Reply All (podcast)

Reply All
Presentation
Hosted by	Alex Goldman PJ Vogt Emmanuel Dzotsi
Genre	Technology human interest
Production
No. of episodes	189
Publication
Original release	November 24, 2014 – June 23, 2022
Ratings	1,000,000[1]
Provider	Gimlet Media
Related
Website	gimletmedia.com/reply-all/

Reply All is an American podcast from Gimlet Media that ran from 2014 to 2022, featuring stories about how people shape the internet, and how the internet shapes people.^[2] It was created by P. J. Vogt and Alex Goldman, who were the show's original hosts; they had previously hosted the technology and culture podcast TLDR for WNYC. Emmanuel Dzotsi became a third cohost in 2020.

The podcast received critical acclaim, winning several awards. In 2021, Vogt and another producer left the show following backlash critical of the work environment. Both Goldman and Dzotsi left the show in 2022 with the final episode released on June 23 of that year.^[3]

History

Reply All was an American podcast from Gimlet Media,^[1][4] hosted by Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt, with Emmanuel Dzotsi joining on as a host in October 2020.^[5] Before joining Gimlet, Vogt and Goldman hosted a technology and culture podcast called TLDR for WNYC. Reply All premiered November 24, 2014,^[6][7] the second podcast to be developed by Gimlet Media. The Atlantic included the episode "Shine on, You Crazy Goldman" on their list of "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015".^[8]

Producers of Reply All included Phia Bennin, Tim Howard, Damiano Marchetti, Anna Foley, Jessica Yung, Lisa Wang, and formerly Sruthi Pinnamaneni.^[9] The music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.^[10] In 2020, Dzotsi became a third cohost.^[11]

In early 2021, the podcast began releasing a series of episodes called "The Test Kitchen", which covered allegations of a racist and toxic work environment at the food magazine Bon Appétit. After the second episode aired, accusations from former employees of a "near identical" environment at Gimlet were reported online.^[12] On February 17, 2021, both Vogt and Pinnamaneni announced they were leaving the show.^[13] The show was then placed on a hiatus until June 10, 2021.^[14]

On May 18, 2022, it was announced that hosts Dzotsi and Goldman were leaving the show and the current iteration of Reply All would end on June 23, 2022.^[15]

Format

Former co-host P. J. Vogt

Each episode varies in format, with some recurring segments, including "Yes, Yes, No" which debuted in episode 10, in which Vogt and Goldman explain internet trivia to Alex Blumberg, co-founder of Gimlet Media, with occasional help from outside guests.^[16] In a variation on this segment called "Sports, Sports, Sports", Blumberg instead explains sports-related tweets to Vogt and Goldman. The segment debuted in episode 106, "Is that You, KD?".^[17] In another recurring segment, called "Super Tech Support" which debuted in episode 33, the Reply All team—particularly Goldman, who previously worked as a network administrator^[18]—takes on odd or especially complex tech support issues that the listeners or friends of the hosts have encountered. An annual segment, Email Debt Forgiveness Day, created an annual holiday on April 30 inviting listeners to send responses to old emails no matter how overdue.^[19]

Episodes

Main article: List of Reply All episodes

Reply All released 189 episodes from 2014 to 2022.

Reception

The podcast was nominated in 2015 and 2016 for a Shorty Award. The nomination cited its unusual social media presence, including an event where the hosts accepted phone calls from listeners for 48 hours straight.^[20] In 2016, the Mixcloud Online Radio Awards (MORA) nominated it as "Best Online Talk Show" in education.^[21] The show was also nominated for a Webby Award for Best Podcast.^[22] The podcast won the 2015 Academy of Podcasters Awards in the category "Technology."^[23]

In 2017, it was announced that director Richard Linklater would direct a movie about American quack physician John R. Brinkley, to star Robert Downey Jr., based on the 2017 Reply All episode "Man of the People".^[24]

