The Weird, Wacky World of Harry Potter Podcasts
If nothing else the Internet is one of those places where pop-culture phenomena come together and collide in new and interesting ways. In the world of Harry Potter online fandom this means a flurry of podcasts have sprung up to report Harry Potter news, debate Harry Potter theories and celebrate beloved (or despised) Harry Potter characters.
Here’s a brief guide to some of the more noteworthy Harry Potter podcasts out there:
Pottercast comes to us from the staff of major Harry Potter fan-site, The Leaky Cauldron. One of the oldest and most professional of the Harry Potter podcasts, one of the greatest things about it is that they get their transcripts up fast – so those of you who haven’t caught up with the world of podcasting can still get all our Harry Potter news. Pottercast includes speculation and theories about the direction of the series, book and movie news, as well as interviews with those who have a particular expertise as related to the world of Harry Potter.
Mugglecast is the Harry Potter podcast that comes from the team at Mugglenet. Currently they have over 50 episodes online. This podcast focuses mainly on theories about what will happen next in the world of Harry Potter, while also examining often overlooked, but potentially important details of the books.
Mugglecast, like other Harry Potter related podcasts discusses options written and called in from fans. While more accessible than some other podcasts (see below) new listeners may feel a bit behind until they listen to a few episodes and get a thorough handle on the podcast’s staff and personalities.
Snapecast is my personal favorite Harry Potter-related podcast, which, if you’ve read my other Harry Potter articles, you could probably guess. It’s a newer podcast, and they’re still finding their feet in terms of production values and the best length for segments. That said, the variety of content they offer is delightful and their shorter segments are often very, very funny. Snapecast is intended for adults (although I’m sure lots of teens are listening) as some segments contain discussions of NC-17 fanfiction.
These segments are clearly announced with warnings at the beginning though, so you can avoid that content if you wish. One of the greatest assets Snapecast has is a fellow on staff who does amazing imitations of, well, everyone. His voicing of Snape for a list of Slytherin pick-up lines just about killed me. Don’t listen to this one at work – even with headphones, you’ll be laughing out loud (or blushing furiously). This is, of course, for the truly dedicated Harry Potter nerd.
A quick Google will reveal many other Harry Potter podcasts – largely these are either new endeavors or endeavors that ran their course and then fizzled (for example, Harry Podder, which only released episodes in 2005). Certainly though, room remains in the phenomena, especially for more narrowly focused Harry Potter podcasts. If you can’t find the one you’re looking for, perhaps you should be the host of a new one.
