Podcast Wars: What Is Maryland’s Most Popular?

Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

Podcasts have become a popular way to learn more about interesting topics, have one’s own views re-enforced or simply avoid reading. So, we decided to take a break from covering Maryland sports betting to get a sense of where Maryland stands on podcasts.

Bet Maryland.com utilized Google Trends and data from thepodcast.org to find the state’s most popular podcast. ThePodcast.org “Most Popular Podcasts in the US” list was leveraged with the search volume on Google Trends over the past 12 months to determine a winner. Here are the results:

Maryland’s Favorite Podcasts

Podcast Search Volume
The Joe Rogan Experience50%
Crime Junkie21%
Call Her Daddy20%
My Favorite Murder7%
The Ben Shapiro Show2%

 

Joe Rogan Gets Half of the Results

At No. 1, by a mile, is The Joe Rogan Experience. That is not unusual since Rogan has the most popular podcast in the world. With more than 2,000 episodes, Rogan reportedly has around 11 million listeners. Pretty good for a comedian who was known on television for hosting the “Fear Factor” game show in which contestants were asked to eat large insects and perform other scary tasks.

On his podcasts, Rogan doesn’t make his listeners face their fears, but he does tap into them. It’s a mixture on conspiracy theory, comedy, click-baiting, and more. A sort of mixture of younger Howard Stern, Bill Maher and Glenn Beck. The podcast began in 2009 and in 2020 Rogan sold the exclusive rights to Spotify for an estimated $200 million.

The podcast remains controversial – Alex Jones has been a guest – and unapologetic – although Rogan did apologize for his use of the N-word. It also has become somewhat influential in politics, although Rogan’s politics seems to be more Libertarian and flame-thrower. Ironically, the show is produced in Austin, Texas, the most liberal city in the state.

Maryland’s second most popular podcast is Crime Junkie, created in 2017, and hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. The weekly podcast mixes true stories of murder, serial killers, and more horrible behavior, with stories of dogs who’ve been adopted. The podcast grew out of Flowers’ work with Crime Stoppers of Indianapolis. The main controversies involving Crime Junkie have to do with plagiarism. A number of journalists have accused Flowers of using their work as source material without attribution.

BetMaryland.com occasionally will bring stories of cultural interest such as this in addition to betting analysis and the best Maryland sportsbook promos.

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Author

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who’s worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.

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