Podcasts ?
Aren't those a marketing ploy by apple to promote their icrap, taking an already ubiquitous thing: an audio file, and turn it into hype.
Also I fail to see how podcasts could be a web.
No, podcasts are also audio/visual media. The web was text only in the beginning.
Having used gopher a bit before the first browser it was inline images that made the web revolutionary imo. I remember being amazed by the pages with layout and images. So at least for me the web has always been a very visual medium.
I think a/v vs text is the wrong dichotomy. I think it's more about passive content and "commercial" content vs. active content and individualistic content. The web used to be about conversations, it used to be about individual passions. Some of that still exists, but it's being pushed to the margin as click bait, memes, sharable bite-sized content, and "hands off" content has risen to the fore.
Podcasts are a refugee camp for radio.
Not everyone owns a radio station, but anyone can do a podcast