In 2017, Quartz awarded episode 102, "Long Distance", as "Best Tech Episode" of the year.^[25] In 2019, the podcast was named the best podcast of the year by Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant^[26] and the sixth best podcast of the year by The New Yorker.^[27]

In March 2020, the podcast released episode 158, "The Case of the Missing Hit" to wide acclaim.^[28] The New York Times reported that the number of overall listeners to the show increased 35 percent across platforms in the days after its release.^[29] Hannah J. Davies of The Guardian called it "perhaps the best-ever episode of any podcast" and "an incredibly emotive piece of storytelling."^[30]

See also

• Internet culture
• List of technology podcasts

References

1. "How Gimlet hopes to win the podcasting arms race". Digiday. August 19, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
2. Cyrus Farivar (January 10, 2015). "Why I love Reply All and you should too". Ars Technica. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
3. Ariel Shapiro (May 18, 2022). "Reply All co-hosts Alex Goldman and Emmanuel Dzotsi to leave show". The Verge. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
4. Olukotun, Deji (February 14, 2015). "ReplyAll and the Battle for Storytelling About the Net". Huffington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
5. "About Reply All". Retrieved June 18, 2022.
6. Episode #1 - An App Sends a Stranger to Say "I Love You" - Gimlet Media (November 24, 2014)
7. Goldman, Alex; Vogt, PJ (March 16, 2017). "Gimlet's Reply All". YouTube. Talks at Google. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
8. Standley, Laura Jane; McQuade, Eric; Taylor, Devon (December 22, 2015). "The 50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015". The Atlantic. Emerson Collective. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
9. Landers, Kim (May 16, 2016). "Co-host of popular podcast Reply All in Melbourne this week for forum". Retrieved June 18, 2022.
10. "The Mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder Opens Up: An Interview". Exolymph. July 31, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
11. Aroesti, Rachel (June 10, 2021). "When podcasts go sour: can shows like Reply All come back from scandal?". the Guardian. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
12. "Episodes | Reply All". Gimlet. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
13. Quah, Nicholas (February 18, 2021). "Two Reply All Hosts Are Stepping Down Amid 'Test Kitchen' Fallout". Vulture. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
14. Robertson, Katie; Gross, Jenny (February 25, 2021). "'Reply All' Podcast Is Paused After Accusations of Toxic Culture". New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
15. "A message from the staff of Reply All". Twitter. Reply All. May 18, 2022. Retrieved June 19, 2022.
16. "Yes Yes No". Yes Yes No. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
17. "#106 Is That You, KD? by Reply All". Gimlet Media. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
18. "#76 Lost in a Cab by Reply All". Gimlet Media. September 8, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
19. Wiedeman, Reeves (May 1, 2015). "Every Day Should Be E-Mail Debt Forgiveness Day". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
20. "Reply All - The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved June 18, 2022.
21. "Mixcloud Online Radio Awards | Nominee - Reply All". www.mora.fm. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
22. "Reply All | The Webby Awards". Retrieved June 18, 2022.
23. "Academy of Podcasters: Past Winners". Academy of Podcasters. Archived from the original on October 3, 2017.
24. Saperstein, Pat (February 14, 2017). "Robert Downey Jr. to Star in Richard Linklater Movie Based on Podcast". Variety. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
25. Wolfson, Elijah. "The Casties: Quartz's awards for the best podcasts of 2017". Quartz. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
26. "Deze podcasts kregen dit jaar vijf sterren". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). December 12, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
27. Larson, Sarah (December 21, 2019). "The Best Podcasts of 2019". The New Yorker. Conde Nast. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
28. Kranc, Lauren (March 20, 2020). "The One Podcast Episode That Makes Everything Better For At Least An Hour". Esquire. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
29. Ugwu, Reggie (March 19, 2020). "A Song No One Remembered. A Podcast That's Hard to Forget". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
30. Davies, Hannah J. (March 10, 2020). "Reply All's The Case of the Missing Hit: could this be the best podcast episode ever?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 21, 2020.

External links

• Official website