I love podcasts, but they are likely to always suffer from monetization problems. No one wants to pay for them; this is similar to issues faced in news media. If the price was right, the quality issues would be fixed, or at least improved. Currently, they seem to serve as platforms for semi-famous people to advertise themselves, and build a brand. Also groups like NPR are already setup to release content as podcasts, as they can just play them over the radio.