According to a comprehensive survey by Sounds Profitable, an increasing number of listeners discover new podcasts via YouTube. Several similar findings have forced producers to grapple with how much time, energy and money they should invest in making an historically audio-only medium more visually engaging.
The RVA-oriented pods I’ve watched, even long-standing popular ones, don’t make much of a case for switching from ears to eyes for podcast ingestion.
Some of my favorites, like “Didn’t Read It,” only concede to YouTube as another delivery system for audio, their sole visual being the show’s logo.
Pods mentioned in previous columns, like “How the Wise One Grows,” post video versions of their episodes, usually consisting of static Zoom footage. While always interesting to see the face behind an intriguing voice, it’s never much of a value-add in terms of content. Even for a show more specifically oriented toward a YouTube crowd, like “The Hustle Season,” seeing the talking heads talking doesn’t add much.
In a February 2025 episode of “Eat It, Virginia,” Scott Wise announced that he and fellow co-host Robey Martin [also a Style food writer] were on “legit video for the first time in the podcast’s history.” For me, this development prompted a reluctant reconsideration of audio on video. Produced by WTVR / CBS 6, “Eat It” has been a go-to source for insider scoops on the local food scene since launching in 2019.
Wise professed to be self-conscious about the addition of video but he needn’t be. He and Martin share a comfortable chemistry and engaging good humor that doesn’t diminish on camera. Martin has been reporting on culinary happenings for years, often for Style Weekly, and her experience plus Wise’s commitment to exploration makes the sometimes mysterious restaurant world more accessible for listeners.
The co-hosts are also insightful interviewers, drawing entertaining anecdotes from a wide variety of guests. Justin Ferguson, the sommelier for The Underground Kitchen, talks about balancing his day job in commercial real estate with his deepening appreciation of wine. The owner of an expanding restaurant chain, The Fishin’ Pig, went to high school with Martin so they share fun, incriminating stories from their teenage years.
When the Cirrus Vodka guys brought samples into the recording studio, it added a level of visual variety to the chatting-on-mics format but, in general, video doesn’t enhance this podcast experience. I’ll continue to listen to “Eat It” to get up-to-date on the always-shifting restaurant landscape but only if they progress to chefs doing live demonstrations will I fire it up on YouTube.
“Untold,” another WTVR production, features investigative reporter Catie Beck interviewing local government notables. Debuting as a video podcast this past February, the show invites exactly the kind of people you’d want to appear: from current mayor Danny Avula to most recent former mayor Levar Stoney, Lieutenant Governor candidate John Reid to Sheriff Antoinette Irving.
Beck has a charming, straightforward style and can often be playfully challenging, like asking Avula whether he actually reads emails. I prefer interactions where she goes into deeper, more pointed territory, like revisiting the ultimately rebutted story that Stoney spun in 2022 about a thwarted mass casualty event at Dogwood Dell.
On the flip side, she sometimes shies away from more obvious questions: Reid gets plenty of room to talk about freedom as a concept without getting pushed to clarify who he thinks should enjoy exactly what kinds of freedom.
As with “Eat It,” I’ll keep up with “Untold,” it is expertly produced and Beck knows her stuff. But the “Between Two Ferns”-style staging and brief video introductions don’t compel a watch versus a listen.
“My Friend Lyssa” is one of those podcasts unconcerned with visuals. Instead, the comedy sketch show has a deep bench of great voice actors from around the country and a wacky aesthetic centered around Lyssa Graham, a kooky mom who is a variety show star in her own mind.
Like all sketch comedies, the bits can be hit-or-miss, but each episode generates a few hearty laughs and includes some impressive original music. Thanks to Richmond-area showrunner and vocal talent Dale Leopold, this well engineered pod inspires vivid pictures in a listener’s imagination, something I’ll take over what’s on YouTube any day.
