Niche Podcast Discovery

The podcast I listen to most isn't in any top chart and has maybe 5,000 listeners per episode. I found it because someone in a subreddit for my major mentioned it in a comment that had 3 upvotes. The host is a retired professional in my field who records episodes in her home office and releases them every 2 weeks. Production quality is just a clear microphone and no music, which makes it sound like a phone call with a smart relative rather than a media product. Episodes run about 45 minutes and cover 1 topic each, usually something specific enough that a mainstream podcast would never touch it. The discovery problem with podcasts is that the apps surface popular shows and the charts reward shows that already have audiences. Finding a niche show requires word-of-mouth or deliberate searching in community forums. I subscribe to about 15 podcasts and the 3 I value most are all under 10,000 listeners, so they have no ads, no sponsors. No pressure to grow, and that freedom lets the hosts talk about whatever they find interesting rather than chasing an audience. The economics of podcasting make this possible in a way that television or print journalism can't match. A microphone costs $100, hosting costs $15 per month, and distribution through Apple Podcasts and Spotify is free, so the barrier to entry is essentially 0. The result is a medium where expertise matters more than production value. A retired professor with 30 years of domain knowledge can reach 5,000 people without a publisher, an editor, or a marketing budget.