readily available anywhere at anytime, it comes to no surprise that some CWU students have their very own podcast.

88.1 The ‘Burg news reporter, junior broadcast major Kajal Lang, is one of three students who helps write and produce “The Real News Podcast.”

The podcast was created last school year by Ian Collins and Brendan Dolleman, both currently sophomores.

After hearing an advertisement on the radio about the podcast, Lang asked Collins and Dolleman if he could come in and sit-in on the podcast. Shortly afterwards, the two original creators decided to make room for one more team member, which is how Lang became a writer and producer for the podcast

“It’s a lot of conservative and libertarian ideas and we just talk about things in the news and we break them down,” Lang said. “We try to give a voice to a lot of people that we feel are underrepresented in the media.”

According to Lang, there are three main segments of the podcast.

“National Recap” is a segment that breaks down news stories. In between the National Recap and the last segment, the podcast team brings in interviewees to talk about a topic from one of the mentioned stories, where the person being interviewed will share their personal opinion on the topic. The last segment, the “Culture Conclusion” is where the team brings in topics that are not necessarily “in the news,” but that they believe should be talked about, Lang said.

The podcast is produced in both audio and video format as of this year. Prior to this year, the podcast was only offered in audio format. The podcast comes out on Thursdays and runs for 30 to 40 minutes. It is on the “The Real News Podcast” YouTube channel along with the 88.1 ‘The Burg’s free downloadable app and website.

If you aren’t interested in politics, there are many different categories of podcasts. Some topics on the Apple podcast app specifically include: entertainment, health, arts, business, comedy, games and hobbies, music, religion, sports, technology and others.

In the same way people listen to different types of music based upon their moods, tastes and preferences… podcasts also have flexibility.

Jasmine Gonzalez, an anthropology major, is familiar with the podcast apps. She had to listen to podcasts in her environmental studies class.

Gonzalez said that she has listened to “Ted Talks” on Spotify and also “Latino USA.” She said she listens to podcasts when she wants “something mellow” rather than something crazy. Gonzalez also listens to them just for fun-or even to learn something new.

The next time you are sitting in the middle of traffic or are traveling home for the holidays, you may consider listening to a podcast.