Humor Essayist Named Among Top Ten Podcasters

CLEARFIELD, UTAH – The weekly audio humor essay program Short Cummings Audio (www.shortcummingsaudio.com) was named number four among the top ten in the Cast Wars competition. The contest is hosted on the Podcast Pickle directory at www.podcastpickle.com. Voting for the first round of the contest began last September. Visitors to the website were randomly presented with two podcasts and asked to indicate their preference. The podcasts with the most votes moved to the next round of competition. The final ten were chosen from an initial field of more than twelve-thousand.

"I'm thrilled to be among the top ten," writer/host Kevin Cummings said. "I only started this program in June and this was the first time I was able to compete in the Cast Wars."

Cast Wars is one of many competitions run by the Podcast Pickle. The brainchild of Gary Leland, the Podcast Pickle is a both a directory and community. Podcasters can exchange tips and information and podcast listeners find new shows. In July of 2006 Time magazine named the Podcast Pickle as one of the "Fifty Coolest Websites".

Since the competition included all of the shows listed in the Podcast Pickle directory, there was no theme. Cummings' show was up against video podcasts, full-cast dramas, weekly talk shows, daily talk shows, and popular music shows. With his unusual format — audio essays — Cummings wasn't sure he had a chance. "A lot of podcasts follow traditional radio formats and my show is very different from that."

The listener feedback about Short Cummings Audio has been very positive. Reviewers on the iTunes Music Store praise the program for being "well designed" and describe it as "the best kept secret in podcasting".

Cummings got his start as a humor columnist with the Davis County Clipper newspaper in the nineties. After about eighteen months, Cummings set the column aside to pursue other kinds of writing. Over the years he thought about returning to essay writing, but found it difficult to crack the market. Podcasting provided an alternate method for him to develop an audience and so far it appears to be working.

Since it was initially released in June, the program has had nearly 7,000 downloads. The hits on the Short Cummings Audio website come from all over the world including the United States, Canada, the Russian Federation, India, Austria, England, Ireland, the Phillipines, Turkey, Germany, and South America.

Cummings writes and produces the program from his home in Clearfield, Utah. The topics he covers include parenting, marriage and modern technology — all taken with a humorous twist. Episodes of the program are available for free on Apple iTunes and at www.shortcummingsaudio.com.