''Reply All'' is an American

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

from

Gimlet Media Gimlet Media LLC was a digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing narrative podcasts and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who served as the company's ...

that ran from 2014 to 2022, featuring stories about how people shape the internet, and how the internet shapes people. 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 WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

Emmanuel Dzotsi Emmanuel Dzotsi (born in 1993) is an English American radio journalist. He was a co-host of the podcasts ''Serial'' and ''Reply All''. Early life and education Dzotsi was born in Streatham, London. His parents' families immigrated to the Unit ...

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.

History

''Reply All'' was an American

from

, hosted by Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt, with Emmanuel Dzotsi joining on as a host in October 2020. Before joining Gimlet, Vogt and Goldman hosted a technology and culture podcast called ''TLDR'' for

. ''Reply All'' premiered November 24, 2014, 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". Producers of ''Reply All'' included Phia Bennin, Tim Howard, Damiano Marchetti, Anna Foley, Jessica Yung, Lisa Wang, and formerly Sruthi Pinnamaneni. The music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. In 2020, Dzotsi became a third cohost. 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 ''Bon Appétit'' is a monthly American food and entertaining magazine, that typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant recommendations, and wine reviews. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered at the One World Trade Center ...

''. After the second episode aired, accusations from former employees of a "near identical" environment at Gimlet were reported online. On February 17, 2021, both Vogt and Pinnamaneni announced they were leaving the show. The show was then placed on a hiatus until June 10, 2021. 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.

Format

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

, with occasional help from outside guests. 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?". 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 A network administrator is a person designated in an organization whose responsibility includes maintaining computer infrastructures with emphasis on local area networks (LANs) up to wide area networks (WANs). Responsibilities may vary between or ...

—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.

Episodes

''Reply All'' released 189 episodes from 2014 to 2022.

Reception

The podcast was nominated in 2015 and 2016 for a

Shorty Award The Shorty Awards (also known as "The Shortys") are awards for outstanding and innovative work in digital and social media content by brands, advertising agencies, and creators. The awards, which generally focus on short-term content, honor achiev ...

. The nomination cited its unusual social media presence, including an event where the hosts accepted phone calls from listeners for 48 hours straight. In 2016, the

Mixcloud Mixcloud is a British online music streaming service that allows for the listening and distribution of radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts, which are crowdsourced by its registered users. In April 2018, Mixcloud announced that it raised $11.5 mi ...

Online Radio Awards (MORA) nominated it as "Best Online Talk Show" in education. The show was also nominated for a Webby Award for Best Podcast. The podcast won the 2015 Academy of Podcasters Awards in the category "Technology." In 2017, it was announced that director

Richard Linklater Richard Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual ''Time'' 100 li ...

would direct a movie about American quack physician John R. Brinkley, to star

Robert Downey Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965), also known as RDJ, is an American actor. One of the highest-grossing actors of all time, his films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide. In 2008, Downey was named by ''Time ...

, based on the 2017 ''Reply All'' episode "Man of the People". In 2017, ''

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

'' awarded episode 102, "Long Distance", as "Best Tech Episode" of the year. In 2019, the podcast was named the best podcast of the year by Dutch newspaper ''

De Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'' and the sixth best podcast of the year by ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. In March 2020, the podcast released episode 158, "The Case of the Missing Hit" to wide acclaim. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that the number of overall listeners to the show increased 35 percent across platforms in the days after its release. Hannah J. Davies of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called it "perhaps the best-ever episode of any podcast" and "an incredibly emotive piece of storytelling."

References

External links