Running time 40-60 minutes Language(s) English | Country United States Executive producer(s) Andy Bowers | |
Genre Weekly political commentary Hosted by David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson | ||
The Slate Political Gabfest (est. 2005) is an American political podcast by Slate magazine that covers topics on current politics and issues.
Contents
The shows are usually hosted by David Plotz. It is reportedly Slate's most popular podcast.
Podcast
The show is usually hosted by former Slate Editor David Plotz with regular contributors Emily Bazelon and John Dickerson. It covers three political topics in the week's news. Each topic is discussed from various viewpoints, and the podcast runs about 40 minutes to an hour. Ads are incorporated into the show between topics when David or one of the other contributors will describe the product in a casual way, similar to the manner of early radio and television shows.
The group typically treats Dickerson as their expert on Washington politics and presidential campaigns. Bazelon is turned to for her legal expertise and for her experience reporting on online bullying and child sexual abuse.
Plotz, Bazelon, and Dickerson reportedly do not discuss topics before going live.
History
The Slate Political Gabfest was launched in December 2005. Andy Bowers initially read articles from Slate for the podcast, but he said he was struck by how much he enjoyed the magazine's editorial meetings and thought that listeners would also enjoy the banter and analysis if he could capture it on audio. He provided Plotz, Bazelon and Dickerson with the basic structure of the gabfest and a small studio at Slate's Washington headquarters.
Reception
The podcast is Slate's most popular podcast. As of February 2012, Political Gabfest has over 75,000 weekly listeners. A few fans reportedly drove hours or flew from several states away to attend live shows.
Chris Campling of The Times (London) named it his podcast of the week for February 2, 2008. In 2011, the entire Slate series of podcasts received an Advertising Age "Media Vanguard Award" for Digital Native/Best Podcast Series with a specific mention of the Political Gabfest. In November 2012, the Slate Political Gabfest won iTunes informal Facebook poll for the best political podcast.