“Welcome to Night Vale” is the newest podcast teenagers and adults are obsessing over.

“Welcome to Night Vale” is a free podcast that is released on iTunes twice a month, according to the website.

The podcast is a set up like a radio show, set in the fictitious desert town, Night Vale. The main character in the podcast is Cecil, who explains to the audience of the supernatural things that are happening in the town.

“Welcome to Night Vale” started in June 2012, but did not gain popularity until it became the No. 1 downloaded podcast on iTunes in July 2013.

Instructor of popular culture, Charles Coletta, has some theories on why the podcast gained popularity throughout the summer.

“Sometimes there is a new character that is introduced or somehow it gets out in the public or is promoted somewhere,” Coletta said.

Podcasts were popular when they first started in 2005.

“I think it’s mainly due to the rise of iTunes. It was the only way you could get your own homemade radio show basically out to the public,” Coletta said.

After podcasts started though, they slowly declined in popularity but “Welcome to Night Vale” could be changing that.

Podcasts can gain popularity in many ways, but word of mouth is often the fastest way to get the word out.

Freshman Aubrey Below first heard about “Welcome to Night Vale” from her sister.

“I like listening to it because it’s an interesting story to listen to,” she said.

On the other hand, senior Lauren Lee likes listening to the podcast because it’s weird and it has a morbid sense of humor.

“I worked in a factory over the summer and I listened to music while I worked,” Lee said. “I heard about it on Tumblr and decided to download all of the episodes. Then I listened to it while I worked and loved it.”

Lee loves “Welcome to Night Vale” for many reasons.

“The main character on the show, Cecil, has a crush on another male character named Carlos,” Lee said. “In one of the more recent episodes Cecil and Carlos went on a date and are close to officially dating. I like it because gay couples aren’t common and I feel like the podcast is helping the media to progress.”

Podcasts bring people together, Coletta said, which is one reason they’re popular.

Since “Welcome to Night Vale” is a radio show, descriptions of the characters aren’t given. This means there are many people who draw the characters and post the pictures online.

The art that people draw for the podcasts helps people get excited for the new episodes. Also, fans will discuss episodes at length through websites like Tumblr and talk about what they think will happen next.

“A lot of supernatural stuff goes on and it is addicting,” Lee said.