James Kim is a Los Angeles-based creator who makes documentary, interview, and fiction podcasts. He got his start making radio stories for KPCC’s Off-Ramp in 2011. Eventually, Kim started his own podcast company, Overtones Media, where he and his team make original and client-based podcasts. Some of Kim’s original podcasts include “Are You Feeling This?” and “Moonface,” which was recently recognized by Apple Podcasts as one of 20 podcasts to celebrate for the platform’s 20th anniversary.

This week on “This Is TV Now,” we talk to James Kim about his decades-plus career in podcasting, his reasons for optimism, and his insistence on working with collaborators who don’t fuck around and want to push the boundaries. Afterward, we extended the conversation a bit before decompressing with ghost theory. 

What makes you optimistic about the future?
James Kim: I get excited about people who have a lot to say and use audio as the means to say it. I still see people trying to push the boundaries of audio to do really heartfelt stuff, [who are] passionate about the craft, and use it as a form of expression. That gets me excited because all of this noise — all the headlines about video podcasts, Netflix getting in the game, all sort of things — having all of that news dictate the entire state of the industry is insane. It’s like looking at the Billboard Top 20 charts and saying that’s what music is now. And you’re like, “Really?” That’s insane. Are you not going to pay attention to any other genre, any other sort of outlet, any other sort of artist that doesn’t fit the top 20? No. So, I’m just really optimistic because I see those creators.
I see those people. I hear that kind of work, and it gets me excited.

Who is the most underrated person in your industry right now?
JK: I would say I got a couple. Can I say two?

Good Tape: Go for it.

JK: One person is Sarah Dealy. She’s primarily in audio, but doing more stuff — video, performance art, a one-woman show. But everything Sarah does is unique and interesting, and it has a lot of emotion. Every time Sarah does something, I get excited. And then the other person — I don’t know if they’re underrated — I just think they’re incredible, and I feel like they should be as big as, you know, whoever’s dominating the Spotify or Apple Charts — is Axel Kacoutié.
I think Axel, from the UK, makes incredibly sound-rich, interesting audio pieces that just blow my mind.

How would your haters describe you?
JK: [Laughs.] I don’t have haters. I don’t know.
I guess I pay no mind to them. I have no idea what they would say, and I kind of don’t care.

GT: Period.

JK: Yeah, period done.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?
JK: I lean toward sad boy music… [and] I don’t know if it is considered sad boy music, but it’s Phoebe Bridgers’s “Motion Sickness.” I discovered that she and I sing in the same vocal register, so I’m like, this works perfectly.

Do you believe in ghosts?
JK: Yes, I believe in ghosts. Yes, I fear ghosts. You know, the weird thing is — if you think more about it — I don’t understand why I would fear ghosts because that’s to say that these sorts of entities give a fuck about you. I think that’s the general consensus [that] ghosts equal scary because they’re just there to wait when you’re vulnerable and alone to attack, and I sometimes subscribe to it, and I just go, “What?” That’s so insane. If I were to become a ghost, I wouldn’t spend eternity haunting people.

GT: What would you do?

JK:  I feel like it’s like a form of time travel. You know when people [ask] what superpower you want? I always want to teleport. I feel like ghosts have the ability to teleport. I don’t want to believe that ghosts are stuck in one area. It’s an idea of limbo. Maybe it’s just another form of existence, and maybe in nonexistence, you can travel wherever the hell you want — maybe any time period, any place. I would just [do] the things that I wish I could have done when I was alive. And now I get to experience them and not be judged, and I get to do it in a way where I’m doing whatever the fuck I want, you know? 
If I want to go dance on top of the Eiffel Tower, it’s like not like anyone’s gonna see me. I can do it. 

GT:  I read ghosts walk through walls because they still walk in the path of what was there when they were alive, which subscribes to the idea that they’re stuck. 

GT: You would start haunting people if you were stuck, because what else are you going to do?

JK: Yeah, I guess that’s true.
But I guess the thing [that] doesn’t really make any sense about ghosts is they’re always from a different era. They’re never somebody who died in your apartment a couple of years ago, and [is] like, “Free Britney!” and whispering in your ear, and you’re like, “Sorry.”